Marduk-nādin-ahhē (Akk. "Marduk (is) giver of brothers") -- a son of Ninurta-nādin-šumi [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/rulers/ninurtanadinshumi/index.html] and, thus, a brother of the famous king Nebuchadnezzar I [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/rulers/nebuchadnezzari/index.html] -- ascended the throne after the short reign of his nephew, Enlil-nādin-apli [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/rulers/enlilnadinapli/index.html], whom he might have deposed (according to one interpretation of a broken passage in a Babylonian chronicle [http://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-25-walker-chronicle/]). According to Babylonian King List C [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/kinglists/kinglistc/index.html] and an Assyrian chronicle [http://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/cm-15-tiglath-pileser-i-chronicle/?], he ruled Babylonia for eighteen years. For the most part, Marduk-nādin-ahhē seems to have been a rather successful monarch. He sponsored various building projects in his country (at present, the only firm proof comes from Ur; see Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē 1-2 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/corpus/]) and kept the power-hungry Assyrian empire at bay.[1] However, towards the end of his reign, the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser I successfully raided the Northern Babylonian cities Dūr-Kurigalzu, Sippar-ša-Šamaš, Sippar-ša-Annunītu, Babylon, and Opis and burnt Marduk-nādin-ahhē's palaces at Babylon. This is stated in two of Tiglath-pileser's own inscriptions (RIMA 2, A.0.87.4, ll. 44-51 and A.0.87.10, ll. 45-53) and in the so-called Synchronistic History [http://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-21-synchronic-chronicle/] (ii A14'-A24'). Since these sources do not mention death or captivity of Marduk-nādin-ahhē, the Assyrian invasion must not necessarily have meant the end of his reign, the circumstances of which still remain a mystery. Another Assyrian chronicle [http://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/cm-15-tiglath-pileser-i-chronicle/?] reports that he disappeared from the scene (lit.: "resorted to the mountain(s)") at a time when there was a severe famine in the land and increasing numbers of Aramaean tribes (lit. "houses") plundered the crops and possessions of the Assyrian people. However, it is not clear from this chronographic text if these unfortunate events are somehow related to Marduk-nādin-ahhē's "disappearance" and what exactly happened to the king after he fled. The chronicle furthermore only reports (in accordance with Babylonian King List C [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/kinglists/kinglistc/index.html]) that he was followed on the throne by his son Marduk-šāpik-zēri [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/rulers/mardukshapikzeri/index.html].[2]
For further information on the inscriptions of Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē, click here or on the "Inscriptions" link to the left.
Browse Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē Online Corpus [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/corpus/]
Brinkman, J.A., A Political History of Post-Kassite Babylonia. 1158-722 B.C. (Analecta Orientalia 43), Roma: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1968 (esp. pp. 42-43, 119-130 and 330-333 no. 6).
Frame, G., Rulers of Babylonia. From the Second Dynasty of Isin to the End of Assyrian Domination (1157-612 BC) (The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Babylonian Periods 2), Toronto et al.: University of Toronto Press, 1995 (esp. pp. 38-44).
Glassner, J.-J., Mesopotamian Chronicles (Writings from the Ancient World 19), Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004.
Walker, C.B.F., 'Babylonian Chronicle 25,' in: G. van Driel et al. (eds.), Zikir šumim. Assyriological Studies Presented to F.R. Kraus on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, Leiden: Netherlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1982, pp. 398-417.
[1] According to two later royal inscriptions [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/corpus/] (Sennacherib 223, ll. 48-49 and Sennacherib 24 vi 2'), Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē had even raided the Assyrian city Ekallāte and carried (the statues of) the gods Adad and Šala off to Babylon. [Go back to body text.]
[2] The phrase indicating the exact relationship between the two kings is broken; reconstruction is based on a passage that is preserved both in the Walker Chronicle [http://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-25-walker-chronicle/] and in the Eclectic Chronicle [http://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-24-eclectic-chronicle/?] and can thus be fully reconstructed by comparison between those two texts (see Walker 1982, pp. 402, 414 and 416), stating that Marduk-šāpik-zēri [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/rulers/mardukshapikzeri/index.html] was Marduk-nādin-ahhē's son. [Go back to body text.]
Alexa Bartelmus
Alexa Bartelmus, 'Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē (1099-1082 BC)', RIBo, Babylon 2: The Inscriptions of the Second Dynasty of Isin, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2016 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/rulers/marduknadinahhe/]