Nabû-šumu-libūr, inscribed ^dAG.MU''-li-bur''Tablet BM 33332 Kinglist A, iii 4'. or ^d''na-bi-um-''MU''-li-bur'',Tablet BM 139424, purchased in 1982 and on display in room 55 of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. meaning "O Nabû, may (my) progeny / the son stay in good health," (ruled 1029–1022 BC) was the 11th and last king of the 2nd Dynasty of Isin, the 4th Dynasty of

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 ...

. He ruled during a period of instability due to incursions of

Aramean The Arameans, or Aramaeans (; ; , ), were a tribal Semitic people in the ancient Near East, first documented in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of Aram, originally covered ce ...

nomadic tribesmen in Northwest Babylonia.

Biography

There is very little extant material for his reign. The legal text pictured is from his first year. It was found at Kār-Bēlet-Ilāni near

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 ...

, and details the reimbursement of Nusku-zêra-iddina, the '' šandabakku'', or governor of Nippur, with land, after he ransomed a man named Mudammiqu from the 'enemy'. The price was paid in kind, with the text listing various items provided by the purchaser with their cash equivalent, for a total of 420 shekels. It was first published in 1983 and the text provides the earliest recorded price for iron, where an iron dagger of unspecified weight was valued at two shekels of silver. It was witnessed by eleven individuals representing the roll call for the elite in Nippur and the god

Ninurta Ninurta (: , possible meaning "Lord fBarley"), also known as Ninĝirsu (: , meaning "Lord fGirsu"), is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with farming, healing, hunting, law, scribes, and war who was f ...

is invoked as patron deity of boundaries. A stone duck weightAlabaster duck-weight with two panels of cuneiform inscription; top of bird's head lost; abraded, BM 91432. inscribed Nabû-šuma-libūr, optimistically titled '' šar kiššati'' (king of the world), found its way to the Northwest palace of Nimrud, where it was preserved as an antique and rediscovered by Layard in the mid 19th century, and perhaps indicates continued trade. It was marked 30 minas (about 15 kilograms). Ominous portents dated for his reign, are included in a damaged Religious Chronicle of the Seleucid era.The ''Religious Chronicle'', tablet BM 35968 (ABC 17) column 1. It records, "a lion was lying lurking and they killed it," a prophecy fulfilled by the fall of the dynasty. The events at the end of his reign are not known, but northern

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

had been overrun by

tribesmen from the west, and the dynasty was followed by the 2nd Dynasty of Sealand when a substantial part of southern Mesopotamia seceded.

Inscriptions

Notes

References

{{Babylonian kings 11th-century BC kings of Babylon 11th-century BC deaths Year of birth unknown Kings of the Universe