THE DYNASTY OF PASHE

THE following dynasty is called in the king-lists the dynasty of Pashe, the name of a quarter of Babylon. Nebuchadrezzar I, the prosperous king of this dynasty, expressly speaks of himself as the offspring of Babylon. It is, therefore, clear that this line of kings lays claim to national origin. It consisted of 11 kings who held the throne of Babylon for 132 years. The conditions which brought the new house into power, as we may gather from the picture of the times, so far as they are at present discernible, are what we had reason to expect. As at the end of the Kassite dominion, the conflicts with Elam and Assyria were continued and the struggle for the recovery of Mesopotamia, or for sovereign rights there, was renewed. Of the first two or three kings of the dynasty we have no information whatever, except that the first ruled 17 years and the second 6 years.

The third or fourth king,

NEBUCHADREZZAR I,

waged victorious war with Elam and acquired possession of Mesopotamia and the Westland. He extended once again, and for the last time, the sovereignty of Babylon to the shores of the Mediterranean. The war with Elam proves that the pitiful condition of affairs that obtained when Kidin-Khutrutash attacked Babylonia had grown worse under Nebuchadrezzar's predecessors and the last of the Kassite kings. Even the statue of the god Marduk had been carried off in triumph to Elam. It may be that this occurred at the time of the deposition of Bel-nadin-akhe and was, therefore, connected with the change of dynasty. The deportation of the god implied the loss of national independence and degradation to a state of vassalage. Just as Marduk had now to do obeisance in the temple of a foreign god, so the Babylonian ruler was no longer a king, but only a servant of the Elamite sovereign. As long as the divine statue was absent from Babylon Nebuchadrezzar, therefore, did not call himself king but only governor. It was not until he had recovered the statue of Marduk, which presupposes a decisive victory over Elam, that he took the title "king of Babylon." The statue had been in captivity thirty years. The length of his reign corresponded, accordingly, with the thirty years after the close of the Kassite dynasty. Hymns lamenting the absence of Marduk from Babylon and celebrating his return have been preserved for us. Whatever the outcome of this victory may have been it is at least evident that for some time a check was put upon the advance of Elam. Our further knowledge of events connected with this dynasty is gleaned from sources which tell of the wars with Assyria. In the history of Assyria we shall see that the success of Nebuchadrezzar's reign continued to exert an influence long after, and that the advantages gained by Assyria, which paved the way for the conquest of Babylon by Tiglathpileser I, were not enduring.

The list of the kings of the Pashe dynasty may be restored, in some instances provisionally, in others with reasonable assurance, with the help of the king-lists and other available documentary sources, as follows:

MARDUK-AKHI-IRBA(?). The name is broken off. Ashur­dan, king of Assyria and probably vassal of Elam. Reigned 171(?) years.

NINIB-NADIN-AKHI, the father of Nebuchadrezzar I.(?). Mutakkil-Nusku, probably as vassal of Elam, reigned in Assyria 6 years.

NEDUCHADREZZAR I. takes possession of Mesopotamia. Ashur-resh-ishi contemporary in Assyria. Reigned — years.

BEL-NA.DIN-APLI. Mesopotamia lost to Assyria. Reigned — years.

MARDUK-NADIN-AKHI. Wars with Tiglathpileser I and regains Mesopotamia. Reigned — years.

MARDUK-SHAPIK-ZER-MATI, a contemporary of Ashur-bel­kala, during whose reign he died. Reigned — years.

ADAD-APLU-IDDIN, "the son of a nobody," raised to the throne. Ashur-bel-kala marries his daughter.

If three Kings preceded Nebuchadrezzar I, Adad-aplu-iddin would occupy the seventh position. Reigned 22 years.

MARDUK-NADIN-SHUM reigned 1 year, 6 months.

MARDUK-ZIR reigned 13 years.

The length of reigns appended above are taken from the king-list "b," and nothing more than this has come down to us with respect to the close of the dynasty.