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King of Babylon
Reignca. 1480 BC
Predecessor? Kaštiliašu III
Successor? Agum III

Ulam-Buriaš, contemporarily inscribed as Ú-la-Bu-ra-ra-ia-[i 1] or mÚ-lam-Bur-áš in a later chronicle[i 2] and meaning “son of (the Kassite deity) Buriaš”, was a Kassite king of Sealand (cuneiform:LUGAL KUR A.AB.BA, Akkadian: šar māt tâmti), which he conquered during the second half of 16th century BC and may have also become king of Babylon, possibly preceding or succeeding his brother, Kaštiliašu III.[1] His reign marks the point at which the Kassite kingdom extended to the whole of southern Mesopotamia.


Confirmation of his provenance comes from an onyx weight, in the shape of a frog, with a cuneiform inscription, “1 shekel, Ulam Buriaš, son of Burna Buriaš”, which was found in a large burial, during excavations of the site of the ancient city of Metsamor.[2] The burial for two, was accompanied by fifty sacrificial victims, nineteen horses, bulls, sheep and dogs.[3] Situated in Armenia, in the middle of the Ararat valley, Metsamor was an important Hurrian center for metal forging.

The Chronicle of Early Kings, a neo-Babylonian historiographical text preserved on two tablets,[i 2] describes how Ea-gamil, the last king of the Sealand Dynasty, fled to Elam ahead of an invasion force led by Ulam-Buriaš, the “brother of Kaštiliašu”, who became “master of the land” (bēlūt māti īpuš), i.e. Sealand, a region of southern Mesopotamia synonymous with or at the southern end of Sumer. A serpentine or diorite mace head or possibly door knob found in Babylon,[i 1] is engraved with the epithet of Ulaburariaš, “King of Sealand”.[4] The object was excavated at Tell Amran ibn-Ali, during the German excavations of Babylon, conducted from 1899 to 1912, and is now housed in the Pergamon Museum.


  1. ^ a b Mace head VA Bab. 645 (BE 6405) with ten line possession inscription, in the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
  2. ^ a b Chronicle of Early Kings, tablets BM 26472 and BM 96152 in the British Museum.


  1. ^ J. A. Brinkman (1976). Materials and Studies for Kassite History, Vol. 1. Oriental Institute. pp. 318–319.
  2. ^ E. V. Khanzadian; G. Kh. Sarkisian; I. M. Diakonoff (Spring 1992). "Babylonian Weight from the Sixteenth Century b.c. with Cuneiform Inscription from the Metsamor Excavations". Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia. 30 (4): 75–83. doi:10.2753/aae1061-1959300475.
  3. ^ Philip L. Kohl (1988). "The Northern Frontier of the Ancient Near East: Transcaucasia and Central Asia Compared". American Journal of Archaeology. American Institute of Archaeology. 92 (4): 595. JSTOR 505256.
  4. ^ B. Landsberger (1954). "Assyrische Königsliste und "Dunkles Zeitalter" (Continued)". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 8 (2): 70–71. JSTOR 1359531. n. 182