The kudurru of Kaštiliašu' is a fragment of an ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

n ''narû'', or entitlement stele, recording the legal action taken by

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 Kaštiliašu IV (ca. 1232–1225 BC) over land originally granted by his forebear

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 ...

(ca. 1332–1308 BC), son of Burna-Buriaš II to Uzub-Šiḫu or -Šipak in grateful recognition of his efforts in the 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 ...

under its king,

Enlil-nirari Enlil-nirari (“ Enlil is my helper”) was King of Assyria from 1327 BC to 1318 BC during the Middle Assyrian Empire. He was the son of Aššur-uballiṭ I. He was apparently the earliest king to have been identified as having held eponym, o ...

. Along with 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) ...

, these are the only extant

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 ...

s from this king’s short eight-year reign and were both recovered from

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

Susa Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo-Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...

, where they had been taken in antiquity, during the French excavations under

Jacques de Morgan Jean-Jacques de Morgan (3 June 1857, Huisseau-sur-Cosson, Loir-et-Cher – 14 June 1924) was a French people, French mining engineer, geologist, and archaeologist. He was the director of antiquities in Khedivate of Egypt, Egypt during the 19th ...

at the end of the nineteenth century and now reside 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 ...

The stele

The surviving

fragment is a crescent-shaped cross-section with convex surface inscribed with

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 ...

and a concave side engraved with relief images. Where the stele tapers to the top, it carries representations of the gods Sîn (crescent moon),

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. ...

(solar-disc) and

Ištar Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Su ...

(eight-pointed star) in bas-relief. Beneath these a demon with a lion’s head, human body and short tail brandishes a knife in one hand and a club or mace in the other. This is

Ugallu A panel with two divine palace guards, one of which is Ugallu. Ugallu, the "Big Weather-Beast", ( Sumerian inscribed 𒌓𒃲U4/UD.GAL-˹''la''˺, Akkadian: ''ūmu rabû'', meaning "big day"), was a lion-headed storm-demon and has the feet of a ...

, “Big Weather Beast”, one of the eleven monsters who were to be conquered by Marduk in the later publication, Enûma Eliš, and who was to feature on apotropaic figurines of the first millennium BC. The seated dog figure of Gula is carved facing the demon. fig. 386 kudurru IX. The broken text recalls that Kurigalzu had awarded an individual with the Kassite name Uzub-Šiḫu (or -Šipak, a Kassite deity) a large area of 120 GUR (around 3.75 square miles) of agricultural land for services rendered during the war against Assyria. This suggests a successful outcome in this conflict in marked contrast to the account espoused by the Synchronistic History, an Assyrian polemic chronicle inscription which boasts of Kurigalzu’s apparent defeat at the Battle of Sugagu, a view which was also contradicted in the Babylonian

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 ...

version of these events and also in Assyrian king Adad-nārārī I’s own recollections of his father, Enlil-nirari’s setbacks. The text mentions Nimgirabi-Marduk, son of Nazi-…. and Pir-Šamaš, son of Šumat-Šamaš, but their roles are uncertain. The land grant was reconfirmed by Kaštiliašu, possibly to a descendant of the original beneficiary, perhaps due to the failure to provide a sealed legal document during the earlier bequest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kudurru of Kashtiliashu Kassites Kudurru boundary stones Sculpture of the Ancient Near East