Kazallu

Kazalla or Kazallu is the name given in Akkadian sources to a city in the ancient Near East.

Under its king Kashtubila, Kazalla warred against Sargon of Akkad in the 24th or 23rd century BC. Sargon laid the city of Kazalla to waste so effectively that "the birds could not find a place to perch away from the ground."

According to a tablet from the reign of Gudea of Lagash, Kazalla was located somewhere to the west of Mesopotamia, in the land of Martu. Scholars today believe it was only about 15 km from the city of Babylon, and just west of the Euphrates. Kazallu briefly became a city-state in its own right, conquering a number of its immediate neighbors, including Babylon. It was from Kazallu that Babylon first won its independence c. 1900 BC, soon growing to eclipse its fame and establish a regional empire.

References

• Kazallu at History Files
• Howorth, Henry H. "The Later Rulers of Shirpurla or Lagash (Continued)". The English Historical Review, Vol. 17, No. 66 (Apr., 1902), pp. 209-234. This article consists of 26 page(s).
• Oppenheim, A. Leo (translator). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3d ed. James B. Pritchard, ed. Princeton: University Press, 1969.