Marduk-zākir-šumi I.

A kudurru from the 2nd year of the rule of Marduk-zākir-šumi, via a donation to the Eanna temple in Uruk

A kudurru from the 11th year of the rule of Marduk-zākir-šumi, about a land sale at Dilbat

Marduk-zākir-šumi (also Mardukzakirschum ) ruled from 851 to 824 BC. As the Babylonian king. He succeeded his father Nabû-apla-iddina as the 7th king of the 9th dynasty of the Central Babylonian Empire and bequeathed the throne to his son Marduk-balāssu-iqbi .

At the beginning of his reign, his younger brother Marduk-bēl-ušati rebelled and established a counter-regime in the Diyāla region, which was short-lived. The decisive factor in favor of Marduk-zākir-šumi was the support of the Assyrian Empire . King Salmānu-ašarēd III. followed the request for support and in the following years both led two campaigns against the usurper. Its course is recorded on the famous black obelisk that the archaeologist Austen Henry Layard found in 1846 in Nimrud in the ruins of the capital of the Assyrian Empire. In the first campaign, the younger brother's army was defeated in open field battle, but he himself found refuge behind the walls of Ganannate. The city was finally conquered in a second campaign and Arman, where Marduk-bēl-ušati had fled with some of his officers, fell after a siege.

A relief on the throne of Salmānu-ašarēd III. shows him taking the hand of Marduk-zâkir-šumi to publicly testify to the alliance. The kings are flanked by two beardless boys who are evidently the young crown princes Šamši-Adad V and Marduk-balāssu-iqbi of Babylon. Whether out of gratitude or political insight, in view of the constantly growing threat to both empires from their neighbors, his rapprochement seems to be long-term. A few years later he married the crown prince to the Babylonian princess Šammuramat , who must have been a daughter of Marduk-zākir-šumi.

In the last years of his reign he had the opportunity to return the favor to the Assyrian king, when his eldest son Aššur-danin-apla, with the support of numerous cities, was born in 826 BC. Led a revolt against his father. Salmānu-ašarēd III. was temporarily isolated in its capital, Kalah , and would not have been able to cope with the situation without the help of the Babylonian ally. Marduk-zākir-šumi, however, seems to have shamelessly exploited the neighbour's weakness. A fragmentary contract between him and Šamši-Adad V, who continued the civil war after the death of his father, only mentions the Babylonian deities Marduk and Nabû , while the god Aššur is missing. In addition, the Assyrian contractor is named without a royal title and downgraded to the rank of vassal. A considerable gain in power in Babylon, but it did not last long. After Shamši-Adad V and his son Adad-nīrārī III. Having re-established the Assyrian Empire, they reversed the relationship under his son and successor Marduk-balāssu-iqbi and Babylon became their vassal. Regardless of their family relationship, also through the active participation of Šammuramat , who is believed to have been the historical model for the legend of Semiramis .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hartmut Schmökel : Ur, Assur and Babylon . In: Great Cultures of the Early Period . tape 12 . Phaidon Verlag, Akademische / Athenaion, Kilpper Collection, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-88851-091-0 , p. 101 .
2. ^ Ernst Friedrich Weidner : Archive for Orient Research . tape 8 , 1932, p. 27 ff .
3. ↑ Hartmut Schmökel : Rulers of the Ancient Orient - Semiramis . In: Exempla historica - Epochs of World History in Biographies . tape 1 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1985, ISBN 3-596-17001-X , p. 132 f .

predecessor	Office	successor
Nabû-apla-iddina	King of Babylonia 851–824 BC Chr.	Marduk-balāssu-iqbi