Bābu-aḫa-iddina

Bābu-aḫa-iddina has been variously described as a chancellor,sukkalmahhu, high-ranking official, and chief steward of the royal storehouse under three successive Assyrian kings, during the last five years of Adad-nārārī I (1305–1274 BC), the whole reign of Šulmanu-ašaredu I (1273–1244 BC) and the first five years of Tukulti-Ninurta I (1243–1207 BC).

A son of Ibašši-ili and grandson of Nabu-le'i, he celebrated his eponym year towards the end of Adad-nārārī’s reign as attested in a single text relating the activities of Assur-kasid son of Sin-apla-eris at Billa. His sons, Putanu and Ina-pî-Aššur-lišlim, were to have their eponym years during the early to mid period of the reign of Šulmanu-ašaredu or perhaps early in that of Tukulti-Ninurta, in Ina-pî-Aššur-lišlim’s case. His female relatives included Marat-ili and Mushallimat-Ishtar. Perhaps the earliest appearance of his name comes tentatively restored on a tablet thought to be a copy of a treaty between Adad-nārārī and the Kassite king of Babylon, Kadašman-Turgu.

A cache of his correspondence, known as archive 14410, consisting of 49 tablets and fragments covering the period 1253 to 1217 BC was found in September 1908 during excavations in Aššur, the ancient capital of Assyria, in the archeological layer immediately above the east end of a tomb (14630), around fifty meters southwest of the west corner of the Nabû temple and twenty meters northeast of a monumental building associated by Weidner with Bābu-aḫa-iddina. It included records of international trade in raw materials, including ivory and a shipment of textiles to the Levant. 15 eponyms occur in this archive covering a period of over 35 years.

Amongst the letters are found a group of tablets, which he sent to the staff of his own household in Assur as he was presumably away on business. His correspondence with his subordinates includes instructions to protect wool and other textiles stored in sealed chests from the ravages of moths. His letter dated to the eponym of Ittabsiden-Assur, was one of two instructions addressed to the sa muhhi biti, or majordomo, Assur-zuquppanni, ordering him to air them. A third administrative text describes the outcome, the discovery of moth eaten (lapittu, "attacked") clothing, its separation and a fourth assigned to this correspondence instructs them to have an artisan patch them.

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