Malgium
| Alternative name | Tulūl al-Fāj / Tell Yassir |
|---|---|
| Location | Iraq |
| Coordinates | 32°33′41″N 45°6′0″E / 32.56139°N 45.10000°E |
| Type | settlement |
| History | |
| Periods | Bronze Age |
| Cultures | Old Babylonian |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 2018 |
| Archaeologists | Ahmed Ali Jawad |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Ownership | Public |
| Public access | Yes |
Malgium (also Malkum) (Ĝalgi’a or Ĝalgu’a in Sumerian, and Malgû(m) in Akkadian) is an ancient Mesopotamian city tentatively identified as Tell Yassir (one of a group of tells called collectively Tulūl al-Fāj) which thrived especially in the Middle Bronze Age, ca. 2000 BC - 1600 BC. Malgium formed a small city-state in an area where the edges of the territories controlled by Larsa, Babylon and Elam converged. Inscribed in cuneiform as ma-al-gi-imKI, its chief deities were Ea (whose temple was called Enamtila) and Damkina. A temple of Ulmašītum is known to have been there. There was also a temple to the goddess Bēlet-ilī called Ekitusgestu as well as a temple to the god Anum.
Tablets illegally excavated from Malgium have begun to appear on the antiquities market. One, in a private collection, had a new, second, year name for Imgur-Sîn "The year the ‘Tigris/Zubi-Canal-of-Imgur-Sîn’ was dug by King dImgur-Sîn". Note the divine determinative for the rulers name.
A few complete and partial year names for rulers of Malgium have been determined including "year when king dŠu-Kakka killed aurochs and wild cows", "year when dNur-Eštar, the mighty male, set in place the foundation of Eduru-Mama", "year when dŠu-Kakka erected Bad-Enlila", and "year when king dImgur-Sin erected Bad-Enlila in the Upper Land, and erected (also) Bad-gar.lum facing the Native Land"