{{Infobox royalty | name = Apil-kin<br>{{nobold|{{cuneiform|π’€€π’‰ˆπ’„€}}}} | image = | caption = | death_date = c. 2091 BC | spouse = | issue = {{plainlist| *[[Ili-Ishar]] *[[Tura-Dagan]] *[[Taram-Uram]] }} | father = [[Ishgum-Addu]] | reign = c. 2127 - c. 2091 BC | predecessor = [[Ishgum-Addu]] | successor = [[Iddi-ilum]] | dynasty = [[Shakkanakku]] dynasty | succession = [[List of kings of Mari|King of Mari]] }} {{Location map | Near East | width = 260px | float = right | border = | caption = Location of Mari | alt = | relief = yes | AlternativeMap = | overlay_image = | label = Mari | label_size = | position = | background = | mark = | marksize = | link = | lat_deg = 34.549444 | lon_deg = 40.89 }} '''Apil-kin''' ({{cuneiform|π’€€π’‰ˆπ’„€}} ''a-pil-gin6''; died {{Circa}} 2091 BC),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Loisel |first1=Anne-Caroline Rendu |title=Ilum-Isar et Apil-Kin, deux nouvelles inscriptions de Mari/Tell Hariri |journal=In L. Feliu / J. Llop / A. Millet Alba / J. Sanmartin (Ed), Time and History in the Ancient Near East, Proceedings of Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 56, Barcelone, Juillet 2010, Pp.633-643 |page=650 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3891160 |language=en}}</ref> was a ruler of the city of [[Mari, Syria|Mari]], northern [[Mesopotamia]], after the fall of [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leick |first1=Gwendolyn |title=Who's Who in the Ancient Near East |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-78796-8 |page=18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAGFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |language=en}}</ref> He was a son of [[Ishgum-Addu]], and ruled 35 years, according to the ''Shakkanakku Dynasty List''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leick |first1=Gwendolyn |title=Who's Who in the Ancient Near East |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-78795-1 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3A2GAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT36 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Oliva |first1=Juan |title=Textos para un historia polΓ­tica de Siria-Palestina I |date=2008 |publisher=Ediciones AKAL |isbn=978-84-460-1949-7 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MM3SJvJgGKoC&pg=PA86 |language=es}}</ref> He had two sons, who succeeded him in turn: [[Ili-Ishar]] and [[Tura-Dagan]].<ref name="GL">{{cite book |last1=Leick |first1=Gwendolyn |title=Who's Who in the Ancient Near East |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-78796-8 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAGFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 |language=en}}</ref>

He held the title of [[Shakkanakku]] (military governor), which was borne by all the princes of a dynasty who reigned at [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] in the late third millennium and early second millennium BC. These kings were the descendants of the military governors appointed by the kings of [[Akkad (city)|Akkad]].<ref>Louvre. "The Statuette of Iddi-Ilum," Department of Near Eastern Antiquities: Mesopotamia. Accessed December 1, 2014. http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/statuette-iddi-ilum</ref> He was contemporary of the [[Third Dynasty of Ur]], and probably their vassal.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Unger |first1=Merrill F. |title=Israel and the Aramaeans of Damascus: A Study in Archaeological Illumination of Bible History |date=2014 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-62564-606-4 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qw6vCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |language=en}}</ref>

He was a contemporary of [[Ur-Nammu]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abusch |first1=I. Tzvi |last2=Noyes |first2=Carol |title=Proceedings of the XLV Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale: historiography in the cuneiform world |date=2001 |publisher=CDL Press |isbn=978-1-883053-67-3 |page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ZntAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> He had a daughter named [[Taram-Uram]], who became the First Queen of king [[Shulgi]] of [[Ur III]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sharlach |first1=T. M. |title=An Ox of One's Own: Royal Wives and Religion at the Court of the Third Dynasty of Ur |date=2017 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-1-5015-0522-5 |page=207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-Y3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT207 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Eppihimer |first1=Melissa |title=Exemplars of Kingship: Art, Tradition, and the Legacy of the Akkadians |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-090303-9 |page=121 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iCeeDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA121 |language=en}}</ref> In a dedication, she called herself "daughter-in-law of [[Ur-Nammu]]", and "daughter of Apil-kin, ''[[Lugal]]'' ("King") of Mari", suggesting for Apil-kin a position as a supreme ruler, and pointing to a marital alliance between Mari and [[Ur]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=LipiΕ„ski |first1=Edward |title=Immigration and Emigration Within the Ancient Near East |date=1995 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |page=187 |isbn=9789068317275 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=thIxCmwfNoMC&pg=PA187}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=CIVIL |first1=Michel |title=Un nouveau synchronisme Mari-III e dynastie d'Ur |journal=Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archΓ©ologie orientale |date=1962 |volume=56 |issue=4 |page=213 |jstor=23295098 |issn=0373-6032}}</ref>

On some of his inscriptions, Apil-kin uses the title ''dannum''' ("the Great") in front of his function ''[[Shakkanakku]]'' ("Military Governor"), a practice for which he is the first to be attested at Mari, and which was initially introduced by [[Naram-Sin of Akkad|Naram-Sin]] of [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Loisel |first1=Anne-Caroline Rendu |page=649|title=Ilum-Isar et Apil-kin, deux nouvelles inscriptions de Mari/Tell Hariri |journal=In L. Feliu / J. Llop / A. Millet Alba / J. Sanmartin (Ed), Time and History in the Ancient Near East, Proceedings of Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 56, Barcelone, Juillet 2010, Pp.633-643 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3891160 |language=en}}</ref> Apil-kin and his successors generally used the Akkadian style of royal inscriptions and titulature.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eppihimer |first1=Melissa |title=Exemplars of Kingship: Art, Tradition, and the Legacy of the Akkadians |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-090303-9 |page=121 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iCeeDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA121 |language=en}}</ref> It is considered that the Shakkanakkus gained some form of independence and came to be considered as "Kings" from the time of Apil-kin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Loisel |first1=Anne-Caroline Rendu |title=Ilum-Isar et Apil-Kin, deux nouvelles inscriptions de Mari/Tell Hariri |page=650|journal=In L. Feliu / J. Llop / A. Millet Alba / J. Sanmartin (Ed), Time and History in the Ancient Near East, Proceedings of Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 56, Barcelone, Juillet 2010, Pp.633-643 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3891160 |language=en}}</ref>

One of the inscriptions of Apil-kin, inscribed on a bronze plaque, reads:

{{blockquote|[[File:Apil-kin inscription (reconstitution).jpg|thumb|200px|left|Apil-kin inscription (reconstitution, in standard Sumero-Akkadian [[cuneiform]]).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Loisel |first1=Anne-Caroline Rendu |title=Ilum-Isar et Apil-Kin, deux nouvelles inscriptions de Mari/Tell Hariri |journal=In L. Feliu / J. Llop / A. Millet Alba / J. Sanmartin (Ed), Time and History in the Ancient Near East, Proceedings of Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 56, Barcelone, Juillet 2010, Pp.633-643 |page=650 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3891160 |language=en}}</ref>]]{{cuneiform|π’€€π’‰ˆπ’„€ π’•π’ˆ π’„Šπ’€΄ π’ˆ π’Œ·π’†  𒁢 π’Š“π’„·π’Œ·}} ''a-pil-kin, da-num Shakkanakku ma-ri ki, DIM sa-αΈ«u-ri''<br> "Apil-kin, the Great Shakkanakku of Mari, built the ''Sahuri''"|Inscription of Apil-kin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Loisel |first1=Anne-Caroline Rendu |title=Ilum-Isar et Apil-Kin, deux nouvelles inscriptions de Mari/Tell Hariri |journal=In L. Feliu / J. Llop / A. Millet Alba / J. Sanmartin (Ed), Time and History in the Ancient Near East, Proceedings of Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 56, Barcelone, Juillet 2010, Pp.633-643 |page=650 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3891160 |language=en}}</ref>}}

The "''Sahuri''" built by Apil-kin is thought to be the name of a building or structure at Mari.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Loisel |first1=Anne-Caroline Rendu |title=Ilum-Isar et Apil-Kin, deux nouvelles inscriptions de Mari/Tell Hariri |journal=In L. Feliu / J. Llop / A. Millet Alba / J. Sanmartin (Ed), Time and History in the Ancient Near East, Proceedings of Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 56, Barcelone, Juillet 2010, Pp.633-643 |page=650 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3891160 |language=en}}</ref>

{{s-start}} {{s-hou||||2100 BCE||name=Apil-kin of [[Mari, Syria|Mari]]}} {{S-reg}} {{s-bef | before = [[Ishgum-Addu]] }} {{s-ttl | title = [[List of kings of Mari|King of Mari]] | years = c. 2127 - c. 2091 BC }} {{s-aft | after = [[Iddi-ilum]] }} {{s-end}}

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:22nd-century BC monarchs]] [[Category:21st-century BC monarchs]] [[Category:Kings of Mari]] [[Category:22nd-century BC births]] [[Category:21st-century BC deaths]]