Eulmash-shakin-shumi
King of Babylon
Eulmaš-šākin-šumi | |
---|---|
King of Babylon | |
Reign | c. 1000–984 BC |
Predecessor |
Kaššu-nādin-aḫi
2nd Sealand Dynasty |
Successor | Ninurta-kudurrῑ-uṣur I |
House | Bῑt-Bazi Dynasty |
Eulmaš-šākin-šumi , inscribed in cuneiform as É-ul-maš- GAR-MU , [i 1] or prefixed with the masculine determinative m , [i 2] “Eulmaš [nb 1] (is) the establisher of offspring”, [1] : p. 160, n. 971 c. 1000–984 BC, was the founder of the 6th Dynasty of Babylon , known as the Bῑt-Bazi Dynasty, after the Kassite tribal group from which its leaders were drawn. The Dynastic Chronicle [i 3] tells us that he ruled for fourteen years, the King List A, [i 2] seventeen years.
Biography
A small settlement near the Tigris in the 23rd century had been adopted by a minor Kassite clan by the 14th century, the name being co-opted as the ancestor figure for the tribe. In the midst of the turmoil inflicted by the Aramean migrations and the famines that drove them, Eulmaš-šākin-šumi seems to have seized the throne and possibly moved his capital to Kar-Marduk, a hitherto unknown location presumed to be less vulnerable to invasions of semi-nomads than Babylon. [2]
An earlier character called Eulmaš-šākin-šumi, son of Bazi , appears as a witness on a kudurru [i 4] recording a land grant [3] of twenty GUR arable land to Adad-zêr-ikîša, where he is called (amêlu) šaq-šup-par ša mâtâti , “officer of the lands” and also another [i 5] confirming ownership of seven GUR of arable land to a certain Iqīša-Ninurta, where he is described as a sak-ru-maš , “chariot officer.” [4] He may also appear on another small broken kudurru, [i 6] if his name has been deciphered correctly, but these three are dated to the tenth (first kudurru) and thirteenth (second and third kudurrus) years of the reign of Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē , [5] too early to be this monarch if the chronology and sequence of kings currently favored is followed, but quite possibly an ancestor.
The Assyrian King List [i 7] has him contemporary with Šulmanu-ašaredu II , an unlikely pairing. The Religious Chronicle [i 8] mentions the “goddesses, the troops” in his fourteenth year but the context is lost. The Eclectic Chronicle [i 9] records that “(Marduk stayed) on the dais (in) the fifth year of Eulmaš-šakin-šumi, the king. The fourteenth year …,” which seem to refer to interruptions in the Akitu festival. [6] The Sun God Tablet [i 10] of Nabu-apla-iddina relates that Ekur-šum-ušabši, the priest and seer appointed during the time of Simbar-šipak , complained that due to the “stress and famine under Kaššu-nādin-aḫi ,” an intermediate monarch, "the temple offerings of Šamaš (had) ceased," prompting Eulmaš-šākin-šumi to divert flour and sesame wine from that allocated to the god Bel and a garden in the new city district of Babylon for ongoing provisions. [3]
There is an inscribed Lorestān bronze sword and fifteen inscribed arrowheads, somewhat inappropriately inscribed with the title šar kiššati , "king of the world," probably for use as votive offerings at temples rather than as offensive weapons. [7] The Dynastic Chronicle reports that “he was buried in the palace of Kar-Marduk.” [i 3] He was succeeded by Ninurta-kuddurī-uṣur and later Širikti-Šuqamuna, both “sons of Bazi.”
Inscriptions
- ↑ In contemporary arrowheads, such as IMJ 74.049.0124 in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, at CDLI
- 1 2 Babylonian King List A , BM 33332, iii '10.
- 1 2 Dynastic Chronicle v 9.
- ↑ BM 90840 i 29.
- ↑ Kudurru IM 90585, ii 10.
- ↑ Kudurru from the Museum of Warwick, ii 12,
- ↑ Assyrian King List A.117, Assur 14616c, iii 5 and also fragment (KAV 182) iii 2.
- ↑ Religious Chronicle ii 26-29 (restored).
- ↑ Chronicle 24: BM 27859, 14–15.
- ↑ The Sun God Tablet , BM 91000 i 24 – ii 17.
Note
References
- ↑ J. A. Brinkman (1968). A Political History of post-Kassite Babylonia, 1158-722 B.C. (AnOr. 43) . Pontificium Institutum Biblicum. pp. 160–162.
- ↑ J. A. Brinkman (1982). "Babylonia, c. 1000 – 748 B.C.". In John Boardman; I. E. S. Edwards; N. G. L. Hammond; E. Sollberger (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History (Volume 3, Part 1) . Cambridge University Press. pp. 296–297.
- 1 2 L. W. King (1912). Babylonian boundary-stones and memorial tablets in the British Museum . London: British Museum. pp. 44 , 122. no. VIII and XXXVI respectively.
- ↑ A. Livingstone (2006). "A neglected Kudurru or boundary stone of Marduk-Nādin-Aḫḫē?". Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale . 100 (1): 75–82. doi : 10.3917/assy.100.0075 .
- ↑ A. H. Sayce (1897). "Assyriological Notes, No. 2". Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archeology . XIX : 71.
- ↑ Albert Kirk Grayson (1975). Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles . J. J. Augustin. pp. 36, 181.
- ↑ Cl. Baurain; C. Bonnet, eds. (1991). Phoinikeia Grammata. Lire et ecrire en Mediterranee Actes du Colloque de Liege, 15-18 novembre 1989 . Peeters Publishers. p. 104.