Kadashman-Enlil I

Kadašman-Enlil I
King of Babylon
Cylinder seal-(modern rolled clay impression) bearing seven-line Sumerian inscription mentioning a [Ka]dašman-[( )]Enlil in the Walters Art Museum.
Reign	1374 BC-1360 BC
Predecessor	Kurigalzu I
Successor	Burna-Buriaš II
House	Kassite

Kadašman-Enlil I, typically rendered ^mka-dáš-man-^dEN.LÍL in contemporary inscriptions (with the archaic masculine determinative preceding his name), was a Kassite King of Babylon from ca. 1374 BC to 1360 BC (Middle Chronology), perhaps the 18th of the dynasty. He is known to have been a contemporary of Amenhotep III of Egypt, with whom he corresponded (Amarna letters). This places Kadašman-Enlil securely to the first half of the 14th century BC by most standard chronologies.

In the first letter from Amenhotep III, EA 1, he writes to assure Kadašman-Enlil that his sister, the daughter of Kurigalzu I, has not in fact died, nor had she been banished to a distant harem as a minor concubine, and to acknowledge the offer of one of Kadašman-Enlil’s daughters, to become, as yet another wife. He suggests Kadašman-Enlil dispatch a kamiru, tentatively translated as eunuch, to identify his sister, rather than the pair of envoys actually sent, on whom Amenhotep casts aspersions, describing one as a donkey-herder. The text is not entirely legible at this point, and the unfortunate envoy may actually be referred to as a caravan leader, and his companion a merchant, thus – these “nobodies” are merely common 'tradesmen' unfamiliar with the members of the royal household and thus unable to recognize Kadašman-Enlil’s sister.

In EA 2 he declares “my daughters are available (for marriage).” In EA 3, Kadašman-Enlil feigns offence about being overlooked for an invite to the isinnu festival. Disarmingly, however, he invites his “brother”-(Pharaoh Amenhotep III) to his own inauguration. ‘Now I am going to have a grand opening for the palace. Come yourself to eat and drink with me. I shall not do as you did!”

In another of his letters, EA 4, Kadašman-Enlil complains to Amenhotep III about not being given one of his daughters as a wife, quoting Amenhotep’s earlier response that “since earliest times no daughter of the king of Egypt has ever been given in marriage [to anyone]”,. He urges that if he could not receive a princess, then a beautiful woman should be sent, but immediately follows up by proposing to exchange one of his own daughters for gold, needed to fund a building project he had in mind. In EA 5, Amenhotep writes to detail the long list of gifts that will be provided in exchange for Kadašman-Enlil’s daughter, and the deal is sealed.