Aššur-rabi II, inscribed
m''aš-šur-''
GAL''-bi'', "(the god)
Aššur
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 ...
is great,"
was 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 ...
1012–972 BC. Despite his lengthy reign (41 years), one of the longest of the Assyrian monarchs, his tenure seems to have been an unhappy one judging by the scanty and laconic references to his setbacks from later sources.
Biography
He was a younger son of the earlier Assyrian monarch,
Aššurnaṣirpal I. He succeeded his nephew
Aššur-nerari IV's brief six year rule, and if this succession was like earlier usurpations by uncles of their nephews, it would have been a violent affair. The ''Assyrian Kinglist''
[''Khorsabad Kinglist'', IM 60017 (excavation nos.: DS 828, DS 32-54), iv 9.][''Nassouhi Kinglist'', Istanbul A. 116 (Assur 8836), iv 23.][''SDAS Kinglist'', IM 60484, iv 9.] records his accession and genealogy but provides no further information. His construction of the Bit-nathi, part of the temple of
Ištar
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Su ...
in
Nineveh
Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ban ...
, was recalled in a dedicatory
cone
A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex.
A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines con ...
of
Aššur-nāṣir-apli II (883–859 BC) commemorating his own repair work.
[RIMA 2 A.0.101.58:3' and copy RIMA 2 A.0.I01.65:3'.]
Some Assyrian settlements on the Middle
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
were lost to the
Arameans
The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...
as they were able to cross the river and establish a network of autonomous but interrelated settlements that began to encroach on the Assyrian heartland.
Šulmānu-ašarēdu III recalled the loss of Ana-Aššur-utēr-aṣbat (
Pitru Pitru was an ancient town off the Sajur ({{aka ''Sagura'' and ''Sagurru'') (+36° 39' 16.62", +38° 4' 7.96"), a western tributary of the Euphrates, approximately 12.5 miles south of ancient Carchemish. It is thought to be the Pethor mentioned in Nu ...
, possibly Tell Aushariye) and Mutkinu, two towns close to
Til Barsip
Til Barsip or Til Barsib ( Hittite Masuwari, modern Tell Ahmar; ar, تل أحمر) is an ancient site situated in Aleppo Governorate, Syria by the Euphrates river about 20 kilometers south of ancient Carchemish.
History
The site was inhabited a ...
, which had originally been taken and colonized by
Tukultī-apil-Ešarra I around a hundred years earlier; in one of his inscriptions: "At the time of Aššur-rabi (II), king of Assyria, the king of Aram (Syria) took
wo citiesby force—I restored these cities. I installed the Assyrians in their midst."
[RIMA 3 A.0.102.2 ii 37.] The king of Aram (''šar''
4 KUR''-a-ru-mu'') is unlikely to have been
Hadadezer
Hadadezer (; "he god Hadad is help"); also known as Adad-Idri ( akk, 𒀭𒅎𒀉𒊑, dIM-id-ri), and possibly the same as Bar-Hadad II ( Aram.) or Ben-Hadad II ( Heb.), was the king of Aram Damascus between 865 and 842 BC.
The Hebrew Bible st ...
of
Zobah
Zobah or Aram-Zobah ( ʾ''Ărām-Ṣōḇāʾ'') was an early Aramean state mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, which extended north-east of biblical King David's realm.
A. F. Kirkpatrick, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (1896), p ...
, in southern Syria, but a northern Aram, in or near Ḫanigalbat. His authority continued to stretch as far west as the Ḫārbūr river as recorded on the cylinder
[RIMA 2 A.0.96.2001 clay cylinder.] of Bel-ereš, a ''šangû'' or governor of Šadikanni, somewhat contradicting the picture of Assyrian retreat and decline painted elsewhere.
His era must have stretched from 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,
Simbar-Šipak (1025–1008 BC) to
Nabû-mukin-apli
Nabû-mukin-apli, typically inscribed dAG-DU-A, “ Nabû (is) establisher of a legitimate heir,” ruled 974–939 BC, founded Babylon’s 8th dynasty, the so-called ''Dynasty of E'', and ruled for thirty-six years.''Babylonian King List A'', ...
(978–943 BC), although there is no extant contemporary proof of contact which might help fix this chronology more precisely. The ''Synchronistic Kinglist''
[''Synchronistic Kinglist'', Ass 14616c (KAV 216), iii 7.] gives his contemporary as
Širikti-šuqamuna, a king of Babylonia who reigned just 3 months c. 985 BC. Severe distress and famine was recorded under
Kaššu-nādin-aḫi (c. 1006–1004 BC), the midpoint in Aššur-rabi's reign, and this possibly points to the underlying cause of the Aramean migration.
He was followed on the throne by his son, the equally obscure
Aššur-reši-išši II, who ruled for five years.
Inscriptions
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashur-Rabi 02
11th-century BC Assyrian kings
10th-century BC Assyrian kings
11th-century BC births
972 BC deaths
Year of birth unknown