Itti-Marduk-balatu (king)

Biography

He reigned for 8 years according to the King List C.King List C, ii 18. The King List A**King List A, BM 33332 iv 2. records 6 years and the Synchronistic King List**Synchronistic King List, Assur 14616c, ii, 18. inserts someone with this name after Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē, the 6th king c. 1099–1082 BC, although this part of the text has since crumbled away or been disputed. and includes the epithet of nibītu, chosen, of Anum and Dagan in the royal titulary.

There are five extant economic tablets dated to his reignEconomic tablets Gron. 846–850 in the Böhl collection, Leiden. and these include the disposition of grain from the fields after harvest in his first year, provisions for the royal stables and officials, located in the town of Dūr-Sumulael on the Imgur Ishtar canal near Babylon, also hire paid for rented asses (2 tablets), and an inventory of slaves and their families also in his first year. There is a black diorite tablet dated to his reign which is engraved on both sides by the scribe Bau-akhu-iddina, the son of Sin-b[el-ki]tti, the seer, with a copy of a deed recording the sale of certain arable land and gardens in the neighborhood of Bit-Udashi, Bit-Sapri, and Bit-Naniauti, by [Eulmash]-dinanni, the son of Sin-epiri.

Like his father before him, he made incursions into Assyria. The Elamites, under their king Shilhak-Inshushinak, the brother of Kutir-Nahhunte, raided repeatedly into Mesopotamia up to the Tigris and as far north as Nuzi around this period. It is believed that he was one of the richest citizens and kings of Babylon, with estimated income of 10 babylonian shekels/month, which will be circa 14 400€/month today, considering prices of silver, used in currency and median inflation rate.

Inscriptions

Notes

References

References

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6. L. W. King. (1912). "Babylonian boundary-stones and memorial tablets in the British Museum". British Museum.
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9. "Commodity Prices in Babylon 385 - 61 BC".