Adad-shuma-usur

Adad-šuma-uṣur
King of Babylon
Adad-šuma-uṣur's rude letter to Aššur-nirari III and Ilī-ḫaddâ, the "Kings of Assyria."
Reign	ca. 1216–1187 BC
Predecessor	Adad-šuma-iddina
Successor	Meli-Šipak II
House	Kassite

Adad-šuma-uṣur, inscribed ^dIM-MU-ŠEŠ, meaning "O Adad, protect the name!," and dated very tentatively ca. 1216–1187 BC (short chronology), was the 32nd king of the 3rd or Kassite dynasty of Babylon and the country contemporarily known as Karduniaš. His name was wholly Babylonian and not uncommon, as for example the later Assyrian King Esarhaddon (681–669 BC) had a personal exorcist, or ašipu, with the same name who was unlikely to have been related. He is best known for his rude letter to Aššur-nirari III, the most complete part of which is quoted below, and was enthroned following a revolt in the south of Mesopotamia when the north was still occupied by the forces of Assyria, and he may not have assumed authority throughout the country until around the 25th year of his 30-year reign, although the exact sequence of events and chronology remains disputed.

There is surprisingly little contemporary evidence for this king considering the purported length of his reign, which was the longest recorded in the Kassite dynasty. The tablet known as King List A shows him following Adad-šuma-iddina and his predecessor-but-one, Enlil-nadin-šumi, but in Chronicle P he makes his appearance in the narrative before them. Brinkman argues that this is for stylistic purposes but the Walker Chronicle suggests a simpler explanation. Adad-šuma-uṣur was elevated to the position of king in the south of the country years before he conquered Babylon and made himself its king. The early part of his reign may well have been concurrent with that of the three kings preceding him on King List A, but it is quite probable that he followed them in ascending the throne of the city of Babylon. It is a characteristic trait of this tablet that concurrent kings and dynasties are presented successively as if one followed another.

A late copy of an inscription on a bronze statue from Ur, begins “When Anu and Enlil looked with steady favour on Adad-šuma-uṣur, the shepherd who pleased their heart, at that time Marduk, the great lord, named his name as ruler of (all) land[s],” supporting the theory that he reigned in Uruk and Nippur before being appointed by Marduk in Babylon.