Yarim-Lim I

Yarim-Lim I (reigned c. 1780 BC – c. 1764 BC) was the second king of the ancient kingdom of Yamhad in moder-day Aleppo, Syria. Yarim-Lim was the son and successor of the first king Sumu-Epuh. The kingdom was being threatened by the Assyrian king Shamshi Adad I who had surrounded Yamhad through his alliance with Charchemish and Urshu to the north, Qatna to the south, and conquering Mari to the east. Yarim-Lim was able to turn the table on his enemy Shamshi-Adad by surrounding him with deft alliances with Hammurabi of Babylon and Ibal-pi-El II of Eshnunna. Yarim-Lim was credited with saving Babylon from an Assyrian attack by attacking their rear.

In 1777 BC Yarim-Lim conquered the city of Tuttul, on the confluence of the rivers Balikh and Euphrates. He appointed his ally, Zimrilim, the heir to the throne of Mari who was living in exile at his court, as king. When Shamshi-Adad died in 1777 BC, he helped Zimrilim regain his throne in Mari and oust Yasmah-Adad. The alliance between Mari and Yamhad was cemented with the royal marriage between Zimrilim and Yarim-Lim's daughter, Shibtu. Yarim-Lim extended his influence on several other important city-states in Syria through alliance and vassalage, including the rich kingdom of Ugarit. By the time of his death in 1764, Yarim-Lim was said to be the "mightiest ruler in the Near East outside of Egypt."