BigEars42: Updating external links and reference for chronology of reign

2016-11-11T13:54:35Z

Updating external links and reference for chronology of reign

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{{Infobox monarch
| name = Burna-Buriaš II
| title = [[List of kings of Babylon|King of Babylon]]
| image= BM 29785 EA 9 Reverse v2.jpg
| caption = Reverse of clay cuneiform tablet, EA 9, letter from Burna-Buriaš II to Nibḫurrereya (Tutankhamun?) from Room 55 of the [[British Museum]]
| reign = 1359 – 1333 BC
| coronation =
| predecessor = [[Kadashman-Enlil I|Kadašman-Enlil I]]
| successor = [[Kara-hardash|Kara-ḫardaš]] [[Nazi-Bugash|Nazi-Bugaš]] [[Kurigalzu II]]
| spouse =
| royal house = [[Kassites|Kassite]]
| father =
| mother =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| buried =}}

'''Burna-Buriaš II''', rendered in [[cuneiform]] as ''Bur-na-'' or ''Bur-ra-Bu-ri-ia-[[aš (cuneiform)|aš]]'' in royal inscriptions and letters, and meaning ''servant'' or ''protégé of the Lord of the lands'' in the [[Kassite language]], where Buriaš is a [[Kassite deities|Kassite storm god]] possibly corresponding to the Greek [[Anemoi#Boreas|Boreas]],<ref name=roux>{{ cite book | title = Ancient Iraq | author = Georges Roux | publisher = George Allen & Unwin | year = 1964 | pages = 221, 233–234 }}</ref> was a king in the [[Kassites|Kassite]] dynasty of [[Babylon]], in a kingdom contemporarily called [[Karduniaš]], ruling ca. 1359–1333 BC,<ref>{{ cite book | title = Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization | chapter = Appendix: Mesopotamian Chronology of the Historical Period | author = J. A. Brinkman | editor = A. Leo Openheim | publisher = University of Chicago Press | year = 1977 | page = 338 }}</ref> where the [[Short chronology timeline|Short]] and [[Middle Chronology|Middle]] chronologies have converged. Recorded as the 19th King to ascend the Kassite throne, he succeeded [[Kadashman-Enlil I|Kadašman-Enlil I]], who was likely his father, and ruled for 27 years. He was a contemporary of the [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]]ian Pharaoh [[Akhenaten]]. The proverb "the time of checking the books is the shepherds' ordeal" was attributed to him in a letter to the later king [[Esarhaddon]] from his agent Mar-Issar.<ref name=pna>{{ cite book | title = The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Volume 1, Part II: B–G | author = K. Fabritius | editor = K. Radner | publisher = The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project | year = 1999 | page = 354 }}</ref>

==Correspondence with Egypt==

The diplomatic correspondence between Burna-Buriaš and the pharaohs is preserved in nine of the [[Amarna letters]], designated EA (for ''El Amarna'') 6 to 14. The relationship between Babylon and Egypt during his reign was friendly at the start, <ref group=i name=six>EA 6, Burna-Buriaš to Nummuwarea (Amenhotep III): "An offer of friendship," tablet VAT 149 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P271035 CDLI] [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/contrib/amarna/P271035/html ORACC Transliteration]</ref> and a marriage alliance was in the making. "From the time my ancestors and your ancestors made a mutual declaration of friendship, they sent beautiful greeting-gifts to each other, and refused no request for anything beautiful."<ref group=i name=nine>EA 9, Burna-Buriaš to Nibḫurrereya (Tutankhamen?): "Ancient loyalties, new requests," tablet BM 29785 in the British Museum, London, [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P270888 CDLI] [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/contrib/amarna/P270888/html ORACC Transliteration]</ref> Burna-Buriaš was obsessed with being received as an equal and often refers to his counterpart as "brother".<ref>{{ cite book | title = Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East | author = Amanda H. Podany | publisher = Oxford University Press | year =2010 | page= 206 }}</ref> They exchanged presents, horses, lapis-lazuli and other precious stones from Burna-Buriaš and ivory, ebony and gold from Akhenaten.<ref group=i>EA 14, Egyptian king to Burna-Buriaš: "Inventory of Egyptian gifts," tablets VAT 1651 and VAT 2711 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, and 1893.1-41 in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P271097 CDLI] [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/contrib/amarna/P271097/html ORACC Transliteration]</ref>

But then things began to sour. On EA 10,<ref group=i name=ten>EA 10, Burna-Buriaš to Napḫureya (Akhenaten): "Egyptian gold and carpenters," tablet BM 29786 in the British Museum, London, [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P270889 CDLI] [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/contrib/amarna/P270889/html ORACC Transliteration]</ref> he complains that the gold sent was underweight.<ref name=westbrook>{{ cite book | title = Babylonian Diplomacy in the Amarna Letters | author = Raymond Westbrook | publisher = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 120 | issue = 3 | date = Jul–Sep 2000 | pages = 377–382 }}</ref> “You have detained my messenger for two years!” he declares in consternation.<ref group=i name=seven>EA 7, Burna-Buriaš to Napḫureya (Akhenaten): "A lesson in geography," tablet VAT 150 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P271036 CDLI] [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/contrib/amarna/P271036/html ORACC Transliteration]</ref>{{rp|49–50}} He reproached the Egyptian for not having sent his condolences when he was ill<ref group=i name=seven/>{{rp|14–25}} and, when his daughter's wedding was underway, he complained that only five carriages were sent to convey her to Egypt.<ref group=i name=eleven>EA 11, Burna-Buriaš to Napḫureya (Akhenaten): "Proper escort for a betrothed princess," tablet VAT 151 + 1878 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P271037 CDLI] [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/contrib/amarna/P271037/html ORACC Transliteration]</ref>{{rp|21–22}} The bridal gifts filled 4 columns and 307 lines of cuneiform inventory on tablet EA 13.<ref group=i>EA 13, Burna-Buriaš to Napḫureya (Akhenaten): "Inventory of a dowry," tablet VAT 1717 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P271153 CDLI] [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/contrib/amarna/P271153/html ORACC Transliteration]</ref><ref>{{ cite book | title = Handbook to life in ancient Mesopotamia | author = Stephen Bertman | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2003 | page = 81 }}</ref>

Not only were matters of state of concern. "What you want from my land, write and it shall be brought, and what I want from your land, I will write, that it may be brought."<ref group=i name=six/>{{rp|13–17}} But even in matters of trade, things went awry and, in EA 8,<ref group=i name=eight>EA 8, Burna-Buriaš to Napḫureya (Akhenaten): "Merchants murdered, vengeance demanded," tablet VAT 152 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P271038 CDLI] [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/contrib/amarna/P271038/html ORACC Transliteration]</ref> he complains that Egypt's [[Canaan]]ite vassals had robbed and murdered his merchants. He demanded vengeance, naming Šum-Adda, the son of Balumme, affiliation unknown, and [[Satatna|Šutatna]], the son of Šaratum of [[Acre|Akka]], as the villainous perpetrators.<ref group=i name=eight/>{{rp|8–42}}

In his correspondence with the Pharaohs, he did not hesitate to remind them of their obligations, quoting ancient loyalties:

{{quote|text= In the time of [[Kurigalzu I|Kurgalzu]], my ancestor, all the Canaanites wrote here to him saying, "Come to the border of the country so we can revolt and be allied with you." My ancestor sent this (reply), saying, “Forget about being allied with me. If you become enemies of the king of Egypt, and are allied with anyone else, will I not then come and plunder you?”… For the sake of your ancestor my ancestor did not listen to them.<ref>{{ cite book | title = The Amarna Letters | author = William L. Moran | publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press | year = 2000 | page = 18 }}</ref>|sign=''Burna-Buriaš''|source= from [[Amarna letter EA 9|tablet EA 9]], BM 29785, line 19 onward.}}

Posterity has not preserved any Egyptian response, however, [[Abdi-Heba]], the Canaanite Mayor of [[Jerusalem]], then a small hillside town, wrote in [[Amarna letter EA 287|EA 287]]<ref group=i>EA 287, Abdi-Heba to Egyptian Pharaoh: "A very serious crime," tablet VAT 1644 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P271090 CDLI] [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/contrib/amarna/P271090/html ORACC transliteration]</ref> that Kassite agents had attempted to break into his home and assassinate him.

{{ quote|With regard to the Kassites… Though the house is well fortified, they attempted a very serious crime. They took their tools, and I had to seek shelter by a support for the roof. And so if he (pharaoh) is going to send troops into Jerusalem, let them come with a garrison for regular service…. And please make the Kassites responsible for the evil deed. I was almost killed by the Kassites in my own house. May the king make an inquiry in their regard.|''Abdi-Heba''|[[Amarna letter EA 287|El-Amarna tablet EA 287]].}}

One letter<ref group=i>EA 12, Princess to King: "A letter from a princess," tablet VAT 1605 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P271061 CDLI] [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/contrib/amarna/P271061/html ORACC Transliteration]</ref> preserves the apologetic response from a ''mārat šarri'', or princess, to her m''bé-lí-ia'', or lord ([[Nefertiti]] to Burna-Buriaš?). The letters present a playful, forthright and at times petulant repartee, but perhaps conceal a cunning interplay between them, to confirm their relative status, cajole the provision of desirable commodities and measure their respective threat, best exemplified by Burna-Buriaš' feigned ignorance of the distance between their countries, a four-month journey by caravan.<ref group=i name=seven/> Here he seems to test Akhenaten to shame him into sending gold<ref name=westbrook/> or perhaps just to gauge the extent of his potential military reach.

==International Relations==
[[File:Iran's heritages in Musée du Louvre - 36.jpg|thumb|160px|Bronze statue of Napir-asu<ref group=i name=napirasu>Sb 2731, Statue of Queen Napirasu, wife of Untash-Napirisha.</ref> in the [[Musée du Louvre|Louvre]].]]
Diplomacy with Babylon's neighbor, [[Elam]], was conducted through royal marriages. A Neo-Babylonian copy of a literary text which takes the form of a letter,<ref group=i>[[Shutruk-Nakhunte|Šutruk-Naḫḫunte]] (?) to Kassite court, Tablet VAT 17020 [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P347210 CDLI]</ref> now located in the [[Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin|Vorderasiatisches Museum]] in Berlin, is addressed to the Kassite court by an Elamite King. It details the genealogy of the Elamite royalty of this period, and from it we find that Pahir-Iššan married Kurigalzu I’s sister and Humban-Numena married his daughter and their son, [[Untash-Napirisha]] was betrothed to Burna-Buriaš’s daughter.<ref>{{ cite book | title = The archaeology of Elam: formation and transformation of an ancient Iranian State | author = D. T. Potts | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1999 | page = 207 }}</ref> This may have been Napir-asu, whose headless statue<ref group=i name=napirasu/> (pictured) now resides in the [[Musée du Louvre|Louvre]] in Paris.

It is likely that [[Suppiluliuma I]], king of the [[Hittites]], married yet another of Burna Buriaš’s daughters, his third and final wife, who thereafter was known under the traditional title Tawananna, and this may have been the cause of his neutrality in the face of the [[Mitanni]] succession crisis. He refused asylum to the fleeing [[Shattiwaza]], who received a more favorable response in Hatti, where Suppiluliuma I supported his reinstatement in a diminished vassal state.<ref>{{ cite book | title = The Kingdom of the Hittites | author = Trevor Bryce | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2005 | page = 159 }}</ref> According to her step son [[Mursili II]], she became quite a troublemaker, scheming and murderous, as in the case of Mursili’s wife, foistering her strange foreign ways on the Hittite court and ultimately being exiled.<ref name=bryce>{{ cite book | title = Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East: The Royal Correspondence of the Late Bronze Age | author = Trevor Bryce | publisher = Routledge | year = 2003 | pages = 14, 103 }}</ref> His testimony is preserved in two prayers in which he condemned her.<ref>{{ cite journal | title = A Prayer of Muršili II about His Stepmother | author = Harry A. Hoffner, Jr. | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 103 | number = 1 | date = Jan–Mar 1983 | jstor = 601872 | pages = 187–192 | doi=10.2307/601872}} discussing tablets K Bo 4.8 and KUB 14.4.</ref>

Kassite influence reached to Bahrain, ancient [[Dilmun]], where two letters found in Nippur were sent by a Kassite official, [[Ilī-ippašra]], in Dilmun to Ililiya, a hypocoristic form of Enlil-kidinni, who was the governor, or ''[[šandabakku]]'', of Nippur during Burna Buriaš’s reign and that of his immediate successors.<ref>{{ cite journal | title = Two Letters from Dilmun | author = P. B. Cornwall | journal = Journal of Cuneiform Studies | volume = 6 | issue = 4 | jstor = 1359537 | year =1952 | pages =137–145 | doi=10.2307/1359537}}</ref><ref>{{ cite journal | title = The texts Ni. 615 and 641 of the Istanbul Museum | author = Albrecht Goetze | journal = Journal of Cuneiform Studies | issue = 6 | year = 1952 | jstor = 1359537 | pages = 142–145 }}</ref> In the first letter, the hapless Ili-ippašra complains that the anarchic local Aḫlamû tribesmen have stolen his dates and “there is nothing I can do” while in the second letter they “certainly speak words of hostility and plunder to me”.<ref>{{ cite journal | title = Nippur and Dilmun in the second half of the fourteenth century BC: a re-evaluation of the Ilī-ippašra letters | author = Eric Olijdam | journal = Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies | volume = 27 | year =1997 | pages =199–203 }}</ref>

==Domestic Affairs==

Building activity increased markedly in the latter half of the fourteenth century with Burna-Buriaš and his successors undertaking restoration work of sacred structures.<ref>{{ cite book | title = Nippur III, Kassite Buildings in Area WC-1 | author = Richard L. Zettler | publisher = Oriental Institute Publication | year = 1993 | page = 8 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Inscriptions from three door sockets and bricks, some of which are still in situ, bear witness to his restoration of the Ebabbar of the sun god [[Shamash|Šamaš]] in [[Larsa]]. A tablet provides an exhortation to Enlil and a brick refers to work on the great [[Socle (architecture)|socle]] of the Ekiur of Ninlil in [[Nippur]].<ref name=brinkman>{{ cite book | title = Materials and Studies for Kassite History, Vol. I (MSKH I) | chapter = Burna-Buriaš | author = J. A. Brinkman | publisher = Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago | year = 1976 | pages = 105–108 }}</ref> A thirteen line bilingual inscription can now probably be assigned to him.<ref group=i>Bilingual inscription Sm. 699, K. 4807 + Sm. 977 + 79-7-8,80 + 79-7-8,314.</ref><ref>{{ cite journal | title = Texts and Fragments | author = J. A. Brinkman | journal = Journal of Cuneiform Studies | volume = 37 | number = 2 | date = Autumn 1985 | jstor = 1359870 | pages = 249–252 | doi=10.2307/1359870}}</ref> Neo-Babylonian temple inventory from Ur mentions him along with successors as a benefactor.<ref group=i>Temple inventory UET 4 143 (now = IM 57150).</ref> A cylinder inscription of [[Nabonidus]]<ref group=i>Cylinder BM 104738, column I, lines 49 to 52.</ref> recalls Burna-Buriaš’ earlier work on the [[temenos]] at [[Sippar]]:

{{ quote|The foundation record of Ebarra which Burna-buriaš, a king of former times, my predecessor, had made, he saw and upon the foundation record of Burna-buriaš, not a finger-breadth too high, not a finger-breadth beyond, the foundation of that Ebarra he laid.<ref>{{ cite journal | title = New Inscriptions of Nabuna'id | author = S. Langdon | journal = The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures | volume = 32 | number = 2 | date = Jan 1916 | jstor = 52834 | page = 112 | doi=10.1086/369788}}</ref> |''Inscription of Nabonidus''|cylinder BM 104738.}}

There are around 87 economic texts, most of which were found at successive excavations in Nippur, providing a date formula based on regnal years, which progress up to year 27. Many of them are personnel rosters dealing with servile laborers, who were evidently working under duress as the terms ZÁḤ, "escapee", and ''ka-mu'', "fettered", are used to classify some of them.<ref>{{ cite book | title = Zikir Sumin | chapter = Sex, Age, and Physical Condition Designations for Servile Laborers in the Middle Babylonian Period | author = J. A. Brinkman | publisher = V.U. Uitgeverij | editor = G. van Driel | date = May 1982 | pages = 1–8 }}</ref> Apparently thousands of men were employed in construction and agriculture and women in the textile industry. An oppressive regime developed to constrain their movements and prevent their escape.<ref>{{ cite journal | title = Forced Laborers in the Middle Babylonian Period | author = J. A. Brinkman | journal = Journal of Cuneiform Studies | volume = 32 | number = 1 | jstor = 1359787 | date = Jan 1980 | pages = 17–22 | doi=10.2307/1359787}}</ref> Other texts include two [[extispicy]] reports provide divinations based on examination of animal entrails.<ref name=brinkman/> Nippur seems to have enjoyed the status of a secondary capital. The presence of the royal retinue replete with scribes would have provided the means for the creation of business records for the local population.

==Kara-ḫardaš, Nazi-Bugaš and the events at end of his reign==

Later in his reign the [[Assyria]]n king [[Ashur-uballit I|Aššur-uballiṭ I]] was received at the Egyptian court by [[Tutankhamen]], who had by then ascended the throne. This caused a great deal of dismay from Burna-Buriaš who claimed the Assyrians were his vassals, "Why have they been received in your land? If I am dear to you, do not let them conclude any business. May they return here with empty hands!" on EA 9.<ref>{{ cite journal | title = Foreign Relations of Babylonia from 1600 to 625 B. C.: The Documentary Evidence | author = J. A. Brinkman | journal = American Journal of Archaeology | volume = 76 | issue = 3 | date = Jul 1972 | jstor = 503920 | pages = 271–281 }}</ref> Finally released from beneath the yoke of Mitanni hegemony, Assyria emerged as a great power during his reign, threatening the northern border of the kingdom.

Perhaps to cement relations, Muballiṭat-Šērūa, daughter of Aššur-uballiṭ, had been married to either Burna-Buriaš<ref>{{ cite book | title = A companion to the ancient Near East | chapter = 16 Royal Women and the Exercise of Power in the Near East | author = Sarah C. Melville | editor = Daniel C. Snell | year = 2004 | page = 225 }}</ref> or possibly his son,<ref>{{ cite book | title = From Egypt to Babylon: the international age 1550-500 BC | author = Paul Collins | publisher = Trustees of the British Museum | year = 2008 | page = 65 }}</ref> '''Kara-ḫardaš'''; the historical sources do not agree.<ref>{{ cite book | title = Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles | author = A. K. Grayson | publisher = J. J. Augustin | year = 1975 | page = 211 }}</ref> The scenario proposed by Brinkman<ref>{{ cite book | title = MSKH I | chapter = The Chronicle Tradition Concerning the Deposing of the Grandson of Aššur-uballiṭ I | author = J. A. Brinkman | pages = 418–423 }}</ref> has come to be considered the orthodox interpretation of these events. A poorly preserved letter in the [[Pergamon Museum]] possibly mentions him and a princess or ''mārat šarri''.<ref group=i>Tablet VAT 11187 published as KAV 097 [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P285571 CDLI], line 1: [''ka-ra-''] ''ḫar-da-aš'', and 3: ''a-ma'' DUMU MUNUS MAN ''di-mu''.</ref> Kara-ḫardaš was murdered, shortly after succeeding his father to the throne, during a rebellion by the Kassite army in 1333 BC. This incited Aššur-uballiṭ to invade, depose the usurper installed by the army, one '''Nazi-Bugaš''' or '''Šuzigaš''', described as "a Kassite, son of a nobody",<ref>{{ cite book | title = The ancient Near East, c. 3000-330 BC | author = Amélie Kuhrt | publisher = Routledge | year = 1995 }}</ref> and install [[Kurigalzu II]], "the younger", variously rendered as son of Burnaburiaš<ref group=i>''The Synchronistic Chronicle'' (ABC 21), K4401a, Column 1, line A16.</ref> and son of Kadašman-Ḫarbe, likely a scribal error for Kara-ḫardaš.<ref group=i>''[[Chronicle P]]'' (ABC 22), tablet BM 92701, line 14</ref> Note, however, that there are more than a dozen royal inscriptions of Kurigalzu II identifying Burna-Buriaš as his father.

==Inscriptions==

<references group="i"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Babylonian kings}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burna-Buriash II}}
[[Category:Babylonian kings]]
[[Category:Amarna Period]]
[[Category:Amarna letters writers]]
[[Category:Kassite kings]]
[[Category:14th-century BC rulers]]

Burna-Buriash II - Revision history

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BigEars42: Updating external links and reference for chronology of reign

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