# Battle of Dur-Papsukkal
The Battle of Dur-Papsukkal was a battle fought in 814 BC near the city of Der in [Babylonia](https://www.edgepedia.org/babylonia), in which [Shamshi-Adad V](https://www.edgepedia.org/shamshi-adad-v) (Šamši-Adad V) of Assyria defeated the Babylonian king [Marduk-balassu-iqbi](https://www.edgepedia.org/marduk-balassu-iqbi) and the coalition forces gathered behind him. It was the central engagement of Shamshi-Adad V's first Babylonian campaign, recorded in the king's own annals.[1](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/shamshi-adad-V) • [2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi)
| Key fact | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Combatants | Shamshi-Adad V of Assyria against Marduk-balassu-iqbi of Babylon[1](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/shamshi-adad-V) |
| Date | 814 BC, the eponymy of Bel-lu-balat, recorded as a campaign "to Der"[3](https://www.caeno.org/pdf/Millard_Eponym%20List_English.pdf) |
| Place | Dur-Papsukkal, the royal city near Der[2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi) |
| Annalistic casualties | 13,000 killed and 3,000 prisoners at the Tigris fords[4](https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html) |
| Coalition | Chaldeans, Elamites, Kassites, and Arameans[2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi) |
| Outcome | Victory followed by capitulation of Babylon, Kutha, and Borsippa, then a treaty[4](https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html) |
| Aftermath | War resumed under Bau-akhiddin in 811 BC[4](https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html) |
## What the battle was
Shamshi-Adad V (r. 823–811 BC) sought support from Marduk-zakir-shumi I of Babylon during the Assyrian civil war, and the two kings concluded a treaty in that context.[1](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/shamshi-adad-V) • [8](https://archeologie.culture.gouv.fr/en/glossary/shamshi-adad-v-samsi-adad) When Marduk-balassu-iqbi, the son and successor of Marduk-zakir-shumi, succeeded to the throne, Assyria campaigned against him again. In 814 BC Shamshi-Adad led a fresh campaign against the Babylonians and defeated Marduk-balassu-iqbi at Dur-Papsukkal.[1](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/shamshi-adad-V)
## Primary evidence
The battle is known almost entirely from the Assyrian royal inscriptions. The standard edition of Shamshi-Adad V's texts is the RIMA 3 corpus (series A.0.102), which collects his annals and related inscriptions, including [Tigris Tunnel](https://www.edgepedia.org/tigris-tunnel) inscriptions that summarize his conquests; it assigns the Babylonian campaign to the king's ninth year.[5](http://aina.org/books/tcotaa3.pdf) The same corpus preserves accounts of the suppression of a Babylonian revolt in support of Marduk-zakir-shumi and the subjugation of Chaldea in years 8 and 9, the wider context of Assyrian intervention in Babylonia.[5](http://aina.org/books/tcotaa3.pdf)
The main narrative source for the battle itself is Shamshi-Adad V's annals. According to them, after sacking towns including Me-Turnat, Qarne, and the suburbs of Gannanāti, the Assyrians despoiled the royal city of Dur-Papsukkal near Dēr, and were then countered by a grand alliance of Chaldeans, Elamites, Kassites, and Arameans.[2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi) The Synchronistic History, the Assyrian parallel account, states more briefly that Shamshi-Adad "filled the plain with the corpses of (Marduk-balāssu-iqbi's) warriors."[2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi)
The Synchronistic Chronicle (ABC 21) is a historiographical text dealing with relations between Assyria and Babylonia (called Karduniaš), an important source for the chronology of the period. It purports to render the text of a boundary stone between the two states and records a number of boundary conflicts. It has a strong pro-Assyrian bias and is preserved on three tablets from the library of [Ashurbanipal](https://www.edgepedia.org/ashurbanipal) in Nineveh.[6](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-21-synchronic-chronicle/) A Babylonian parallel version exists as [Chronicle P](https://www.edgepedia.org/chronicle-p).[6](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-21-synchronic-chronicle/)
## Date and chronology
The 814 BC date rests on the Assyrian eponym (limmu) list. That list assigns the year 814 BC to the eponym Bel-lu-balat, a commander, and records his year's event as a campaign to Der, with "the Great God went" to Der.[3](https://www.caeno.org/pdf/Millard_Eponym%20List_English.pdf) This eponymy, "campaign against Dēr; Anu the Great went to Dēr" (ca. 814/813 BC), probably best represents Shamshi-Adad V's first assault on Marduk-balāssu-iqbi.[2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi) The later eponym years of Inurta-ašared and of Shamash-kumua, governor of Arrapha, record campaigns against Chaldea and "to Babylon" in 811 BC, thought to correspond with the king's second campaign.[3](https://www.caeno.org/pdf/Millard_Eponym%20List_English.pdf) • [2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi) The eponym list also places a revolt in the eponymy of Shamshi-Adad himself in 822 BC, fixing the early years of the reign.[3](https://www.caeno.org/pdf/Millard_Eponym%20List_English.pdf)
The synchronisms of the period are further anchored by the Synchronistic Chronicle, which must have been composed after the accession of [Adad-nirari III](https://www.edgepedia.org/adad-nirari-iii) in 810 BC but not much later, because it contains no references to later troubles.[6](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-21-synchronic-chronicle/)
## Marduk-balassu-iqbi and Dur-Papsukkal
Marduk-balāssu-iqbi (inscribed mdAMAR.UTU-TI-su-iq-bi), meaning "Marduk has promised his life," reigned ca. 819–813 BC as the eighth king of the Dynasty of E of Babylon, succeeding his father Marduk-zākir-šumi I.[2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi) Dur-Papsukkal was a royal city near Dēr; according to the annals its prince, who owed allegiance to Marduk-balassu-iqbi, disposed his troops to guard the fords of the Tigris.[2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi) • [4](https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html)
## The battle and the campaign in context
The annalistic narrative reconstructs the engagement in stages. Shamshi-Adad first dispersed the force guarding the Tigris fords, killing 13,000 men, and taking 3,000 prisoners, and then reduced Dur-Papsukkal to ashes.[4](https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html) Marduk-balassu-iqbi's main army, recruited from Chaldeans (Kaldu), Elamites, soldiers from Namri, and Aramean contingents, awaited the Assyrians behind the ruins of the city along the banks of the Daban canal; it lost 5,000 footmen, 200 horsemen, and 100 chariots, besides the Babylonian king's tent, and stores.[4](https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html)
After the victory, Babylon, Kutha, and Borsippa capitulated, and the Assyrians penetrated as far as the land of the Kaldu and the [Persian Gulf](https://www.edgepedia.org/persian-gulf).[4](https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html) Shamshi-Adad then concluded a treaty with Marduk-balassu-iqbi that included boundary rectification and payment of a subsidy, possibly ratified by a marriage alliance involving the Babylonian princess Sammuramat.[4](https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html)
The battle sits within the ninth-century struggles between Assyria and Babylonia. Shamshi-Adad's campaigns from 819 to 815 BC involved receiving tribute from various local rulers and expanded Assyrian influence into Babylonia and the lands of Nairi.[7](https://www.academia.edu/24769617/%C5%A0am%C5%A1%C4%AB_Adad_V_s_Campaigns_into_the_Zagros_Revisited_in_O_Kaelin_H_P_Mathys_R_A_Stucky_eds_Proceedings_of_the_9th_International_Congress_on_the_Archaeology_of_the_Ancient_Near_East_June_9_13_2014_University_of_Basel_Volume_3_Reports_Harrassowitz_Verlag_2016_769_779) In the second campaign, following the capture of Dēr, resistance continued under Bau-akhiddin, who had succeeded Marduk-balāssu-iqbi.[2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi)
## By the numbers
The figures come from the annals and related inscriptions and carry their annalistic framing. At the fords: 13,000 killed and 3,000 prisoners.[4](https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html) Against the coalition army on the Daban canal: 5,000 footmen, 200 horsemen, and 100 chariots captured, with the king's tent and stores.[4](https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html) The Gottesbrief, a later inscription, boasts that thirty thousand captives were deported from Dēr.[2](https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi)
## References
1. Shamshi-Adad V, ancientmesopotamia.org, https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/shamshi-adad-V
2. Marduk-balassu-iqbi, ancientmesopotamia.org, https://ancientmesopotamia.org/people/marduk-balassu-iqbi
3. Eponym List (Millard translation), https://www.caeno.org/pdf/Millard_Eponym%20List_English.pdf
4. Shamshi-Adad V (823–811 BC), cristoraul.org, https://cristoraul.org/ENGLISH/readinghall/THIRDMILLENNIUMLIBRARY/Biographies/Ancient-People/0-823-811-SHAMSHI-ADAD-V.html
5. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian Periods (Grayson, RIMA 3), http://aina.org/books/tcotaa3.pdf
6. ABC 21 (Synchronic Chronicle), Livius, https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-21-synchronic-chronicle/
7. Šamšī-Adad V's Campaigns into the Zagros Revisited (9th ICAANE proceedings, Harrassowitz 2016), https://www.academia.edu/24769617/%C5%A0am%C5%A1%C4%AB_Adad_V_s_Campaigns_into_the_Zagros_Revisited_in_O_Kaelin_H_P_Mathys_R_A_Stucky_eds_Proceedings_of_the_9th_International_Congress_on_the_Archaeology_of_the_Ancient_Near_East_June_9_13_2014_University_of_Basel_Volume_3_Reports_Harrassowitz_Verlag_2016_769_779
8. Shamshi-Adad V (Šamši-Adad), Archéologie, culture.gouv.fr, https://archeologie.culture.gouv.fr/en/glossary/shamshi-adad-v-samsi-adad
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