Kadašman-Ḫarbe II, inscribed
d''Ka-dáš-man-Ḫar-be'', ''Kad-aš-man-Ḫar-be'' or variants and meaning ''I believe in Ḫarbe'', the lord of the
Kassite pantheon corresponding to
Enlil
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Bab ...
, succeeded
Enlil-nādin-šumi, as the 30th
Kassite
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 (short chronology).
They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon ...
or 3rd dynasty king of
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
. His reign was recorded as lasting only one year, six months, c. 1223 BC, as "MU 1 ITI 6" according to the ''Kinglist A'',
[''Kinglist A'', BM 33332, ii 9.] a formula which is open to interpretation.
Biography
He seems to have been elevated to the kingship following the downfall of Enlil-nādin-šumi after the invasion of
Elam
Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...
ite forces under their king, Kidin-Hutran III. He may have ruled during 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 A ...
n hegemony of
Tukulti-Ninurta I
Tukulti-Ninurta I (meaning: "my trust is in he warrior god Ninurta"; reigned 1243–1207 BC) was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian Empire. He is known as the first king to use the title "King of Kings".
Biography
Tukulti-Ninurta I s ...
or possibly in the period between the capture of the earlier Kassite monarch,
Kaštiliašu IV, and the second Assyrian campaign which conquered the city of Babylon. There is little known about the reign other than it was short, perhaps just a few months.
Despite the apparent brevity of his reign, there are six economic texts (
clay tablet
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age.
Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylu ...
s) dated to him. The two economic texts from Ur include a judgment of a case
[Museum ref. IM 85473, excavation ref. U 7788d, settlement of a dispute arising from purchase of a slave, Gurney text 2, Brinkman Kb.2.2.2., month of Ṭebētu, day 28, accession year.] involving the aborted purchase of a boy called Bunni-Sîn and the aggressive steps his would-be buyer (Šamaš-ēṭir) took to seek return of his fee, including imprisoning the wife (Rihītuša) of the acting surety (Irība-ili). The other Ur text
[Museum ref. IM 85505, excavation ref. U 7787i, purchase of a cow with calf, Gurney text 34, Brinkman Kb.2.2.4., month of Abu, day 9, year 1(?).] is dated seven months later and is a purchase contract for a cow with calf, where Šamaš-ēṭir once again acts as buyer. There are two texts from Nippur dated to his reign, one of which
[Museum ref. CBS 12917, legal text for purchase of a wife, Brinkman Kb.2.2.1., month of Kislīmu, day 11, year accession year.] records the sale of a girl, one-half cubit in size, to Rabâ-ša-Ninimma, as a wife for his second son, Ninimma-zēra-šubši, for the price of two fine ''muḫtillû''-garments, worth two shekels of gold, and some food. The other text is a ration list
[Museum ref. CBS 7241, month of Kislīmu, accession year.] and is the earliest of the dated clay tablets.
The other texts, one of unknown origin
[Museum ref. YBC 7652, dated month of Elūlu day 14, first year .] and one apparently from Babylon
[Bab 39045, dated month Ṭebētu day 10 tenth year.] remain unpublished. This second text would have presented a chronological problem as it could be dated Ṭebētu, 10th day ''tenth'' year if the
Winkelhaken
The ''Winkelhaken'' (, "angular hook"), also simply called a hook, is one of five basic wedge elements appearing in the composition of signs in Akkadian cuneiform. It was realized by pressing the point of the stylus into the clay.
A single Winkelh ...
has been correctly read. It was recovered from the archive of Itti-Ezida-lummir in Babylon (Pedersén M8) along with another tablet of unconventional dating,
[A. 1998 (= Bab 39031), a tablet with a Kadašman-Enlil immediately preceding the reign of Kadašman-Turgu.] leading Werner Nahm to suggest them both ancient fabrications. However, it is written in the heavily slanted paleography of late Middle Babylonian cuneiform and should probably read as 1 in contrast to the 10 date on the preceding line. The other five texts fall within a twelve-month period. Also, another tablet from Nippur
[Museum ref. IM 80114, excavation ref. 14 N 211, dated month of Simānu, day 15, first year.] mentions him probably in the context of an earlier transaction in his accession year:
M">small>Msmall>U.SAG.˹
NA˺
M.L">small>M.Lsmall>UGAL''-rí'' ˹
d˺''ka-dáš-m''
'an-ḫar-b'''e'', but the date for the document omits a king’s name.
Inscriptions
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kadashman-Harbe 02
13th-century BC Babylonian kings
Kassite kings
13th-century BC rulers