MEROCHAD-BALADAN II (Babyl. Mardukh-apal-iddina «Marduk has given me a son [firstborn and] heir»). — King of Babylon, b. before 755 and d. after 700 B.C.; reigned from 721 to 710 and again in 703. Originally he was a very wealthy sheikh of the Bit-Jakin, one of the five Chaldean tribes (the others being: Bit-Dakkûri, Bit-Amukkûri, Bit-Sa'alla, Bit-Silani) dwelling in the Mât tâmti («Land of the Sea»), at the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris. He became the soul of the resistance against Assyrian domination and the champion of freedom, being a man of great diplomatic skill, energetic and bold, but not equally gifted with military genius. His policy of alliances is well known also from Is. 39, 1-8, a passage identical with II Kings 20, 12-19: embassy to Hezekiah, king of Judah (721-693).
For the first time he encountered the Assyrians after the battle of Sapia (731), paying a heavy tribute to Tiglath-pileser III (745-728) and «kissing his feet». In the following years he was active in bringing about an understanding among the various Chaldean and Aramean tribes, securing the help of Humbanigash, king of Elam (747-718). Taking advantage of the accession of Sargon, in 722 he raised his first rebellion and seized the throne of Babylon. When Sargon marched against the allies, M.-B. did not arrive in time at Dêr, east of the Tigris, and the Elamites alone were unable to deal a decisive blow to Sargon. While M.-B. was alienating the minds, especially of the influential priests in the «city of the gods», by a policy too favourable to the Chaldeans and by the confiscation of the goods of the partisans of the Assyrians, Sargon had time to consolidate his empire in Syria and Palestine, in Urartu and Media, and in 710 he was ready for the assault. The first of his armies, occupying Bit-Alhára and the «region of Ungu», cut off communications with Elam. The other, marching at forced marches, crossed the Euphrates near Borsippa, south of Babylon. The rich gifts sent by M.-B. to the king of Elam Sutur-Nahhunte (717-699) did not induce him to send an army. Then M.-B., performing rites of penance, fled to his native tribe, where he fortified himself at Iqbî-Bel and later at Dûr-Jakin, cutting the dikes and flooding the countryside. Nevertheless the soldiers of Sargon «flew over the waters like eagles», besieged and took Dûr-Jakin. According to the most probable opinion M.-B., wounded, managed to escape alone, while the city was being sacked and destroyed.
M.-B. reappeared on the scene after the death of Sargon, in the years 705-703. With great caution he did not at once seize the «vacant» throne (Sennacherib hesitated to take the hands of Bel), but allowed the Babylonians to elevate usurpers, who soon became hated by the people. Meanwhile he restored his old alliances, especially with Elam, and in addition with Arab tribes, even making contact with the west (here probably the embassy to Hezekiah is to be placed); now it was easy for him to drive out the usurper Marduk-zakiršum. Against Sennacherib the allies opposed a great army near Kuta, under Elamite generals, but once again the enterprise failed through a strategic error, and M.-B. took to flight. Under the regime of the incapable viceroy Bel-ibni, he was again able to establish himself in Bit-Jakin; but at the approach of Sennacherib, in 700, «he took all the gods from the whole land, and the bones of his fathers from the borders, and his people, and loading them on ships he sailed (landing) at Nagitu-Raqqê, in Elam, where he died» (Sennacherib). His descendants opposed the Assyrians bitterly in 694, and it is possible that there is some connection between his family and that of Nabopolassar, founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.