Gungunum (, Dgu-un-gu-nu-um) was a king of the city state of Larsa in southern Mesopotamia, ruling from 1932 to 1906 BC. According to the traditional king list for Larsa, he was the fifth king to rule the city, and in his own inscriptions he identifies himself as a son of Samium and brother to his immediate predecessor Zabaya. His name is Amorite, and originates in the word gungun, meaning "protection", "defence" or "shelter".
During the time Gungunum occupied the throne, Larsa went from being a city of lesser importance to become a powerful challenger to Isin, the dominant power in southern Mesopotamia since the fall of the Ur III empire in 2002 BC. Gungunum's reign of 27 years is also much better documented than those of his predecessors, as we have a complete chronological list of all his year names, as well as four of his royal inscriptions. This is in contrast to the complete lack of year names from the preceding period, which makes his reign a watershed moment in terms of gaining an understanding of the history of Larsa and the surrounding region.
Gungunum was the contemporary of the kings Lipit-Ištar and Ur-Ninurta of Isin.
Reign
Early years and military campaigns against Elam
When Gungunum succeeded his brother Zabaya in 1932 BC, Larsa seems to have been a minor power on the Mesopotamian political scene. However, it did not take long for Gungunum to make his mark on the region's political landscape, as his year names record that he conducted two military campaigns directed against Elam early in his reign. The first of these took place in his third year, when he attacked and destroyed Bašime, an Elamite region that was most likely located along the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf from southern Khuzestan in the north to Bushehr in the south.
Gungunum followed up on this victory by conducting another campaign in his fifth year, this time by attacking and destroying Anšan, one of Elam's largest and most important cities. While these expeditions must have brought Gungunum vast riches and great political prestige, it is otherwise unknown what might have spurred him to embark on these eastern expeditions. One possibility is that Anšan had maintained an alliance with Isin, as it is known that such an alliance had been concluded 45 years prior when king Iddin-Dagan of Isin gave his daughter in marriage to the ruler of Anšan. If this was the case, then Gungunum's campaigns can be understood as a successful attempt to free his eastern flank before challenging Isin's regional supremacy directly.
The period following Gungunum's two campaigns against Elam seems to have been relatively quiet, as his subsequent four year names are devoted to the maintenance of Larsa's city god Utu, including the nomination of a new high priestess and the introduction of a large copper statue in Utu's sanctuary.
Ur
Gungunum's first major success in the struggle against Isin was his conquest of Ur, the old imperial capital of the Ur III empire that had been part of Isin's domains since shortly after its fall to Elamite invaders in 2002 BC. While no direct reference to Gungunum's conquest is found in the written sources, the year names on documents found in Ur clearly show that control of the city changed hands from Isin to Larsa, as those belonging to Lipit-Ištar of Isin abruptly give way to those of Gungunum. The exact year of Gungunum's capture of Ur cannot be determined with certainty, but the year names found so far suggest that it took place in either his seventh or his tenth year, i.e. 1926 or 1923 BC. It is also from Gungunum's tenth year that the content of his year names starts referring directly to Ur, with every single year name between his tenth and 14th years relating to religious activities taking place in the city, including the introduction of two standards in the temple of Ur's patron deity Nanna and the dedication of a statue, probably of Gungunum himself, to the same deity. As a result, there cannot be any doubt that Ur had been fully secured by the king of Larsa by this time, and that he was engaged in an effort to consolidate his power by developing his relationship to its main deities and their priests and high officials.