Little is known about his background. In his own inscriptions, Nabopolassar refers to himself as "a son of a nobody" (Akk. mār lā mammāna), a phrase that he used to indicate that he did not originate from a royalty and, thus, he did not inherit his position as king. Instead, Nabopolassar stressed his piety and close relationship to the gods Marduk and Nabû, the two most important deities whom he states supported his claim to kingship.[[6]] Piety alone, however, was not enough to attain the highest position in the land and, therefore, not just anyone could take hold of the throne of Babylon. If you came from a powerful, rich, and/or influential family, or were connected to the right political or religious circles, you might have had a chance. Fortunately for Nabopolassar, despite his protestations of being a "son of a nobody," he came from a prominent family from Uruk and was an important member of that city's local administration while the kings of Assyria (in)directly ruled Babylonia. Although his background is never explicitly recorded in extant sources, Nabopolassar might have come from an influential Chaldean family who belonged to the Dakkūru tribe and who had worked their way into the upper echelons of society in Uruk.[[7]]
Few details about Nabopolassar's family are known. The name of his wife is unknown, as is the number of children that he had. It is certain, however, that he had at least three sons: Nebuchadnezzar was his firstborn son (and heir designate), Nabû-šumu-līšir was his second eldest-born son, and Nabû-zēru-ušabši was a third, younger son; his eldest two sons are mentioned in an inscription as participants of a foundation ritual for the rebuilding Etemenanki ("House, Foundation Platform of Heaven and Underworld"), the ziggurat of the god Marduk at Babylon.[[8]] Apart from these three sons, it is not known how many other children (sons and/or daughters) Nabopolassar had.
6 Jursa, RA 101 (2007) p. 130. See, for example, Npl. 3 (C32) i 7–14 and Npl. 7 (C12) lines 4–7.
7 For details, see Beaulieu, Bagh. Mitt. 28 (1997) pp. 391–393; and Jursa, Imperien und Reiche p. 124.
8 Npl. 6 (C31) ii 49–iii 33.
Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser
Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser, ' Nabopolassar's Ancestry and Family', RIBo, Babylon 7: The Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2024 [/ribo/babylon7/RINBE11Introduction/Nabopolassar/AncestryandFamilyofNabopolassar/]