Bazi (king)

Lore & Background

The divine Bazi is otherwise unattested except in the Song of Bazi, an Old Babylonian composition of unknown provenance. The myth describes Bazi’s efforts to acquire a place of worship, which he receives from Ea after proving his strength by overcoming his enemies. Ea is addressed as his father. Bazi is described as 'the god who surveys the human race, who knows the minds of the wicked and the just' and is compared to a ram. He is also linked to exorcisms. The text mentions a temple dedicated to him located in the area of Mounts Bašar and Šaršar, identified by Andrew R. George as a double name of Jebel Bishri. Annette Zgoll has suggested that the Song of Bazi was originally sung during festivals.

Reader's Guide

Bazi’s significance lies in his dual attestation as a legendary king and as a deity, bridging royal and divine traditions in ancient Mesopotamian literature. The Tell Leilan recension of the Sumerian King List deifies him, while the Song of Bazi provides a rare narrative of a god seeking his own cult place. His inclusion in the Ballad of Early Rulers from Emar, alongside figures like Gilgamesh and Humbaba, suggests he was regarded as a local or regional hero in the western periphery, though the origin of that tradition is debated. The historical Babylonian dynasty of Bazi is unrelated to this legendary figure. Eckhart Frahm has proposed that the name Bazi, in sequence with Zizi, may have influenced the theonym Pazuzu, linking Bazi to later demonology. Alfonso Archi notes that the Song of Bazi’s characterization of the eponymous figure as omniscient and associated with Ea finds an echo in the Hurrian poem of Ea and the Beast. Overall, Bazi exemplifies how legendary kings could be elevated to divine status and how such figures were transmitted across regions and periods.

Did You Know?

• Bazi is characterized as a leatherworker in the Tell Leilan recension of the Sumerian King List.
• The Song of Bazi is the only known composition portraying him as a deity, and its provenance is unknown.

A King Without a Kingdom

Bazi occupies a peculiar position in ancient Near Eastern historiography: he is listed as the third ruler of Mari in the Tell Leilan recension of the Sumerian King List, sandwiched between Anba and Zizi (though a Nippur variant reverses the latter two), yet scholars widely regard him as a purely legendary figure rather than a historical monarch. The list grants him a standard thirty-year reign and the unusual occupational label of leatherworker, a detail that underscores his mythic rather than political character. No royal inscriptions, administrative records, or archaeological evidence can be tied to a king by this name. The name itself, likely of Sumerian origin, appears as an ordinary personal name in economic documents spanning the Early Dynastic through Ur III periods, including references to an individual from Mari. Furthermore, there is no clear indication that Bazi's tradition belongs to a western Amorite cultural sphere, leaving his precise ethnic or regional identity another unresolved question.

A Name in the Ballad

Bazi's presence in the Ballad of Early Rulers, preserved in a version from Emar, places him among a pantheon of legendary figures alongside Alulim, Etana, Gilgamesh, Ziusudra, Humbaba, and Enkidu. Yet this inclusion is textually unstable: both Bazi and Zizi are entirely absent from the Old Babylonian version of the composition, and the relevant line is also missing from the best-preserved Ugaritic copy. Maurizio Viano and Yoram Cohen independently date the addition to the Middle Babylonian period. The question of whether the line was composed in Mesopotamia or inserted by a local Emar scribe remains contested. Hallo suggested in 1992 that Bazi and Zizi were local Emar heroes, while Cohen argued the opposite, noting that Bazi appears only in scholarly Mesopotamian compositions and was likely added because his association with western regions made him a fitting companion to Humbaba and to Gilgamesh and Enkidu, who in myth travel to that part of the world. Wilfred G. Lambert also leaned toward an eastern origin, seeing no need to posit local reworking.

The God Who Surveys the Human Race

The Tell Leilan King List marks Bazi's name with the divine determinative, signaling that he was perceived as a deity, a reading confirmed by the discovery of the Old Babylonian Song of Bazi, of which only a single copy is known and whose provenance is unrecorded. In this composition, Bazi petitions his father Ea for a dedicated place of worship, earning it after demonstrating his strength by defeating his enemies. He is characterized as the god who surveys all humanity, knows the intentions of both the wicked and the just, and is likened to a ram. His association with exorcisms and magical practice further distinguishes him within the divine pantheon. The song situates his temple in the region of Mounts Bašar and Šaršar, which Andrew R. George identifies as a double name for Jebel Bishri, a pairing of toponyms elsewhere linked to Amorites and Suteans. Annette Zgoll has argued that the Akkadian language of the text and the inclusion of performance instructions suggest the song was originally sung during religious festivals.

Echoes in Later Mythology

Bazi's legacy extends into later Mesopotamian and West Semitic religious traditions through several proposed connections. Eckhart Frahm has argued that the sequential naming of Bazi and Zizi in the King List gave rise to the theonym Pazuzu, a link reinforced by Bazi's association with magic and exorcisms in the Song, paralleling Pazuzu's role in later sources; however, Frahm himself concedes the evidence is not conclusive, and alternative theories trace Pazuzu's development to figures like Humbaba or the Egyptian god Bes. Alfonso Archi has drawn a different parallel, suggesting that Bazi's omniscience and his filial relationship with Ea find an echo in the Hurrian poem of Ea and the Beast. It is also worth noting that the historical Babylonian dynasty bearing the name Bazi is unrelated to this legendary figure and was most likely named after one of the cities called Baz(um) or Baṣ(um), preventing any conflation between the mythic king and actual political history.

Gallery