Kaštiliašu IV was the twenty-eighth
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 ...
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 ...
and the kingdom contemporarily known as
Kar-Duniaš, c. 1232–1225 BC (
short chronology
The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...
). He succeeded
Šagarakti-Šuriaš, who could have been his father, ruled for eight years,
[Kinglist A, BM 33332, column 2, lines 7-10.] and went on to wage war against
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 ...
resulting in the catastrophic invasion of his homeland and his abject defeat.
He may have ruled from the Palace of the Stag and the Palace of the Mountain Sheep, in the city of
Dur-Kurigalzu
Dur-Kurigalzu (modern ' in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq) was a city in southern Mesopotamia, near the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers, about west of the center of Baghdad. It was founded by a Kassite king of Babylon, Kurigalzu I (died ...
, as these are referenced in a jeweler's archive from this period. Despite his short reign there are at least 177 economic texts dated to him,
on subjects as diverse as various items for a chariot, issue of flour, dates, oil and salt for offerings, receipt of butter and oil at the expense of the ''
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 ...
'' (the governor of
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: '' ...
), i.e. his shopping receipt, and baskets received by Rimutum from Hunnubi.
[Tablets BM 17678, 17712, 17687, 17740.]
War with Assyria
According to his
eponymous epic,
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 ...
, king of Assyria, was ''provoked'' into war by Kaštiliašu's dastardly preemptive attack on his territory, thereby breaching an earlier treaty between their ancestors
Adad-nīrāri I and
Kadašman-Turgu.
But trouble may have been brewing for some time.
Tudḫaliya, 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 ...
, himself reeling from defeat by the Assyrians at the
Battle of Nihriya
The Battle of Niḫriya was the culminating point of the hostilities between the Hittites and the Assyrians for control over the remnants of the former empire of Mitanni.
When Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I (r. c. 1344–1322 BC) conquered Mitanni, ...
, refers to the Babylonian king as his equal, in his treaty with his vassal, Šaušgamuwa of
Amurru Amurru may refer to:
* Amurru kingdom, roughly current day western Syria and northern Lebanon
* Amorite, ancient Syrian people
* Amurru (god)
Amurru, also known under the Sumerian name Martu, was a Mesopotamian god who served as the divine perso ...
, hinting at the possible existence of an alliance or at least a tacit understanding between them.
It reads:
Also, Kaštiliašu had granted land and presumably asylum to a
Hurrian
The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...
, a fugitive from Assyria's vassal
Ḫanigalbat, commemorated on the
Tablet of Akaptaḫa
The tablet of Akaptaḫa, or Agaptaḫa, is an ancient Mesopotamian private commemorative inscription on stone of the donation of a 10 GUR field (about 200 acres) by Kassites, Kassite king Kashtiliash IV, Kaštiliašu IV (ca. 1232 BC – 1225 BC) ...
.
[ He also reconfirmed a large gift of land on a ]kudurru
A kudurru was a type of stone document used as a boundary stone and as a record of land grants to vassals by the Kassites and later dynasties in ancient Babylonia between the 16th and 7th centuries BC. The original kudurru would typically be stor ...
that had been provided to Uzub-Šiḫu or -Šipak by the Kassite king, 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 the ...
(c. 1332-1308 BC) in grateful recognition of his service in an earlier war against Assyria.[Kudurru of Kaštiliašu, Sb 30 in the ]Musée du 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 ...
.
Tukulti-Ninurta petitioned the 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. ...
before beginning his counter offensive. Kaštiliašu was captured, single-handed by Tukulti-Ninurta according to his account, who “trod with my feet upon his lordly neck as though it were a footstool” and deported him ignominiously in chains to Assyria. The victorious Assyrian demolished the walls of Babylon, massacred many of the inhabitants, pillaged and plundered his way across the city to the Esagila
The Ésagila or Esangil ( sux, , ''"temple whose top is lofty"'') was a temple dedicated to Marduk, the protector god of Babylon. It lay south of the ziggurat Etemenanki.
Description
In this temple was the statue of Marduk, surrounded by cu ...
temple, where he made off with the statue of Marduk
Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of ...
. He then proclaimed himself “king of Karduniash, king of Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...
and Akkad, king of 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 ...
and Babylon, king of Tilmun and Meluhha
or ( sux, ) is the Sumerian language, Sumerian name of a prominent trading partner of Sumer during the Middle Bronze Age. Its identification remains an open question, but most scholars associate it with the Indus Valley civilisation.
Etymolo ...
.”[ Middle Assyrian texts recovered at modern Tell Sheikh Hamad, ancient Dūr-Katlimmu, which was the regional capital of the vassal Ḫanigalbat, include a letter from Tukulti-Ninurta to his grand vizier, Aššur-iddin advising him of the approach of Šulman-mušabši escorting a Babylonian king, who may have been Kaštiliašu, his wife, and his retinue which incorporated a large number of women, on his way to exile after his defeat. The journey to Dūr-Katlimmu seems to have traveled via Jezireh.
The conflict, and its outcome, is recorded in the Tukulti-Ninurta Epic, a poetic “victory song”, which has been recovered in several lengthy fragments, somewhat reminiscent of the earlier account of Adad-nīrāri's victory over Nazi-Maruttaš.][ It would lend its form to later Assyrian epics such as that of ]Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Ashurnasirpal II in 859 BC to his own death in 824 BC.
His long reign was a constant series of campai ...
, concerning his campaign in Ararat. Written strictly from the Assyrian point of view, it provides a strongly biased narrative. Tukulti-Ninurta is portrayed as an innocent victim of the invidious Kaštiliašu, who is contrasted as “the transgressor of an oath”, and who has so vexed the gods that they have abandoned their sanctuaries.
More succinct accounts of these events are also inscribed on five large limestone tablets which were imbedded in Tukulti-Ninurta's construction projects as foundation stones, for example the ''Annals of Tukulti-Ninurta'', carved on a slab which was buried in or under the wall of his purpose-built capital, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta.
Relations with Elam
There is no extant evidence of conflict between 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 ...
and Babylon during his reign. The ruling families had been joined through intermarriage in the past, but the countries had resorted to war to settle their differences under the reigns of Kurigalzu I
Kurigalzu I (died c. 1375 BC), usually inscribed ''ku- ri- gal-zu'' but also sometimes with the m or d determinative, the 17th king of the Kassite or 3rd dynasty that ruled over Babylon, was responsible for one of the most extensive and widesprea ...
and possibly Nazi-Maruttaš. However, the sequence of kings of Elam during this period is very confused, with several names suspiciously appearing over again some in shuffled sequences, such as Napirisha-Untash and Untash-Napirisha, making it hard to make sense of the chronology. After Kaštiliašu's overthrow, however, Kidin-Hutran III, the king of Elam, certainly led two successive incursions into Babylonia, which have been explained as either indicative of his loyalty to the fallen Kassite dynasty or alternatively raiding with impunity to exploit the weakness of the over-extended Assyrians.
Babylon under Assyrian Governorship
The ''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 ...
'' records that Tukulti-Ninurta ruled through his appointed governors for seven years, where the term ''šaknūtīšu'' could include appointees or prefects.[Chronicle P (ABC 22), BM 92701, column 4, lines 7 and 8, 14-16, 17-20.] Alternative reconstructions of these events have been proposed whereby Tukulti Ninurta ruled for seven years and ''then'' three successive Kassite kings took power before the original dynasty was reinstated or that his own rule followed these kings.
It has been suggested that the Šulgi Prophecy, a prophecy dated to after the events, might refer to the events during one of these reigns. Enlil-nādin-šumi may be the subject of Column V of the Šulgi prophetic speech. It is preserved in heavily damaged late-period tablets, in which Šulgi (2112–2004 BC), the second and most famous king of the third dynasty of Ur
The Third Dynasty of Ur, also called the Neo-Sumerian Empire, refers to a 22nd to 21st century Common Era, BC (middle chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state which some historians c ...
, and founder of 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: '' ...
, summarizes his achievements. He predicts that Babylon will submit to Assyria, Nippur will be “cast down”, 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 ...
will remove the king, another king will make a messianic appearance, restore the shrines and Nippur will rise from its ashes.
With the collapse of Tukulti-Ninurta's regime in Babylonia, some years before his assassination, the Kassite ''rabûti'' (important men, noblemen, officers?)[ rebelled and installed Kaštiliašu's son, Adad-šuma-ušur, on the throne.][
]
In literature
Kashtiliash is a significant character in S. M. Stirling
Stephen Michael Stirling (born September 30, 1953) is a Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author who was born in France. Stirling is well known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and his later time travel/alternate hi ...
's '' Against the Tide of Years'' and '' On the Oceans of Eternity'', the second and final novels of his Nantucket series
The Nantucket series (also known as the Nantucket trilogy or the Islander trilogy) is a set of alternate history novels written by S. M. Stirling.
The novels focus on the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts which was transported back in time ...
. In this Alternative History
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...
, the intervention of time-traveling Americans turns the tide in the war, Assyria is totally defeated and crushed, and the victorious Kashtiliash eventually marries an American woman who doubles as both his Queen and the commander of the modernized Babylonian Army, equipped with firearms.
Inscriptions
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kashtiliash Iv
13th-century BC Babylonian kings
Kassite kings
13th-century BC rulers