page_title: Idrimi
section_title: Statue text
hierarchical_section_title: Idrimi / Sources of Idrimi / Statue text
caption_attribution_description: English: Clay cuneiform tablet showing dues for King Idrimi, 1500BC-1450BC (circa).
context_page_description: Idrimi was the king of Alalakh in the 15th century BC. He was a Hurrianised son of Ilim-Ilimma I the king of Halab, now Aleppo, who had possibly been deposed by the new regional master, Barattarna or Parshatatar, king of the Mitanni. Nevertheless, he succeeded in gaining the throne of Alalakh with the assistance of a group known as the Habiru. Idrimi founded the kingdom of Mukish and ruled from Alalakh as a vassal to the Mitanni state. He also invaded the Hittite territories to the north, resulting in a treaty with the country Kizzuwatna. Idrimi is known from an inscription on a statue found at Alalakh by Leonard Woolley in the 1930s and 1940s, revealing new insights about the history of Syria in the mid-second millennium.
context_section_description: A rough Akkadian autobiographical inscription on the Statue of Idrimi's base found at Alalakh within a pit of a Level 1 temple at the site of Tell Atchana (Alalakh) in northern Syria (ca. 1200) records Idrimi's vicissitudes.
  The first part of the inscription revealed Idrimi's circumstances fleeing from Aleppo. The translated inscription, according to author Amélie Kuhrt, stated: "I am Idrimi, the son of Ilimilimma, servant of Teshub, Hepat, and Shaushga, the lady of Alalakh, my mistress. In Aleppo, in the house of my fathers, a crime had occurred and we fled. The Lords of Emar were descended from the sisters of my mother, so we settled in Emar. My brothers, who were older than me, also lived with me..." After his family had been forced to flee to Emar, with his mother's people, he realized that he wouldn't wield real power in Emar, saying "...but he that is with the people of Emar, is a slave." As a result, He left his family and brothers, took his horse, chariot, and squire, went into the desert, and joined the "Hapiru people" in "Ammija (Amiya) in the land of Canaan", where other refugees from Aleppo ("the people from Halab, people from the land Mukish [dominated by Alalakh], people from the land of Nihi [near the Orontes River in Syria], and people of the land Amae (possibly between Aleppo and Apamea) recognized him as the "son of their overlord" and "gathered around him."
  
  The second part of the inscription revealed major events in Idrimi's life including a campaign in Hurrian territory to reclaim Alalakh. After living among the Habiru (Hapiru) for seven years, he led his new friends and Habiru allies in a successful attack by sea on Alalakh, where he became king sometime in 1450 BC. The inscription further stated: "In the seventh year, Teshub turned towards me. As a result, I built ships. The x-soldiers I caused to enter the ships...when my country heard of me, cattle and sheep were brought before me. In a single day...Nihi...Amae...the country of Mukish and Alalah, turned towards me like one man. My brothers heard of this and came to me. My brothers and I swore mutual alliance; I placed my brothers under my protection." Idrimi built ships and likely gathered soldiers from Mukish, Amae, Nihi, and Alakah, which was enough to impress his own brothers to join him in reclaiming Alalakh. 
   He somehow gained the trust of Barattarna who recognized Idrimi's oath of alliance with his brothers and placed himself within the alliance. A final section requested a blessing of the statue from Sharruwa, the statue's scribe, and cursed those who would deface his statue. However, there is a strong danger of using the statue's text as a single historical source. Just like the inscriptions of Ramesses II's poetic prose of the Battle of Kadesh, the statue of Idrimi's text suggested that Idrimi's real campaigns were probably exaggerated to make himself legitimate. Many scholars studying the inscription have suggested it to be a form of pseudo-history, possibly based on "exaggerations" of his campaigns.
caption: Tablet with the seal of King Idrimi.[10]
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