Kadashman-Enlil II
Encyclopedia
Kadašman-Enlil II was the twenty fifth king of the Kassite
dynasty of Babylon
.
He succeeded Kadašman-Turgu
as a child and political power was exercised at first by an influential vizier, Itti-Marduk-balatu, “whom the gods have caused to live far too long and in whose mouth unfavourable words never cease”, according to Ḫattušili III
. The vizier seems to have adopted a sharply antagonistic position towards the Hittites
, favoring the appeasement of their belligerent Assyrian
northerly neighbor.
s in your presence.” Itti-Marduk-balatu seems to have adopted the part of viceroy and, on one hand, Ḫattušili tried to renew the alliance entered into by the late king and, on the other, warn him – “If you do not protect my brother’s progeny in the kingship, I shall become your enemy.” This drew an angry response from the vizier, who accused Ḫattušili of treating them like vassals.
Kadašman-Enlil had allowed his diplomatic missions with the Hittite court to lapse, prompting an anxious Ḫattušili to ask why. “Since the Ahlamu are hostile I have stopped sending my messengers. The King of Assyria prevents my messenger from crossing his territory” – were his feeble responses, and this drew the curt reply: “Only when two kings are at enmity do their messengers cease regular travel between them”. However, when Kadašman-Enlil complained to Ḫattušili that his traders were being killed in Amurru and Ugarit, he refuted that any such thing could happen in Hittite territory. Kadašman Enlil’s envoy, Adad-šar-ilani, had witnessed Bentešina of Amurru’s sworn rebuttal that he had cursed Babylonia, helping to diffuse a international crisis.
Complementing him on his hunting prowess, Ḫattušili observed, “I have heard that my brother has become a grown man and regularly goes out to hunt,” before goading him to make war on a weaker neighbor, presumably Assyria. “Do not keep sitting around, my brother, but go against an enemy land and defeat the enemy! [Against which land] should [my brother] go out? Go against a land over which you enjoy three – or fourfold numerical superiority.” A diplomatic marriage may have been in the offing with Ḫattušili’s wife Puduhepa
matchmaking Kadašman Enlil’s betroval to one of her daughters, if the assignment of the recipients and sequence of related letters is correct, but alas it was not to come to pass as he died young.
corpus that stated, ‘’gold is like dust in the land of my brother,” rejoined by ‘’there are more horses than straw in the land of my Kassite brother.”
However, Babylon was the source of more than equine commodities. It also provided high-in-demand physicians and other skilled artisans, such as sculptors, conjurers, and incantation priests. Kadašman-Enlil had complained about the failure to return loaned doctors. Ḫattušili had concurred: "Detaining a doctor is not right!" But one named Rabâ-ša-Marduk
had been enticed to stay, with provision of a “fine house” and a royal marriage. Another had the misfortune to have died, which failed to shame the unabashed Ḫattušili from requesting the services of a sculptor.
Kadashman-Enlil II's reign was fairly short, up to nine years attested on the date formulae of more than forty economic text
s.
Kassites
The Kassites were an ancient Near Eastern people who gained control of Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire after ca. 1531 BC to ca. 1155 BC...
dynasty of Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
.
He succeeded Kadašman-Turgu
Kadashman-Turgu
Kadašman-Turgu, meaning he believes in Turgu, a Kassite deity, was the twenty-fourth king of the Kassite dynasty of Babylon. He succeeded his father, Nazi-Maruttaš, continuing the tradition of proclaiming himself lugal ki-šár-ra or “king of the world” and went on to reign for eighteen years...
as a child and political power was exercised at first by an influential vizier, Itti-Marduk-balatu, “whom the gods have caused to live far too long and in whose mouth unfavourable words never cease”, according to Ḫattušili III
Hattusili III
Hattusili III was a king of the Hittite empire ca. 1267–1237 BC . He was the fourth and last son of Mursili II...
. The vizier seems to have adopted a sharply antagonistic position towards the Hittites
Hittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
, favoring the appeasement of their belligerent Assyrian
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
northerly neighbor.
Correspondence with Ḫattušili III
In the first place the Hittite king, Ḫattušili III, wrote to Itti-Marduk-balatu (“With-Marduk-[there is]-Life”) to restablish relations with Kadašman-Turgu’s successor, because “my brother (Kadašman-Enlil) was a child in those days, and they did not read out the tabletClay tablet
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age....
s in your presence.” Itti-Marduk-balatu seems to have adopted the part of viceroy and, on one hand, Ḫattušili tried to renew the alliance entered into by the late king and, on the other, warn him – “If you do not protect my brother’s progeny in the kingship, I shall become your enemy.” This drew an angry response from the vizier, who accused Ḫattušili of treating them like vassals.
Kadašman-Enlil had allowed his diplomatic missions with the Hittite court to lapse, prompting an anxious Ḫattušili to ask why. “Since the Ahlamu are hostile I have stopped sending my messengers. The King of Assyria prevents my messenger from crossing his territory” – were his feeble responses, and this drew the curt reply: “Only when two kings are at enmity do their messengers cease regular travel between them”. However, when Kadašman-Enlil complained to Ḫattušili that his traders were being killed in Amurru and Ugarit, he refuted that any such thing could happen in Hittite territory. Kadašman Enlil’s envoy, Adad-šar-ilani, had witnessed Bentešina of Amurru’s sworn rebuttal that he had cursed Babylonia, helping to diffuse a international crisis.
Complementing him on his hunting prowess, Ḫattušili observed, “I have heard that my brother has become a grown man and regularly goes out to hunt,” before goading him to make war on a weaker neighbor, presumably Assyria. “Do not keep sitting around, my brother, but go against an enemy land and defeat the enemy! [Against which land] should [my brother] go out? Go against a land over which you enjoy three – or fourfold numerical superiority.” A diplomatic marriage may have been in the offing with Ḫattušili’s wife Puduhepa
Puduhepa
Puduhepa was a Hittite tawanannas was married to King Hattusili III. She has been referred to as "one of the most influential women known from the Ancient Near East."...
matchmaking Kadašman Enlil’s betroval to one of her daughters, if the assignment of the recipients and sequence of related letters is correct, but alas it was not to come to pass as he died young.
Diplomacy with Egypt
Relations with Egypt were restored and possibly cemented with a diplomatic marriage of a “daughter of Babylon who had been given to Egypt”, who must surely have been Kadašman-Enlil’s sister.More horses than straw
In his correspondence with Kadašman-Enlil, Ḫattušili had observed that “in my brother’s country, the horses are more plentiful than straw,” echoing the earlier sentiment of a letter from the AmarnaAmarna letters
The Amarna letters are an archive of correspondence on clay tablets, mostly diplomatic, between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru during the New Kingdom...
corpus that stated, ‘’gold is like dust in the land of my brother,” rejoined by ‘’there are more horses than straw in the land of my Kassite brother.”
However, Babylon was the source of more than equine commodities. It also provided high-in-demand physicians and other skilled artisans, such as sculptors, conjurers, and incantation priests. Kadašman-Enlil had complained about the failure to return loaned doctors. Ḫattušili had concurred: "Detaining a doctor is not right!" But one named Rabâ-ša-Marduk
Rabâ-ša-Marduk
Rabâ-ša-Marduk, “great are of Marduk”, was a prominent physician, or asû, from the city of Nippur who was posted to the Hittite court of Muwatalli II in Anatolia in the thirteenth century BC, apparently as part of a diplomatic mission of Kassite king Kadašman-Turgu .-Biography:His name was uncommon...
had been enticed to stay, with provision of a “fine house” and a royal marriage. Another had the misfortune to have died, which failed to shame the unabashed Ḫattušili from requesting the services of a sculptor.
Kadashman-Enlil II's reign was fairly short, up to nine years attested on the date formulae of more than forty economic text
Text corpus
In linguistics, a corpus or text corpus is a large and structured set of texts...
s.