The First Sealand dynasty (URU.KÙKIWhere ŠEŠ-ḪA of King List A and ŠEŠ-KÙ-KI of King List B are read as URU.KÙ.KI), or the 2nd Dynasty of Babylon (although it was independent of Amorite-ruled Babylon), very speculatively c. 1732–1475 BC (MC), is an enigmatic series of kings attested to primarily in laconic references in the King Lists A and B, and as contemporaries recorded on the Assyrian Synchronistic king list A.117. Initially it was named the "Dynasty of the Country of the Sea" with Sealand later becoming customary. King, L.W., "Chronicles concerning Early Babylonian Kings", vol. 3, London: Luzac, 1907
The dynasty, which had broken free of the Old Babylonian Empire, was named for the province in the far south of Mesopotamia, a swampy region bereft of large settlements which gradually expanded southwards with the silting up of the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (the region known as mat Kaldi "Chaldaea" in the Iron Age). Sealand pottery has been found at Girsu, Uruk, and Lagash but in no site north of that.Al-Hamdani, A., "The Settlement and Canal Systems During the First Sealand Dynasty (1721–1340 BCE)", S. Paulus & T. Clayden (Ed.), Babylonia under the Sealand and Kassite Dynasties, Berlin, pp. 28–57, 2020
The later kings bore pseudo-Sumerian names and harked back to the glory days of the Dynasty of Isin. The third king of the dynasty was possibly even named for the ultimate king of the dynasty of Isin, Damiq-ilišu, though it was written differently.Yoffee, Norman, "On Studying Old Babylonian History: A Review Article", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 18–32, 1978 Despite these cultural motifs, the population predominantly bore Akkadian names and wrote and spoke in the Akkadian language. In later times, a Sealand province of the Neo-Babylonian Empire also existed.Paul-Alain Beaulieu, "Ea-dayān, Governor of the Sealand, and Other Dignitaries of the Neo-Babylonian Empire", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 54, The American Schools of Oriental Research, pp. 99–123, 2002
History
Traditionally, all that was known about Sealand came from a few Kings List entries and the stray chronicle mention. It has been suggested that much of the writing in this period used waxed wooden boards, as a way of explaining the paucity of standard tablets found.Paulus, Susanne, "Die babylonischen Kudurru-Inschriften von der kassitischen bis zur frühneubabylonischen Zeit. Untersucht unter besonderer Berücksichtigung gesellschafts-und rechtshistorischer Fragestellungen", AOAT 51, Münster: Ugarit Verlag, 2014 Recently (2009) 450 published tablets mainly from the Martin Schøyen collection, the largest privately held collection of manuscripts to be assembled during the 20th century, cover a 15 to 18 year period extending over part of each king’s reign. Chapin, Michael Arthur, "'My-Mother-Is-Precious': Names and Naming Practices in the First Dynasty of the Sealand (ca. 1500 BCE)", Dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, 2023 They seem to originate from a single cache but their provenance was lost after languishing in smaller private collections since their acquisition on the antiquities market a century earlier. Most of the tablets pertain to administration of resources.Odette Boivin, "Agricultural Economy and Taxation in the Sealand I Kingdom", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 68, pp. 45–65, 2016 An additional 32 unpublished Sealand tablets are held in Brussels.Boivin, Odette, "Accounting for livestock: principles of palatial administration in Sealand I Babylonia", Iraq, vol. 78, 2016, pp. 3–23, 2016 The tablets include letters, receipts, ledgers, personnel rosters, etc., and provide year-names and references which hint at events of the period. The tablets also included divinitory texts and literary compositions including an edition of the Epic of Gilgamesh.George, A.R., "The Civilizing of Ea-enkidu: An Unusual Tablet of the Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic", RA, 101, pp. 59-80, 2007George, Andrew R., "Babylonian Divinatory Texts Chiefly in the Schøyen Collection", (Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology, 18), Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 2013George, A.R., "Babylonian Literary Texts in the Schøyen Collection", Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 10, Bethesda, MD, 2009 Messengers from Elam are provisioned,MS 2200/40 and MS 2200/455. Inzak, a god of Dilmun (ancient Bahrain) appears as a theophoric element in names,MS 2200/394, 444, 321 and so on. and Nūr-Bau asks whether he should detain the boats of Ešnunna,MS 2200/3. a rare late reference to this once thriving Sumerian conurbation. In addition to normal commercial activity, two omen texts from another private collection are dated to the reign of Pešgaldarameš and a kurugu-hymn dedicated to the gods of Nippur mentions Ayadaragalama.Gabbay, Uri and Boivin, Odette. "A Hymn of Ayadaragalama, King of the First Sealand Dynasty, to the Gods of Nippur: The Fate of Nippur and Its Cult during the First Sealand Dynasty" Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 108, no. 1, pp. 22-42, 2018 The variant version of the Epic of Gilgameš relocates the hero to Ur and is a piece from this period. Some of the texts have "undeciphered linear inscriptions" thought to be in languages not Sumerian or Akkadian.Taylor, Jon, "Temporality on Clay Tablets: When the Component Parts of a Cuneiform Document Were Committed to Clay", Erasing and Rewriting in Manuscript Cultures: Practices of Text Obliteration and Manuscript Reuse in a Global Perspective, edited by Michele Cammarosano, De Gruyter, pp. 115-160, 2026
Excavations conducted between 2013 and 2017 at Tell Khaiber, around 20 km from Ur, have revealed the foundations of a large mudbrick fortress with an unusual arrangement of perimeter close-set towers.Text - Supplement - The site is dated, by an archive of 152 (after joins were made) clay cuneiform tablets found there, to the reign of Ayadaragalama. Eleanor Robson, "Information Flows in Rural Babylonia c. 1500 BC", in C. Johnston (ed.), The Concept of the Book: the Production, Progression and Dissemination of Information, London: Institute of English Studies/School of Advanced Study, January 2019 Odette Boivin, The First Dynasty of the Sealand in Mesopotamia, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2018, Tablets at Tell Khaiber fell into the same short time period as those published from the Schoyen Collection, that being the later part of Pešgal and early part of Ayadara reigns. Excavators were also able to develop a stratified ceramic array for Sealand allowing other sites to be identified. Sealand ceramics and faunal remains were found at the site of Tell Sakhariya, a few miles east of Ur. The location has been proposed as the Ur III period city of Ga’eš, site of the Akiti festival of Nanna/Sin, held twice a year. The temple of Nanna/Sin was called the Karzida and was located at Ga’eš.Twiss, Katheryn C. "Animals of the Sealands: Ceremonial Activities in the Southern Mesopotamian “Dark Age”." Iraq 79, pp. 257-267, 2017Sallaberger, W., "Der Kultische Kalender der Ur ril-Zeit Teill", Untersuchungen zur Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archaologie 7/1, Berlin, 1993 Tell Abu al-Dhahab, a single period site belonging to the Sealand dynasty was excavated from 2011 to 2013. A large 65 meter by 52 meter rectangular stone temple building with an attached 59 meter by 35 meter annex was uncovered.Abboud, T. K., Mirza, A. N., Sawadi, K. O., Taher, A. K., Abdel-Razzaq, J. A.-A. and Attia, A. A.-R., "Results of the Excavations in Tell Abu Al-Dhahab [the first season, 2011])", Sumer 61, pp. 29–30, 2015 Attia, M. S., "Abu Al-Dhahab Site, Dhi Qar Governorate, the third Season, 2013", Baghdad: State Board of Antiquities and Heritage - Excavations Investigation Department - Excavations Department, 2013 A cylinder seal was found with a proposed reading of "A-[x]-Bāni, offspring of Ṣillī-Ištar, Supervisor (of) the divination priests, Servant/slave to Shamash(?)." though the name of the deity is not certain.Al-Zubaidi, Ahmed K. Taher, and Mohammed S. Attia, "A Cylinder Seal From Tell Abu Al-Dhahab Dated To The First Sealand Dynasty (1740–1374 BC)", Iraq 83, pp. 13-24, 2021
The home city of the Sealand Dynasty is currently unknown. A kings list fragment states that Babylon's "kingship passed to E'urukuga". Given its site being known as uru.ku this capital has been speculated as being Lagash of which little is known in this period. Nippur, and Tell Deḥaila are also in consideration.Dalley, S., "The First Sealand Dynasty: Literacy, Economy, and the Likely Location of Dūr- Enlil(ē) in Southern Mesopotamia at the end of the Old Babylonian Period", in S. Paulus & T. Clayden (Ed.), Babylonia under the Sealand and Kassite Dynasties, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 9-27, 2020 Modern thinking is that the capital was a Dūr-Enlil (or Dūr-Enlile or Dūr-Enlilē). There was a Dūr-Enlil in Neo-Babylonian times in the general area between Uruk and Larsa as well as one in Neo-Assyrian times. It is not clear it either is the same place as the potential Sealand capital.MacGinnis, J., "Further Evidence for Intercity Co-Operation among Neo-Babylonian Temples", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 16, no. 2, pp. 127–32, 2006Wiseman, D. J., "The Vassal-Treaties of Esarhaddon", Iraq, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. i–99, 1958
The King list tradition
The king list references which bear witness to the sequence of Sealand kings are summarized below:
Position King List ABabylonian King List A, BM 33332, i 4 to 14 where the names are abbreviated but give their lengths of reign. King List BBabylonian King List B, BM 38122, reverse 1 to 13. Purported reign Contemporary 1 Ilima[ii] Ilum-ma-ilī 60 years Samsu-iluna and Abi-ešuh (Babylon)Chronicle of Early Kings, tablets BM 26472 and BM 96152, B rev. (Ilum-ma-ilī) 7-10 (Ea-gâmil) 12–14. 2 Ittili Itti-ili-nībī 56 years 3 Damqili Damqi-ilišu II 36 years Adasi (Assyria)Synchronistic King List A.117, Assur 14616c, i 1 to 10. 4 Iški Iškibal 15 years Belu-bāni (Assyria) 5 Šušši, brother Šušši 24 years Lubaia (Assyria) 6 Gulki... Gulkišar 55 years Sharma-Adad I (Assyria) Samsu-Ditana of Babylon 6a mDIŠ-U-EN ? LIK.KUD-Šamaš (Assyria) 7 Peš-gal Pešgaldarameš,Given as PEŠ.GAL-DÀRA.MAŠ. his son, same 50 years Bazaia (Assyria) 8 A-a-dàra Ayadaragalama,Given as A-DÀRA-GALAM.MA. his son, same 28 years Lullaya (Assyria) 9 Ekurul Akurduana 26 years Shu-Ninua (Assyria) 10 Melamma Melamkurkurra 7 years Sharma-Adad II (Assyria) 11 Eaga Ea-gam[il] 9 years Erishum III (Assyria)
An additional king listFormed from BM 35572 and eleven other fragments. provides fragmentary readings of the earlier dynastic monarchs. The king list A totals the reigns to give a length of 368 years for this dynasty. The Synchronistic King List A.117 gives the sequence from Damqi-ilišu onward, but includes an additional king between Gulkišar and Pešgaldarameš, mDIŠ-U-EN (reading unknown). This source is considered reliable in this respect because the forms of the names of Pešgaldarameš and Ayadaragalama match those on recently published contemporary economic tablets (see below).
Rulers The names of the first three rulers, attested or otherwise, are definitely Akkadian, the fourth, Iškibal, could be read either way and the rest all have solidly Sumerian names until the final ruler Ea-gâmil.
Ilum-ma-ilī