Kaštiliaš IV
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Kaštiliašu IV was the twenty-eighth
Kassite The Kassites () were a people of the ancient Near East. They controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire from until (short chronology). The Kassites gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon in 1531 B ...
king of Kar-Duniaš (
Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
), 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: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
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 (di ...
, 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 )Lexical lists such as IM 77106, 12 N 129 OIP 122 text 119, obv.4. or sometimes as (), the latter designation perhaps meaning "archivist of (the god) Enlil," was the name of the position of governor of the Mesop ...
'' (the governor of
Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory'': Vol. 1, Part 1, Ca ...
), 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 godNinurta"; 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". Reign Tukulti-Ninurta I succeed ...
, 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 peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...
, 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 in Upper Mesopotamia, in the second half of the 13th Century BC. When Hittit ...
, refers to the Babylonian king as his equal, in his treaty with his vassal, Šaušgamuwa of Amurru, 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 (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...
, 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 Kassite king Kaštiliašu IV ( 1232 BC – 1225 BC) to a fugitive leatherworker ...
. 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 placed on the Kassite ...
(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 a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
.
Tukulti-Ninurta petitioned the god
Šamaš Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...
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 ( , ''"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 cult ima ...
temple, where he made off with the statue of
Marduk Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In B ...
. He then proclaimed himself “king of Karduniash, king of
Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...
and Akkad, king of
Sippar Sippar (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , Zimbir) (also Sippir or Sippara) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its ''Tell (archaeology), tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell ...
and Babylon, king of Tilmun and
Meluhha or ( ) is the 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. Etymology Asko Parpola identif ...
.” 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 Tukilti-Ninurta Epic is an Assyrian epic written in Akkadian describing and glorifying the wars and conquests of the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I against the Babylonian king Kashtiliash IV during the Kassite dynasty. Though in principle succ ...
, 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 859 BC to 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations o ...
, 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 () was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of modern-day southern Iraq. The modern name ''Elam'' stems fr ...
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 widespre ...
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 or Ur III was a Sumerian dynasty based in the city of Ur in the 22nd and 21st centuries BC ( middle chronology). For a short period they were the preeminent power in Mesopotamia and their realm is sometimes referred to by ...
, and founder of
Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory'': Vol. 1, Part 1, Ca ...
, summarizes his achievements. He predicts that Babylon will submit to Assyria, Nippur will be “cast down”,
Enlil Enlil, later known as Elil and Ellil, is an List of Mesopotamian deities, 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 t ...
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'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 t ...
. In this
alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...
, 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 kings of Babylon Kassite kings