Mutakkil-Nusku, inscribed^mmu-ta/tak-kil-^dPA.KU (meaning "he whomNusku endows with confidence") was king ofAssyria brieflyc. 1132 BC, during a period of political decline. He reigned sufficiently long to be the recipient of a letter or letters from theBabylonian king, presumed to beNinurta-nādin-šumi, in which he was lambasted and derided.

He appears on theKhorsabad Kinglist^{[i 1]} which relates that “Mutakkil-Nusku, his (Ninurta-tukultī-Aššur’s) brother, fought against him. He drove him toKarduniaš (Babylonia).” Contemporary evidence suggests that Ninurta-tukultī-Aššur sought sanctuary in the border town of Sišil, where Mutakkil-Nusku’s forces engaged him in battle, the outcome of which is lost.^[2]

He was a younger son of the long-reigning king,Aššur-dān I (c. 1179 to 1134 BC) and succeeded his brotherNinurta-tukultī-Aššur, whom he ousted in a coup and subsequently went on to fight in a civil war that seems to have pitched the Assyrian heartland against its provinces.

The fragments of one or perhaps two Middle Assyrian letters exist,^{[i 2]} from an unnamed Babylonian king, possibly Ninurta-nādin-šumi, to Mutakkil-Nusku, where he is told that "You should act according to your heart (ki libbika).” The text lambastes him for failing to keep an appointment, or a challenge, in Zaqqa and seems to confirm that Ninurta-tukultī-Aššur had reached exile in Babylonia.^[3]

His victory was short-lived asṭuppišu Mutakkil-Nusku kussâ ukta'ilKUR-a e-mid, “(he) held the throne forṭuppišu (his tablet), then died,” perhaps his inaugural year and part way into his first year only.^[4] One interpretation suggests this was while his father still nominally ruled.^[5] Apart from a brief economic text concerning 100 sheep of Mutakkil-Nusku, without a royal title, and his appearance in the genealogies of his descendants such as one of his sons,Aššur-rēša-iši I,^[3] there are no other extant inscriptions.^[5]

• 12th-century BC Assyrian kings

• CS1: long volume value
• CS1 errors: missing periodical
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata