Ishtup-ilum

Ishtup-Ilum, also Ishtup-El (, Ish-dub-ilum; died 2136 BC) was a ruler of the city of Mari, one of the military governors known as Shakkanakku in northern Mesopotamia, after the fall of Akkad. He was probably a contemporary with the Second Dynasty of Lagash, around the time of Gudea.

Attestations He is known from inscriptions mentioning the building of a temple, as well as from a monumental statue, discovered in Mari. The statue is now in the Aleppo National Museum, Syria.

Dedication tablets Ishtup-Ilum is also known from a dedication tablet for the "Temple of the King of the Country" (either Dagan or Enlil) with the inscription:

This implies that Ishtup-Ilum was the builder of this "Temple of the King of the Country", in which were also discovered beautiful copper statues of guardian lions, the "Lions of Mari", probably installed later during a rebuilding of the temple in the early 2nd millennium BCE. The Temple was excavated in 1938 by André Parrot.