Ninurta-apal-Ekur, inscribed
mdMAŠ-A-''é-kur'', meaning “
Ninurta
, image= Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png
, caption= Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from En ...
is the heir of the
Ekur
Ekur ( ), also known as Duranki, is a Sumerian term meaning "mountain house". It is the assembly of the gods in the Garden of the gods, parallel in Greek mythology to Mount Olympus and was the most revered and sacred building of ancient Sumer.
...
,” was a king of
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
in the early 12th century BC who usurped the throne and styled himself king of the universe and priest of the gods
Enlil
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Bab ...
and
Ninurta
, image= Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png
, caption= Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from En ...
.
His reign overlaps the reigns of his
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
ian contemporaries
Adad-šuma-uṣur and
Meli-Šipak.
Biography
There is some dispute as to how long he reigned, based on discrepancies among various copies of the Assyrian King List. The Nassouhi King List, sometimes considered to be older than the other versions of the King List we have, gives him 13 years of reign, but the other king lists give him only three. More recent scholarship has tended to support the longer reign,
in which case he reigned from 1192 to 1180 BC (alternately, he reigned from 1182 to 1180 BC).
There are up to eleven possible limmu officials named for his regnal years and a recent publication proposes the following sequence:
* Salmanu-zera-iqiša
* Liptanu
* Salmanu-šumu-lešir
* Erib-Aššur
* Marduk-aḫa-eriš
* Pišqiya
*
Aššur-dan I
* Atamar-den-Aššur
* Aššur-bel-lite
* Adad-mušabši
As the seventh in the sequence is Ninurta-apal-Ekur's son and successor, Aššur-dan I, and the king was thought to occupy the limmu position in the first year of his ascendancy, it is suggested that the succession took place here.
His provenance
His father was
Ilī-padâ Ilī-padâ or Ili-iḫaddâ, the reading of the name (m)DINGIR.PA.DA being uncertain, was a member of a side-branch of the Assyrian royal family who served as grand vizier, or ''sukkallu rabi’u'', of Assyria, and also as king, or ''šar'', of the ...
,
[Assyrian King List, “Ninurta-apil-Ekur, son of Ila-Hadda, a descendant of Eriba-Adad, went to Karduniaš. He came up from Karduniaš, seized the throne and ruled for A13/B+C3 years.”] who had followed ''his'' father, Aššur-iddin, and grandfather, Qibi-Aššur, as grand vizier, or ''sukkallu rabi’u'', of Assyria and king of the dependant state of Ḫanigalbat.
Qibi-Aššur may be one of three officials who are attested as
limmu
:
Limmu was an Assyrian eponym. At the beginning of the reign of an Assyrian king, the limmu, an appointed royal official, would preside over the New Year festival at the capital. Each year a new limmu would be chosen. Although picked by lot, th ...
’s, the sons of Šamaš-aḫa-iddina, Ṣilli-Marduk, Ibašši-ili, respectively and it is this latter one, whose limmu year directly follows that of
Tukulti-Ninurta I
Tukulti-Ninurta I (meaning: "my trust is in he warrior god Ninurta"; reigned 1243–1207 BC) was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian Empire. He is known as the first king to use the title "King of Kings".
Biography
Tukulti-Ninurta I s ...
, that has led some to speculate that Ninurta-apal-Ekur was a descendant of
Adad-nirari I
Adad-nārārī I, rendered in all but two inscriptions ideographically as md''adad-''ZAB+DAḪ, meaning “Adad (is) my helper,” (1305–1274 BC or 1295–1263 BC short chronology) was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian Empire. He is th ...
, a genealogy that is unlikely as he claims descent only from
Eriba-Adad I in his inscriptions. The earlier two have their limmu years during the reign of
Shalmaneser I
Shalmaneser I (𒁹𒀭𒁲𒈠𒉡𒊕 md''sál-ma-nu-SAG'' ''Salmanu-ašared''; 1273–1244 BC or 1265–1235 BC) was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian Empire. Son of Adad-nirari I, he succeeded his father as king in 1265 BC.
Accord ...
which better fits the chronology.
His ascendancy
The preceding Assyrian king,
Enlil-kudurri-usur
Enlil-kudurrī-uṣur, md''Enlil''(be)''-ku-dúr-uṣur'', (Enlil protect the eldest son), was the 81st king of Assyria according to the Assyrian King List.''Assyrian King List'', iii 14.
Biography
Enlil-kudurri-usur was the son of Tukulti-Ninurt ...
, a son of the earlier powerful king Tukulti-Ninurta I, was vanquished in battle against the
Kassite
The Kassites () were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC (short chronology).
They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon ...
monarch,
Adad-šuma-uṣur, a defeat so ignoble that the Assyrian officers “seized
nlil-kudu-usur their lord and gave (him) to Adad-šuma-uṣur.”
Perhaps to secure their passage, the Assyrians also handed over renegade Babylonians who had fled to the Assyrian side.
[
While these events were unfolding, “Ninurta-apal-Ekur went home. He mustered his numerous troops and marched to conquer Libbi-ali (the city of Aššur).”][''Synchronistic Chronicle'' (ABC 21), tablet B, column 2, lines 5 to 8.] The Kings List tells us that he “came up from Karduniaš, seized the throne,”[ although it can only be speculated what he was doing in Karduniaš (Babylonia). The Synchronistic Chronicle continues “But ..arrived unexpectedly, so he turned and went home”][ which suggests that the succession was not smooth.
Ninurta-apil-Ekur is said to have "guarded all the people of Assyria, with wings like an eagle spread out over his country. He was the recipient of gifts from Meli-Šipak, who sent teams of horses and rugs, as a recently discovered text records, unearthed during excavations at ]Assur
Aššur (; Sumerian: AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; syr, ܐܫܘܪ ''Āšūr''; Old Persian ''Aθur'', fa, آشور: ''Āšūr''; he, אַשּׁוּר, ', ar, اشور), also known as Ashur and Qal'a ...
.
Palace decrees
He issued one of the nine palace decrees(riksu) relating to conduct of the court and the oppressive discipline of the royal harem(known as harem edicts or middle asyrian palace decrees), suggestive of insecurity in the succession, although he need not have worried as his descendants would continue to rule Assyria until at least the eighth century BC. The first relates to the conduct of a eunuch approaching the harem and that of the concubines. The second threatens the harem women with having their throats cut, if when quarreling they should blaspheme against a god. The third punished men guilty of lèse majesté and the remaining are too fragmentary to be certain of their contents, but regulate curses against, for example, the royal furniture, i.e. bed and stool. Minor infractions were dealt with severely, with the guilty woman having her nose pierced and being beaten with rods.[
A text records his gift of jewelry to his daughter Muballita -... the great high priestess.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ninurta-Apal-Ekur
12th-century BC Assyrian kings
12th-century BC deaths
Year of birth unknown