# Kadashman-Harbe II
Kadašman-Ḫarbe II was a Kassite king of Babylon, the 30th ruler of the Kassite Dynasty, whose reign lasted about a year in the early 1220s BCE, in the period when Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria dominated [Babylonia](https://www.edgepedia.org/babylonia). [1](https://www.ebl.lmu.de/tools/list-of-kings) • [2](https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/mskh1.pdf) He succeeded Enlil-nādin-šumi and was followed by Adad-šuma-iddina. [1](https://www.ebl.lmu.de/tools/list-of-kings) Whether he ruled as an Assyrian vassal or as an independent opponent of Assyria is a live scholarly question. [3](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/aofo-2023-0003/html)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Position | King 30 of the Kassite Dynasty of Babylon [1](https://www.ebl.lmu.de/tools/list-of-kings) |
| Reign length | One year (eBL, dated 1221 BC); one year six months per Kinglist A ('MU 1 ITI 6', c. 1223 BC) [1](https://www.ebl.lmu.de/tools/list-of-kings) |
| Predecessor and successor | Enlil-nādin-šumi; Adad-šuma-iddina [1](https://www.ebl.lmu.de/tools/list-of-kings) |
| Attestation | Kinglist A entry plus six dated economic tablets from Ur and Nippur [2](https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/mskh1.pdf) |
| Historical context | Assyrian conquest of Babylonia under Tukulti-Ninurta I after the capture of Kaštiliaš IV [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kassites/) |
| Dynasty's end | 1150 BCE, after Elamite raids [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kassites/) |
## Sources and attestation
Kadašman-Ḫarbe II is known chiefly from two kinds of witnesses. The first is the **king-list tradition**: Babylonian Kinglist A records him as the 30th Kassite king, with the regnal formula 'MU 1 ITI 6', one year and six months, the same length it gives his predecessor Enlil-nādin-šumi. [2](https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/mskh1.pdf) In Brinkman's regnal table he occupies dynasty year 507, between Enlil-nādin-šumi (before 507) and Adad-šuma-iddina (years 508–513). [2](https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/mskh1.pdf)
The second is contemporary documentation. Despite the brevity of his reign, six economic clay tablets are dated to him. Two from Ur concern the aborted purchase of a boy called Bunni-Sîn by Šamaš-ēṭir, and one records a later purchase of a cow with its calf.
One witness is contested. A tablet from the archive of Itti-Ezida-lummir in Babylon (Pedersén M8) appeared to be dated to a tenth year of Kadašman-Ḫarbe II, which would contradict the king-list figure; the archaeologist and Assyriologist Werner Nahm suggested it was an ancient fabrication, but a corrected reading of the Winkelhaken wedge gives year 1 instead of 10.
## Chronology and reign dates
Absolute dating for Kadašman-Ḫarbe II depends on the framework used. The eBL collation of Kinglist A places his one-year reign in 1221 BC, between Enlil-nādin-šumi (1222) and Adad-šuma-iddina (1220–1215), and assigns Kaštiliašu IV the years 1230–1223, with an interpolated entry for [Tukulti-Ninurta I](https://www.edgepedia.org/tukulti-ninurta-i) at 1223?. [1](https://www.ebl.lmu.de/tools/list-of-kings) Encyclopaedia Iranica, following the chronology of Boese 1982, instead dates Kaštiliaš IV's reign to 1227–1220 BCE. [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kassites/)
The whole skeleton rests on a single figure. The chronology of the [Kassite dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/kassite-dynasty) is traditionally taken from the summary at the end of Kinglist A, '576 (years), 9 months; 36 kings', for which, as John Brinkman of the Oriental Institute notes, there is no independent evidence to confirm or refute the assertion. [2](https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/mskh1.pdf) A 2009 study by Johannes Boese shortens the reigns of [Kurigalzu II](https://www.edgepedia.org/kurigalzu-ii), Nazi-Maruttaš, Kadašman-Turgu, and Kadašman-Enlil II by one year each, a four-year reduction against conventional reckoning, and dates the first full year of Burna-Buriaš II to approximately 1350 (± 3) BC. [5](https://doi.org/10.1524/aofo.2009.0003)
## Babylonia under Assyrian domination
Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria invaded Babylonia, deposed Kaštiliaš IV and took him as prisoner to Assur. [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kassites/) [Chronicle P](https://www.edgepedia.org/chronicle-p) narrates that Tukulti-Ninurta defeated and captured Kashtiliashu, king of Babylon, conquered the city of Babylon, and then ruled Babylonia by means of his governors for seven years, until the Kassite Adad-shuma-usur installed himself on the Babylonian throne. [6](https://doi.org/10.5356/orient1960.38.153) A Nippur economic text dated to the accession year of Tukulti-Ninurta implies he was definitely recognized as king in southern Babylonia, and two of his royal inscriptions carry the title 'king of Sippar and Babylon'. [6](https://doi.org/10.5356/orient1960.38.153) Iranica instead has Tukulti-Ninurta acting as king of Babylon for a year (1220 BCE) before appointing a succession of puppet rulers who controlled Babylonia for a decade. [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kassites/) Kinglist A lists three intervening local rulers, Enlil-nādin-šumi, Kadašman-Ḫarbe II, and Adad-šuma-iddina, and omits Tukulti-Ninurta's own rule entirely. [6](https://doi.org/10.5356/orient1960.38.153) • [1](https://www.ebl.lmu.de/tools/list-of-kings)
Recent work sharpens the sequence. A 2023 study in *Altorientalische Forschungen* argues that recently published evidence supports identifying the eponymy of Etel-pī-Aššur as the year of Kaštiliaš IV's capture, with the eponymy of Ellil-nādin-apli placed three years later. [3](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/aofo-2023-0003/html)
## Puppet king or independent ruler?
The reconstruction of Kadašman-Ḫarbe II's own position divides the sources. The encyclopedic narrative groups him with Tukulti-Ninurta I's puppet rulers; a more cautious formulation allows that he may have ruled during the Assyrian hegemony or in the interval between Kaštiliašu IV's capture and the second Assyrian campaign. [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kassites/)
The 2023 study reads him differently, as an opponent with his own territorial base: the campaign Tukultī-Ninurta I undertook to the lands between the Tigris and the Zagros in the eponymy of Ellil-nādin-apli was probably directed against the power base of Kadašman-Ḫarbe II, including the city of Lubdu, which then passed under Assyrian control. Following his dethronement, Tukultī-Ninurta I maintained closer control over Babylonia. [3](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/aofo-2023-0003/html)
The vassal model has its own difficulty: if all three kings of the period were Assyrian vassals, it is hard to explain why the two Elamite invasions during the reigns of Enlil-nādin-šumi and Adad-šuma-iddina noted in Chronicle P did not cause any Assyrian response. [6](https://doi.org/10.5356/orient1960.38.153)
## The Kassite recovery and the dynasty's end
Assyrian control did not last. The Kassites resumed control of Babylonia thanks to Elamite pressure and a successful Babylonian rebellion, and the king of Elam was able to put an end to the reign of the Assyrian vassal Adad-šuma-iddina in the 22nd regnal year of Tukultī-Ninurta I. [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kassites/) • [3](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/aofo-2023-0003/html) After Tukulti-Ninurta I's invasion, the Kassite rulers of Babylonia bore a mixture of Akkadian and Kassite names. [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kassites/) The dynasty itself survived until 1150 BCE, when its end followed Elamite raids; the first-millennium Babylonian King Lists credit it with 36 kings ruling 576 years and nine months, the longest rule of any dynasty of Babylonia. [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kassites/)
## References
1. eBL, "Tools: List of Kings", Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. https://www.ebl.lmu.de/tools/list-of-kings
2. Brinkman, J. A., *Materials and Studies for Kassite History Vol. I*, Oriental Institute. https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/mskh1.pdf
3. "The Eponyms of the Babylonian War of Tukultī-Ninurta I", *Altorientalische Forschungen* (2023). https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/aofo-2023-0003/html
4. "Kassites", *Encyclopaedia Iranica*. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kassites/
5. Boese, J. (2009). "Kadašman-Enlil, Kadašman-Turgu und die kassitische Chronologie des 14. und 13. Jahrhunderts v. Chr.", *Altorientalische Forschungen*. https://doi.org/10.1524/aofo.2009.0003
6. "Tukulti-Ninurta I's Rule over Babylonia and Its Aftermath", *Orient* 38. https://doi.org/10.5356/orient1960.38.153
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Periods and civilizations › Ancient Near East, Egypt, Nubia, and the Punic world › Ancient Mesopotamia › Kassite Babylonia and Middle Assyria › Kassite Babylonia and Middle Assyria: rulers and royal family › Kassite kings of Babylon*
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