Nabû-mukin-apli

Nabû-mukin-apli
King of Babylon
Reign	978-943 BC
Predecessor	Mar-biti-apla-uṣur Dynasty of Elam
Successor	Ninurta-kudurri-uṣur II
Royal House	Dynasty of E

Nabû-mukin-apli, 978-943 BC, founded Babylon’s 8^th dynasty, the so-called Dynasty of E, and ruled for 36 years.^{[i 1]} The Synchronistic Kings List records him as a contemporary of Assyrian king Tukultī-apil-Ešarra II.^{[i 2]} His reign was plagued by Aramean invasions, resulting in Babylon being cut off from its agricultural hinterland for several years and consequently being unable to celebrate the new year festival.

Biography

His reign falls in the midst of the Babylonian dark age and consequently his ancient sources are meager. He is mentioned in the Eclectic Chronicle^{[i 3]} but without any surviving historical information. The Religious Chronicle^{[i 4]} provides the most detail about his reign. The Akitu festival, or New Year’s festival of Marduk and Nabû, was interrupted several times, indeed for a stretch of nine straight years, because the “Aramaeans were belligerent.” Nabu's shrine is in the neighboring city of Borsippa and the festival seemed to involve the transport of cultic idols to the city of Babylon. The Kaldu (Chaldeans) settled in Sumer during his reign.

A kudurru or boundary stone from Sippar,^{[i 5]} in southern Iraq, records a legal settlement of a feud over an estate in the district of the city of Sha-mamitu. It had formerly been the property of Arad-Sibitti, a provincial governor, and his cash-strapped Kassite family, the bīt-Abi-Rattaš, but had passed through marriage to the family of Buruša, a jewel-worker. To complicate things, Arad-Sibitti had inadvertently killed Buruša’s slave with a spear. Buruša had to pay 887 shekels to secure title against the various leans imposed by Arad-Sibitti’s creditors. The king’s three sons are listed as witnesses to the settlement. There is another kudurru fragment^{[i 6]} but it is badly damaged and gives no useful information concerning his reign.^[1] A single unpublished economic text in the Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva, Switzerland, is dated to his reign.^[2]

His younger son, Rīmūt-ilī, acted as šatam ekurrāti, overseer of the temples.^[3] He was succeeded by his other sons, firstly Ninurta-kudurri-uṣur II, for 8 months, and then Mar-biti-aḫḫe-idinna.^[4]

Inscriptions

1. ^ Babylonian King List A, tablet BM 33332 iii 15.
2. ^ The Synchronistic Kings List iii 9 and also fragments KAV 10 ii 3 KAV 182 iii 6.
3. ^ Chronicle 24, tablet BM 27859, lines17 and 18.
4. ^ The Religious Chronicle (ABC 17), tablet BM 35968, iii 1 – iv 10.
5. ^ Kudurru BM 90835 in the British Museum.
6. ^ CBS 13873.

References

1. ^ Brinkman M.E., Brinkman J.A. (1972). "A Tenth-Century Kudurru Fragment". Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie. 62 (1): 91–98. 
2. ^ Edmond Sollberger. "The Cuneiform Collection in Geneva". Journal of Cuneiform Studies (1 year = 1951): 18—20. JSTOR 1359571.  2.9.
3. ^ John P Nielsen (2008). Sons and descendants: A social history of kin groups and family names in the early neo-Babylonian period.. ProQuest. p. 99. 
4. ^ J. A. Brinkman (1982). "Babylonia, c. 1000 – 748 BC". In J. Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, N. G. L. Hammond, E. Sollberger. The Cambridge Ancient History, Part 1, Volume III. pp. 298—299.