Burna Burias II

He ascended the throne almost simultaneously with Pharaoh Amenhotep IV , but still managed to send his father Amenhotep III a letter about his accession. At the beginning of his reign, maintained friendly relations with Egypt . Proof of this is the congratulatory letter of Burna-Buriash to Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) on the accession of the latter to the throne, in which Burna-Buriash assures the pharaoh of his further friendship and even sends his daughter to the harem.

However, Akhenaten , busy with his religious reforms, was a poor diplomat and himself needed gold for the struggle and construction, and therefore was not so generous as his father. The tone of the five letters of Burna-Buriash that reached us is already different than that of his father: he is imbued with a sense of both personal and state dignity. Already in the first letter he complains that the pharaoh did not bother to inquire about his health when he was sick. True, his ambassador told him that “my brother’s country has everything and he doesn’t need anything, and that I have everything and I don’t need anything,” that is, it comes down to simple official relations. But this is undesirable, and he sends some gifts, while a little (4 mines of azure stone and 5 horse teams) - because the distance is great and the path is difficult. And he himself needs gold - let his brother send the gold, but he does not trust the officials, since the recent receipt, sealed not in the presence of the king, could not stand the test and turned out to be unbalanced. All this helped a little.

In the following letters, Burna-Buriash complains that the ambassadors were with him three times and did not bring anything with him, so he answered the same. Then the pharaoh sent 20 minutes of gold, but again it turned out to be non-equilibrium (when put into the furnace, it was not even 5 minutes); it angered the king of Babylon. He wrote to Amenhotep IV: “If you cannot be as generous as your father, then at least half have come ...”

In addition, Amenhotep IV, who did not recognize etiquette at home, did not reckon with him in international relations, and the Babylonian king, apparently, was extremely scrupulous. In one letter, where it comes from sending the Babylonian princess to Egypt, for the convoy of which the pharaoh sent only five chariots, Burna-Burias is horrified: “Five chariots! What will the neighboring kings say: the daughter of the great king is escorted by five chariots? When my father sent my sister to your father, she was accompanied by three thousand people . " But there were more serious misunderstandings. Amenhotep IV received ambassadors from the king of Assyria, whom the Babylonians considered their vassal, with the same honor as the ambassadors of Bourne-Burish. This led the latter to great anger. The conclusion of diplomatic relations between Egypt and Assyria provoked discontent in Babylonia , which maintained its claim to the supreme power in Assyria , although it had not been carried out for a long time. Burna-Buriash even stated in one of his letters a protest to the pharaoh , but to no avail.

Finally, the King of Babylon was greatly displeased by repeated attacks on his ambassadors to Syria, which now, left to itself, became the center of anarchy and robbery. He complains in one letter about the looting of the caravan of his ambassador; another is specifically devoted to a complaint about an act with his merchants: “Nafuririya (Nefherheperur - the throne name of Amenhotep IV), the king of Egypt, my brother, Burna-Buriash, the king of Kar-Duniash, your brother! Hello to you, your country, your home, your wives, your sons, your nobles, your horses, your chariots. My brother and I made a friendship and said mutually: “Like our fathers, we will be friends.” But when my merchants, who left Ahu-tabu, lingered in Canaan, Shumadda, the son of Bulammy, and Shututna, the son of Sharatu, the princes of the city of Acre, sent their people, killed my merchants and stole their money. I sent to you, asked the ambassador: he will tell you. Canaan is your country; her kings are your servants. I am offended in your country. Punish them, return the money they stole; executions of people who killed my servants, avenge their blood. If you don’t execute these people, they will once again kill my caravans, or even your ambassadors, and a message will be cut between us, and your people will leave you . ”

Probably, all these reproaches and demands took effect, at least, huge lists of gifts of Pharaoh Bourne-Buriash (things made of gold, silver, bronze, ivory) - probably, regarding the arrival of the Babylonian princess to him, came to us. However, in the end the relationship deteriorated, and the “king of Kashshi” ( Cassite Babylon) was among the enemies of the pharaoh. Burna-Buriash broke the alliance with Egypt and began to focus on the hostile Mitanni and the Hittite kingdom and passed off his daughter for the Hittite king Suppillium I.

When King Tushratta was killed in Mitanni , Burna-Buriash, in the context of the struggle for power unfolding in Mitanni , took the side of Artadama II and his son Shutturna III . The son of Tushratta Shattivaza , hiding in Babylonia , fearing for his life, was forced to flee from Burna Burias to the Hittites , Shattivaza supporter commander Agit Teshub, who fled with 200 chariots from Shuttarn III to Babylonia , was executed there, and Burna Buriash apprehended the property of Agit-Teshub and his chariots ^[1] .

According to one Novilonian document, which is currently in the Pergamon Museum, one of the daughters of Burna-Buriash II was given to marry the Elamite ruler Untash-Napirish. Untash Napirisha dedicated the statue of the god Immirija to his father-in-law. She was found in Choga Zanbil.

Towards the end of the reign of Bourne-Buriash, apparently, there was some warming in relations between Assyria and Babylon . The daughter of the Assyrian king, Ashur-uballit I Muballitat-Cherois ( ^m Mu-bal-li-ta-aṯ ^ilu Še-rù-at) was married to one of the sons of Burna-Buriash, and a special temple dedicated to Marduk was built in Ashur .

Since the time of Burns-Burias, Babylonian business and business documents have been reappearing in a multitude, completely absent from the period from the beginning of XVI to the beginning XIV centuries BC e., both in the kingdom of Kassit and in the kingdom of the Land of the Sea .

According to the Sumerian inscription on the brick from Lars, Burna-Burias II restored the temple of Shamash in this city. The following fragmentary brick inscription, originating from Nippur, mentions Enlil, and probably refers to the construction work in the temple of E-hens, performed by this king. The inscriptions of Nabonid mention the construction work of Burna-Buriash in the Shamash temple in Sippar.

The Burna-Burias II rules are 36 years old.

• Middle Babylonian period
• History of Ancient Mesopotamia

• History of the Ancient East. The origin of the oldest class societies and the first foci of slave civilization. Part 1. Mesopotamia / Edited by I. M. Dyakonov . - M .: The main edition of the eastern literature of the publishing house " Science ", 1983. - 534 p. - 25,050 copies.
• Ancient East and antiquity . // Rulers of the World. Chronological and genealogical tables on world history in 4 vols. / Compiled by V.V. Erlikhman . - T. 1.

• From the archive in Tell Amarna