Marduk-zer-X
King of Babylon
Reignc. 1041–1030 BC[a]
PredecessorMarduk-aḫḫē-erība
SuccessorNabû-šuma-libūr
House2nd Dynasty of Isin

Marduk-zer-X (ruled c. 1041–1030 BC) was the 10th and penultimate king of the 2nd Dynasty of Isin, the 4th Dynasty of Babylon. The last part of his name is unknown, as the principal sources of information, the King List A[i 1] and the Synchronistic King List[i 2] are both damaged at this place in the sequence, hence the “x”. The reading of “zer” in his name by Poebel is almost as uncertain, as the character may be MU which would correspond to šuma or similar.[2] His Assyrian contemporary was Aššur-nasir-apli I.

Biography

He ruled twelve years according to the King List A.[i 1] At present, there are no inscriptions that have been identified as contemporaneous with his reign and it is only his appearance on the king lists which identify him.[3]

There has been some speculation by Hallo, Younger, and others that the Prophecy A text[i 3] refers to the kings of this dynasty with King III corresponding to Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē, and King IV to Marduk-šāpik-zēri due to the coincidences of their length of reigns. For subsequent kings, the "prophecies" offer poor correlation with their reigns and known events. In this scheme, Marduk-zer-X is represented by King VI, whose text is very broken up but the rivers are said to have filled with silt.[4] This reconstruction depends on the identification of Adad-apla-iddina as a usurper, a position undermined by the discovery of the Walker Chronicle.[5]

He was succeeded by Nabû-šuma-libūr, whose relationship to him is uncertain.

Inscriptions

  1. ^ a b King List A, BM 33332,
  2. ^ Synchronistic King List A.117, Assur 14646c,
  3. ^ Prophecy A, tablet VAT 10179, KAR 421.

Notes

  1. ^ Previous scholarship assumed that Marduk-kabit-ahheshu, the founder of the second dynasty of Isin, ruled for the first years of his reign concurrently with the last Kassite king, but per Beaulieu (2018), more recent research suggests that this was not the case, necessitating a revised chronology of the kings after Marduk-kabit-ahheshu. Marduk-zer-X has previously been dated to about 1046–1033 BC, with 1041–1030 BC being Beaulieu's revised dates.[1]

References

  1. ^ Beaulieu, Paul-Alain (2018). A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75. Pondicherry: Wiley. pp. 154–155. ISBN 978-1405188999.
  2. ^ J. A. Brinkman (1968). A political history of post-Kassite Babylonia, 1158-722 B.C. Analecta Orientalia. p. 45.
  3. ^ D. J. Wiseman (1975). "XXXI: Assyria and Babylonia, c. 1200-1000 BC". In I. E. S. Edwards (ed.). Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 2, Part 2, History of the Middle East and the Aegean Region, c. 1380-1000 BC. Cambridge University Press. p. 471.
  4. ^ Tremper Longman (July 1, 1990). Fictional Akkadian autobiography: a generic and comparative study. Eisenbrauns. p. 161.
  5. ^ C.B.F. Walker (May 1982). "Babylonian Chronicle 25: A Chronicle of the Kassite and Isin II Dynasties". In G. van Driel (ed.). Assyriological Studies presented to F. R. Kraus on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Netherlands Institute for the Near East. p. 417.
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