Kadaà ¡man-Enlil I (<sup>m</sup>ka-dÃ¡à ¡-man-<sup>d</sup><small>EN.LÃÂL</small> in contemporary inscriptions) was a Kassite King of Babylon from ca. 1374 BC to 1360 BC, perhaps the 18th of the dynasty.
He is known to have been a contemporary of Amenhotep III of Egypt, with whom he corresponded (Amarna letters). This places Kadaà ¡man-Enlil securely to the first half of the 14th century BC by most standard chronologies.
Five cuneiform tablets are preserved in the Amarna letters corpus. The letters designated EA (for El Amarna) 1 through 5 include three letters authored by Kadaà ¡man-Enlil and two by Amenhotep III, who is addressed as and calls himself Nibmuareya, or variants thereof (from Neb-Maat-Ra).
In EA 1, to Kadaà ¡man-Enlil from Nibmuarea (Great King, the King of Egypt), he writes to assure Kadaà ¡man-Enlil that his sister, the daughter of Kurigalzu I, has not in fact died, nor had she been banished to a distant harem as a minor concubine, and to acknowledge the offer of one of Kadaà ¡man-EnlilâÂÂs daughters, to become, as yet another wife. He suggests Kadaà ¡man-Enlil dispatch a kamiru, tentatively translated as eunuch, to identify his sister, rather than the pair of envoys actually sent, on whom Amenhotep casts aspersions, describing one as a donkey-herder. The text is not entirely legible at this point, and the unfortunate envoy may actually be referred to as a caravan leader, and his companion a merchant, thus – these âÂÂnobodiesâ are merely common 'tradesmen' unfamiliar with the members of the royal household and thus unable to recognize Kadaà ¡man-EnlilâÂÂs sister.
In EA 2 from Kadashman-Enlil I to Mimmuwareya (King of Egypt), he declares âÂÂmy daughters are available (for marriage).âÂÂ
In EA 3, to [Nim]u'wareya (King of Egypt) from Kadaà ¡man-Enlil he feigns offence about being overlooked for an invite to the isinnu festival. Disarmingly, however, he invites his âÂÂbrotherâ (Pharaoh Amenhotep III) to his own inauguration. âÂÂNow I am going to have a grand opening for the palace. Come yourself to eat and drink with me. I shall not do as you did!âÂÂ
In EA 4, Kadaà ¡man-Enlil complains to the king of Egypt (no named preserved) about not being given one of his daughters as a wife, quoting an earlier response that âÂÂsince earliest times no daughter of the king of Egypt has ever been given in marriage [to anyone]âÂÂ. He urges that if he could not receive a princess, then a beautiful woman should be sent, but immediately follows up by proposing to exchange one of his own daughters for gold, needed to fund a building project he had in mind.
In EA 5, [Nibmuar]ey[a] (Amenhotep III) writes to detail the long list of gifts that will be provided in exchange for Kadaà ¡man-EnlilâÂÂs daughter, and the deal is sealed.
Difficulties are encountered distinguishing between inscriptions belonging to Kadaà ¡man-Enlil I and his descendant Kadaà ¡man-Enlil II, who ruled around one hundred years later. Historians disagree on whether building inscriptions at Isin, for the Egalmaḫ of Gula, or in Larsa, on bricks bearing a sixteen-line inscription of the restoration of the Ebabbar temple for à  amaà ¡, should be assigned to the earlier King. The inscriptions from Nippur which include stamped bricks from the east stairway of the ziggurat and elsewhere describing work on the Ekur, the âÂÂHouse of the Mountainâ of Enlil, four inscribed slab fragments of red-veined alabaster, a five-line agate cameo votive fragment, an engraved stone door socket, and so on, could be assigned in part to either King.
An economic tablet from Nippur is dated âÂÂ15th year (of) Kadaà ¡man-Enlil, month of Taà ¡rëtu, 18th dayâÂÂ, and is ascribed to him, rather than his descendant name-sake, because of the more archaic use of the masculine personal determinative before the royal name (the single vertical cuneiform stroke), and the likelihood that the later king reigned for no more than nine years. Another one refers to the 1st year of Burra-Buriaà ¡ and the 15th of the preceding king, presumed to be Kadaà ¡man-Enlil.
His successor was his son, ascertained from an inscription on an irregular block of lapis lazuli found in Nippur and now housed in the ðstanbul Arkeoloji Mà ±zeleri, the considerably more well-known Burna-Buriaà ¡ II, who also wrote several letters preserved in Egyptian archives to the Egyptian pharaoh (Amarna letters).