Šamaš-mudammiq, inscribed ^md''Šamaš-''^mu''mudammiq'' (^mdUTU-''mu''-SIG₅),''Synchronistic King List'' fragment, KAV 182, Ass 13956dh, iii 9. meaning “

Šamaš Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...

shows favor,” was the 4th king of

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

in a sequence designated as the Dynasty of ''E'' and ruled during the latter part of the 10th century BC. He was contemporary with 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 Adad-Nārāri IIChronicle 24, BM 27859, 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. ...

'', r 2. with whom he sparred.''Synchronistic History'' (ABC 21), tablet K 4401a + Rm 854, iii 1–8.

Biography

Of unknown ancestry, the duration of his reign is equally uncertain. That he followed Mār-bῑti-áḫḫē-idinna is indicated by the sequence on the Assyrian ''Synchronistic King List'',''Synchronistic King List'' , KAV 216, Ass 14616c, iii 13. but Assyrian contact was scanty and this may merely record those rulers who had interacted, omitting those who did not. His rule marks the resumption of contacts characterized as “battles, alliances, shifting of borders, and (later) diplomatic marriages that seem to have bound the two countries together.” The ''Annals'' of Adad-Nārāri II record that the Assyrian king conducted a campaign against Babylonia during the last decade of the 10th century although the precise chronology is vague, perhaps between 908 and 902 BC. He claims to have defeated Šamaš-muddamiq who “set up a line of battle at the foot of Mount Yalman,” possibly southeastern

Jebel Hamrin Hamrin is a town in northern Iraq which sits on the western shore of a man-made lake of the same name, both of which are at the southern extreme of the Hamrin Mountains. Hamrin is home to approximately 25,000 people. Most revenue comes from fishi ...

, when he attempted to make a stand in the pass and “his chariots, and teams of horses, (Adad-Nārāri) took away from him.” The fortresses were on the middle

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

, less than 100 miles from Babylon.

Notes

Inscriptions

References

{{Babylonian kings 10th-century BC kings of Babylon 9th-century BC kings of Babylon