Marduk-šāpik-zēri, inscribed in
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...
dAMAR.UTU-DUB-NUMUN or phonetically ''-ša-pi-ik-ze-ri'', and meaning “
Marduk (is) the outpourer of seed”, reigned 1077–1065 BC, was the 7th king of the 2nd dynasty of
Isin and 4th dynasty of
Babylon and he ruled for thirteen years.
[''Babylonian King List C'' 7.] His relationship with his predecessor,
Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē is uncertain. His reign overlapped that of the
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
n king
Aššur-bēl-kala and his immediate predecessor(s) as the ''Synchronistic King List''
[''Synchronistic King List'', tablet KAV 216, excavation reference Ass 14616c, ii 18, 20.] places him alongside both
Tukultī-apil-Ešarra and Aššur-bēl-kala.
Biography
He succeeded Marduk-nadin-aḫḫē, who may possibly have been his father or brother, during a time when the
Arameans
The Arameans, or Aramaeans (; ; , ), were a tribal Semitic people in the ancient Near East, first documented in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of Aram, originally covered c ...
, driven by famine, were engaged in attacking the Assyrias under Tukultī-apil-Ešarra during his latter years, which Younger places in Tukultī-apil-Ešarra’s 32nd year, or 1081/80 BC. The events are recorded on a fragmentary chronicle.
[Assyrian chronicle fragment 4 8f.] In a letter from the Babylonian astrologer Bel-ušezib to
Esarhaddon, 681 – 669 BC, he wrote, “Bel has said: May Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, be seated on his throne like ''Marduk-šāpik-zēri!'' – I will deliver all the countries into his hands!” and this may suggest that he was a younger son of
Nabû-kudurri-uṣur or there was perhaps a struggle over the succession.
He repaired the E-zida at
Borsippa as witnessed by a building inscription, reproduced on a neo-Babylonian tablet,
[BM 26295.] from the reign of
Kandalanu whose colophon records that it was copied by Nabû-šumu-līšir. He provided gold votive offerings to the temples of
Ur,
Nippur and elsewhere.
[ He rebuilt the wall of Babylon, the Imgur-Enlil, for which a fragmentary inscription][ has come to light, confirmed by the '' Eclectic Chronicle''][The ''Eclectic Chronicle'' (ABC 24), tablet BM 27859 obverse lines 4 to 7.] which continues:
The ''Synchronistic Chronicle''[''Synchronistic Chronicle'' (ABC 21) ii 25-30.] confirms the alliance with Assyria, probably forged to counter the growing threat from the Arameans, and notes that he died during Aššur-bêl-kala’s reign.kudurru
A kudurru was a type of stone document used as a boundary stone and as a record of land grants to vassals by the Kassites and later dynasties in ancient Babylonia between the 16th and 7th centuries BC. The original kudurru would typically be stor ...
[Kudurru BM 104404, XII.] records the recovery of certain landed property by Sîn-Kabti-ilāni, the son of Šamaš-šum-lišir and grandson of Kudurri, the ''šāqû'' (lúBI.LUL), “cupbearer”. He granted land[Land grant to Širikti-Šuqamuna kudurru, IM 74651 in the National Museum of Iraq] in his first year to his trusty ''šakin bāb ekalli'', or palace gate officer, Širikti-Šuqamuna, the successor in this role to Uzib-Šiparru, and the land surveyor Nabû-zēra-iddina, “son of Arad-Ea”, was dispatched with a court official to measure it. A kudurru of his reign[Kudurru IM 80908.] records another member of the Arad-Ea clan measuring a field with a local official. If the reference to Marduk- ��can be identified with him in the '' Chronicle of the Market Prices'',[''Chronicle of the Market Prices'' (ABC 23), broken tablet BM 48498, lines 14 and 15.] the cost of goods was unexceptional.[ Another fragment of a kudurru][Kudurru YBC 2154, in the Yale Babylonian Collection, New Haven.] has a secondary inscription dated to his twelfth year. An inscription of Napsamenni, chief of the seers and high priest of Enlil in Nippur, adorns a duck weight, and there is an economic text[IM 85484, fragment of an administrative document, excavated 1926–7 by Woolley in the domestic quarter just outside the south-west wall of the temenos at Ur.] dated to his third year.[ This is an administrative record of an inspection by a storeman dated to the 30th day of the month of Ayaru (around March) marked with the seal of the king's officer, Adad-kudurra-uṣur.][ text 13.]
Inscriptions
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marduk-shapik-zeri
11th-century BC kings of Babylon
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
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