Ulamburiash

Ulam-Buriaš, contemporarily inscribed as Ú-la-Bu-ra-ra-ia-aš or mÚ-lam-Bur-áš in a later chronicle and meaning “son of (the Kassite deity) Buriaš”, was a Kassite king of Sealand (cuneiform:LUGAL KUR A.AB.BA, Akkadian: šar māt tâmti), which he conquered during the second half of 16th century BC and may have also become king of Babylon, possibly preceding or succeeding his brother, Kaštiliašu III. His reign marks the point at which the Kassite kingdom extended to the whole of southern Mesopotamia.

Biography

Confirmation of his provenance comes from an onyx weight, in the shape of a frog, with a cuneiform inscription, “1 shekel, Ulam Buriaš, son of Burna Buriaš”, which was found in a large burial, during excavations of the site of the ancient city of Metsamor. The burial for two, was accompanied by fifty sacrificial victims, nineteen horses, bulls, sheep and dogs. Situated in Armenia, in the middle of the Ararat valley, Metsamor was an important Hurrian center for metal forging.

The Chronicle of Early Kings, a neo-Babylonian historiographical text preserved on two tablets, The object was excavated at Tell Amran ibn-Ali, during the German excavations of Babylon, conducted from 1899 to 1912, and is now housed in the Pergamon Museum.

Inscriptions