Tell Leilan
View of Tell Leilan
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 Shown within Syria
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| Location | Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria |
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| Region | Assyria |
| Coordinates | 36°57′26″N 41°30′19″E / 36.95722°N 41.50528°ECoordinates: 36°57′26″N 41°30′19″E / 36.95722°N 41.50528°E |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | 5000 BCE |
| Abandoned | 1726 BCE |
| Cultures | Akkadian, Assyrian |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | In ruins |
| Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia | ||||||||||
| Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia | ||||||||||
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| Capital | Shubat-Enlil | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
| King | ||||||||||
| • | circa 1809 BCE – 1776 circa BCE | Shamshi-Adad I | ||||||||
| Historical era | Bronze Age | |||||||||
| • | Established | circa 1809 BCE | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | circa 1776 BCE | ||||||||
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| Today part of |
 Syria
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Tell Leilan is an archaeological site situated near the Wadi Jarrah in the Khabur River basin in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, a region formerly a part of ancient Assyria. The site has been occupied since the 5th millennium BC. During the late third millennium, the site was known as Shekhna. Around 1800 BC, the site was renamed "Shubat-Enlil" by the Assyrian king, Shamshi-Adad I and it became the capital of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia. Shubat-Enlil was abandoned around 1700 BC.
The site is located close to some other flourishing cities of the time. Hamoukar is about 50 km away to the southeast. Tell Brak is about 50 km away to the southwest, and also in the Khabur River basin. Tell Mozan (Urkesh) is about 50 km to the west.
Leilan, Brak and Urkesh were particularly prominent during the Akkadian period.
The city originated around 5000 BC as a small farming village and grew to be a large city ca. 2600 BC, three hundred years before the Akkadian Empire. A 3-foot layer of sediment at Tell Leilan containing no evidence of human habitation offered clues as to the cause of the demise of the Akkadian imperial city; analysis indicated that at around 2200 BC, a three-century drought was severe enough to affect agriculture and settlement.
The conquest of the region by Shamshi-Adad I (1813–1781 BC) of Assyria revived the abandoned site of Tell Leilan. Shamshi-Adad saw the great potential in the rich agricultural production of the region and made it the capital city of his empire. He renamed it from Shehna to Shubat-Enlil, or Šubat-Enlil, meaning "the residence of the god Enlil" in the Akkadian language. In the city a royal palace was built and a temple acropolis to which a straight paved street led from the city gate. There was also a planned residential area and the entire city was enclosed by a wall. The city size was about 90 hectares (220 acres). Shubat-Enlil may have had a population of 20,000 people at its peak. After the death of Shamsh-Adad, the city became the capital of Apum and prospered until king Samsu-iluna of Babylon sacked it in 1726 BC in an attempt to maintain Babylonia's failing influence over Assyria. The Babylonians were defeated driven out of Assyria by the Assyrian king Adasi, however Shubat-Enlil was never reoccupied and the Assyrian capital was transferred to its traditional home in Aššur.
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Wikipedia