Marduk-zer-X

Marduk-zer-X (ca. 1046–1033 BC) was the 10th and penultimate king of the 2nd Dynasty of Isin, the 4th Dynasty of Babylon. The last part of his name is unknown, as the principal sources of information, the King List A and the Synchronistic King List are both damaged at this place in the sequence, hence the “x”. The reading of “zer” in his name by Poebel is almost as uncertain as the character may be MU which would correspond to šuma or similar. His Assyrian contemporary was Aššur-nasir-apli I.

He ruled twelve years according to the King List A. At present, there are no inscriptions that have been identified as contemporaneous with his reign and it is only his appearance on the king lists which identify him.

There has been some speculation by Hallo, Younger and others that the Prophecy A text refers to the kings of this dynasty with King III corresponding to Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē, and King IV to Marduk-šāpik-zēri due to the coincidences of their length of reigns. For subsequent kings, the “prophecies” offer poor correlation with their reigns and known events. In this scheme, Marduk-zer-X is represented by King VI, whose text is very broken up but the rivers are said to have filled with silt. This reconstruction depends on the identification of Adad-apla-iddina as an usuper, a position undermined by the discovery of the Walker Chronicle.

He was succeeded by Nabû-šuma-libūr, whose relationship to him is uncertain.