Simbar-shipak

Simbar-Šipak
King of Babylon
Part of Simbar-Šihu kudurru inscription
Reign	ca.1025-1008 BC
Predecessor	Nabû-šuma-libūr 2nd Dynasty of Isin
Successor	Ea-mukin-zēri
House	2nd Sealand Dynasty

Simbar-Šipak, or perhaps Simbar-Šiḫu, typically inscribed ^msim-bar-^dši-i-ḪU or si-im-bar-ši-ḪU in cuneiform, where the reading of the last symbol is uncertain, “offspring of (the 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 (^mSi-bir) named by Ashurnasirpal II in his annals as having earlier captured and laid waste Atlila (probably modern Bakrawa), a city on Assyria’s eastern flank, remains unresolved.

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, 17 years according to the Dynastic Chronicle which names him Simbar-Šiḫu, “knight of the Sealand,” son of Eriba-Sin, an individual otherwise unknown, and soldier of the dynasty of Damiq-ilišu, a possible reference to the ultimate king of the first dynasty of Isin, whom the founder of the first Sealand dynasty, Ilum-ma-ilī, had claimed filiation, or alternatively to Damqi-ilishu of the Sealand dynasty. Despite the apparent Kassite character of his name, there is no other evidence of this tribal affiliation. Although there are no traces of his name remaining on the Assyrian Synchronistic King List, the king would have appeared, somewhat implausibly, in the section belonging opposite Erība-Adad II.

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”, 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, and the fourth an arrowhead inscribed "(Property) of Simbar-Šiḫu, son of Eriba-Sin," thus confirming the name of his father given in two late chronicles. The deed details the sale of land in compensation for ransom paid by an intermediary and redemption of the former landowner’s three sons, and the inscription on the bottom edge (pictured) reads: