AMMISADUQA

(reigned C. 1646–1626 B.C.)

King of Babylon, 10th and penultimate ruler of the First Dynasty of Babylon, son and successor of Ammi-ditana. During his reign, advances in astronomical observations led to the recording of the rise times of the planet Venus and its visiblity on the horizon, according to a tablet discovered in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. Deteriorating agricultural output led to general impoverishment. The publication of an edict annulling the debts of impoverished cultivators attempted to stem this problem, but there was widespread unrest and many cities fell into decline.

See also MESHARUM.