| Marduk-apla-uṣur | |
|---|---|
| King of Babylon | |
| Reign | 8th century BC |
| Predecessor | Marduk-bēl-zēri |
| Successor | Erība-Marduk |
| House | Dynasty ofE (mixed dynasties) |
Marduk-apla-uṣur, inscribeddAMAR.UTU-A-ŠE[Š],[i 1] ormdŠID-A-[x],[i 2] meaning 'O Marduk, protect the heir' was an 8th century BCChaldean tribal leader who ruled as King ofBabylon after the reign ofMarduk-bēl-zēri. He is known only from three inscriptions and ruled during a period of chaos.[1]: 215 He should not be confused with the Marduk-apla-uṣur who ruledSuḫi on the middleEuphrates and paid tribute toSalmānu-ašarēdu III a generation or so earlier.[1]: 201
HisAssyrian contemporaries were probablySalmānu-ašarēdu IV (783 - 773 BC) and/orAshur-dan III (773 - 755 BC) and the latter one is known to have campaigned in northern Babylonia on three occasions: 771 BC (against Gannanāti), 770 BC (againstMarad) and 767 BC (against Gannanāti again). Into the vacuum created by the devastation, the southern Chaldeans were able to rise to power and he seems to have been the first member of the tribal group to have made pretensions to the Babylonian throne.[2] His place in the sequence of kings is known from aSynchronistic King List fragment.[i 2] His length of reign and dynastic affiliation are unknown, as he was recorded as belonging to a separate one from his predecessor and successor, but theDynastic Chronicle records that "the dynasty of Chaldea was terminated. Its kingship was transferred to the Sealand,"[i 1] and, as his successor wasErība-Marduk, the archetypal ancestor figure of the later Chaldean monarchs, it is surmised his origins were with a different Chaldean group than that of Erība-Marduk's Bīt-Yakin tribe.
He is mentioned in a fragmentary Neo-Babylonian narrative text from Uruk[i 3] ("TheCrimes and Sacrileges of Nabu-šuma-iškun") which provides no further enlightenment about his time apart from a passing observation that "forced labor andcorvée were imposed."[3]
