Adad-šuma-uṣur, inscribed dIM-MU-ŠEŠ, meaning "O Adad, protect the name!," and dated very tentatively c. 1216–1187 BC (short chronology), was the 32nd king of the 3rd or Kassite dynasty of Babylon and the country contemporarily known as Karduniaš.
He is best known for his rude letter to Aššur-nirari III, the most complete part of which is quoted below, and was enthroned following a revolt in the south of Mesopotamia when the north was still occupied by the forces of Assyria, and he may not have assumed authority throughout the country until around the 25th year of his 30-year reign, although the exact sequence of events and chronology remains disputed.
[2] A late copy of an inscription on a bronze statue from Ur,[i 6] begins “When Anu and Enlil looked with steady favour on Adad-šuma-uṣur, the shepherd who pleased their heart, at that time Marduk, the great lord, named his name as ruler of (all) land[s],” supporting the theory that he reigned in Uruk and Nippur before being appointed by Marduk in Babylon.
Only sixteen dated economic or legal texts attest to his reign, with just two of them from Babylon, bearing the curious double-dating formula adopted by Adad-šuma-uṣur and his immediate successors.
In two documents,[i 10] the judge was Adad-šuma-uṣur, the šakkanakku, “appointee, governor,” a role similarly adopted by his predecessor Šagarakti-Šuriaš[i 11] and two other texts[i 12] feature the same group of miscreants, Abu-ṭābu, Zēru-kīnu and Sîn-pūtu, suspects in three separate cases of cattle rustling.
[3] Tukulti-Ninurta I, the king of Assyria, had captured Adad-šuma-uṣur's predecessor, Kaštiliašu IV, on one of his two campaigns and conquered Babylon during the second one, perhaps around 1225 BC.
[2] When exactly the three native kings, Enlil-nādin-šumi, Kadašman-Ḫarbe II and Adad-šuma-iddina succeeded one another is still uncertain, but their short reigns totalled around nine years.
He then makes reference to a “servant of Suhi”, where Suhu is a region of northeast Syria, and Itamar Singer proposes this individual to be Adad-šuma-uṣur,[4] the implication being he was a foreigner, not of the royal stock and consequently unqualified for office.
A letter from an Elamite king,[i 15] thought to be Shutruk-Nahhunte, to the Kassite elders demanding the right to the Babylonian throne through blood, describes Adad-šuma-uṣur as “son of Dunna-Sah, from the region by the bank of the Euphrates”, in his criticism of their choice of regent.
Your faces [.....with] iniquitous and criminal counsel[11]The Ilī-ḫaddâ mentioned is Ilī-padā, the viceroy of Hanigalbat, Ashur-nirari's distant relative (sharing a common ancestor in Eriba-Adad I), and father of the later Assyrian king, Ninurta-apal-Ekur.
[3]Following this famous victory, a “son of a nobody, whose name is not mentioned” exploited the chance to enthrone himself in Babylon, so a revolt was propagated and Adad-šuma-uṣur took the city and his place in the Kassite dynastic list.
[3] The events were captured for posterity in the Adad-šuma-uṣur Epic,[i 16] a late Babylonian historical literary work where a rebellion of officers and nobles is caused by the neglect of Marduk and Babylon.