Marduk-zâkir-umi, inscribed mdPA-za-kir-MU in a reconstruction of two kinglists,[i 2][i 3] Marduk pronounced the name,[1] was a king of Babylon 855-819 BC during the mixed dynastic period referred to in antiquity as the dynasty of E. He was a contemporary of Assyrian kings, Salmanu-aaredu III)[i 4] (859824 BC) and ami-Adad V (824811 BC) with whom he was allied.[i 5]
Contents
Biography
There are few contemporary inscriptions bearing witness to his reign. A kudurru[i 6] granting Ibni-Itar, a kalû-priest of the temple of Eanna in Uruk, land by Marduk-zâkir-umi, is dated to his second year.[2] Nazi-Enlil was governor or andabakku (inscribed LÚGÚ.EN.NA) of Nippur, the first appearance of this office since Kassite times, as he appears as a witness along with the crown prince, Marduk-balassu-iqbi. A second kudurru records a private land sale near Dilbat.[i 1] His son, Enlil-apla-u?ur, was to succeed him in Marduk-balassu-iqbis reign.[i 7] A lapis Lazuli seal of this king depicting Marduk's statue resting on his pet dragon, Mu?uu, was an offering intended to be hung around an idol's neck.[3]
Marduk-bel-uatis revolt
His younger brother, Marduk-bel-uati (inscribed mdAMAR.UTU-EN-ú-sat), rebelled and established a brief regime in the Diyala region, seizing Daban.[i 8] Assyrian sources describe him as ar ?ammai, "usurper." During years 851 and 850 BC, the Assyrian king Salmanu-aaredu III came to Marduk-zâkir-umis aid (ana nirarutiu) and campaigned in concert[nb 1] to force him to flee to Jasubu mountainous northeast area of lower Diyala. During the first of the campaigns, Marduk-bel-uati made a stand at Ganannate but was defeated outside the city walls. He was able to take refuge within the city which remained unconquered. The second campaign resulted in the citys fall and he beat a hasty retreat with some of his officers, escaping "like a fox through a hole" to the city of Arman (?alman) which itself was taken after a siege.[4] Salmanu-aaredu left an account of these events on his Black Obelisk:
In the eighth year of my reign, Marduk-bêl-usâte, the younger brother, revolted against Marduk-zâkir-umi, king of Kardunia, and they divided the land in its entirety. In order to avenge Marduk-zâkir-umi, I marched out and captured Mê-Turnat. In the ninth year of my reign, I marched against Akkad a second time. I besieged Ganannate. As for Marduk-bêl-usâte, the terrifying splendor of Assur and Marduk overcame him and he went up into the mountains to save his life. I pursued him. I cut down with the sword Marduk-bêl-usâte and the rebel army officers who were with him.
Salmanu-aaredu, Black Obelisk[i 9]
During his campaign, Salmanu-aaredu captured the city of Baqani, extracting tribute from Adini of Bit-Dakkuri,[i 10] also from Muallim-Marduk of the Amukani and the leader of the Yakin tribes, the earliest attestation of these Chaldean groups and made a pilgrimage to Babylon where he recounted "I ascended to Esagila, the palace of the gods, the abode of the king of all "[nb 2][5] He practiced his religious devotions at other cultic shrines as his Black Obelisk recalls I went to the great urban centers. I made sacrifices in Babylon, Borsippa and Kutha.[nb 3][6] A relief from the front of his throne base[i 11] depicts him gripping Marduk-zâkir-umis hand in a public display of Assyro-Babylonian friendship.[5] The kings are flanked by beardless youths identified as the crown princes and presumed to be ami-Adad V and Marduk-balassu-iqbi, who would eventually come to conflict.
Babylonian intervention in the Assyrian succession
The opportunity came for Marduk-zâkir-umi to return the favor when, in his 32nd year of rule, ca. 826 BC, Salmanu-aaredu's own son, Aur-danin-apli ("Aur has strengthened the son") rebelled against his father. ami-Adad V recalled:
Where [my brother] Aur-danin-apli, in the time of Salmanu-aaredu, his father, acted wickedly, bringing about sedition, rebellion, and wicked plotting, caused the land to rise in revolt, prepared for war, brought the people of Assyria, north and south, to his side, and made bold speeches, brought the cities into the rebellion and set his face to begin strife and battle 27 cities, along with their fortifications revolted against Salmanu-aaredu, king of the four regions of the world, my father, and had gone to the side of Aur-danin-apli.[7]
ami-Adad V, Annals
The Synchronistic History remains curiously silent on these events, but a treaty[i 12] between ami-Adad and Marduk-zâkir-umi seems to place the Assyrian in an inferior position, indicative of his reliance on and debt to the Babylonian king. It concludes with a series of curses apparently copied from the Code of Hammurabi[8] and notably omitting the god Aur:
(May Marduk) destroy his country, smite his people [through hunge]r and famine. May Anu, fath]er of the gods, break his scepter. (May Illil) determine as his [fate] a reign of exhaustion, scarce days, years of fa[mine]. [Ma]y Ea ... dam [his] rivers [at the source]. (May ama) overturn his kingship. "(May ama) not j[udge] his lawsuit ([May Sîn]) [bring to an end (days, months and) years of] his [rei]gn in sighing and [moaning]. [May Adad deprive him of rai]n from heaven and of seasonal flooding from the underground water. (May Adad) [turn] his [country] into [ruin mounds left by a flood].[9]
ami-Adad/Marduk-zâkir-umi treaty, lines 1835 edited
It may well have been concluded while Salmanu-aaredu was still alive and been accompanied by the diplomatic marriage of Marduk-zâkir-umi's daughter, Shammuramat, the inspiration for the legend of Semiramis, to ami-Adad. The consequences were, however, that ami-Adad resented his subordinate position and came to wreak a terrible revenge during the reign of Marduk-zâkir-umi's son and heir, Marduk-balassu-iqbi.
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