Burna-buriaš II.

The Kassite king Burna-buriaš II. (Burna-Buriasch, ^m Bur-na Bu-ri-ia-aš) ruled from 1359 to 1333 BC. As king of Babylonia . Burna-buriāš, like his father Kadašman-Enlil I and grandfather before him, carried the title "King of the whole" ( šar kissati ). The first year of the reign of Burna-buriāš II falls on the 33rd year of Amenhotep III's reign .

Burna-buriāš and Mitanni

When Prince Šattiwazza von Mittani , the son of Tušratta , was expelled by the usurper Artatama , he fled south with 200 chariots under the leadership of General Aki-Teššup. Burna-buriāš refused to support him.

Burna-buriāš II and Egypt

Burna-buriāš II was a contemporary of the Egyptian kings Akhenaten and Tutankhamun . From the Amarna letters it can be inferred that relations between the two states were initially friendly. Amenhotep III was married to a sister of Kadašman-Enlil. Burna-buriāš II, however, lamented the greed of the pharaoh Ni-ip-ḫu-ur-ri-ri-ia and the bad treatment of the messengers. It was agreed that Burna-buriāš should send his sister to Egypt to marry Pharaoh. In another letter, Burna-buriāš complains that only five wagons had come from Egypt to pick up the princess, which was below her dignity and class. The marriage did come off and both kings exchanged gifts. Relations with Egypt cooled significantly when Tutankhamun and the Assyrian king Aššur-uballiṭ exchanged envoys. Burna-buriāš tried to prevent diplomatic contact between Aššur and Egypt. In a letter to Tutankhamun (EA 9) he describes the Assyrians as his subjects ( dāgil pāni ) and asks the king to send their ambassadors, who are only out for profit, empty-handed. He refers to the long friendship between Babylonia and Egypt. His ancestor Kuri-galzu I refused to support rebellious Canaanites against "his brother", the King of Egypt. Assyria became more and more important during this time and was probably also a danger to Babylon, although the Babylonians initially regarded this empire as part of their own. After the rebellion against Kara-Hardaš , a grandson of Aššur-uballit I and a son of Burna-buriāš II, the Assyrians were even able to put their own king on the Babylonian throne, Kuri-galzu II. After the death of Aššur-uballit however, he turned against Assyria.

In addition to Burna-buriāš's letters to Amenhotep III, Amenhotep IV and Tutankhamun, there is also a letter (EA 12) which a princess ( ma-rat šarri ) addresses to her master ( ^m bé-lí-ia ), in which the gods of Burna-buriāš are mentioned.

Further foreign relations

From a neo-Babylonian document that is now in the Pergamon Museum , we learn that another daughter of Burna-buriāš II was married to the Elamite ruler Untaš-Napiriša . (see: Napir-Asu ). Untaš-Napiriša consecrated a statue of the god Immirija for his father-in-law. She was found in Choga Zanbil . This marriage continues a tradition that may have already begun Kuri-galzu I, whose eldest daughter had married the Elamite ruler Paḫir-Iššan .

Two texts from Nippur show that a certain Ili-ippašra was the Kassite governor in Dilmun . He sent these letters to Illilija or Enlil-kidinni, the governor of Nippur under Burna-buriaš II and Kuri-galzu II. A third letter is very poorly preserved. A seal in the British Museum belonged to Uballissu-Marduk, great-grandson of Usiananuri sakkanakku of Dilmun and proves the Kassite rule over the island, but cannot be precisely timed.

buildings

Burna-buriāš restored the Ebabbar of Šamaš based on a Sumerian brick inscription from Larsa . Another fragmentary brick inscription comes from Nippur and mentions Enlil , so it probably relates to construction work on the E.KUR temple. Inscriptions from Nabonid mention construction work on the Temenos des Ebabbar in Sippar by Burna-buriāš.

A building inscription at Qal'at al-Bahrain ( Dilmun ) can be assigned to Burna-buriāš II and proves his building activity there.

Officer

• Illi-lija (Enlil-kidinni) is documented as governor of Nippur under Burna-buriāš II and Kurigalzu II .
• Ili-ippašra was probably the governor of Dilmun .
• ša rešī: Adad-Asabi (after a seal)
• ša rešī: Kidin-Marduk (after a seal from Thebes ).
• A certain Uzi-Šugab calls himself servant of Burna-buriāš on his seal

Remarks

1. ^ W. Moran: the Amarna Letters. Baltimore 1992, p. 18.
2. ↑ Betina Faist : The long-distance trade of the Assyrian Empire between the 14th and 11th centuries before Christ. (= AOAT No. 265), Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 2001, p. 29.
3. ^ J. van Dijk: The dynastic marriages between Kassites and Elamers: a fateful policy. In: Orientalia 55 (1986), pp. 159-170.
4. ^ Vallat: L'hommage de l'élamite Untash-Napirisha au Cassite Burnaburiash. P. 112
5. ^ Albrecht Goetze: The texts Ni. 615 and 641 of the Istanbul Museum. In: Journal of Cuneiform Studies. No. 6, 1952, pp. 142-145.
6. ^ Hugo Radau: Letters to Cassite kings from the Temple archives of Nippur. In: The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania. Series A: Cuneiform texts (1893). Vol. 17, part 1, p. 88 ( BE XVII 88 ), University of Pennsylvania - Department of Archeology, Philadelphia.
7. ^ JE Reade: Commerce or Conquest: Variations in the Mesopotamia-Dilmun Relationship. In: HA Al Khalifa, M. Rice (Ed.): Bahrain through the Ages: The Archeology. London 1986, fig. 137

literature

• John Oates: Babylon. City and empire in the focus of the ancient Orient. German by Doris and Hans Niemeyer. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1983, ISBN 3-7857-0339-2 , pp. 110-111.
• Elena Cassin : Babylonia under the Kassites and the Middle Assyrian Empire. In: Elena Cassin (ed.): The ancient oriental kingdoms. Volume 1: From the Palaeolithic to the middle of the 2nd millennium (= Fischer Weltgeschichte. Vol. 2). 76th - 80th thousand. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1978, ISBN 3-596-60002-2 , pp. 9-101.
• JA Brinkman: Materials and Studies for Kassite History. Volume 1: A Catalog of Cuneiform Sources pertaining to specific Monarchs of the Kassite Dynasty. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago IL 1976.

Web links

• http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/l/letter_from_burnaburiash_to_am.aspx
• http://www.realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Misc/Egypt/a_Burnaburiash2.htm (Amarna letter, English translation)

Contemporaries of Burna-Buriash II (1358 BC to 1335 BC)
Egypt	Assyria	Mittani	Hittites
Amenhotep III (1390-1352)	Aššur-uballit I. (1353-1318)	Tušratta (1380-1350)
Amenhotep IV (1352-1336)		Šattiwazza (1350-1320)	Šuppiluliumas I. (1355–1323)
Semenchkare (1336-1333)
Tutankhamun (1333-1323 BC)

predecessor	Office	successor
Kadašman-Enlil I.	King of Babylonia 1359-1333 BC Chr.	Kara-Hardaš