Tukulti-Ninurta I

(reigned ca. 1244-1208 b.c.)

   The son of Assyria's King Shalmaneser I and one of the stronger and more ambitious Assyrian monarchs of Assyria's second, or middle, period of imperial expansion, which spanned the last few centuries of the second millennium b.c. Tukulti-Ninurta was known for his harsh treatment of rebels and enemies, including a coalition of Anatolian rulers he decisively defeated. He also subdued the region around Lake Van in Armenia and parts of the western Za-gros range. Tukulti-Ninurta's major accomplishment was the defeat of the Kas-site Babylonian king Kashtilash IV, marking the first instance of direct Assyrian rule over Babylon. In that city Tukulti-Ninurta erected a new palace for himself, called, the Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta. He also celebrated his victory over the Babylonians by commissioning an epic poem - today called the Tukulti-Ninurta Epic - the only Assyrian epic that has survived. In this excerpt, the Assyrian king addresses Sha-mash, the sun god, and points out how Tikulti-Ninurta has shown the god respect, whereas the Kassite ruler Kashtilash has not:

   O Shamash ... lord, I respected your oath, I feared your greatness. He who does not ... transgressed before your [authority?] . . . but I observed your ordinance. When our fathers made a pact before your divinity, they swore an oath between them and invoked your greatness. You are the hero, the valiant one, who from old was [the] unalterable judge of our fathers, and you are the god who sets [things] right, who sees now our loyalty. Why has the king of the Kassites [i.e., Kash-tilash] from of old invalidated your plan and your ordinance? He had no fear of your oath, he transgressed your command, he schemed an act of malice. He made his crimes enormous before you, judge me, o shamash!

   It appears that Tukulti-Ninurta was murdered in his new palace by a group of conspirators led by his son, Ashur-nadin-apli, who took the throne and ruled from circa 1207 to 1204 b.c.

   See also: Assyrian Empire; Kashtilash; Shalmaneser I