Nabû-mukin-apli, typically inscribed ^dAG-DU-A, “ Nabû (is) establisher of a legitimate heir,” ruled 974–939 BC, founded Babylon’s 8th dynasty, the so-called ''Dynasty of E'', and ruled for thirty-six years.''Babylonian King List A'', tablet BM 33332 iii 15 in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. The ''Synchronistic Kinglist'' records him as a contemporary of the

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 ...

n king

Tiglath-Pileser II Tiglath-Pileser II (from the Hebraic form Spelled as "" "Tiglath-Pileser" in the Books of Kings () or as "" "Tilgath-Pilneser" in the Books of Chronicles (). of Akkadian ''Tukultī-apil-Ešarra'') was King of Assyria The king of Assyria (Akkadia ...

.The ''Synchronistic Kinglist'' A.117, KAV 216 (Ass. 14616c), iii 9 ( İstanbul Arkeoloji Műzeleri) and also fragments KAV 10 (VAT 11261, in the

Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin The Vorderasiatisches Museum (, ''Near East Museum'') is an archaeological museum in Berlin. It is in the basement of the south wing of the Pergamon Museum and has one of the world's largest collections of Southwest Asian art. 14 halls distrib ...

) ii 3 KAV 182 (Ass. 13956dh) iii 6. His reign was plagued by

Aramean The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The 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 The Eclectic Chronicle, referred to in earlier literature as the ''New Babylonian Chronicle'', is an ancient Mesopotamian account of the highlights of Babylonian history during the post-Kassite era prior to the 689 BC fall of the city of Babylon ...

''''Chronicle 24'', tablet BM 27859, lines 17 and 18. but without any surviving historical information. The '' Religious Chronicle''The ''Religious Chronicle'' (ABC 17), tablet BM 35968, iii 1 – iv 10. 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 The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

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) migrated into Babylonia, and settled in the far southeast of Babylonia just after his reign. A kudurru or boundary stone from Sippar (pictured), in southern Iraq, records a legal settlement, in his 25th year, 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 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 ...

family, the bīt-Abi-Rattaš, but had passed through marriage to the family of Buruša, a bow-maker. To complicate things, Arad-Sibitti had inadvertently killed Buruša’s slave with an arrow during the earlier reign of Ninurta-kudurri-uṣur I, 983–981 BC. Buruša had to pay 887 shekels to secure title against the various liens imposed by Arad-Sibitti’s creditors. The king’s three sons are listed as witnesses to the settlement. A recently identified kudurru from the east of the Tigris in the Diyala region on the Mingatu-karītu canal is dated to his 16th year and details the sales of two plots of land. There is another kudurru fragmentKudurru CBS 13873
( University Museum Philadelphia). but it is badly damaged and gives no useful information concerning his reign. A single unpublished economic text in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, Switzerland, is dated to his reign. His younger son, Rīmūt-ilī, acted as ''šatam ekurrāti'', overseer of the temples. He was succeeded by his other sons, firstly Ninurta-kudurri-uṣur II, for 8 months, and then Mar-biti-aḫḫe-idinna for an as yet undetermined period.

Inscriptions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nabu-mukin-apli 10th-century BC Babylonian kings 10th-century BC rulers