Naram-Sin, or Narām-Sîn or –Suen, inscribed in cuneiform on contemporary seal impressions as dna-ra-am-dEN.ZU, had been the "waklum" or "Išši’ak Aššur" of the city-state Assur, listed as the 37th king ofAssyria on the later Assyrian King Lists, where he is inscribed mna-ram-dEN.ZU, or a fragmentary list where he appears as -d30. He was named for the illustrious Naram-Sin of Akkad and took the divine determinative in his name Naram-Sin should not be confused with the Naram-Sin who had ruled Eshnunna for around twelve years It is probable that Naram-Sin of Assur was, however, contemporaneous with the earlier part of Ebiq-Adad II’s reign Naram-Sin of Assyria was the son and successor of the short-reigning Puzur-Ashur II, filiation preserved in his seal impression on the envelopes of the waklum-letters to his expat Anatolian-based traders at the karumKanesh and in the later Assyrian King Lists. The length of Naram-Sin's reign is uncertain, however; based on various excavated "limmu" lists, the reigns of Naram-Sin and his son and successor Erishum II had a combined length of 64 years. The Assyrian King List records that Shamshi-Adad I, “went away to Babylonia in the time of Naram-Sin.” Shamshi-Adad I did not return until he had taken Ekallatum, after which he paused for three years and then overthrew Erishum II. The Mari Eponym Chronicle, which resumes the listing until the seizure of Ekallatum by Shamshi-Adad I, provides no clue as to when the succession of Erishum II had taken place. As the reign of Erishum II was prematurely ended by the conquests of Shamshi-Adad I, it is likely that Naram-Sin's reign was the greater part of the period, additionally; the broken figure on the Nassouhi King List ends on four, so perhaps Naram-Sin reigned 44 or 54 years. Despite this, there are no extant monumental inscriptions recording his activities. The following is a list of the last 27 annually-elected limmu officials listed on the extant Kültepe Eponym Lists representing Naram-Sin's first years The city-state of Assur which Naram-Sin had inherited would have been fairly wealthy as the hub of the trading network at the height of the Old Assyrian Empire's activity and despite the destruction of the trading post at Kanesh partway through his reign, commerce apparently continued elsewhere. A gap of up to four years is apparent between the end of the KEL and the beginning of the Mari Eponym Chronicle There are no extant monumental inscriptions recording his activities. The dating on this list uses the middle chronology for the ancient near east: 1872 BC Shu-Suen, son of Bab-ilum
