KARAINDASH
I
Molded
baked-brick bas-relief of the temple of Karaindaš from Uruk
Reign
: c. 1410 BC
Preceded by : Agum
III ?
Succeeded by : Kadašman-Harbe
I / Kadashman-Kharbe I / Kadaschman-Charbe
Regnal
titles of Karaindash I / Karaindasch / Karaindaš :
King of Babylon
House : Kassite
Karaindash
I / Karaindasch / Karaindaš was one of the more prominent rulers
of the Kassite dynasty and reigned towards the end of the 15th century
BC. An inscription on a tablet detailing building work calls him
“Mighty King, King of Babylonia, King of Sumer and Akkad,
King of the Kassites, King of Karduniaš,” inscribed ka-ru-du-ni-ia-aš,
probably the Kassite language designation for their kingdom and
the earliest extant attestation of this name.
Eanna
of Inanna :
Karaindaš’ own eleven-line Sumerian inscriptions adorn
bricks from the Temple dedicated to the goddess Inanna, in Uruk,
where he commissioned the spectacular façade pictured. It
is 205 cm high and would originally have been constructed from around
five hundred pre-formed baked bricks, which were set in recessed
socles, depicting both male and female deities holding water jugs.
The bearded males wear horned flat caps and double streams of water
flow symmetrically to frame the niches. Apart from the simple dedication,
there are no significant texts adorning the façades.
The
temple to Inanna was originally located in a courtyard of the Eanna,
or “House of Heaven”, precinct of Uruk and stood until
the Seleucid era. It was a rectangular building with a long cella
and ante-cella surrounded by corridors and the elaborately decorated
external wall with corner bulwarks. The inner sanctuary had the
cult image at the end, instead of the usual siting in the middle
of a long wall.
It
was excavated during the 1928/29 season by a team led by Director
Julius Jordan under the auspices of the Deutsche Orient Gesellschaft
and Deutsche Not-Gemeinschaft. A section of the outer wall has been
reassembled and moved to the Vorderasiatisches wing of the Pergamon
Museum in Berlin. Parts of the façade were in the Iraq Museum
in Baghdad, but were stolen during the looting of the museum after
the American occupation of Baghdad during the second Gulf War and
have since disappeared.
Diplomatic
Relations :
He concluded a boundary treaty (riksu) with Aššur-bêl-nišešu
of Assyria (1407-1399; short chronology), “together with an
oath (mamitu)” according to the Synchronistic Chronicle.
According
to Sassmannshausen, it is very likely that Karaindaš was the
Babylonian king who sent precious gifts, including lapis lazuli,
to pharaoh Thutmosis III during his 8th campaign, the attack on
the Mitanni, according to the annals of Thutmosis III. This was
conducted in the 33rd of his reign or around 1447 BC according to
the Low Chronology of Ancient Egypt, suggesting Karaindaš had
a very long reign if this chronology coincides with that of the
short chronology used for the Near East, but there are chronological
difficulties trying to correlate Tuthmosis and Karaindaš.
Burna-Buriash
II, in his Amarna correspondence with Pharaoh Akhenaten, in the
tablet designated EA 10, describes him as the first to enter into
friendly relations with Egypt, “Since the time of Karaindaš,
since messengers of your ancestors have come regularly to my ancestors,
up to the present they (the ancestors of the two lands) have been
good friends.” The Annals of Tuthmosis, inscribed on the inside
walls of the corridor which surrounds the granite holy of holies
of the Great Temple of Amun at Karnak, record the tribute of Babylon,
and include a lapis lazuli ram's head amongst the inventory.
Other
sources :
Seal
of Izkur-Marduk (University Museum, Philadelphia)
A
brown agate cylinder seal (pictured), which is in the University
Museum in Philadelphia, is inscribed “Oh [Shuqamuna], lord
who advances in brilliance by your fullness … your light is
indeed favourable: Izkur-Marduk, son of Karaindaš, who prays
to you and reveres you.” Shuqamuna was a Kassite male god
symbolized by a bird on a perch often accompanied by his consort,
Shumaliya, associated with the investiture of kings. Izkur-Marduk's
name is wholly Babylonian and translates as “he has invoked
Marduk”.
His
renown was apparently so great, that Shutruk-Nahhunte who would
go on to ransack Babylon around 250 years later, boasted “I
destroyed Karaindaš”, i.e. Babylonia.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karaindash