Marduk-ahhe-eriba

Marduk-aḫḫē-erība, "Marduk has replaced the brothers,” ca. 1046 BC, ruled as 9^th king of the 2^nd Dynasty of Isin and the 4^th Dynasty of Babylon, but only for around 6 months.^{[nb 1]} According to the Synchronistic Kinglist^{[i 1]} he was a contemporary of the Assyrian king Aššur-bêl-kala.

Biography

The only contemporary source is a kudurru,^[1] or gray limestone boundary marker, in a private collection in Istanbul, which records a land grant to a certain Kudurrâ, a “Ḫabiru” and servant of the king, in a region of northern Babylonia called Bīt-Piri’-Amurru.^[2] The term Ḫabiru may represent a socio-economic rather than ethnic designation as the name Kudurrâ is possibly not linguistically of semitic derivation. The field was surveyed^{[nb 2]} by a diviner, a scribe named Nabû-ēriš the son of (i.e. descendant of) Arad-Ea, an administrator and a mayor.^[3]

It has been suggested that he is the 5^th king represented in the Prophecy A^{[i 2]} by the single line, “A prince will arise, and his days will be short. He will not rule in the land.”^[4]This is a late Assyrian tablet found at Assur and first published in 1923, which narrates a sequence of 12 Babylonian kings.

Inscriptions

1. ^ Synchronistic Kings List A.117, excavation reference Assur 14616c, ii 22.
2. ^ Obverse ii 19.

Notes

1. ^ The Kinglist A, iii 2 gives 1 year 6 months together with the beginning of his name, ^mdŠÚ-ŠEŠ-
2. ^ Termed rēš eqli našû, to lift the head of the field.

References