| Baba-aḫa-iddina | |
| King of Babylon | |
| Reign: | ca. 812 BC |
| Predecessor: | Marduk-balāssu-iqbi |
| Successor: | Interregnum Ninurta-apla-X (earliest known successor) |
| Royal House: | Dynasty of E (mixed dynasties) |
Bāba-aḫa-iddina, typically inscribed mdBA.Ú-PAB-AŠ[1] 'Bau has given me a brother',[2] ca. 812 BC, was the 9th king of the Dynasty of E, a mixed dynasty of kings of Babylon, but probably for less than a year. He briefly succeeded Marduk-balāssu-iqbi, who had been deposed by the Assyrians, a fate he was to share.
His name was traditionally the name of a second son. He may have been a paqid mātāti official attested in the earlier reign, possibly from the Babylonian nobility who was the son of an otherwise unknown individual named Lidanu.[2] This is a prebend grant[3] from the second year of Marduk-balāssu-iqbi which records him as a witness: mdBA.Ú-ŠEŠ-SUM-na DUMU mli-da-nu LÚ.PA É.KUR.MEŠ.[4]
His reign was brought to its end by the sixth campaign of the Assyrian king, Šamši-Adad V, as described in his Annals:[5] "In Ni... I besieged [him]. By means of boring and siege machines [I c]aptured that [city]. Bāba-aḫa-iddina together with the standard (durigallu)... I took away."[6] A more detailed account of the events following this victory is provided in the Synchronistic History:
Šamši-Adad made no attempt to annex Babylonia which remained independent, though kingless for a period, but returned to Assyria where he spent his last year, according to the eponym record, "in the land."[7] Finkel and Reade proposed a restoration of the final, broken part of the Synchronistic History to give: "Adad-nirari III king of Assyria and B[aba-aḫa-iddina king of Karduniaš towards each other], bowed and drank wine. The welf[are of their lands they established]..." They suggested that a pro-Babylonian Šammur-amat, while acting as Assyrian regent for the boy-king Adad-nirari, may have moved to have Bāba-aḫa-iddina reinstated to stabilize their southern neighbor.[8]