city state · Mesopotamia and Iran
Der
Origins
Der, modern Tell Aqar near Badra, lay at the foot of the Zagros on the main route from the Tigris to Susa. It was a city from the third millennium BCE and a province of the Neo-Sumerian Empire. After Ur collapsed around 2000 BCE, local rulers governed it independently.
Rule and society
Der was a small buffer state whose position made it valuable to Elam, Eshnunna and the cities of the south. Its patron god Ishtaran, a judge deity represented by a serpent, was worshipped in the temple E-dimgalkalama. A local king, Anum-muttabbil, claimed in an inscription to have smitten Elam, Anshan and Shimashki, the clearest sign of the city's independent ambitions. Otherwise its rulers are poorly known.
Decline and legacy
Der lost its independence in the 18th century BCE, falling to Eshnunna and then to Hammurabi's Babylonian Empire. It remained an important border fortress: in 720 BCE the Battle of Der was fought there between Sargon II of the Assyrian Empire and the Elamites.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Der was conquered by Babylonian Empire1750 BCE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Der. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/der
- MLA
- “Der.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/der. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Der.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/der.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Der’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/der (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻