BÃÂbu-aḫa-iddina has been variously described as a chancellor, sukkalmahhu, high-ranking official, and chief steward of the royal storehouse under three successive Assyrian kings, during the last five years of Adad-nÃÂrÃÂrë I (1305âÂÂ1274 BC), the whole reign of à  ulmanu-aà ¡aredu I (1273âÂÂ1244 BC) and the first five years of Tukulti-Ninurta I (1243âÂÂ1207 BC).
A son of Ibaà ¡à ¡i-ili and grandson of Nabu-le'i, he celebrated his eponym year towards the end of Adad-nÃÂrÃÂrëâÂÂs reign as attested in a single text relating the activities of Assur-kasid son of Sin-apla-eris at Billa. His sons, Putanu and Ina-pî-Aà ¡à ¡ur-lià ¡lim, were to have their eponym years during the early to mid period of the reign of à  ulmanu-aà ¡aredu or perhaps early in that of Tukulti-Ninurta, in Ina-pî-Aà ¡à ¡ur-lià ¡limâÂÂs case. His female relatives included Marat-ili and Mushallimat-Ishtar. Perhaps the earliest appearance of his name comes tentatively restored on a tablet thought to be a copy of a treaty between Adad-nÃÂrÃÂrë and the Kassite king of Babylon, Kadaà ¡man-Turgu.
A cache of his correspondence, known as archive 14410, consisting of 49 tablets and fragments covering the period 1253 to 1217 BC was found in September 1908 during excavations in Aà ¡à ¡ur, the ancient capital of Assyria, in the archeological layer immediately above the east end of a tomb (14630), around fifty meters southwest of the west corner of the Nabû temple and twenty meters northeast of a monumental building associated by Weidner with BÃÂbu-aḫa-iddina. It included records of international trade in raw materials, including ivory and a shipment of textiles to the Levant. 15 eponyms occur in this archive covering a period of over 35 years.
Amongst the letters are found a group of tablets, which he sent to the staff of his own household in Assur as he was presumably away on business. His correspondence with his subordinates includes instructions to protect wool and other textiles stored in sealed chests from the ravages of moths. His letter dated to the eponym of Ittabsiden-Assur, was one of two instructions addressed to the sa muhhi biti, or majordomo, Assur-zuquppanni, ordering him to air them. A third administrative text describes the outcome, the discovery of moth eaten (lapittu, "attacked") clothing, its separation and a fourth assigned to this correspondence instructs them to have an artisan patch them.
The length of the archive is confirmed by a letter referring to an eponym Abi-ilu and a prince Tukulti-Ninurta. Assur-damiq, son of Abi-ilu, is referred to on an Assur stela. He was an eponym under à  ulmanu-aà ¡aredu. A letter to the governor of Amasaki, a city in ḪÃÂbà «r region, in the month of Kazullu, the eponym year of Ià ¡tar-eris, son of Sulmanu-qarrad, commands him to provide âÂÂincome of the templeâ in donkey loads of cereal, âÂÂaccording to the small sutu-measure.â A tablet records garments manufactured over two preceding years, the eponym years of Ià ¡tar-eris and that of Assur-daâÂÂissunu, which "are given to Siqi-ilani for the caravan-trade to the country Kinahhi (Canaan)â in the eponym year of Usat-marduk.
In Ḫattuà ¡a, near modern BoÃÂazkale, drafts of letters have been found that may have been written by the Hittite king Ḫattuà ¡ili III or possibly his son Tudhaliya IV to BÃÂbu-aḫa-iddina. Written to mark the accession of Tukulti-Ninurta to the Assyrian throne, it includes a warning of the hazards of a projected Assyrian expedition into the land of Papanḫi, whose "mountains are impassable.â The Hittite king recommended, âÂÂBecause his father died, and he has just seated himself upon the throne of his father, the campaign on which he goes for the first time should be one on which he enjoys a three- or fourfold numerical superiority.â This was exactly the same advice that Ḫattuà ¡ili gave to the young Babylonian king, Kadaà ¡man-Enlil II, which was perhaps a ploy to embroil Babylon in a war with Assyria.
A still-sealed burial chamber, number 45, contained the richest of more than a thousand private middle Assyrian burials. It was associated with a large house uncovered during excavations in 1908 in Aà ¡à ¡ur and consisted of a shaft leading to an 8 foot by 5 foot chamber containing the remains of nine adults and a child. Most skeletal remains were heaped against a wall or in an urn, making space for the two most recent arrivals who were thought at the time to be a male and female by contemporary archeologists. The male may well have been BÃÂbu-aḫa-iddina himself as his archive was found nearby. Unfortunately the bones were discarded after excavation preventing further analysis and doubts have subsequently been raised as to whether there was a male at all, based on the grave goods which included gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian and banded agate jewelry, elaborately carved ivory combs, pins and vessels and pottery articles comprising a pyxis with a lid and a cosmetic dish.