Editing Nabonassar

{{Short description|8th-century BC king of Babylon}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{About|the 8th-century BC king|the 7th-century BC religious official|Nabonassar (7th century BC)}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Nabû-nāṣir
| title        = [[List of kings of Babylon|King of Babylon]]
| image        = Nabonassar in Akkadian.png
| caption      = Nabonassar written in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]]
| reign        = 747–734 BC
| coronation   = 
| predecessor  = [[Nabu-shuma-ishkun|Nabû-šuma-iškun]]
| successor    = [[Nabu-nadin-zeri|Nabû-nādin-zēri]]
| spouse       = 
| royal house  = Dynasty of ''E''<br/>(Mixed Dynasties)
| father       = 
| mother       = 
| birth_date   = 
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 
| death_place  = 
| buried       = 
}}

'''Nabû-nāṣir''' was the king of [[Babylon]] from 747 to 734 BC. He deposed a foreign [[Chaldea]]n usurper named [[Nabu-shuma-ishkun]], bringing native rule back to Babylon after twenty-three years of Chaldean rule. His reign saw the beginning of a new era characterized by the systematic maintenance of chronologically precise historical records. Both the [[Babylonian Chronicle]]<ref name="chronicle" group="i">Tablet BM 92502 The ''Chronicle on the Reigns from Nabû-Nasir to Šamaš-šuma-ukin'' (ABC 1) lines 1 to 12.</ref> and the [[Ptolemy's Canon|Ptolemaic Canon]] begin with his accession to the throne. He was contemporary with the [[Assyria]]n kings [[Ashur-nirari V|Aššur-nirarī V]] (755–745 BC) and [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] (745–727 BC), under the latter of whom he became a vassal, and the Elamite kings [[Humban-Tahrah I]] (reigned until 743 BC) and [[Humban-Nikaš I]] (742–717 BC).<ref name="chronicle" group="i" />{{rp|9–10}}

==Attestations and possible vituperative chronicle==

Nothing is known of his provenance or origin, although it appears he was a native [[Mesopotamian]]. His three predecessors were from the migrant [[Chaldea]]n tribes settled in the far south east of Babylonia since the 9th century BC. The ''[[Dynastic Chronicle]]''<ref group="i">The ''Dynastic Chronicle'' (ABC 18) vi 11.</ref> may have been composed during his reign as it records the succession of kings from the antediluvian era down to his immediate predecessor, [[Nabu-shuma-ishkun|Nabû-šuma-iškun]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=W. W. Hallo |year=1984–1985 |title=The Concept of Eras from Nabonassar to Seleucus |journal=[[Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society]] |page=149 |number=16/17}}</ref> It records that the "dynasty of [[Chaldea]] was terminated" (with Nabû-šuma-iškun) and "its kingship was transferred," but the remainder is lost. He may also have commissioned a vituperative chronicle<ref group="i">[https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/cm/nabu-shuma-ishkun.html ''Chronographic document concerning Nabu-šuma-iškun''], excavation number W 22660/0, CM 52 in J. J. Glassner's "Chronique Mésopotamiennes," 1993, pp. 235–240.</ref> which vilifies his predecessor for his sacrilegious actions and the ''[[Chronicle of the Market Prices]]''<ref group="i">''Chronicle of the Market Prices'' (ABC 23), tablet BM 48498.</ref> which mentions the volatile costs of various commodities in reigns up until that of his predecessor. His name appears in the ''[[Eclectic Chronicle]]''<ref group="i">The ''Eclectic Chronicle'' (ABC 24), tablet BM 27859, r. 17.</ref> but the context has not been preserved.

==Calendar reform==
[[File:Eclectic Chronicle.jpg|thumb|King's line art for the Eclectic Chronicle, BM 27859, a post-Kassite chronicle of Mesopotamian history]]
His reign marks the reform of the Babylonian calendar, introducing regular calculated intercalary months, the eighteen-year cycle texts (the 223-month [[Saros Cycle]], named for [[Edmund Halley]]’s misreading of a passage in [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]<ref name="britton">{{Cite journal |last=Britton |first=John P. |year=2007 |title=Studies in Babylonian Lunar Theory: Part I. Empirical Elements for Modeling Lunar and Solar Anomalies |journal=Archive for History of Exact Sciences |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=83–145 |doi=10.1007/s00407-006-0121-9 |jstor=41134242 |s2cid=120981705}}</ref>) and perhaps even the zodiac.<ref name="hallo">{{Cite book |last=Hallo |first=W. W. |title=A Scientific Humanist: Studies in Memory of Abraham Sachs |year=1988 |editor-last=Leichty |editor-first=E. |location=Philadelphia |pages=186–189 |chapter=The Nabonassar Era and other epochs in Mesopotamian Chronology and Chronography |editor-last2=Ellis |editor-first2=M. deJ. |editor-last3=Gerardi |editor-first3=P.}}</ref>{{rp|187,189}} [[Berossus]] of Kos reported, in an account preserved by [[George Syncellus|Syncellus]], that it was from the reign of Nabû-nāṣir onward that the movements and duration of the stars were recorded. He noted in his work ''[[Babyloniaca (Berossus)|Babyloniaca]]'' that: "He gathered the records of his predecessors and destroyed them, thus ensuring that the history of the Chaldean kings began with him."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glassner |first=Jean-Jacques |title=Mesopotamian Chronicles |publisher=Brill |year=2004 |page=111 |author-link=Jean-Jacques Glassner}}</ref>

According to [[Ptolemy|Claudius Ptolemy]] in his work ''[[Almagest]]'', this gave rise to an era beginning at noon on 26 February 747 BC, when the ''Anno Nabonassari'' began, but prior to the [[Hellenistic period]] there is no trace of this era.<ref name="reallexikon">{{Cite book |last=Brinkman |first=J. A. |url=https://archive.org/details/reallexikonderas00ebel |title=Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie: Nab – Nuzi |publisher=Walter De Gruyter Inc |year=2001 |editor-last=Ebeling |editor-first=Erich |pages=[https://archive.org/details/reallexikonderas00ebel/page/n53 5]–6 |chapter=Nabonassar |editor-last2=Meissner |editor-first2=Bruno |editor-last3=Edzard |editor-first3=Dietz Otto |url-access=limited}}</ref> ''The Babylonian Chronicle'',<ref group=i name=chronicle/> covering the years 747 to 668 BC, the best preserved exemplar of this genre, was possibly collated from [[Babylonian astronomical diaries]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brinkman |first=J. A. |title=Lingering over words. Studies in ancient Near Eastern literature in honor of William L. Moran |year=1990 |editor-last=Abusch |editor-first=T. |location=Atlanta |pages=75, 95 |chapter=The Babylonian Chronicle revisited |editor-last2=Huehnergard |editor-first2=J. |editor-last3=Steinkeller |editor-first3=P.}}</ref> although the earliest exemplar of these dates to 652 BC.<ref name=hallo/>{{rp|188}} The lists of celestial phenomena<ref group="i">Lunar eclipse table for the years 747–744 BC [http://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P364176 BM 041985, LBAT 1413 at CDLI]</ref> started with the [[lunar eclipse]] of 747–746 BC<ref>{{Cite book |last=John M. Steele |title=Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publications |year=2000 |pages=43–45}}</ref> (6 February 747 BC according to Britton<ref name=britton/>{{rp|90}} and others<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aaboe |first=A. |last2=Britton |first2=J. P. |year=1991 |title=Saros Cycle Dates and Related Babylonian Astronomical Texts |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |volume=81 |page=20 |doi=10.2307/1006543 |jstor=1006543 |author-first3=J. A. |author-last3=Henderson |author-first4=O. |author-last4=Neugebauer |author-first5=A. J. |author-last5=Sachs |number=6}}</ref>), a spectacular conjunction of the moon and the [[planet]]s which may have inspired the commencement of recording of accurate astronomical observations.<ref name=brinkman/>{{rp|227}}

==Assyrian invasion==
The country regained from Nabû-šuma-iškun was one riven by internal divisions and conflicts with the immigrant tribes of [[Arameans]] and [[Chaldea]]ns, where the central authority was greatly diminished.

In Nabû-nāṣir's third year, the Assyrian general ''Tukultī-apil-Ešarra'', better known under the [[Hebrew language|Hebraic]] rendition "[[Tiglath-Pileser III]]", came to power in the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]],<ref group=i name=chronicle/>{{rp|1–2}} overthrowing the existing regime, and in the first of two campaigns to secure his southern and eastern frontiers invaded Babylonia. During the first of these (745 BC) he sacked Rabbilu and Hamranu, abducted the gods of Šapazza,<ref group=i name=chronicle/>{{rp|3–5}} subjugated the numerous Aramean and Chaldean tribes, and destroyed the capital of the Chaldean tribe the Bit-Shilani, Sarrabanu, impaling its leader, Nabû-ušabši. His forces skirted the metropolitan areas of [[Dur-Kurigalzu]] and [[Sippar]] and may have reached as far as the region of [[Nippur]].<ref name="prelude">{{Cite book |last=Brinkman |first=J. A. |title=Prelude to Empire: Babylonian Society and Politics, 747–626 B.C. |publisher=Occasional Publications of the Babylonian Fund |year=1984 |volume=7 |location=Philadelphia |pages=16, 39–42}}</ref>{{rp|41}}

Whether or not he actually solicited military aid from the Assyrians, Nabû-nāṣir seems to have been the main beneficiary of these actions as his regime was stabilized and he was subsequently able to put down a revolt in [[Borsippa]].<ref group=i name=chronicle/>{{rp|6–8}} His hold over [[Uruk]] remained tenuous, as two local dignitaries complained of the neglect of the Akītu temple in their inscription<ref group="i">Cylinder BM 113205 and fragmentary cylinders NBC 2502 and YBC 2170.</ref> commemorating their own restorations, usurping monarchic privilege.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brinkman |first=J. A. |year=1969 |title=The Akītu Inscription of Bēl-ibni and Nabû-zēra-ušabši |journal=Die Welt des Orients |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=39–41 |jstor=25682623}}</ref>

==Economic activity==
Twenty-three tablets<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brinkman |first=J. A. |last2=Kennedy |first2=D. A. |date=Jan–Apr 1983 |title=Documentary Evidence for the Economic Base of Early Neo-Babylonian Society: A Survey of Dated Babylonian Economic Texts, 721-626 B.C. |journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |volume=35 |issue=1/2 |pages=63–65 |doi=10.2307/3515942 |jstor=3515942 |s2cid=163438050}} lists 22 and AFn.2</ref> survive dealing with agricultural production, animal husbandry, weaving and sales from his first to his fourteenth year<ref name=reallexikon/> and these seem to represent a recovery in economic activity.<ref name=prelude/>{{rp|40}} A letter archive excavated in 1973 in Nippur contains the correspondence between Kudurru the ''[[šandabakku]]'', or governor, of [[Nippur]] and an individual of this name who is greeted as "brother", which may be him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cole |first=S. W. |title=Nippur in late Assyrian Times, c. 755–612 BC (SAAS 4) |publisher=Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project |year=1996 |pages=52, 84–85, 89–90}}</ref>

He is recorded as having succumbed to illness and died in his palace during the fourteenth year of his reign.<ref group=i name=chronicle/>{{rp|11}} He was succeeded by his son, [[Nabu-nadin-zeri|Nabû-nādin-zēri]], the only known hereditary succession in Babylonia in a period from 810 BC to the rise of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] in 626 BC.<ref name=prelude/>{{rp|16}}

==Etymology==
Inscribed in [[cuneiform]] as <sup>d</sup><small>AG-PAB</small> or <sup>d</sup><small>AG-ŠEŠ-</small>''ir'', Greek: Ναβονάσσαρος, whence "Nabonassar", and meaning "[[Nabu|Nabû]] (is) protector".<ref name="brinkman">{{Cite book |last=Brinkman |first=J. A. |title=A political history of post-Kassite Babylonia, 1158-722 B.C. |publisher=Analecta Orientalia |year=1968 |pages=226–235 |chapter=Nabonassar}}</ref>{{rp|226}}

== Inscriptions ==
<references group="i"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Babylonian kings}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:8th-century BC kings of Babylon]]
[[Category:730s BC deaths]]
[[Category:Babylonia]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]