MARIANO, - A capital city on the middle Euphrates, today Tell el-Hariri. It had three distinct periods of prosperity, as revealed by French excavations conducted under the direction of André Parrot from 1936 onward. The oldest city dates from before Sargon of Akkad (c. 2360 B.C.); the second was roughly contemporary with the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2070-1960) and was later destroyed by Hammurabi, king of Babylon, about 1695 B.C.; the third is to be placed in the second half of the 13th century B.C.
Of the greatest importance for the history of the ancient East is the second city of M., which alone is treated here. Of the more than 20,000 documents that have come to light, written in an Old Babylonian dialect, nearly 15,000 are contracts, divination texts, or of another genre. The remainder, which constitutes the correspondence of the kings of M., provides new and most precious information on the topography, political, commercial, and religious history of Upper Mesopotamia.
Among them are place names from Susa to Crete, including the biblical ones of Haran, Nachor, and Hazor, as well as the names of more than 30 local kings from Elam to Aleppo. The presence of so many states obliged their kings to a policy of opportunism, so that there was a continual formation of coalitions and wars to gain the upper hand. Among the kings of M. are known, for example, Idi-ilum, Ilum-išar, Išṭup-ilum, Niwar-Mer, Agis-Bilgi, Jagid-Lim, Jahdun-Lim, Jasambad (an Assyrian usurper), and Zimri-Lim.
The kingdom of the latter probably extended from the region of Rapiqu in the east to the great bend of the Euphrates in the west, south of Carchemish, and near Haran and Tell Braq in the north. Zimri-Lim had succeeded in regaining power in M., which, after the death of his father, Jahdun-Lim, had passed to Jasambad-Adad, installed as viceroy by his father Shamshi-Adad I, king of Assyria. After the death of the latter, Zimri-Lim suppressed Jasambad-Adad, but in turn, though allied with Hammurabi for a time, was finally defeated by the cunning Babylonian and his city completely dismantled.
In the archives of M. the horse is already mentioned as a domesticated animal, the Hapiru are named, and also a nomadic tribe of Benjaminites (banū ia-mi-na), though a direct connection with those of the Bible has not yet been established. On the other hand, the fact that one of their war leaders was called dāvīdām might shed unexpected light on the name of the great King and poet of Israel. The royal palace of Zimri-Lim was most imposing. It covered an area of more than two and a half hectares and possessed numerous rooms, archives, and princely apartments. The throne room was adorned with mural representations of sacrifices and the investiture of the king. Although the presence of more than 26 deities in the pantheon of M. attests to the great syncretism that prevailed there, its population was mostly Amorite (Western Semites), as appears from the onomastics.
The discoveries at M. are one of the most important factors in determining the new chronology of the ancient East. From what has been said HAMMURABI (HAMMURAPI) (v.) was not earlier, but contemporary with Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria. Moreover, it is known that Shamshi-Adad I reigned from 1748 to 1716, which fixes the reign of Hammurabi from 1728 to 1686 (cf. W. F. Albright, in Bull. of the Amer. Schools of Orient. Research, 83 [1942], pp. 28 ff.; R. de Vaux, in Revue biblique, 53 [1946], pp. 328 ff., who also deals with the not inconsiderable divergences of Sidney Smith [Shamshi-Adad I: 1812-1789; Hammurabi: 1702-1750]).