Shalim-ahum

Shalim-ahum or Šalim-ahum (died 1991 BC) was a ruler of Assyria in the late 21st century to early 20th century BC. The Assyrian King List records his name as Šallim-aḫḫe, inscribed šal-lim-PABMEŠ, meaning, “keep the brothers safe”, and he appears among the six kings “whose eponyms are not found”, meaning that the length of his reign was unknown. He was described as the son of Puzur-Ashur I (dumu Puzu Assur) in his only known inscription. He is the earliest independent ruler to be attested in a contemporary inscription. Carved in curious archaic character mirror-writing in Old Assyrian on an alabaster block found during the German excavations at Assur under Walter Andrae, this sole exemplar of his contemporary inscriptions records that the god Ashur “requested of him” the construction of a temple and that he had “beer vats and storage area” built in the “temple area”.

He ruled during a period when nascent Assyrian merchant companies in karums were branching out into Anatolia to trade textiles and tin from Assur for silver.