The fate of officials after Samsī-Addu's death: between execution, rallying and seizure of power
Résumé
The fall of a powerful kingdom in the ancient Near East, as elsewhere, meant that the
members of the defeated administration could suffered a disastrous fate. There is a wealth
of documentation on this subject from the Amorite period. In particular the Mari archives
and contemporary archives such as those at Chagar Bazar (ancient Ašnakkum) and Tell Lei-
lan (ancient Šehnā/Šubat-Enlil) provide a wealth of information on the events that follo-
wed the death of the powerful Samsī-Addu in the beginning of the 18th century BCE. The
consequences for the fate of the members of his administration will be studied by combi-
ning the study of tablets, seals and sealings discovered in the numerous archives from this
period. Various cases will be studied and recontextualised during this lecture.