Shamshi-Adad V () was the
King of Assyria
The king of Assyria (Akkadian language, Akkadian: , later ) was the ruler of the ancient Mesopotamian kingdom of Assyria, which was founded in the late 21st century BC and fell in the late 7th century BC. For much of its early history, Assyria was ...
from 824 to 811 BC. He was named after the god
Adad
Hadad (), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm- and rain-god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions.
He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. From ...
, who is also known as Hadad.
Family
Shamshi-Adad was a son and successor of King
Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 859 BC to 824 BC.
His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations o ...
, the husband of Queen
Shammuramat
Shammuramat ( Akkadian: ''Sammu-rāmat'' or ''Sammu-ramāt''), also known as Sammuramat or Shamiram and Semiramis, was a powerful queen of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Beginning her career as the primary consort of the king Shamshi-Adad V (824–81 ...
(by some identified with the mythical
Semiramis
Semiramis (; ''Šammīrām'', ''Šamiram'', , ''Samīrāmīs'') was the legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and of Ninus, who succeeded the latter on the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus ...
), and the father of
Adad-nirari III
Adad-nīrārī III (also Adad-nārārī, meaning "Adad (the storm god) is my help") was a King of Assyria from 811 to 783 BC.
Family
Adad-nīrārī was a son and successor of king Shamshi-Adad V, and was apparently quite young at the time of hi ...
, who succeeded him as king.
He was also a grandfather of
Shalmaneser IV
Shalmaneser IV ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "Salmānu is foremost") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 783 BC to his death in 773 BC. Shalmaneser was the son and successor of his predecessor, Adad-nirari III, and ruled during a p ...
.
Reign
The first years of Shamshi-Adad's reign saw a serious struggle for the succession of the aged Shalmaneser.
The revolt was led by Shamshi-Adad's brother
Assur-danin-pal
Assur-danin-pal (9th Century BC) was the son of the king of Assyria, Shalmaneser III. He rebelled against his father in an attempt to seize the throne. However, Shalmaneser III's younger son Shamshi-Adad V crushed his rebellion.
Assur-danin-pal ...
, and had broken out already by 826 BC. The rebellious brother, according to Shamshi-Adad's own inscriptions, succeeded in bringing to his side 27 important cities, including
Nineveh
Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...
. The rebellion lasted until 820 BC, weakening the Assyrian empire and its ruler; this weakness continued to reverberate in the kingdom until the reforms of
Tiglath-Pileser III.
Later in his reign, Shamshi-Adad campaigned against Southern
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
, and stipulated a treaty with the Babylonian king
Marduk-zakir-shumi I
Marduk-zâkir-šumi (inscribed mdAMAR.UTU''-za-kir-''MU in a reconstruction of two kinglists,''Synchronistic Kinglist'' KAV 10 (VAT 11261) ii 9.''Synchronistic Kinglist'' KAV 182 (Ass. 13956dh) iii 12. 'Marduk pronounced the name',) was a king of ...
.
In 814 BC, he won the
Battle of Dur-Papsukkal against the Babylonian king
Marduk-balassu-iqbi
Marduk-balāssu-iqbi, inscribed mdAMAR.UTU-TI''-su-iq-bi''Kudurru AO 6684 in the Louvre, published as RA 16 (1919) 126 iv 17. or mdSID-TI-''zu''-DUG4,''Synchronistic King List'' fragment, Ass 13956dh (KAV 182), iii 13. meaning "Marduk has promised ...
, and a few
Aramean
The Arameans, or Aramaeans (; ; , ), were a tribal Semitic people in the ancient Near East, first documented in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of Aram, originally covered ce ...
tribes settled in
Babylonia
Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...
. The extent of Shamshi-Adad's victory was such that he obtained the submission of the Babylonian king and, after obtaining booty from several Babylonian cities, he returned to Assyria with palace treasures and gods (i.e. the sacred representation of the gods).
[Jean-Jacques Glassner, ''Mesopotamian Chronicles'', Atlanta, 2004, p. 183]
See also
*
Stela of Shamshi-Adad V
The Stela of Shamshi-Adad V is a large Assyrian monolith erected during the reign of Shamshi-Adad V. The stela was discovered in the mid nineteenth century at the ancient site of Kalhu (now known as Nimrud) by the British archaeologist Hormuzd Ra ...
Notes
Further reading
*
{{Authority control
810s BC deaths
9th-century BC Assyrian kings
Year of birth unknown