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{{Infobox monarch
| name = Simbar-Šipak
| title = [[List of kings of Babylon|King of Babylon]]
| image= BM 90937 Simbar-Shihu kudurru.jpg
| caption = Part of Simbar-Šihu [[kudurru]] inscription
| reign = ca.1025-1008 BC
| coronation =
| predecessor = [[Nabu-shum-libur|Nabû-šuma-libūr]] 2nd Dynasty of [[Isin]]
| successor = [[Ea-mukin-zeri|Ea-mukin-zēri]]
| spouse =
| royal house = 2nd Sealand Dynasty
| father =
| mother =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| buried =}}

'''Simbar-Šipak''', or perhaps ''Simbar-Šiḫu'',<ref group=nb>Earlier readings render his name as ''Simmash-Shipak''.</ref> typically inscribed m''sim-bar-''d''ši-i-''ḪU or ''si-im-bar-ši-''ḪU in [[cuneiform]], where the reading of the last symbol is uncertain,<ref name=goetze>{{ cite journal | title = An Inscription of Simbar-šīḫu | author = Albrecht Goetze | journal = Journal of Cuneiform Studies | volume = 19 | number = 4 | year = 1965 | jstor = 1359115 | pages = 121–135 }}</ref>{{rp|133}} “offspring of (the [[Kassite deities|Kassite moon god]]) Šipak”, ca.1025-1008 BC, founded the 2nd Dynasty of the Sealand, [[Babylon]]’s 5th Dynasty and conducted a program of restoration of a number of temples that had been destroyed earlier by the marauding [[Arameans]] and the Sutû. His identification with the Sibir (m''Si-bir'') named by [[Ashurnasirpal II]] in his ''annals''<ref group=i>''Annals of Ashurbanipal II'', ii 84: msi-bir šar4 kurkar-du-ni-áš.</ref> as having earlier captured and laid waste Atlila (probably modern [[Bakr Awa]]), a city on [[Assyria]]’s eastern flank, remains unresolved.<ref name=pkb>{{ cite book | title = A Political History of post-Kassite Babylonia, 1158-722 B.C. (AnOr. 43) | author = J. A. Brinkman | publisher = Pontificium Institutum Biblicum | year = 1968 | pages = 150–155 }}</ref>

==Biography==

Simbar-Šipak lived during turbulent times, where crop failures and almost constant conflicts with semi-nomadic migrants caused the Babylonian government of the preceding 2nd Dynasty of [[Isin]] to fall. As a soldier from the southern region of [[Mesopotamia]], he emerged to stabilize the situation. He reigned for 18 years according to the ''King List A'',<ref group=i>''King List A'', BM 33332, iii 6, abbreviated to m''ším-bar-ši''.</ref> 17 years according to the ''[[Dynastic Chronicle]]''<ref group=i name=dynastic>''Dynastic chronicle'' (ABC 18) v 2-4.</ref> which names him ''Simbar-Šiḫu'', “knight of the Sealand,”<ref group=nb>''rēdû ša māt tām-tim'', “knight of the Sealand.”</ref> son of Eriba-Sin, an individual otherwise unknown, and soldier of the dynasty of Damiq-ilišu,<ref group=nb>ERÍN (''ṣābu'') BALA SIG5-DINGIR''-šu'', "the dynasty of Damiq-ilišu."</ref> a possible reference to the ultimate king of the first dynasty of [[Isin]], whom the founder of the first Sealand dynasty, [[Ilum-ma-ili|Ilum-ma-ilī]], had claimed filiation, or alternatively to [[Damqi-ilishu]] of the Sealand dynasty. Despite the apparent [[Kassites|Kassite]] character of his name, there is no other evidence of this tribal affiliation.<ref>{{ cite book | title = Reallexikon Der Assyriologie Und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie: Meek - Mythologie | author = Bruno Meissner | editor = Dietz Otto Edzard | publisher = Walter De Gruyter | year = 1999 | page = 8 }}</ref> Although there are no traces of his name remaining on the Assyrian ''Synchronistic King List'',<ref group=i>''Synchronistic King List'', Assur 14616c, iii 1–2 (restored).</ref> the king would have appeared, somewhat implausibly, in the section belonging opposite [[Eriba-Adad II|Erība-Adad II]].<ref>{{ cite journal | title = A Preliminary Catalogue of Written Sources for a Political History of Babylonia: 1160-722 B.C. | author = J. A. Brinkman | journal = Journal of Cuneiform Studies | volume = 16 | issue = 4 | year = 1962 | jstor = 1359098 | page = 92 }}</ref>

Only four contemporary written documents from his reign are known. One comprises two late copies of a royal inscription, known as “Enlil’s throne” or the “Royal inscription of Simbar-Šipak”,<ref>{{ cite journal | title = A New Simbar-Šipak Fragment | author = J. A. Brinkman | journal = NABU | year = 1991 | issue = 1 | pages = 19–20 }} no. 21.</ref> another a legal deed drawn up in the king's twelfth year, a third an inscribed dagger in the Archaeological Museum of Tabriz, Iran, apparently found in a river in the eastern Azerbaijan province,<ref>{{ cite journal | title = Ein Bronzedolch des Simbar-Šipak von Babylon (1025-1008). Überlegungen zu Waffenweihungen im Vorderen Orient. | author = Karen Radner , Stephan Kroll | journal = Zeitschrift für Assyriologie | volume = 96 | issue = 2 | year = 2006 | pages = 212–221 | doi=10.1515/za.2006.009}}</ref> and the fourth an arrowhead<ref group=i>Bronze Arrow Head, 2 9/16 in. (6.5 cm.) high, Christie’s, New York, 7 December 2011, lot 13, sale 2490.</ref> inscribed "(Property) of Simbar-Šiḫu, son of Eriba-Sin," thus confirming the name of his father given in two late chronicles.<ref>{{ cite book | title = Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Adam Collection | author = Sollberger | editor = P.R.S. Moorey | location = London | year = 1974 | page = 51 }} no. 20.</ref> The deed details the sale of land in compensation for ransom paid by an intermediary and redemption of the former landowner’s three sons,<ref>{{ cite journal | title = Comment on L. W. King, Babylonian Boundary Stones, no. 27 (BM 90937) | author = J. A. Brinkman | journal = NABU | year = 1989 | issue = 3 | page = 49 }} no. 71.</ref> and the inscription on the bottom edge (pictured) reads:

{{ quote|Ea-mukîn-zêri, the son of Belani, the priest of Eridu, and the scribe Esagilâa, the son of Arad-Ea, who holds the tablet, are present. The city of Saḫritu, in the Second Elul, in the twelfth year of Simbar-Šipak, king of Babylon. The [[clay nail|nail]] of Zêria, the son of Kudurri, the tax-collector, to represent his seal.”<ref name=king>{{ cite book | title = Babylonian boundary-stones and memorial tablets in the British Museum | author = L. W. King | location = London | publisher = British Museum | year = 1912 | pages = 101–104, 121–22 }} no.’s XXVII and XXXVI respectively.</ref>|Simbar-Šihu kudurru|Bottom edge lines 1–4.<ref group=i>Stone tablet BM 90937 (British Museum).</ref> }}

It would be tempting to identify the first witness with his nemesis and successor, [[Ea-mukin-zeri|Ea-mukin-zēri]] but this would be speculative.<ref name=pkb/>{{rp|note 939}}

===Royal Inscription of Simbar-Šipak===

This is extant on two copies of an inscription of the king recording the rededication of the throne of the god [[Enlil]] in the E-kur-igigal temple at [[Nippur]] following the judicious return of the “goods and property of Ellil” by an Assyrian (king) who had recovered them from the Arameans, the original thieves. It states that it is [[Marduk]] that sits at the throne where Enlil and Marduk are apparently treated as the same god.<ref>{{ cite journal | title = Reading a Votive Inscription: Simbar-shipak and the Ellilification of Marduk | author = V. A. Hurowitz | journal = RA | volume = 91 | year = 1997 | pages = 39–47. }}</ref> The ''[[Eclectic Chronicle]]'' describes the same event.<ref group=i>''Eclectic Chronicle'' (ABC 24) BM 27859 obverse, lines 12-13.</ref> The inscription goes on to describe the travails inflicted by the Arameans and Sutû, harking back to the reign of [[Adad-apla-iddina]]:

{{ quote|(Concerning) the throne of the god Ellil in the (temple) E-kur-igigal, which [[Nebuchadnezzar I|Nabû-kudurrī-uṣur]] a former king, had fashioned: During the reign of Adad-apla-iddina, king of Babylon, hostile Aramaeans and Suteans, enemies of the E-kur (temple) and (the city) of Nippur, they who laid hands on Duranki (Nippur), (who) upset in Sippar, the pristine town, the seat of the high-judge of the gods, their rites, (who) sacked the land of Sumer and Akkad, and overthrew all the temples. The goods (and) property of the god Enlil which the Arameans had carried off and (which) Subartu (Assyria) had appropriated, …. Simbar-Šipak, viceroy of the god Enlil, favorite of… reverent shepherd…was exceedingly concerned about the renovation of the temple E-kur and the city of Nippur. He had a throne … constructed and set up, suitable for Enlil’s august position as supreme god. On account of this, when … Enlil … sits upon this throne, may the fate of Simbar-Šipak … be established favorably.<ref name=goetze/>{{rp|121–122}}|Inscription of Simbar-Šipak|Late Babylonian copy<ref group=i>Neo-Babylonian Clay Cuneiform Tablet, Edgar J. Banks Collection, Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Museum reference WHM 13.14.1729 (formerly UIOM 2499) and British Museum duplicate BM 82953 (83-1-21,116).</ref> }}

In his dedication to Enlil, he describes himself as, “he who puts in order the paths of Anum and Dagan, he who preserves their rites.”<ref group=nb>''muštēšir alkakāti Anim u Dagan mušallimu mēsīšunu''.</ref><ref>{{ cite book | title = The God Dagan in Bronze Age Syria | author = Lluis Feliu | publisher = Brill Academic Pub | year = 2003 | page = 172 }}</ref>

===Other sources===

The ''Sun God Tablet'' of [[Nabu-apla-iddina]]<ref group=i>The ''Sun God Tablet'', BM 91000 i 13-23.</ref> relates that “during the troubles and disorders in Akkad”, the Sutû, the “evil foe”, had overthrown the cult idol of [[Shamash|Šamaš]] in [[Sippar]]. Simbar-Šipak, had sought to recover it but had been unsuccessful due to lack of divine support – so he suspended a sun disc (“nipḫu”) as a substitute idol, established regular offerings, and installed Ekur-šum-ušabši, the seer and priest of Sippar, at the temple.<ref name=king/>

The ''[[Religious Chronicle]]'' is thought to record events of his reign, based on the order of preceding kings,<ref>{{ cite book | title = Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles | author = A. K. Grayson | publisher = J. J. Augustin | year = 1975 | page = 134 }} commentary to lines ii 1–29.</ref> and provides some fairly obscure portents such as “a wolf was lurking in the west,” “a badger in the Uraš gate at the door of the ''šatammu's'' (temple administrator’s) residence,” “two deer entered Babylon,” and most ominously “on the twenty-sixth of the month Simanu, in the seventh year, day turned to night and there was a fire in the sky,” an eclipse, speculated to have taken place on 9 May 1012 B.C.<ref name>{{ cite book | title = Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 2, Part 2, History of the Middle East and the Aegean Region, c. 1380-1000 BC | chapter = XXXI: Assyria and Babylonia, 1200-1000 B.C. | author = D. J. Wiseman | editor = I. E. S. Edwards | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1975 | page = 472 }}</ref> Things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse from the thirteenth year onward as the chariot of Bel did not come out for three successive years and the eighteenth year was marked by a wave of water coming down from the [[Ishtar Gate|Ištar gate]], entering Babylon, two soldiers were killed and an idol was knocked off its pedestal.<ref group=i>''Religious Chronicle'' (ABC 17) tablet BM 35968, ii 1–25.</ref> This was the year his reign came to a dramatic end when he was assassinated, quite possibly by his successor, Ea-mukin-zēri, “by the sword,”<ref group=nb>GIŠ.TUKUL.TA BA.AN.SÌG.GI.IN, “by the sword.”</ref> plunging the country once again into chaos. He “was buried in the palace of Sargon.”<ref group=i name=dynastic/>

==Inscriptions==

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==Notes==

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==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{Babylonian kings}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simbar-Shipak}}
[[Category:Babylonian kings]]
[[Category:11th-century BC rulers]]

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