Nebukadnezar I of Nebukadrezar (1145 - 1114 v.Chr.) was de vierde en belangrijkste koning van de Isin-dynastie van Babylonië (4e dynastie). Hij verkreeg onafhankelijkheid van Assyrië en wist de invloed van Elam terug te dringen. Hij veroverde de steden Zanqu in het Noordoosten en Hit in het midden van de Eufraat en noemde zich heerser over Lullubu (oostland) en Ammuru (westland), al zagen de Assyriërs dit waarschijnlijk anders. Hij deed waarschijnlijk tweemaal een aanval op de Elamieten en wist het standbeeld van Marduk, de god van de Babyloniërs, op hen te heroveren.
Zijn eigenlijke naam is: Nabû-kudurri-ussur wat zoiets betekent als "god Nabû, bescherm mijn oudste zoon" of "Nabû, bescherm de grens".
Nebuchadnezzar I[nb 2] /?n?bj?k?d'n?z?r/, ca. 11261103 BC, was the fourth king of the Second Dynasty of Isin and Fourth Dynasty of Babylon. He ruled for 23 years according to the Babylonian King List C,[i 2] and was the most prominent monarch of this dynasty. He is best known for his victory over Elam and the recovery of the cultic idol of Marduk.
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Biography
He is unrelated to his namesake, Nabû-kudurri-u?ur II, who has come to be known by the name Nebuchadnezzar by biblical scholars. Consequently it would be anachronistic to apply this designation retroactively to the earlier king, as he does not make an appearance in that later publication. He is misidentified on the Chronicle Concerning the Reign of ama-uma-ukin[i 4] as the brother of irikti-uqamuna probably in place of Ninurta-kudurr?-u?ur I.[1] He succeeded his father, Ninurta-nadin-umi, and was succeeded in turn by his son Enlil-nadin-apli, brother Marduk-nadin-a??e and then nephew Marduk-apik-zeri, the only members of this family known to have reigned during the dynasty.
The Enmeduranki legend, or the seed of kingship,[i 5] is a Sumero-Akkadian composition relating his endowment with perfect wisdom (nam-kù-zu) by the god Marduk and his claim to belong to a distant line of kingship from before the flood and to be an offspring of Enmeduranki, king of Sippar. It begins with a lament over preceding events:
At that time, in the reign of a previous king, conditions changed. Good departed and evil was regular,[nb 3] The lord became angry and got furious. He gave the command and the gods of the land abandoned it [ ] its people were incited to commit crime. The guardians of peace became furious, and went up to the dome of heaven, the spirit of justice stood aside. who guards living beings, prostrated the people, they all became like those who have no god. Evil demons filled the land, the namtar-demon [ ] they penetrated the cult centers. The land diminished, its fortunes changed. The wicked Elamite, who did not hold (the lands) treasures in esteem, [ ] his battle, his attack was swift. He devastated the habitations, he made them into a ruin, he carried off the gods, he ruined the shrines.[2]
The seed of kingship, lines 15-24.
War with Elam
In the first instance, his invasion of Elam was thwarted when his army was struck by plague and he narrowly escaped death in the stampede to return home. In his second raid, or i??u, accompanied by the Kassite chieftain itti- or LAK-ti-Marduk who struck the decisive blow,[i 1] he was able to overrun Elam in a surprise attack conducted from Der during the hottest of the summer months, Dumuzi, when
the axes (held in the hand) burned like fire and the road-surfaces were scorching like flame. There was no water in the wells and drinking supplies were unavailable. The strength of the powerful horses slackened and the legs of even the strongest man weakened.[3]
LAK-ti Marduk kudurru, i 1721.
A battle routed Elamite king ?ulteludi-Inuinak on the banks of the river Ulaya, the dust of the battle darkening the sky. He was then able to sack Susa and retrieved the statue of Marduk (here called Bel) and that of the goddess Il-aliya (DINGIR.URU-ia).[i 6] The campaign destroyed Elam as a power and provided a defining moment for the Babylonians akin to the siege of Troy for the ancient Greeks.[4]
This famous victory was celebrated in hymns, epic poetry and the Marduk prophecy.[i 7] Known as Nabû-kudurri-u?ur and Marduk or the Epic of Nabû-kudurri-u?ur[i 8] a poetic document deals with the legendary story of his recovery of the statue of Marduk and is one of two hymns glorify his military achievements. It opens with the king in despair, lamenting over the absence of Marduk, "beautiful Babylon pass through your heart, Turn your face toward (your temple) Esagila, which you love!
The Hymn to Marduk,[i 9] celebrating victory over the Elamites, is assigned to him rather than Ashurbanipal who had a similar triumph, on stylistic grounds. There is a poetic pseudo-autobiography,[i 10] which does not actually mention him by name. An interlinear Sumero-Akkadian text[i 11] describes the events preceding the return of the statue from Elam and its joyous installation in Babylon.[5] A seventh century astrological report alludes to observations made during his reign and their relationship to his devastation of Elam.
Other conflicts
The Synchronistic History[i 12] relates his entente cordiale with his contemporary, the Assyrian king Aur-rea-ii I,[i 13] and subsequently the outcome of two military campaigns against the border fortresses of Zanqi and Idi he conducted in violation of this agreement. The first was curtailed by the arrival of Aur-rea-iis main force, causing Nabû-kudurri-u?ur to burn his siege engines and flee, while the second resulted in a battle in which the Assyrians apparently triumphed, slaughtered his troops (and) carried off his camp. It even reports the capture of the Babylonian field marshall, Karatu.[1]
He is titled as the conqueror of the Amorite lands,[nb 4] despoiler of the Kassites, in the LAK-ti Marduk kudurru, despite the beneficiary being a Kassite chieftain and ally, and having smitten the mighty Lullubû with weapons.[6]
Domestic affairs
His construction activities are memorialized in building inscriptions of the Ekitu-?egal-tila, temple of Adad, in Babylon, on bricks from the temple of Enlil in Nippur and appear in the later king Simbar-ipaks reference to his having built the throne of Enlil for the Ekur-igigal in Nippur. A late Babylonian inventory lists his donations of gold vessels in Ur and Nabonidus, ca. 555 to 539 BC, consulted his stele for the entu-priestess.
The earliest of three extant economic texts is dated to his eighth year. Together with two kudurrus and a stone memorial tablet, these are the only contemporary commercial records extant. Apart from the two deeds related to the Elamite campaign, the other kudurru[i 14] bears witness to a land grant to the niakku of Nippur, a certain Nudku-ibni.[7] His name appears on four Lorestan bronze daggers and there is a prayer to Marduk on two more. He may be the Nabû-kudurri-u?ur who is mentioned in the Chronicle of Market Prices[i 15] which records his ninth year but the context is lost.
Period literature
The Uruk List of Sages and Scholars[i 16] names aggil-kinam-ubbib as the ummânu, or sage, who served under him and the later king Adad-apla-iddina when he would author the Babylonian Theodicy,[8] and several literary texts are thought to originate from his age, written in both Sumerian and Akkadian.
Lambert has suggested that it was during his reign that Marduk was elevated to the head of the pantheon, displacing Enlil and that the Enûma Eli was possibly composed, but some historians claim an origin during the earlier Kassite dynasty.[6] A text concerning chemical process (imitations for precious stones) bears a colophon identifying it as a copy of an older Babylonian original but places it in his library
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