Burna-Buriaš II, rendered in
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
as ''Bur-na-'' or ''Bur-ra-Bu-ri-ia-aš'' in royal inscriptions and letters, and meaning ''servant'' or ''protégé of the Lord of the lands'' in the
Kassite language
Kassite (also Cassite) was a language spoken by the Kassites in Mesopotamia from approximately the 18th to the 7th century BC. From the 16th to 12th centuries BC, kings of Kassite origin ruled in Babylon until they were overthrown by the Elami ...
, where Buriaš (,
dbu-ri-ia-aš₂) is a
Kassite storm god possibly corresponding to the Greek
Boreas,
was a king in the
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 ...
dynasty 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 ...
, in a kingdom contemporarily called
Karduniaš
Karduniaš, also transcribed Kurduniash, Karduniash, Karaduniše, ) is a Kassites, Kassite term used for the kingdom centered on Babylonia and founded by the Kassite dynasty. It is used in the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters Text corpus, correspondence ...
, ruling ca. 1359–1333 BC, where the
Short
Short may refer to:
Places
* Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon
* Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community
* Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place
People
* Short (surname)
* List of people known as ...
and
Middle chronologies have converged. Recorded as the 19th King to ascend the Kassite throne, he succeeded
Kadašman-Enlil I, who was likely his father, and ruled for 27 years. He was a contemporary of the
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
ian Pharaohs
Amenhotep III and
Akhenaten
Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...
. The proverb "the time of checking the books is the shepherds' ordeal" was attributed to him in a letter to the later king
Esarhaddon
Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of hi ...
from his agent Mar-Issar.
Correspondence with Egypt
The diplomatic correspondence between Burna-Buriaš and the pharaohs is preserved in nine of the
Amarna letters
The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between t ...
, designated EA (for ''El Amarna'') 6 to 14. The relationship between Babylon and Egypt during his reign was friendly at the start,
[EA 6, Burna-Buriaš to Nummuwarea (Amenhotep III): "An offer of friendship," tablet VAT 149 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin]
CDLIORACC Transliteration
/ref> and a marriage alliance was in the making. "From the time my ancestors and your ancestors made a mutual declaration of friendship, they sent beautiful greeting-gifts to each other, and refused no request for anything beautiful."[EA 9, Burna-Buriaš to Nibḫurrereya (Tutankhamen?): "Ancient loyalties, new requests," tablet BM 29785 in the British Museum, London]
CDLIORACC Transliteration
/ref> Burna-Buriaš was obsessed with being received as an equal and often refers to his counterpart as "brother". They exchanged presents: horses, lapis-lazuli and other precious stones from Burna-Buriaš and ivory, ebony and gold from Akhenaten. On one occasion, Burna-Buriaš sent a necklace of lapis-lazuli by way of congratulation for the birth of Akhenaten's first child, the princess Meritaten
Meritaten, also spelled Merytaten, Meritaton or Meryetaten ( egy, mrii.t-itn) (14th century BC), was an ancient Egyptian royal woman of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Her name means "She who is beloved of Aten"; Aten being the sun-deity whom h ...
.[EA 14, Egyptian king to Burna-Buriaš: "Inventory of Egyptian gifts," tablets VAT 1651 and VAT 2711 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, and 1893.1-41 in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford]
CDLIORACC Transliteration
/ref>
But then things began to sour. On EA 10,[EA 10, Burna-Buriaš to Napḫureya (Akhenaten): "Egyptian gold and carpenters," tablet BM 29786 in the British Museum, London]
CDLIORACC Transliteration
/ref> he complains that the gold sent was underweight. "You have detained my messenger for two years!" he declares in consternation.[EA 7, Burna-Buriaš to Napḫureya (Akhenaten): "A lesson in geography," tablet VAT 150 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin]
CDLIORACC Transliteration
/ref> He reproached the Egyptian for not having sent his condolences when he was ill[ and, when his daughter's wedding was underway, he complained that only five carriages were sent to convey her to Egypt.][EA 11, Burna-Buriaš to Napḫureya (Akhenaten): "Proper escort for a betrothed princess," tablet VAT 151 + 1878 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin]
CDLIORACC Transliteration
/ref> The bridal gifts filled 4 columns and 307 lines of cuneiform inventory on tablet EA 13.[EA 13, Burna-Buriaš to Napḫureya (Akhenaten): "Inventory of a dowry," tablet VAT 1717 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin]
CDLIORACC Transliteration
/ref>
Not only were matters of state of concern. "What you want from my land, write and it shall be brought, and what I want from your land, I will write, that it may be brought."[ But even in matters of trade, things went awry and, in EA 8,][EA 8, Burna-Buriaš to Napḫureya (Akhenaten): "Merchants murdered, vengeance demanded," tablet VAT 152 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin]
CDLIORACC Transliteration
/ref> he complains that Egypt's Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
ite vassals had robbed and murdered his merchants. He demanded vengeance, naming Šum-Adda, the son of Balumme, affiliation unknown, and Šutatna, the son of Šaratum of Akka, as the villainous perpetrators.[
In his correspondence with the Pharaohs, he did not hesitate to remind them of their obligations, quoting ancient loyalties:
Posterity has not preserved any Egyptian response, however, Abdi-Heba, the Canaanite Mayor of ]Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, then a small hillside town, wrote in EA 287[EA 287, Abdi-Heba to Egyptian Pharaoh: "A very serious crime," tablet VAT 1644 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin]
CDLIORACC transliteration
/ref> that Kassite agents had attempted to break into his home and assassinate him.
One letter[EA 12, Princess to King: "A letter from a princess," tablet VAT 1605 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin]
CDLIORACC Transliteration
/ref> preserves the apologetic response from a ''mārat šarri'', or princess, to her m''bé-lí-ia'', or lord (Nefertiti
Neferneferuaten Nefertiti () ( – c. 1330 BC) was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a radical change in national religious policy, in whic ...
to Burna-Buriaš?). The letters present a playful, forthright and at times petulant repartee, but perhaps conceal a cunning interplay between them, to confirm their relative status, cajole the provision of desirable commodities and measure their respective threat, best exemplified by Burna-Buriaš' feigned ignorance of the distance between their countries, a four-month journey by caravan.[ Here he seems to test Akhenaten to shame him into sending gold][ or perhaps just to gauge the extent of his potential military reach.
]
International relations
Diplomacy with Babylon's neighbor, 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 ...
, was conducted through royal marriages. A Neo-Babylonian copy of a literary text which takes the form of a letter,[ Šutruk-Naḫḫunte (?) to Kassite court, Tablet VAT 1702]
CDLI
/ref> now located in the Vorderasiatisches Museum
The Vorderasiatisches Museum (, '' Near East Museum'') is an archaeological museum in Berlin. It is in the basement of the south wing of the Pergamon Museum and has one of the world's largest collections of Southwest Asian art. 14 halls distri ...
in Berlin, is addressed to the Kassite court by an Elamite King. It details the genealogy of the Elamite royalty of this period, and from it we find that Pahir-Iššan married Kurigalzu I's sister and Humban-Numena married his daughter and their son, Untash-Napirisha
Untash-Napirisha was king of Elam (in present-day southwest Iran) during the Middle Elamite period, circa 1300 BCE. He was the son of the previous Elamite king, Humban-Numena. He was named after Napirisha, an Elamite deity.
He founded and built ...
was betrothed to Burna-Buriaš's daughter. This may have been Napir-asu, whose headless statue[ (pictured) now resides in the ]Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
in Paris.
It is likely that Suppiluliuma I, king of the Hittites
The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...
, married yet another of Burna Buriaš's daughters, his third and final wife, who thereafter was known under the traditional title Tawananna, and this may have been the cause of his neutrality in the face of the Mitanni
Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...
succession crisis. He refused asylum to the fleeing Shattiwaza Shattiwaza or Šattiwaza, alternatively referred to as Kurtiwaza or ''Mattiwaza'', was a king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni, who reigned c. 1330-1305 BC.
Biography
Shattiwaza was the son of king Tushratta. His Hurrian name was ''Kili-Tešup' ...
, who received a more favorable response in Hatti, where Suppiluliuma I supported his reinstatement in a diminished vassal state. According to her stepson Mursili II There were three Hittite kings called Mursili:
* Mursili I, ca. 1556–1526 BCE (short chronology), and was likely a grandson of his predecessor, Hattusili I. His sister was Ḫarapšili and his wife was queen Kali.
*Mursili II, (also spelled Mursi ...
, she became quite a troublemaker, scheming and murderous, as in the case of Mursili's wife, foisting her strange foreign ways on the Hittite court and ultimately being exiled. His testimony is preserved in two prayers in which he condemned her.
Kassite influence reached to Bahrain, ancient Dilmun
Dilmun, or Telmun, ( Sumerian: , later 𒉌𒌇(𒆠), ni.tukki = DILMUNki; ar, دلمون) was an ancient East Semitic-speaking civilization in Eastern Arabia mentioned from the 3rd millennium BC onwards.
Based on contextual evidence, it was l ...
, where two letters found in Nippur were sent by a Kassite official, Ilī-ippašra, in Dilmun to Ililiya, a hypocoristic form of Enlil-kidinni, who was the governor, or ''šandabakku The office of šandabakku, inscribed (LÚGÚ.EN.NA)Lexical lists such as IM 77106, 12 N 129 OIP 122 text 119, obv.4. or sometimes as (GÁ.DUB.BA.A EN.LÍLKI), the latter designation perhaps meaning "archivist of (the god) Enlil," was the name o ...
'', of Nippur during Burna Buriaš's reign and that of his immediate successors. In the first letter, the hapless Ili-ippašra complains that the anarchic local Aḫlamû tribesmen have stolen his dates and "there is nothing I can do" while in the second letter they "certainly speak words of hostility and plunder to me".
Domestic affairs
Building activity increased markedly in the latter half of the fourteenth century with Burna-Buriaš and his successors undertaking restoration work of sacred structures. Inscriptions from three door sockets and bricks, some of which are still in situ, bear witness to his restoration of the Ebabbar of the sun god Šamaš
Utu (dUD "Sun"), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash, ''šmš'', syc, ܫܡܫܐ ''šemša'', he, שֶׁמֶשׁ ''šemeš'', ar, شمس ''šams'', Ashurian Aramaic: 𐣴𐣬𐣴 ''š'meš(ā)'' was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. ...
in Larsa
Larsa ( Sumerian logogram: UD.UNUGKI, read ''Larsamki''), also referred to as Larancha/Laranchon (Gk. Λαραγχων) by Berossos and connected with the biblical Ellasar, was an important city-state of ancient Sumer, the center of the cul ...
. A tablet provides an exhortation to Enlil and a brick refers to work on the great socle of the Ekiur of Ninlil in Nippur
Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory': Vol. 1, Part 1. Accessed 15 Dec 2010. Akkadian language, Akkadian: '' ...
. A thirteen line bilingual inscription can now probably be assigned to him.[Bilingual inscription Sm. 699, K. 4807 + Sm. 977 + 79-7-8,80 + 79-7-8,314.] Neo-Babylonian temple inventory from Ur mentions him along with successors as a benefactor.[Temple inventory UET 4 143 (now = IM 57150).] A cylinder inscription of Nabonidus
Nabonidus (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-naʾid'', meaning "May Nabu be exalted" or "Nabu is praised") was the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from 556 BC to the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great in 539 ...
[Cylinder BM 104738, column I, lines 49 to 52.] recalls Burna-Buriaš’ earlier work on the temenos
A ''temenos'' (Greek: ; plural: , ''temenē''). is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, such as a sanctuary, holy gro ...
at Sippar
Sippar ( Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, some ...
:
There are around 87 economic texts, most of which were found at successive excavations in Nippur, providing a date formula based on regnal years, which progress up to year 27. Many of them are personnel rosters dealing with servile laborers, who were evidently working under duress as the terms ZÁḤ, "escapee", and ''ka-mu'', "fettered", are used to classify some of them. Apparently thousands of men were employed in construction and agriculture and women in the textile industry. An oppressive regime developed to constrain their movements and prevent their escape. Other texts include two extispicy reports provide divinations based on examination of animal entrails.[ Nippur seems to have enjoyed the status of a secondary capital. The presence of the royal retinue replete with scribes would have provided the means for the creation of business records for the local population.
]
Kara-ḫardaš, Nazi-Bugaš, and the events at the end of his reign
Later in his reign the emissaries of 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 king Aššur-uballiṭ I were received at the Egyptian court by Tutankhamen
Tutankhamun (, egy, wikt:twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an ancient Egypt, Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end ...
, who had by then ascended the throne. This caused a great deal of dismay from Burna-Buriaš who claimed the Assyrians were his vassals, "Why have they been received in your land? If I am dear to you, do not let them conclude any business. May they return here with empty hands!" on EA 9. With the destruction of Mitanni by the Hittites, Assyria emerged as a great power during his reign, threatening the northern border of the Kassite kingdom.
Perhaps to cement relations, Muballiṭat-Šērūa, daughter of Aššur-uballiṭ, had been married to either Burna-Buriaš or possibly his son, Kara-ḫardaš; the historical sources do not agree. The scenario proposed by Brinkman has come to be considered the orthodox interpretation of these events. A poorly preserved letter in the Pergamon Museum
The Pergamon Museum (; ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped Class ...
possibly mentions him and a princess or ''mārat šarri''.[Tablet VAT 11187 published as KAV 09]
CDLI
line 1: 'ka-ra-''''ḫar-da-aš'', and 3: '' a- ma'' DUMU MUNUS MAN '' di- mu''. Kara-ḫardaš was murdered, shortly after succeeding his father to the throne, during a rebellion by the Kassite army in 1333 BC. According to an Assyrian chronicle this incited Aššur-uballiṭ to invade, depose the usurper installed by the army, one Nazi-Bugaš or Šuzigaš, described as "a Kassite, son of a nobody", and install Kurigalzu II
Kurigalzu II (c. 1332–1308 BC short chronology) was the 22nd king of the Kassite or 3rd dynasty that ruled over Babylon. In more than twelve inscriptions, Kurigalzu names Burna-Buriaš II as his father. Kurigalzu II was possibly placed on th ...
, "the younger", variously rendered as son of Burnaburiaš[''The Synchronistic Chronicle'' (ABC 21), K4401a, Column 1, line A16.] and son of Kadašman-Ḫarbe, likely a scribal error for Kara-ḫardaš.['']Chronicle P
Chronicle P, known as ''Chronicle 22'' in Grayson’s ''Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles'' and ''Mesopotamian Chronicle 45'': "Chronicle of the Kassite Kings" in Glassner's ''Mesopotamian Chronicles'' is named for T. G. Pinches, the first edito ...
'' (ABC 22), tablet BM 92701, line 14 Note, however, that there are more than a dozen royal inscriptions of Kurigalzu II identifying Burna-Buriaš as his father.
Notes
References
{{Babylonian kings
14th-century BC Babylonian kings
Amarna letters writers
Kassite kings
14th-century BC rulers
Kings of the Universe