Marduk-balÃÂssu-iqbi, inscribed <sup>md</sup><small>AMAR.UTU-TI</small>-su-iq-bi or <sup>md</sup><small>SID-TI</small>-zu-<small>DUG</small><sub>4</sub>, meaning "Marduk has promised his life," was the 8th king of the Dynasty of E of Babylon; he was the successor of his father Marduk-zÃÂkir-à ¡umi I, and was the 4th and final generation of Nabû-à ¡uma-ukin I's family to reign. He was contemporary with his father's former ally, à  amà ¡i-Adad V of Assyria, who may have been his brother-in-law, who was possibly married to his (Marduk's) sister à  ammu-ramat, the legendary Semiramis, and who was to become his nemesis.
He was recorded as a witness on a kudurru dated to his father's 2nd year, 25 years before he ascended the throne, suggesting he was fairly elderly when he assumed power, and he may be a witness on another kudurru, dated to his grandfather's 31st year, although this individual is identified as the bÃÂl pëḫati, or a "provincial administrator," a "son" of Arad-Ea. The kudurru pictured is a á¹£almu or commemorative granite stele to Adad-eá¹Âir, the dagger-bearer of Marduk, by his eldest son, where the name Marduk-balÃÂssu-iqbi appears in the context of the donor and possibly may not be the king. The fourth line reads "the king his lord, Marduk-balÃÂssu-iqbi," leading some to assign it to his reign although it is without a succeeding royal determinative and is followed by mÃÂruà ¡u rabà «, "his eldest son." It is, however, an inscription of this era. He receives a fleeting mention in the Eclectic Chronicle alongside his father.
He seems to have made his capital at GannanÃÂti, a town on the DiyÃÂla River; he engaged in construction activity in Seleucia, and exerted control over territory encompassing both DÃÂr and Nippur. His officials, like him, seem to have received their positions through inheritance, such as Enlil-apla-uá¹£ur, the à ¡andabakku or governor of Nippur, and the sons of Tuballiá¹Â-Eà ¡dar, the sukkallus (court personnel) and à ¡ÃÂkin á¹ÂÃÂmi (a regional governor), suggesting weak central authority and some local autonomy in the provinces.
The Assyrians, under à  amà ¡i-Adad V (ca. 823-811 BC), led two successive campaigns against him, the first of which was his fourth since coming to power. The motivation for these assaults is uncertain, however, à  amà ¡i-Adad may have harbored some resentment to the inferior position he had been placed into, in a treaty with Marduk-balÃÂssu-iqbi's immediate predecessor, Marduk-zâkir-à ¡umi.
The eponym year of à  amaà ¡-ilaya (818/817 BC) records a campaign against "[...]à ¡umme." The later eponym years of Inurta-aà ¡ared and à  amaà ¡-kumua record campaigns against Chaldea and Babylon respectively, and these are thought to correspond with the second campaign against Marduk-balÃÂssu-iqbi and the subsequent overthrow of his successor, BÃÂba-aḫa-iddina. There is an intervening eponym year of Bêl-lu-ballat which records "campaign against DÃÂr; Anu the Great went to DÃÂr" (ca. 814/813 BC), which probably best represents this first assault.
The campaign route followed the course of the eastern side of the Tigris along the edge of the mountains, as the direct route into Babylonia was blocked by the fortress of Zaddi, the northernmost town in Babylonia at this time, a little way south of the Lesser Zab. According to his Annals, à  amà ¡i-Adad paused to hunt and kill three fierce lions on the slopes of Mount Epih (Jebel Hamrin) and then proceeded to leave a trail of devastation in his wake, besieging the town of Me-Turnat on the bank of the DiyÃÂla, which he then crossed at high water, to take and burn, the royal city of Qarne. He looted DiâÂÂbina and then assaulted GannanÃÂti's suburbs, Datebir and Izduja. He sacked Qiribti-alani, boasting that he had carried away "(the inhabitant's) spoil, their property, gods, oxen (and) sheep." Then he despoiled the royal city of Dur-Papsukkal, near DÃÂr after which he seems to have been successfully countered with a grand alliance of Chaldeans, Elamites, Kassites and Arameans, although the Synchronistic History describes how the Assyrian king "filled the plain with the corpses of (Marduk-balÃÂssu-iqbi's) warriors," and his annals record his capture of chariots, cavalry and some of the camp furniture.
The second campaign was apparently a more surgical affair, with à  amà ¡i-Adad making a bee-line straight for GannanÃÂti, causing Marduk-balÃÂssu-iqbi to flee to the DiyÃÂla region where he sought refuge initially in Nimitti-à ¡arri (Aḫià ¡ÃÂnu) but was cornered following the capture of DÃÂr and led away in chains to Assyria. à  amà ¡i-Adad boasted thirty thousand captives were deported from DÃÂr in his Gottesbrief, a diviner's literary text recording an address to the king from the god Aà ¡à ¡ur, from the city of Aà ¡à ¡ur.
A brick inscription excavated at Tall âÂÂUmar, ancient Seleucia, in 1933, a neo-Babylonian copy of a legal text recovered from Nippur in 1951 dated to his second year, and a humorous school text, Ninurta-PÃÂqidÃÂt's Dog Bite, are the only extant contemporary texts. The legal text gives as a witness, a certain <sup>md</sup><small>BA.ÃÂ-à  Eà  -SUM</small>-na, an official who may possibly have been his eventual successor, BÃÂba-aḫa-iddina.