Adad-guppi (*649/8, †547 BC)

If it was possible to go back in time and ask a contemporary witness about the turbulent state of affairs at the Babylonian court after the death of Nebuchadnezzar II, one person might have very interesting things to tell. Her name is Adad-guppi (possibly Aram. Adad-ḥa/oppe, "Adad has protected"), she grew up in the city of Ḫarrān when it was still a principal cult center of the Assyrian Empire [/rinap/neoassyrianhistoryoverview/index.html], was deported to Babylon after Nabopolassar captured it, and lived at the Babylonian court during the reigns of all six kings of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty. Towards the end of her extremely long life, which lasted more than a hundred years, she even saw her own son, Nabonidus, ascend the throne of Babylon, but she did not know that his unorthodox political and religious beliefs would lead to the fall of the Babylonian Empire and the end of native rule over Babylon.

Memories of an Old Woman

Unfortunately, we cannot interview Adad-guppi herself about her life, but at least an inscription written in her name has survived.^[1] Through this we can hear her speaking:

"I, Adad-guppi, the mother of Nabonidus, the king of Babylon, the one who reveres the deities Sîn, Ningal, Nusku, and Sadarnunna, my gods whose divinities I have been assiduous towards since my childhood: (When) in the sixteenth year of Nabopolassar, the king of Babylon, the god Sîn, the king of the gods, became angry with his city and his temple, went up into the heavens, and the city and the people who were inside it were left in ruins, I continued to seek out the shrines of the deities Sîn, Ningal, Nusku, and Sadarnunna. I revere their divinities (to this day)." (Schaudig 2001 , p. 502, 3.2 i 1-11; translation by Jamie Novotny)

The wrath of the moon-god Sîn mentioned in this passage refers to the occupation of Ḫarrān and the looting of its temple by the Babylonian and Median troops in 610 BC, an event that must have come as a shock for and have left a lasting impression on Adad-guppi. Nevertheless, she claims that she never lost trust in her city's tutelary deity, continued to serve him, and when the right time had come – that is, when her son Nabonidus had became the king of Babylon – implored Sîn to return home. The relevant passage in her stele inscription reads:

"From the twentieth year of Ashurbanipal [/rinap/neoassyrianhistoryoverview/assyriafromashurbanipaltoauruballiii668609bc/index.html], the king of Assyria, when I was born, until the forty-second year of Ashurbanipal, the third year of Aššur-etel-ilāni [/rinap/neoassyrianhistoryoverview/assyriafromashurbanipaltoauruballiii668609bc/index.html], his son, the twenty-first year of Nabopolassar, the forty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, the second year of Amēl-Marduk, the fourth year of Neriglissar, during (these) ninety-five years the god Sîn, the king of the gods of the heavens and netherworld, the one whose great divinity I continuously sought out, who looked with pleasure upon my good deeds, listened to my prayers, (and) accepted my request(s), the wrath of whose heart calmed down, who became reconciled with Eḫulḫul, the temple of the god Sîn, which is inside the city Ḫarrān, the dwelling of the happiness of his heart, (and) who became forgiving -- The god Sîn, the king of the gods, looked upon me and named Nabonidus, (my) only son, my offspring, as king and entrusted to him the kingship of the land of Sumer and Akkad, (as well as) all of the lands from the border of Egypt on the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea. I raised my hands and reverently [...] the god Sîn, the king of the god(s), with prayer(s). [... my off]sp[ring ...]: 'You yourself have named him king and proclaimed his name. By the command of your great divinity, may the great gods march at his side (and) cut down his foes. Do not forget Eḫulḫul and carry out in full its perfect rituals.'" (Schaudig 2001, pp. 503-505, 3.2 i 29-ii 4; translation by Jamie Novotny)

According to the same text, Sîn promised to fulfill her wishes and her son Nabonidus carried them out:

"As his hands were placed (on me) in my dream, the god Sîn, the king of the g[ods], said to me: 'The return of the gods (of Ḫarrān) is with you, (therefore) I will place the (re)settlement of the city of Ḫarrān in the hands of Nabonidus, your son. He will (re)build Eḫulḫul and complete its construction. He will make the city Ḫarrān more perfect than before and return (it) to its (proper) place. He will take the deities Sîn, Ningal, Nusku, and Sadarnunna by the hand and usher (them) into Eḫulḫul.' ... Nabonidus, (my) only son, my offspring, perfected the forgotten rituals of the deities Sîn, Ningal, Nusku, and Sadarnunna, built Eḫulḫul anew and completed its construction. He made the city Ḫarrān more perfect than before and returned (it) to its (proper) place. He took the the deities Sîn, Ningal, Nusku, and Sadarnunna -- (who he led) from Šuanna (Babylon), his royal city -- by the hand and made (them) reside within the city Ḫarrān, in Eḫulḫul, the dwelling of the happiness of their hearts, amidst happiness and exultation." (Schaudig 2001, p. 505, 3.2 ii 5-11a and 13-21a; translation by Jamie Novotny)

In return for Adad-guppi's pious devotion, Sîn granted her many great honors, including a very long life:

"Something that the god Sîn, the king of the gods, had not done or given to anyone before: In his love for me, the one who reveres his divinity (and) who had taken hold of his garment, the god Sîn, the king of the god(s), lifted up my head and established for me a favorable name in the land. He added long days and years of contentment to my (life), and he allowed me to live from the time of Ashurbanipal [/rinap/neoassyrianhistoryoverview/assyriafromashurbanipaltoauruballiii668609bc/index.html], the king of Assyria, to the ninth year of Nabonidus, the king of Babylon, (my) son, my offspring, 104 good years, because of the pious awe that the god Sîn, the king of the gods, had placed in my heart. As for me, (my) vision is sharp (lit. 'bright'), my hearing superb, my hands and feet are healthy, my words carefully selected, food and drink befit me, my physical health is good and my heart is very happy. I saw the lives of my great-great-grandchildren, as far as the fourth generation from me, and (thus) I (indeed) attained a very old age." (Schaudig 2001, pp. 505-506, 3.2 ii 21b-34; translation by Jamie Novotny)

Although the text was not written down by Adad-guppi herself, but by her son's scribes after her death, and, like other royal inscriptions, is certainly not free from exaggeration, palliation, and pure fiction, it is a remarkable document and provides a unique view on the history of the last days of Assyria [/rinap/Neo-AssyrianHistoryOverview/index.html] and most of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty. Whether or not the details about her life are one hundred percent factual (and indeed most of them fit what we know from other sources), the mere existence of this inscription reveals that Adad-guppi was of great importance to Nabonidus. Since we know that he had indeed become king of Babylon (seemingly out of nowhere), and the inscription quoted above suggests that his mother had played a role in that, the question of her identity is not marginal. Who was this woman who not only survived the fall of the Assyrian Empire but even managed to promote her son to the throne of Babylon?

A Link between Two Great Empires?

If one does not believe in divine intervention, there must have been concrete reasons that Adad-guppi, despite of her origin, was able to reach an influential position at the Neo-Babylonian court. Based on the claim made in the inscription partially quoted above that she was devoted to Sîn and his divine entourage and continued to serve them for all her life, it has often been assumed that she might have been a high priestess at the temple of Sîn at Ḫarrān.^[2] This idea has been further developed by Walter Mayer (1998 ) who came up with a very intriguing theory.

According to this theory, Adad-guppi might have been a high priestess of the moon-god at Ḫarrān, as well as a member of the Assyrian royal family, possibly the daughter of Aššur-etel-šamê-erṣeti-muballissu, a son of Esarhaddon [/rinap/Neo-AssyrianHistoryOverview/Esarhaddon680-669BC/index.html], who had been installed by his older brother, king Ashurbanipal [/rinap/Neo-AssyrianHistoryOverview/AssyriafromAshurbanipaltoAshur-uballitII668-609BC/index.html], as the šešgallu-priest of the moon-god. When Babylonian and Median troops looted Ehulhul, Ḫarrān's principal temple, in 610, Adad-guppi would have been deported to Babylon together with the statues of the very gods she served. Mayer suggests that in order to prevent future dynastic conflicts because of her royal Assyrian ancestry, she might have been quickly married off to a member of the Neo-Babylonian royal family (perhaps a brother of the then-ruling king, Nabopolassar), despite her being a priestess and being already relatively old. To introduce the only child born produced from this relationship (that is, Nabonidus) into the service of Nabopolassar's successors would in this case not have been too difficult, since Adad-guppi, as a member of the Babylonian royal family, would have had some contact with the king and his court, for example, when carrying out funerary offerings for the deceased kings, a task she claims to have performed in her stele inscription (cf. Schaudig 2001, pp. 507 and 512, ex. 2 iii 11'-23'). The fact that her husband is not mentioned in her inscription and that her birth is dated by the reign of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal [/rinap/Neo-AssyrianHistoryOverview/AssyriafromAshurbanipaltoAshur-uballitII668-609BC/index.html] might indicate that she still never forgot about her Assyrian origin.^[3]

Although Mayer's theory sounds rather convincing, at the moment there is no hard proof for it. Moreover, the fact that Adad-guppi has an Aramaic name, and not an Akkadian one containing the moon-god's name, and that there is no mention of the re-installation of a high priestess of the temple of the moon-god in Nabonidus' inscriptions from Ḫarrān, may even raise serious doubts about the underlying assumption that she actually was such a priestess. The name of her husband Nabû-balāssu-iqbi, on the other hand, does not provide any conclusive evidence for a Babylonian origin, since it is also attested –- together with other Nabû-names -– in the Ḫarrān Census; and the title "wise ruler" by which Nabû-balāssu-iqbi's name is followed in some of Nabonidus' inscriptions does not necessarily prove affiliation with the royal family but could also indicate leadership of an Aramean tribe or refer back to Nabonidus instead of his father. Thus, perhaps Adad-guppi was just an ordinary Aramean woman with a special personal devotion to the moon-god who somehow ended up bearing a child that would make a steep career at the Neo-Babylonian court and eventually become the last king of Babylon. But if the latter was the case, her achievement would be even more astonishing.

No matter what her origin, Adad-guppi was certainly a very remarkable woman -- and would have fascinating stories to tell, if only we could ask her.

Selected Bibliography

Beaulieu, P.-A., The Reign of Nabonidus, King of Babylon 556-539 BC, New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1989.

Mayer, W., 'Nabonids Herkunft,' in: M. Dietrich and O. Loretz (eds.), Dubsar anta-men: Studien zur Altorientalistik: Festschrift für Willem H.Ph. Römer zur Vollendung seines 70. Lebensjahres mit Beiträgen von Freunden, Schülern und Kollegen (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 253), Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1998, pp. 245-261. [Go back to body text]

Schaudig, H., Die Inschriften Nabonids von Babylon und Kyros' des Großen samt den in ihrem Umfeld entstandenen Tendenzschriften (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 256), Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2001. [Go back to body text]

Seidl, U., 'Babylonische und assyrische Kultbilder in den Massenmedien des 1. Jahrtausends v. Chr.,' in: C. Uehlinger (ed.), Images as Media: Sources for the Cultural History of the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean (1st Millennium BCE), Fribourg: University Press / Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2000, 89-114.

^[1] The text is preserved in two copies that were found in the temple of the moon-god at Ḫarrān together with two steles of her son Nabonidus. Although the inscription is composed in the first person, it was obviously written down (at least in its present form) after Adad-guppi's death since it also contains a description of her funeral. Therefore, this composition is often described as a pseudo-autobiography or a memorial inscription. [Go back to body text.]

^[2] Note, however, that this is not explicitly stated anywhere (see below). [Go back to body text.]

^[3] Secondary evidence for the theory that Nabonidus had Assyrian ancestors may be derived from the rock relief of Bisitun, where the later usurpers and rivals of Darius I, Nebuchadnezzar III and IV -- both of whom claim to be sons of Nabonidus -- are depicted in Assyrian attire (Seidl 2000, p. 97 with n. 31).

Alexa Bartelmus

Alexa Bartelmus, 'Adad-guppi (*649/8, †547 BC)', RIBo, Babylon 7: The Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2024 [/ribo/babylon7/Rulers/Nabonidus/Adad-guppi/]