Marduk-kabit-aḫḫēšu, "
Marduk is the most important among his brothers", 1153–1136 BC, was the founder of the 2nd Dynasty of
Isin, which was to rule
Babylon until around 1022 BC. He apparently acceded in the aftermath of the
Elamite overthrow of the
Kassite
The Kassites () were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC (short chronology).
They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon ...
Dynasty. His name and length of reign are most clearly ascertained from the ''Babylonian King List C''
[''Babylonian King List C''.] which gives 18 years for his rule.
Biography
The name of the dynasty, ''BALA PA.ŠE'', is a wordplay on the term ''išinnu'', “stalk,” written as ''PA.ŠE'' and is the only apparent reference to the actual city of
Isin as the seat of their rule was elsewhere. He should not be confused with the Middle-Assyrian scribe of the same name who authored two documents
[KAR 24 and AfO TV 92771-73.] in the library of
Tukultī-apil-Ešarra around 30 years later.
His
Elamite contemporary was probably Shilhak-Inshushinak I, the brother and successor of Kutir-Nahhunte II. In a series of campaigns he seems to have driven out the Elamite hordes. Whether there was an Elamite interregnum between the fall of the previous dynasty and the resumption of local rule or whether there was an overlap with the previous Kassite dynasty has not been determined.
The Babylonian tradition has his succession following seamless after that of the last Kassite king, but this is unlikely. After seeing off the Elamites, he turned his attention to
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
and the north, capturing the city of Ekallatum.
The dynasty marks the ascendance of the cult of
Marduk, since 6 of the 11 kings of the dynasty were to include his name as a theophoric element, and he was to become entrenched as the supreme deity of the pantheon. He was succeeded by his son, Itti-Marduk-balāṭu.
Inscriptions
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marduk-kabit-ahheshu
12th-century BC Babylonian kings
12th-century BC rulers