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{{Infobox monarch
| name = Agum II
| title = [[List of kings of Babylon|King of Babylon]]
| image= Agum Kakrime Inscription.jpg
| caption = [[Theophilus Pinches|Pinches]]’s line art of the Agum Kakrime Inscription.
| reign = ca. 1500 BC
| coronation =
| predecessor = ? Šipta-Ulzi
| successor = ? [[Burnaburiash I|Burna-Buriyåš I]]
| spouse =
| royal house = [[Kassites|Kassite]]
| father =
| mother =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| buried =}}

'''Agum II'''<ref group=nb>Inscribed ''a-gu-um-ka-ak-ri-me'' in his eponymous inscription, elsewhere unattested.</ref> (also known as '''Agum Kakrime''') was ''possibly'' a [[Kassites|Kassite]] ruler who may have become the 8th or more likely the 9th king of the third [[Babylon]]ian dynasty sometime after Babylonia was defeated and sacked by the [[Hittites|Hittite]] king [[Mursilis I]]<ref group=i>[http://www.hittites.info/translations.aspx?text=translations/historical%2FTelipinuProclamation.html The Edict of Telepinu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120816012134/http://www.hittites.info/translations.aspx?text=translations%2Fhistorical%2FTelipinuProclamation.html |date=2012-08-16 }} §9.</ref> in 1531 BC ([[Short chronology timeline|short chronology]]), establishing the ''Kassite Dynasty'' which was to last in Babylon until 1155 BC. A later tradition, the [[Marduk#The Marduk Prophecy|Marduk Prophecy]],<ref group=i>The ''Marduk Prophesy'', Tablet K.2158 in the [[British Museum]].</ref> gives 24 years after a statue was taken, before it returned ''of its own accord'' to Babylon,<ref name=brinkman>{{ cite book | title = Materials and Studies for Kassite History, Vol. I (MSKH I) | author = J. A. Brinkman | publisher = Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago | year = 1976 | pages = 97–98, 11 }}</ref> suggesting a Kassite occupation beginning around 1507 BC.

The only historical source describes him as son of Urzigurumaš,<ref group=nb>Some commentators read this name as ''taš-ši-gu-ru-maš''.</ref> the 6th king of the dynasty, but the ''Synchronistic King List''<ref group=i>A neo-[[Assyria]]n ''Synchronistic King List'' A.117, tablet Ass. 14616c (KAV 216), in the [[Assur]] collection of the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museums|İstanbul Arkeoloji Műzeleri]].</ref> has two [[Lacuna (manuscripts)|lacunae]] where the 8th and 9th kings precede [[Burnaburiash I|Burna-Buriaš I]], who was the 10th<ref name=brinkman/> The 7th position is occupied by a name containing “Ḫarba.”<ref group=nb>Variously restored as Ḫarba-Šipak, and Ḫurbazum.</ref> It has been suggested that the 9th position may show traces of the name “Kakrime”, purported to mean ''Sword of Mercy''<ref>{{ cite book | title = Istorija Midii ot drevnejšich vremen do konca 4 veka do n. ė (The History of Media) | author = I. M. Diakonoff | publisher = Akad. | year = 1956 | page = 126 }}</ref> or ''Weapon of Thunder''.<ref>{{ cite journal | title = The Name of the Ninth Kassite Ruler | author = Michael C. Astour | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 106 | issue = 2 | date = Apr–Jun 1986 | pages = 327–331 | doi=10.2307/601597}}</ref>

==Agum-Kakrime Inscription==

Everything that is known about him is through the '''Agum-Kakrime Inscription''', an [[Akkadian]] text written in the neo-Assyrian cuneiform script but in very short lines in imitation of an antiquarian style.<ref name=oshima>{{ cite book | title = Babel und Bibel 6 | chapter = Another Attempt at Two Kassite Royal Inscriptions: The Agum-Kakrime Inscription and the Inscription of Kurigalzu the Son of Kadashmanharbe | author = Takayoshi Oshima | publisher = Eisenbrauns | year = 2012 | pages = 225–252 }}</ref> It is extant in two copies,<ref group=i>Tablets K. (for Kouyunjik collection) 4149, 4203, 4348 and Sm. (for [[George Smith (assyriologist)|Smith]] collection) 27 in the British Museum.</ref><ref group=i>Tablet Rm 505 in the [[Hormuzd Rassam|Rassam]] siglum of tablets in the British Museum.</ref> which describe the King’s recovery of the cultic Statue of [[Marduk]] from the land of [[Ḫana]] (<small>KUR</small> ''ḫa-ni-i''), pilfered by the Hittites during their sack of Babylon, and its restoration in the newly refurbished temple of [[Esagila|Ésagila]]. In it, Agum portrays himself as the legitimate ruler and caring “shepherd” of both the Kassites and the Akkadians. He asserts his suzerainty over Padan and Alman and also the [[Gutian people|Guteans]], “a foolish people,”<ref group=nb>UN.MEŠ ''saklāti''; some translations say “a barbarous people” (''saklu'', CAD S p. 80).</ref> groups variously located in regions of the [[Zagros Mountains|Zagros mountains]].

The inscription begins with an introduction, giving the King’s name, genealogy, epithets and so on. He is a descendent of Abi[rattash], “the fierce hero.” It continues with a long narrative of the return of Marduk and his consort [[Sarpanit|Zarpanītum]] and then lists Agum-Kakrime’s many generous donations to the temple and includes descriptions of the purification of the house itself by a snake charmer and the construction of protective demons for the doorway.<ref>{{ cite book | title = Fictional Akkadian autobiography: a generic and comparative study | author = Tremper Longman III | publisher = Eisenbrauns | year = 1991 | pages = 83–87 }}</ref>

Of uncertain provenance, it is on two tablets, one of which covers 8 columns and more than 350 lines, and including much esoteric detail concerning the temple and its rituals. One was found in the [[library of Ashurbanipal]], purporting to be a copy of an inscription made in antiquity<ref>{{ cite book | title = The ancient Near East: historical sources in translation | author = Frans van Koppen | editor = Mark William Chavalas | publisher = Blackwell Publishing | year = 2006 | pages = 135–139 }}</ref> while the other was found elsewhere in [[Kouyunjik]], ancient Nineveh. The Library of Ashurbanipal copy contains two colophons, and apart from the standard library identification, the earlier one reads ''mudû mudâ likallim'', which has been translated as “Let the learned instruct the learned” or alternatively “The initiate may show the initiate.” For those disputing its authenticity, it is a later pseudonymous propaganda piece for the cult of Marduk, emphasizing certain tax exemptions granted for the restoration of the statues.<ref>{{ cite book | title = Babylonians | author = H. W. F. Saggs | publisher = British Museum Press | year = 2000 | page = 116 }}</ref> Kassite era royal inscriptions are usually inscribed in [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]. Those supportive of its authenticity cite the iconography of the demons described on the door of the cella, which represent Marduk’s defeated foes,<ref group=nb>“Venomous Snake” ([[Bašmu]]), “hairy one” ([[Lahmu|Laḫmu]]), “Bull-Man” ([[Kusarikku]]), “Big-Weather Beast” ([[Ugallu]]), “Mad Lion” ([[Uridimmu]]), “Fish-Man” ([[Kulullû]]) and “Carp-Goat” (suhurmašu)</ref> the gods of cities conquered by Babylon, such as [[Eshnunna|Ešnunna]] and are illustrative of a middle Babylonian theology. Marduk has yet to attain sovereignty over the universe characterized by the [[Enûma Eliš]] and the struggle with [[Tiamat|Tiāmat]].<ref>{{ cite book | title = Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: the ritual texts | author = F. A. M. Wiggermann | publisher = STYX | year = 1992 | pages = 162–163 }}</ref>

==Primary publications==

* {{ cite book | title = The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. II: A Selection from the Miscellaneous Inscriptions of Assyria | author = E. Norris | publisher = | year = 1866 }} pl. 38, no. 2 (line art), K.4149 misidentified as a tablet of Ashur-bani-pal; titles and prayers.
* {{ cite book | title = The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. V: A Selection from the Miscellaneous Inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia | author = T. G. Pinches | publisher = | orig-year = 1880 | year = 1909 }} pl. 33 line art for tablets K.4149+4203+4348+Sm 27
* {{ cite book | title = Sammlung von assyrischen und babylonischen Texten in Umschrift und Übersetzung (KB III/1) | chapter = Inschrift Agum-kakrimi’s, d. i. Agum’s des Jüngeren | author = P. Jensen | year = 1892 | pages =134–153 }} full text.
* {{ cite book | title = The Epic of Gilgamish. Text, Transliteration, and Notes | author = R. Campbell Thompson | publisher = | year = 1930 }} pl. 36 tablet Rm 505 (the duplicate copy).
* {{ cite book | title = Der Aufstieg Marduks: Die Stellung Marduks in der babylonischen Religion des zweiten Jahrtausands v. Chr. (AOAT 213) | author = W. Sommerfeld | year = 1982 | page = 172 }} no. 4.
* {{ cite book | title = Fictional Akkadian Autobiography: A Generic and Comparative Study | author = T. Longmann | publisher = Eisenbrauns | year = 1991 | pages = 79–88 }}
* {{ cite book | title = Die mittel- und neubabylonischen Königsinschriften bis zum Ende der Assyrerherrschaft: Grammatische Untersuchungen | author = P. Stein | year = 2000 | pages = 150–165 }} full text.
* {{ cite book | title = Before the Muses: An Anthology of AkkadianLiterature | author = B. Foster | year = 2005 | pages = 360–364 }} translation only.
* {{ cite book | title = Babel und Bibel 6 | chapter = Another Attempt at Two Kassite Royal Inscriptions: The Agum-Kakrime Inscription and the Inscription of Kurigalzu the Son of Kadashmanharbe | author = Takayoshi Oshima | publisher = Eisenbrauns | year = 2012 | pages = 225–252, 258–261 }} transliteration, translation and photographs

==Inscriptions==

<references group="i"/>

==Notes==

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==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{Babylonian kings}}

[[Category:Babylonian kings]]
[[Category:Kassite kings]]

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