Ulamburiash

Ulam-Buriaš, contemporarily inscribed as Ú-la-Bu-ra-ra-ia-aš^{[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.