Ancient Larsa (Senkereh)

Trustees of the British Museum (2008)

This city-state alternated with Isin in controlling southern Mesopotamia in the first two centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. Under its Amorite Dynasty Larsa was dominant from the mid-l9th to early 18th centuries BC. Larsa's ruler Rim-Suen was defeated by Hammurabi of Babylon. French archaeologists under the direction of Andre Parrot began excavations here in 1933 and the French continue to monitor this site today. Major finds include the palace of Nur-Adad (circa 1865-1850 BC) and Ebabbar, temple of the sun god Shamash (AHSFC).

El'lasar: the oak or heap of Assyria, a territory in Asia of which Arioch was King. It is supposed that the old Chaldean town of Larsa was the metropolis of this kingdom, situated nearly halfway between Ur and Erech on the left bank of the Euphrates. This town is represented by the mounds of Senkereh, a little to the east of Erech (1).

Larsa lies approximately 20 km south-west of Uruk. Although some evidence suggests the site was occupied during the Ubaid Period, the earliest excavated phases are the Early Dynastic Period (circa 2900-2350 BC). In the early second millennium BC the city rose to political prominence and it remained a major settlement until the Parthian period. Excavations have concentrated on the E-Babbar temple and ziggurat. Several large houses of the Old Babylonian period were also uncovered (2).

The History of the Ancient Near East Electronic Compendium