Marduk-nadin-ahhe

Biography

He was related to all three of his immediate predecessors: his father was Ninurta-nādin-šumi, the third king, his brother was Nabu-kudurri-uṣur, the fourth king, and his nephew was Enlil-nādin-apli the fifth king, whom he revolted against and deposed. A reconstructed passage in the Walker ChronicleBM 27796 Babylonian Chronicle 25, reverse lines 19 to 26. describes how while Enlil-nādin-apli was away campaigning in Assyria, supposedly marching to conquer the city of Assur itself, Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē and the nobles rebelled. On his return “to his land and his city. They [kill]ed him with the s[word].”

His relationship with his Assyrian counterpart, Tukultī-apil-Ešarra,Synchronistic king list, KAV 216, Ass 14616c, ii 17 and fragment KAV 12, VAT 11338, 5ff. was antagonistic and he launched a raid early in his reign into Assyria, capturing the cultic idols of Adad and Šala from Ekallāte, a town only around thirty miles from Assur. For his part, Tukultī-apil-Ešarra led several retaliatory raids into the heartland of Babylonia, recalled with typical bombastic rhetoric:

The Synchronistic History recalls the battles were in the first instance “by the Lower Zab, opposite Ahizûhina, and in the second year he defeated Marduk-nadin-ahhe at Gurmarritu, which is upstream from Akkad.”Synchronistic History ii 14-24, preserved in three copies, K 4401a + Rm 854, K 4401b and Sm 2106. Although “Ugarsallu (immediately south of the Lesser Zab) he plundered as far as Lubda (located in the area of Arrapha). He ruled every part of Suhu (in the middle Euphrates Valley) as far as Rapiqu (southern border of Assyria),” these places are on the periphery of Babylonia and the idols were not recovered until centuries later:

''Kudurru'' tradition

There are seven kudurrus, two building inscriptions, four Luristan bronze daggers, oneLuristan dagger ME 123060. "belonging to Šamaš-killani, officer of the king," a Sumerian inscription on a copper cylinderCopper Cylinder BM 123124, 61 lines. and one unpublished garment inventoryEconomic text H.S. 157 dated to his fifth year listing clothes brought to Nippur from Babylon by Napsamenni, seer and high priest of Enlil. attesting to this king. The kudurrus show normal real estate activity in northern Babylonia. One,Aradsu, son of Rišnunak, Kudurru BM 90938, published as BBSt 25. issued by Aradsu, son of Rišnunak, grants independence from forced labor for the residents living near the mouth of the Ṣalmani Canal, dated to his first year. Another gives land to a certain Adad-zer-iqiša in grateful thanks for his efforts fighting the Assyrians and is dated to his 10th year. One of the witnesses is given as Abullu-tetaparâu, the son of the king of Babylon. Another,Kudurru IM 90585, ii 10. dated to his 13th year, confirms the ownership of seven GUR of arable land to a certain Iqīša-Ninurta and is witnessed in the city of Opis.

Another kudurruThe Warwick Kudurru, Warwickshire Museum. dated eight months earlier in the same year granted Iddin-Ninurta, a leather worker, two GUR of land and was witnessed by the same seven officers of royal service: Irība-Ištarān, the governor of Isin, Bābilāiu, the chamberlain, Eulmaš-šākin-šumi, the marshall, Marduk-andulli, the vizier, Enlil-mukîn-apli, the commandant, Ea-kudirri-ibni, the provincial governor and Nabû-nādin-aḫḫē, the overseer of the storehouse. As this was from Kār-Bēl-mātāti, a town probably in the vicinity of Babylon, it is thought the men were courtiers who accompanied the king in his travels. Only two of these officials, Bābilāiu and Nabû-nādin-aḫḫē, had been in office during Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē's first year, as they appeared in the sequence of seven witnesses on the earliest, "Aradsu, son of Rišnunak," kudurru. Another is a deed recording Marduk-naṣir’s purchase of land from Amêl-Enlil, son of Khanbi, for a chariot, saddles, two asses, an ox, grain, oil, and certain garments. This gives Šapiku, the son of Itti-Marduk-balāṭu, the “son” of Arad-Ea, as the land-surveyor and this is probably the same individual as the last witness, “scribe” and “son of Arad-Ea,” on a kudurruYBC 2154 kudurru. dated to Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē’s eighth year.

''Kudurrus'' dated to his reign

Main article: Marduk-nadin-ahhe kudurru

• The Amrân ibn ‘Ali kudurru in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.
• Land grant to Adad-zer-iqiša kudurru, in the British Museum
• Marduk-naṣir land purchase kudurru, in the British Museum
• Aradsu, son of Rišnunak, tax exemption tablet, in the British Museum
• Iqīša-Ninurta land deed confirmation kudurru, in the National Museum of Iraq
• The Warwick (“Land grant to Iddin-Ninurta”) Kudurru, Warwickshire Museum
• Land purchase kudurru with a secondary inscription of Marduk-šāpik-zēri, in the Yale Babylonian Collection Also assigned to this era is the undated Caillou Michaux (kudurru), in the Musée du Louvre.

Other sources

He restored the Eganunmaḫ at Ur, without any apparent alteration to the plan of Kassite king Kurigalzu’s (Kurigalzu I or II undetermined) original plan, and constructed a “kitchen complex” on the northwest side of the ziggurat. Three inscribed door-sockets were found at the sanctuary. He may be portrayed by the 3rd king in the Prophecy A,Obverse ii 2-8. whose reign is a successful and fertile 18 years, but whose rule comes to end in a revolt. According to a later commentator, a certain Ea-mušallim provided him with an astrological report (ittu ina šamȇ) concerning a solar eclipse in 1090.

An Assyrian Chronicle reports that Marduk-nadin-ahhe lost his throne and “disappeared” (šadâ ēmid) following disruptions caused by Arameans migrating into Mesopotamia under the pressure from famine, the Babylonians themselves apparently resorting to cannibalism, "[....they] ate one another's flesh..."Assyrian chronicle fragment 4, VAT 10453, 2f.

Notes

References

Inscriptions

References

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