Yarim-Lim of Alalakh

Yarim-Lim (died 1700 BC) was a king of Alalakh and son of Hammurabi I of Yamhad. He was granted the city of Alalakh by his brother Abba-El I of Yamhad and started a cadet branch of the Yamhadite dynasty that lasted until the conquest of Alalakh by the Hittite king Hattusili I.

Identity The identity of Yarim-Lim is under dispute. Yarim-Lim II of Yamhad was the son and successor of Abba-El I, as his seal inscription mentions,

Life and Reign Hammurabi I appointed Yarim-Lim as the governor of a district in the north with Irridu was the main city. Under his older brother, Abba-El I of Yamhad, Yarim-Lim continued to rule the district. Zitraddu, governor of Irridu, rebelled against Yamhad which caused Abba-El I to destroy the city. As compensation, Abba-El signed a treaty with his brother that gave Yarim-Lim the city of Alalakh as a hereditary kingdom under the suzerainty of Aleppo. This happened 15 years after the beginning of Abba-El I's reign, which would put it around 1735 BC.

Yarim-Lim ruled through the rest of his brother's reign and continued to rule during the reign of his nephew Yarim-Lim II of Yamhad and the first few years of his grand nephew Niqmi-Epuh's reign which lasted from c. 1700 BC to c. 1675 BC. Yarim-Lim was succeeded by his son Ammitakum.

Yarim-Lim II of Alalakh Nadav Na'aman proposes that Yarim-Lim, son of Hammurabi I was not the only king of Alalakh with that name and that there was a second Yarim-Lim, Yarim-Lim II who ruled Alalakh and was a grandchild of the first. Na'aman bases his theory on the exceptionally long reigns of Yarim-Lim and his successor Ammitakum which span the reigns of five Yamhadite kings. The number of the Kings of Alalakh is a highly debated subject, and Na'aman's theory is supported by several other scholars, such as Dominique Collon and Erno Gaál. However no evidence has been found to prove the existence of a second Yarim-Lim and several other scholars have rejected this theory, including Horst Klengel and Marlies Heinz.

Woolley mistakenly assumed that Yarim-Lim statue represented Yarim-Lim I of Yamhad. The reading of Alalakh tablet gave a better understanding of that period and revealed that the statue represents Yarim-Lim of Alalakh who was a grandchild of Yarim-Lim I of Yamhad. Ancestry