Bel-ibni was a Babylonian nobleman who served as

King of Babylon The king of Babylon (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šakkanakki Bābili'', later also ''šar Bābili'') was the ruler of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon and its kingdom, Babylonia, which existed as an independent realm from the 19th centur ...

for several years as the nominee of 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 king Sennacherib. Sennacherib, believing that direct Assyrian rule was too costly, appointed Bel-ibni, a young Babylonian nobleman raised at the Assyrian court, King of Babylon in 703 BC. The experiment with a native puppet king was hardly more successful than direct Assyrian control. Soon Bel-ibni was conspiring with the Chaldeans and Elamites against the Assyrians. After defeating the opposing coalition in 700 BC, Sennacherib deposed Bel-ibni and carried him off to Assyrian exile, replacing him with Sennacherib's own son, Ashur-nadin-shumi.Jean-Jacques Glassner, ''Mesopotamian Chronicles'', Atlanta, 2004, p. 197.

References

8th-century BC births 7th-century BC deaths 8th-century BC Babylonian kings 7th-century BC Babylonian kings Year of birth unknown {{Iraq-bio-stub