The early Kassite rulers are the sequence of eight, or possibly nine, names which appear on the Babylonian and Assyrian King Lists purporting to represent the first or ancestral monarchs of the dynasty that was to become 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 ...

or 3rd Dynasty of Babylon which governed for 576 years, 9 months, 36 kings, according to the ''King List A''.''King List A'', BM 33332. In all probability the dynasty ruled Babylon for around 350 years.

The King list tradition

The era of the early Kassite rulers is characterized by a dearth of surviving historical records. The principal sources of evidence for the existence of these monarchs are the Babylonian ''King List A'', which shows just the first six, and 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 ''Synchronistic King List'',''Synchronistic King List'' A.117, Assur 14616c. which gives their names indistinctly, and are compared below, after Brinkman. The tenth position of the Synchronistic King List is occupied by Burna-Buriyåš I.

History

Possibly the earliest military action involving the Kassites is preserved in the date formulaerin Ka-aš-šu-ú in the date formula. for

Samsu-iluna Samsu-iluna (Amorite: ''Shamshu''; c. 1750–1712 BC) was the seventh king of the founding Amorite dynasty of Babylon, ruling from 1750 BC to 1712 BC ( middle chronology), or from 1686 to 1648 BC (short chronology). He was the son and successor of ...

's ninth year (1741 BC). It is called "the year of the Kassite army","Year in which Samsu-iluna the king (defeated) the totality of the strength of the army / the troops of the Kassites". in which it seems that he was not wholly successful at repelling the raiders, a sign of weakness which triggered widespread revolts in cities all over Mesopotamia and a decisive response from Samsu-iluna. The fourth year-name"Year Abi-eszuh the king by the exalted command of An, Enlil and the great power of Marduk (subdued) the armies and troops of the Kassites", (BM 16998). of Abi-Ešuh (1707 BC), the son and successor of Samsu-iluna, records that Abi-Ešuh "subdued the Kassites". Around the same time a king of the middle Euphrates kingdom called Ḫana, successor state of Mari, bore the name Kaštiliašu, but apart from this name there is no evidence that the region was occupied by Kassites during this time, and he was succeeded by Šunuhru-Ammu, whose name is Amorite. Two seal impressionsBulla seals TQ5-T105 and TQ5-T99. found at Ḫana's capital

Terqa Terqa is the name of an ancient city discovered at the site of Tell Ashara on the banks of the middle Euphrates in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, approximately from the modern border with Iraq and north of the ancient site of Mari, Syria. ...

read, " iil Ninkar k son of Arši-a ��um evant of Ila a nd Kštili

šu The cuneiform šu sign is a common, multi-use syllabic and alphabetic sign for ''šu'', ''š'', and ''u''; it has a subsidiary usage for syllabic ''qat''; it also has a majuscule-(capital letter) Sumerogram usage for ŠU, for Akkadian language ...

. Frayne speculates that Kaštiliašu may have been a Babylonian installed by

after his defeat of Iadiḫ-abu and not a native ruler. A first-millennium BC school textBM 77438. purporting to be a copy of one of his inscriptions credits Gandaš with the conquest of ''Bà-bà-lam''. This reads: Agum I may be the subject of a 7th-century BC historical inscription which also mentions Damiq-ilῑšu, the last king of the 1st Dynasty of Isin.K. 3992 line 10. The Agum-Kakrime InscriptionAgum-Kakrime Inscription K. 4149+. names Agum ra-bi-i,''rabû'' = "the great" Kaštiliašu, Abi-Rattaš, and Ur-šigurumaš as ancestors of Agum-Kakrime (

Agum II Agum IIInscribed ''a-gu-um-ka-ak-ri-me'' in his eponymous inscription, elsewhere unattested. (also known as Agum Kakrime) was ''possibly'' a Kassite ruler who may have become the 8th or more likely the 9th king of the third Babylonian dynasty som ...

), each son of the preceding except Ur-šigurumaš, who is described as descendant of Abi-Rattaš. The traces in the ninth position of the ''Synchronistic King List'' do not allow for the name ''Agum'', so ''Kakrime'' has been suggested as an alternative.

The Tell Muḥammed texts

Excavations in the southeastern suburb of Baghdad known as Tell Muḥammed yielded two archives of the first Sealand Dynasty period. Those from level 3, excavated in the 1990s, were dated with year names, for example: "Year water carried King Ḫurduzum up to the city". Those from level 2, excavated in the 1970s, possessed a slightly different date formula, for example: "Year 38 Babylon was resettled.MU.38.KAM.MA ''ša'' KA₂.DINGIR.RA^ki ''uš.bu''. Year King Šipta'ulzi", and are mostly silver and cereal loans. The layers are thought to be around a generation apart. The resettlement of Babylon has been linked to the aftermath of the Hittite sack of the city under

Mursili I Mursili I (also known as Mursilis; sometimes transcribed as Murshili) was a king of the Hittites 1620-1590 BC, as per the middle chronology, the most accepted chronology in our times, (or alternatively c. 1556–1526 BC, short chronology), and w ...

. Boese proposed the two kings be identified with those in positions seven and eight, and that a slightly different reading of Ḫurbazum for Ḫurduzum be adopted, a position disputed by Brinkman.

Inscriptions

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Early Kassite rulers Kassites States and territories established in the 18th century BC States and territories disestablished in the 16th century BC Babylonian kings Kassite kings