| Burna-Buriyåš I | |
|---|---|
| King of Babylon | |
| Reign | ca. 1500 BC |
| Predecessor | ?Agum II |
| Successor | Kaštiliašu orUlam Buriaš |
| House | Kassite |
Burna-Buriyåš I,[nb 1] meaningservant of the Lord of the lands, was the firstKassite who really ruled overBabylonia, possibly the first to occupy the city ofBabylon proper around 1500 BC, culminating a century of creeping encroachment by the Kassite tribes.[1] He was the 10th king of this dynasty to be listed on theAssyrianSynchronistic Kinglist.[i 1]
m[b]ur-na-bu-ra-ri-ia-aš is an old spelling as opposed to later burna-buriaš.
At about 1500 BC, Burna-Buriyåš concluded a treaty withPuzur-Aššur III of Assyria (r. 1521-1498 BC), then a small vassal to theMitanni, taking an oath (oritmûma[2]) to delineate the border between their kingdoms.[nb 2] TheSynchronistic Chronicle[i 2] places this episode after the treaty betweenKaraindaš and Assyrian kingAššur-bêl-nišešu, but there is no known Puzur-Aššur after him on any of the copies of theAssyrian Kinglist which led Röllig to conclude that a later scribe had confused Burna-Buriyåš with his name-sake,Burna-Buriaš II.[3] TheSynchronistic Kinglist[i 1] names one Burna-Buriyåš as the 10th Kassite ruler and a contemporary ofIšme-Dagan II, who is separated from Puzur-Aššur III by 42 regnal years. This might suggest that there were two early Burna-Buriyaš’, one contemporary with Puzur-Aššur III and one roughly contemporary with Išme-Dagan II, if this late Assyrian tablet were to be considered a reliable source in this respect. It does, however, take some significant liberties with chronology in other places.[4] A fragmentary clay cone or cylinder[i 3] apparently recording a land grant, recovered from excavation in Nippur during the 1949–50 season, may date to his reign based upon the reconstruction of his name on line 5 and the paleography of the cuneiform.[5] If correctly identified, it would make thiskudurru ornarû ša ḫaṣbi, “memorial clay-stele”, the oldest exemplar of this genre of public memorial.[6]
Burna-Buriyåš may have been succeeded by his sonKaštiliašu III, but the evidence supporting this son's kingship is rather circumstantial. He was also father ofUlam-Buriyåš, as commemorated on anonyx weight, in the shape of a frog, with a cuneiform inscription, “1 shekel, Ulam Buriaš,son of Burna Buriaš,” which was found in a large burial, during excavations of the site of the ancient city ofMetsamor site.[7] It was this son who apparently led a successful invasion of the Sealand, a region of Southern Mesopotamia synonymous withSumer, and made himself “master of the land”.[i 4] Also, aserpentine ordiorite mace head[i 5] or possibly door knob found in Babylon, is engraved with a votive inscription of Ulaburariaš,son of Burna-Buriaš, “King of Sealand”.[8]
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