Ilī-ippašra

Ilī-ippašra, meaning "My god became reconciled with me",[1] was a Babylonian who may have been adopted or apprenticed during the reign of Kassite king Kurigalzu I, ending ca. 1375 BC, and rose to become an official, possibly the governor of Dilmun, ancient Bahrain, during the later reign of Burna-Buriaš II, ca. 1359-1333 BC (short chronology).

Biography

A tablet in poor condition, believed to have been found at Larsa details the adoption contract for Ilī-ippašra. His foster parent was Sin-napširra, son of Biriritum, who obtained him from Nazi-Šiqmi, “his master”, an obviously Kassite name. It was witnessed by a priest, a scribe and two others and was dated the 19th day of Šabatu, the year Kurigalzu built the Ekurigibara, the Enlil temple in Nippur.[2]

We next meet Ilī-ippašra some years later, when he is stationed in Dilmun, in his correspondence with Enlil-kidinni, who was the governor, or šandabakku, of Nippur, ca. 1342-1336 BC,[3] whom he addresses as Illiliya, a familiar hypocoristicon.[4] The Kassite administrative center was at Qal'at al-Bahrain, confirmed in 1995 by the discovery of a large cache of cuneiform tablets.[5] Three letters have been found in Iraq, but one of these[6] is illegible apart from the opening salutation and mention of a certain “royal command”. Much of the content of the other letters concerns the nefarious activites of the Aḫlamû, where the term is used perhaps as “Bedouin” might be today, as it was employed elsewhere as a synonym for Amurru in the Middle Euphrates and in western Syria regions.[3] Ilī-ippašra does not appear to be totally in control of the events unfolding around him. He greets his brother with “may Inzak and Meskilak, the gods of Dilmun, guard your life” and then speaks to him of their depredations:

The Aḫlamû who surround me have taken away the dates and as far as I am concerned, there is nothing that I can do.
—Ilī-ippašra, Tablet Ni.615, lines 13 to 16.
The Aḫlamû certainly speak words of hostility and plunder to me. Of making peace, they do not speak to me. When I asked them for Bēlû-ḫebil, they did not hand him over.
—Ilī-ippašra, Tablet Ni.641, lines 12 to 22.

A series of madbasa, or date presses were housed in the palace, evidence of the importance of this agricultural activity and the earliest appearance for this equipment which was later to became common on the island.[5]

He warns of travelers to Babylonia, a certain Iltānu who is to leave, and [Ku]tetu who has already left, of whom he says “for the departure of this [woman] of his, I am not responsible.”[7] Much of the rest of the correspondence concerns his inability to complete the repairs to the palace, or É.GAL, or the decrepit local temple, projects which are beset by visions, possibly squatters and other demands on his meager resources.[8] The outcome of the dispute with the Aḫlamû was apparently violent as a massive fire gutted the complex and it was abandoned, never to be rebuilt.[5]

References

  1. ^ Stamm 1949:190, DIŠ:ì-lí-ip-pa-aš-ra (AbB 4,60,12).
  2. ^ Veysel Donbaz (1987). "Two Documents from the Diverse Collections in Istanbul". In Martha A. Morrison, David I. Owen. General studies and excavations at Nuzi 9/1. Eisenbrauns. pp. 72—73.  discussing tablet D 85, formerly designated as Ni. 2860.
  3. ^ a b J. A. Brinkman (Apr. - Jun., 2004). "Review: Administration and Society in Kassite Babylonia, Reviewed work(s): Beiträge zur Verwaltung und Gesellschaft Babyloniens in der Kassitenzeit by Leonhard Sassmannshausen". Journal of the American Oriental Society 124 (2): 283—304. 
  4. ^ P. B. Cornwall (1952). "Two Letters from Dilmun". Journal of Cuneiform Studies 6 (4): 137–145. JSTOR 1359537. 
  5. ^ a b c Pierre Lombard (2000). "The Occupation of Dilmun by the Kassites of Mesopotamia". Traces of Paradise: The Archaeology of Bahrain 2500BC - 300AD. Dilmun Committee. pp. 108—111. 
  6. ^ BE XVII 88, found during the German excavations at Babylon.
  7. ^ Tablet Ni. 615, lines 9 to 11.
  8. ^ Eric Olijdam (1997). "Nippur and Dilmun in the second half of the fourteenth century BC: a re-evaluation of the Ilī-ippašra letters". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 27: 199–203.