Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia. It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. 1894 BC. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called "the country of Akkad", a deliberate archaism in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire. It was often involved in rivalry with the older state of Assyria to the north and Elam to the east in Ancient Iran. Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi created a short-lived empire, succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Old Assyrian Empire. The Babylonian Empire rapidly fell apart after the death of Hammurabi and reverted to a small kingdom.
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.
Marduk-apla-iddina II was a Chaldean leader from the Bit-Yakin tribe, originally established in the territory that once made the Sealand in southern Babylonia. He seized the Babylonian throne in 722 BC from Assyrian control and reigned from 722 BC to 710 BC, and from 703 BC to 702 BC. His reign is defined by some historians as an illegitimate Third Dynasty of the Sealand, inside of the IXth Dynasty of Babylon, or Assyrian Dynasty.
Marduk-apla-iddina I, contemporarily written in cuneiform as 𒀭𒀫𒌓𒌉𒍑𒋧𒈾dAMAR.UTU-IBILA-SUM-na and meaning in Akkadian: "Marduk has given an heir", was the 34th Kassite king of Babylon ca. 1171–1159 BC. He was the son and successor of Melišipak, from whom he had previously received lands, as recorded on a kudurru, and he reigned for 13 years. His reign is contemporary with the Late Bronze Age collapse. He is sometime referred to as Merodach-Baladan I.
Nebuchadnezzar I or Nebuchadrezzar I, reigned c. 1121–1100 BC, was the fourth king of the Second Dynasty of Isin and Fourth Dynasty of Babylon. He ruled for 22 years according to the Babylonian King List C, and was the most prominent monarch of this dynasty. He is best known for his victory over Elam and the recovery of the cultic idol of Marduk.
Aššūr-reš-iši II, inscribed maš-šur-SAG-i-ši, meaning "(the god) Aššur has lifted my head," was the king of Assyria, 971–967 BC, the 96th to be listed on the Assyrian Kinglist. His short five-year reign is rather poorly attested and somewhat overshadowed by the lengthy reigns of his predecessor, Aššur-rabi II, and successor, Tukultī-apil-Ešarra II.
Enlil-nādin-apli, "Enlil (is) giver of an heir," reigned c. 1099–1096 BC, was the 5th king of the 2nd dynasty of Isin, and the 4th dynasty of Babylon. He was the son and successor of Nabu-kudurri-usur and was toppled by a revolt led by his uncle, Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē.
The First Sealand dynasty, (URU.KÙKI) or the 2nd Dynasty of Babylon, very speculatively c. 1732–1460 BC, is an enigmatic series of kings attested to primarily in laconic references in the king lists A and B, and as contemporaries recorded on the Assyrian Synchronistic king list A.117. Initially it was named the "Dynasty of the Country of the Sea" with Sealand later becoming customary. The dynasty, which had broken free of the short lived, and by this time crumbling Old Babylonian Empire, was named for the province in the far south of Mesopotamia, a swampy region bereft of large settlements which gradually expanded southwards with the silting up of the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Sealand pottery has been found at Girsu, Uruk, and Lagash but in no site north of that. The later kings bore pseudo-Sumerian names and harked back to the glory days of the dynasty of Isin. The third king of the dynasty was even named for the ultimate king of the dynasty of Isin, Damiq-ilišu. Despite these cultural motifs, the population predominantly bore Akkadian names and wrote and spoke in the Akkadian language. There is circumstantial evidence that their rule extended at least briefly to Babylon itself. In later times, a Sealand province of the Neo-Babylonian Empire also existed.
Zababa-šuma-iddina was the 35th and next to last king of the Kassite or 3rd dynasty of Babylon, who reigned for just one year, ca. 1158 BC. He was without apparent ties to the royal family and there is uncertainty concerning the circumstances of his coming to power.
Enlil-nādin-aḫe, “Enlil gives a brother,” or Enlil-šuma-uṣur, “Enlil protect the son,” depending on the reading of –MU-ŠEŠ, ca. 1157—1155 BC, was the 36th and final king of the Kassite or 3rd dynasty that had ruled over Babylon and the land known as Karduniash since perhaps around 1500 BC.
Mār-bīti-apla-uṣur, inscribed DUMU-É-A-PAB on contemporary inscriptions on Lorestān bronze arrowheads or dA-É-AxA-ŠEŠ in the Dynastic Chronicle, means “O Marbīti, protect the heir.” Marbīti was a deity associated with Dēr with a sanctuary in Borsippa. Mārbītiaplauṣur reigned from c. 980 to 975 BC and was the sole king of Babylon’s short-lived seventh or Elamite Dynasty. He was a contemporary of Assyrian king Aššur-reš-iši II.
Simbar-Šipak, or perhaps Simbar-Šiḫu, was a Babylonian king who reigned c. 1021–1004 BC.
Eulmaš-šākin-šumi, inscribed in cuneiform as É-ul-maš-GAR-MU, or prefixed with the masculine determinative m, “Eulmaš (is) the establisher of offspring”, c. 1000–984 BC, was the founder of the 6th Dynasty of Babylon, known as the Bῑt-Bazi Dynasty, after the Kassite tribal group from which its leaders were drawn. The Dynastic Chronicle tells us that he ruled for fourteen years, the King List A, seventeen years.
Širikti-šuqamuna, inscribed phonetically in cuneiform mši-rik-ti-dšu-qa-mu-nu and meaning “gift of Šuqamuna”, c. 981 BC, succeeded his fellow “son of Bazi,” Ninurta-kudurrῑ-uṣur I, as 3rd king of the Bῑt-Bazi or 6th Dynasty of Babylon and exercised the kingship for just 3 months, an insufficient time to merit an official regnal year.
Mār-bῑti-aḫḫē-idinna, mdMār-bῑti-áḫḫē-idinna (mdDUMU-E-PAP-AŠ), meaning Mār-bītihas given me brothers, became king of Babylonia c. 939 BC, succeeding his brother, Ninurta-kudurrῑ-uṣur II, and was the 3rd king of the Dynasty of E to sit on the throne. He is known only from king lists, a brief mention in a chronicle and as a witness on a kudurru from his father, Nabû-mukin-apli's reign.
Erība-Marduk, inscribed mri-ba [dAMAR.UTU], was the king of Babylon, very speculatively ca. 769 – 761 BC. He was one of three Chaldaean tribal leaders to occupy the Babylonian throne during the course of the 8th century and would be looked back as the ancestor figure during future reigns of members of this group. A member of the Bīt-Yakin tribe, who was later to be given the title "re-establisher of the foundation(s) of the land," he was credited with restoring stability to the country after years of turmoil.
Marduk-apla-uṣur, inscribed dAMAR.UTU-A-ŠE[Š], or mdŠID-A-[x], meaning “O Marduk, protect the heir” was an 8th century BC Chaldean tribal leader who ruled as King of Babylon after the reign of Marduk-bēl-zēri. He is known only from three inscriptions and ruled during a period of chaos. He should not be confused with the Marduk-apla-uṣur who ruled Suḫi on the middle Euphrates and paid tribute to Salmānu-ašarēdu III a generation or so earlier.
Kassite deities were the pantheon of the Kassites, a group inhabiting parts of modern Iraq, as well as Iran and Syria, in the second and first millennia BCE. A dynasty of Kassite origin ruled Babylonia starting with the fifteenth century BCE. Kassites spoke the Kassite language, known from references in Mesopotamian sources. Many of the known Kassite words are names of Kassite deities. Around twenty have been identified so far. The evidence of their cult is limited, and only two of them, Šuqamuna and Šumaliya, are known to have had a temple. Other well attested Kassite deities include the presumed head god Ḫarbe, the weather god Buriaš, the sun god Saḫ and the deified mountain Kamulla.
The Middle Babylonian period, also known as the Kassite period, in southern Mesopotamia is dated from c. 1595 – c. 1155 BC and began after the Hittites sacked the city of Babylon. The Kassites, whose dynasty is synonymous with the period, eventually assumed political control over the region and consolidated their power by subjugating the Sealand dynasty c. 1475 BC. After the subjugation of the Sealand dynasty, the Kassites unified the region of Babylonia into a single political entity. At the height of the Middle Babylonian period, the Kassite kings were engaging in commerce, trade, and organising diplomatic marriages with the kings of Egypt and other regional powers. However, after a period of gradual decline, the Middle Babylonian period collapsed with the fall of the Kassite dynasty c. 1155 BC. The collapse came as a result of an Assyrian invasion, that temporarily displaced the Kassites from their rule over southern Mesopotamia. Finally, the Elamites conducted various raids and eventually invaded Babylonian c. 1158 BC, which brought the Kassite dynasty and Middle Babylonian period to an end.
