Kadaà ¡man-Turgu, inscribed Ka-da-aà ¡-ma-an Túr-gu and meaning he believes in Turgu, a Kassite deity, (c. 1281âÂÂ1264 BC) was the 24th king of the Kassite or 3rd dynasty of Babylon. He succeeded his father, Nazi-Maruttaà ¡, continuing the tradition of proclaiming himself âÂÂking of the worldâ and went on to reign for eighteen years. He was a contemporary of the Hittite king Ḫattuà ¡ili III, with whom he concluded a formal treaty of friendship and mutual assistance, and also Ramesses II with whom he consequently severed diplomatic relations.
Kadaà ¡man-Turgu reigned during momentous times, but seems to have played only a peripheral role. Ḫattuà ¡ili III, in a letter to his son and successor Kadaà ¡man-Enlil II, said of him, âÂÂthey used to call [your father] a king who prepares for war but then stays at homeâÂÂ. His personal seal included suckling animals in two registers, allegorically symbolizing his care for his subjects. The continued employment of the extinct Sumerian language in royal votive inscriptions was in decline and the Babylonian calendar was under revision with the introduction of the Akkadian term: à  anat rÃÂà ¡ à ¡arrà «ti, âÂÂaccession year.âÂÂ
Early in his reign, he brokered a treaty with the Assyrian king Adad-NërÃÂri, preserved on a fragmentary clay tablet where the phrase âÂÂhe pardoned his son of the crimeâ appears twice. Kadaà ¡man-TurguâÂÂs father, Nazi-Maruttaà ¡ had been engaged in a protracted war with both Adad-NërÃÂri and his father Arik-den-ili which had reached its dénouement in a battle at "KÃÂr-Ià ¡tar of Ugarsallu". This settlement perhaps explains why there were no reports of any conflict between the Babylonians and Assyrians during this time. It also freed the Assyrians to turn their attention to conquering their westerly neighbor and former overlord the Mitanni.
He would no doubt have been aware of the Battle of Kadesh, in 1274, the dramatic climax of the Hittite conflict with Egypt and probably the largest chariot battle ever fought. The Hittite king Muwatalli II died around 1272 and was succeeded by his son, Urḫi-Teà ¡à ¡up, who took the name Mursili III, and reigned for seven years. But he found himself increasingly at odds with his uncle, Ḫattuà ¡ili III, the heroic general of Kadesh, who eventually overthrew him. In the first instance, Urḫi-Teà ¡à ¡up seems to have appealed to Kadaà ¡man-Turgu for support, before turning to the Assyrians and finally seeking asylum at the court of Ramesses.
First, Ḫattuà ¡ili demanded the handover of the fugitive. Then he sought support from Kadaà ¡man-Turgu complaining of the pharaoh's lack of complicity. Kadaà ¡man-Turgu was apparently sympathetic and willing to recognize the usurper as Hatti's legitimate king, motivated perhaps more by the need for a strong alliance with the Hittites to counter the threat of the Assyrians and maintain the uneasy peace. He promised to provide Ḫattuà ¡ili with military support in any conflict with Egypt and âÂÂkept the messenger of the king of Egypt at bayâÂÂ, i.e. terminated diplomatic links. According to Ḫattuà ¡ili, they agreed that âÂÂthe survivor shall protect the children of the one who goes first to his fateâÂÂ.
Relations must have warmed for at least a short time, before Kadaà ¡man-Turgu died, because Ḫattuà ¡ili records in a letter to Kadaà ¡man-Enlil that his father loaned to the Hittite the services of a sculptor, who was subsequently returned. He had earlier loaned a physician named Rabâ-à ¡a-Marduk and an exorcist to Ḫattuà ¡iliâÂÂs brother Muwatalli II ("as for the exorcist about whom my brother wrote me, saying 'the exorcist whom my brother wrote me has arrived [â¦] and has begun the ritual'âÂÂ) but these experts were never returned ("perhaps the exorcist has died").
His construction efforts are witnessed at the EâÂÂigi-kalama ziggurat of the tutelary deity Lugalmarada, in the city of Marad, and also in the ziggurat area at Nippur. A single lapis lazuli bead inscribed with the name of Kadaà ¡man-Turgu was found during the excavation of the Ekur temple at Nippur. A single tablet dated to year 4 of Kadaà ¡man-Turgu was found in the main palace area at Dur-Kurigalzu.
The eighteen-year reign is confirmed by progression of date formulae appearing on more than a hundred economic texts, such as those of Irîmshu-Ninurta, a prominent official in Nippur, who recorded ten storehouse transactions, from Kadaà ¡man-TurguâÂÂs reign, to that of his successor, his son Kadaà ¡man-Enlil II, in which he receives incoming taxes, he grants loans, and pays salaries to other officers.
An economic text, first published in 1982 by Veysel Donbaz, has presented a chronological dilemma regarding the sequence of succession from Kadaà ¡man-Turgu to Kadaà ¡man-Enlil as it seems to place Kadaà ¡man-EnlilâÂÂs succession year in the past whilst describing events too recent to be explained by harking back to the earlier monarch, Kadaà ¡man-Enlil I, whose reign ended 90 years before the date (1270 BC) on this document. It describes the exchange of goods and real estate between Kidin-Gula and his son Martuku with Arad-Marduk. It provides the following heading at the start and a similar summary at the end:
Brinkman argues that the evidence for the traditional sequence, i.e. votive inscriptions of Kadaà ¡man-Enlil, son of Kadaà ¡man-Turgu and other contemporary documents, âÂÂis too strong simply to set aside.â In contrast, Boese suggests another Kadaà ¡man-Enlil may have briefly preceded the pair. The text comes from the archive of Itti-Ezida-lummir in Babylon (Pedersén M8) which also contains a text that may be from the 10th year of Kadaà ¡man-Ḫarbe II, a king recorded as having only reigned for less than 2 years, and, for this reason, Werner Nahm suggests they are both ancient fabrications. The title to real estate pledged as security to debt valued in copper, rather than the gold or silver citations of the period, reflects a later era after 1175 BC, when the trade routes for these precious metals had been compromised and supports doubts about its authenticity.