Meli-Šipak II

33rd king of the Kassite (3rd) dynasty of Babylon (r. 1186-1172 BCE). The last Kassite king to bear a wholly Kassite name. His reign provides the **critical chronological synchronization point for the entire ancient Near East** — his death in 1172 BCE is the anchor that ties together Egyptian, Hittite, Assyrian, and Babylonian chronologies. **1172 BCE corresponds to the year of his death**, making him the last late-Bronze-Age figure of his generation alive on the calendar-day of 1172 BCE, expiring later in the same year. Married his eldest daughter to Shutruk-Naḫḫunte of Elam — the marriage that gave Elam its later claim to the Babylonian throne and led to the Elamite conquest of Babylon a generation later.

Relations

• father: Adad-šuma-uṣur (32nd Kassite king, r. c. 1216-1187 BCE; restored Babylonian independence after Tukulti-Ninurta's Assyrian conquest of Babylon) · MesopotamianBBSt 3 kudurru (primary)
• father of: Marduk-apla-iddina I (34th Kassite king, his successor, r. 1171-1159 BCE) · MesopotamianLand-grant kudurru to Marduk-apla-iddina (primary)
• father of: Ḫunnubat-Nana(ya) (his daughter, recipient of land-grant) · MesopotamianKudurru recording the land purchase (primary)
• father of: Unnamed eldest daughter (married to the Elamite king Shutruk-Naḫḫunte; the marriage gave Elam a claim that led to the conquest of Babylon a generation later) · MesopotamianShutruk-Naḫḫunte plunder-inscriptions (primary)

Sources

• existence: Babylonian King List A; Synchronistic King List; multiple kudurru stelae; tablets at Ur with year-names 4 and 10; brick inscriptions; Stele of Meli-Šipak (Susa, Louvre) (primary)
• death-date-1172-bce: Babylonian King List A; the chronological synchronization is the most-secure for the entire late-Bronze-Age Near East (primary)