| Eulmaš-šākin-šumi | |
|---|---|
| King of Babylon | |
| Reign | c. 1000–984 BC |
| Predecessor | Kaššu-nādin-aḫi 2nd Sealand Dynasty |
| Successor | Ninurta-kudurrῑ-uṣur I |
| House | Bῑt-Bazi Dynasty |
Eulmaš-šākin-šumi, inscribed incuneiform asÉ-ul-maš-GAR-MU,[i 1] or prefixed with the masculine determinativem,[i 2] “Eulmaš[nb 1] (is) the establisher of offspring”,[1]: p. 160, n. 971 c. 1000–984 BC, was the founder of the 6th Dynasty ofBabylon, known as theBῑt-Bazi Dynasty, after theKassite tribal group from which its leaders were drawn. TheDynastic Chronicle[i 3] tells us that he ruled for fourteen years, the King List A,[i 2] seventeen years.
A small settlement near the Tigris in the 23rd century had been adopted by a minor Kassite clan by the 14th century, the name being co-opted as the ancestor figure for the tribe. In the midst of the turmoil inflicted by theAramean migrations and the famines that drove them, Eulmaš-šākin-šumi seems to have seized the throne and possibly moved his capital to Kar-Marduk, a hitherto unknown location presumed to be less vulnerable to invasions of semi-nomads than Babylon.[2]
An earlier character called Eulmaš-šākin-šumi,son of Bazi, appears as a witness on akudurru[i 4] recording a land grant[3] of twentyGUR arable land to Adad-zêr-ikîša, where he is called (amêlu)šaq-šup-par ša mâtâti, “officer of the lands” and also another[i 5] confirming ownership of sevenGUR of arable land to a certain Iqīša-Ninurta, where he is described as asak-ru-maš, “chariot officer.”[4] He may also appear on another small broken kudurru,[i 6] if his name has been deciphered correctly, but these three are dated to the tenth (first kudurru) and thirteenth (second and third kudurrus) years of the reign ofMarduk-nādin-aḫḫē,[5] too early to be this monarch if the chronology and sequence of kings currently favored is followed, but quite possibly an ancestor.
TheAssyrian King List[i 7] has him contemporary withŠulmanu-ašaredu II, an unlikely pairing. TheReligious Chronicle[i 8] mentions the “goddesses, the troops” in his fourteenth year but the context is lost. TheEclectic Chronicle[i 9] records that “(Marduk stayed) on the dais (in) the fifth year of Eulmaš-šakin-šumi, the king. The fourteenth year …,” which seem to refer to interruptions in theAkitu festival.[6] TheSun God Tablet[i 10] ofNabu-apla-iddina relates that Ekur-šum-ušabši, the priest and seer appointed during the time ofSimbar-šipak, complained that due to the “stress and famine underKaššu-nādin-aḫi,” an intermediate monarch, "the temple offerings ofŠamaš (had) ceased," prompting Eulmaš-šākin-šumi to divert flour and sesame wine from that allocated to the godBel and a garden in the new city district of Babylon for ongoing provisions.[3]
There is an inscribedLorestān bronze sword and fifteen inscribed arrowheads, somewhat inappropriately inscribed with the titlešar kiššati, "king of the world," probably for use as votive offerings at temples rather than as offensive weapons.[7] TheDynastic Chronicle reports that “he was buried in the palace of Kar-Marduk.”[i 3] He was succeeded by Ninurta-kuddurī-uṣur and later Širikti-Šuqamuna, both “sons of Bazi.”
