Bazaya

Bazaya, Bāzāia or Bāzāiu, inscribed ^mba-za-a-a and of uncertain meaning, was the ruler of Assyria c. 1649 to 1622 BC, the 52nd listed on the Assyrian King List, succeeding Iptar-Sin, to whom he was supposedly a great-uncle. He reigned for twenty-eight years and has left no known inscriptions.^[2]

Bazaya
Issi'ak Assur
King of Assur
Reign	c. 1649–1622 BC[1]
Predecessor	Iptar-Sin
Successor	Lullaya
Issue	Shu-Ninua
Father	Bel-bani

Family

The Assyrian king lists^{[i 1][i 2][i 3]} give Bazaya's five predecessors as father-son successors, although all reigned during a fifty-two period, stretching genealogical credibility. All three extant copies give his father as Bel-bani, the second in the sequence, whose reign had ended forty-one years earlier and who had been the great-grandfather of his immediate predecessor.^[3] The literal reading of the list was challenged by Landsberger who suggested that the three preceding kings, Libaya, Sharma-Adad I and Iptar-Sin may have been Bel-bani's brothers.^[4]

The Synchronistic Kinglist^{[i 4]} gives his Babylonian counterpart as Peshgaldaramesh of the Sealand Dynasty. He was succeeded by Lullaya, a usurper, whose brief reign was followed by that of Bāzāiu's own son, Shu-Ninua.^[5]

Inscriptions

1. Khorsabad List, IM 60017 (excavation nos.: DS 828, DS 32-54), ii 20.
2. SDAS List, IM 60484, ii 18.
3. Nassouhi List, Istanbul A. 116 (Assur 8836), ii 15.
4. Synchronistic Kinglist, Ass 14616c (KAV 216), I 6’.