Esangil-kin-apli
Esangil-kin-apli
Circa Eleventh Centuryb.c.e.
Royal Chief Scholar
Revered Scholar. Esangil-kin-apli was the chief scholar of Sumer and Akkad during the reign of the Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina (circa 1068 - circa 1047 B.C.E.). Claiming descent from Asallulhi-mansum, a sage in the reign of Hammurabi (circa 1792 - circa 1750 B.C.E.), Esangil-kin-apli was not only an important citizen of Borsippa, holding many priestly titles, but was also the compiler of the medical omen series SA.GIG. More than a half millennium later, during the Seleucid period (311–129 B.C.E.), his name was included in the List of Sages and Scholars, a mark of his extraordinary status at a time when cuneiform texts circulated anonymously.
Sources
I. L. Finkel, “Adad-apla-iddina, Esagil-kin-apli, and the series SA.GIG,” in A Scientific Humanist: Studies in Memory of Abraham Sachs, edited by Erle Leichty, Maria deJ. Ellis, and Pamela Gerardi, Occasional Publications of the Samuel Noah Kramer Fund, no. 9 (Philadelphia: University Museum, 1988), pp. 143–159.