| Ashur-bel-kala | |
|---|---|
| King of theMiddle Assyrian Empire | |
| Reign | 1074–1056 BC |
| Predecessor | Asharid-apal-Ekur |
| Successor | Eriba-Adad II |
| Spouse | Babylonian princess, daughter ofAdad-apla-iddina[1] |
| Father | Tiglath-Pileser I |
Aššūr-bēl-kala, inscribedmaš-šur-EN-ka-la (meaning "Aššur is lord of all"),[2] was the king ofAssyria in 1074/3–1056 BC, the 89th to appear on theAssyrian Kinglist. He was the son ofTiglath-Pileser I, succeeded his brotherAsharid-apal-Ekur who had briefly preceded him, and he ruled for 18 years[i 1] He was the last king of theMiddle Assyrian Empire, and his later reign was preoccupied with a revolution against his rule led by one Tukulti-Mer, which, by the end of his reign, allowed hordes ofArameans to press in on Assyria's western borders. He is perhaps best known for his zoological collection.
His reign marks the point at which the tide turned against the middle Assyrian empire, and substantial Levantine territory to the west was captured by the invading Arameans. Aššūr-bēl-kala was the last of the monarchs of the second millennium for whom there are any significant surviving inscriptions. His annals are recorded on numerous fragments fromAššur andNineveh.[3]
TheBroken Obelisk,[i 2] an unfinished part of a monumental inscription in theBritish Museum, is usually attributed to him following the arguments made by Weidner, Jaritz andBorger, despite its apparent imitation of the campaigns ofTukultī-apil-Ešarra I and his hunting of anāḫiru (a "sea-horse") in the Mediterranean (the "upper sea of the land of Amurru"). These arguments include the introduction ofBabylonian month names, its discovery with a limestone statue of a nakedIštar inscribed with his name, the designation of the Arameans as living inKURa-re-me, and their evident progress into traditionally Assyrian ruled lands. It was discovered by the ethnicAssyrian archaeologistHormuzd Rassam in mid-August 1853 at a "locality about half-way betweenSennacherib's palace and that ofAssurbanipal" and depicts the (enlarged) king towering over bound, supplicant prisoners under five symbols of the gods. Any reconstruction of the events of his reign consequently depends heavily on whether this object is correctly assigned.
In his first year, he campaigned in the north againstUrarṭu, delaying his adoption of theeponym office until the following year. In his second, he turned his attention to the countries Himme, Ḫabḫu, andMari, the latter of which was under the authority of Tukulti-Mer, a pretender to the Assyrian throne. Thereafter his attention was largely absorbed with endless counterattacks against the hordes of Arameans pressing on his borders, whom he even pursued: "[...in] rafts (of inflated) goatskins I crossed theEuphrates."[i 3] He fought them as far asCarchemish, which he plundered, and in the Ḫārbūr valley, theBroken Obelisk referencing at least 15 campaigns. Texts recovered from Giricano, ancient Dunnu-ša-Uzibi, mostly dated to the eponym year of Ili-iddina (1069/68) his 5th or 6th year, include one that recalls the fighting the preceding year, the eponymy of Aššur-rem-nišešu, in Dunnu-ša-Liṣur-ṣala-Aššur in the district of Šinamu, when territory was lost. Sometime later the entire region fell to the invaders.[4]
Among his civic construction activities were the re-excavation of a citymoat and the irrigation of a public garden:
I built the palace of cedar,box-wood,terebinth, (and) tamarisk in my city Aššur. The canal whichAshur-dan I, king of Assyria excavated – the source of that canal had fallen in and for thirty years water had not flowed therein. I again excavated the source of that canal, directed water therein (and) planted gardens.[5]
The continued prestige of Assyria was acknowledged by the gift of exotic animals by theEgyptians whichnišē mātīšu ušebri, "he displayed (the animals) to the people of his land."[6] These he added to his collection of rare animals which he bred and dispatched merchants to acquire more, such as "a large female ape and a crocodile (and) a ‘river man’, beasts of the Great Sea" and the dromedaries he displayed in herds.[7] Aššūr-bēl-kala’s interests were not solely zoological as he enjoyed hunting and boasts killing wild bulls and cows "at the city of Araziqu which is before the land of Ḫatti and at the foot ofMount Lebanon".
He "rebuilt from top to bottom the storehouses of my lordly palace, which are at the fore part of the enclosure",[8] and Aššur-nādin-aḫḫē's terrace of the New Palace at Nineveh, placed gate guardians inspired by thenāḫiru he had supposedly hunted. He also repaired a quay wall originally built byAdad-nārārī I (c. 1307–1275 BC).[3]
After his inauguration, he was apparently visited by the reigning Babylonian king,Marduk-shapik-zeri, who established friendly relations with Ashur-bel-kala", and then returned toSippar.[i 4] This treaty followed the earlier poor relations of their predecessors, Tukultī-apil-Ešarra andMarduk-nadin-ahhe, who had sparred and was probably motivated by their need to unite to fight their common enemy the Arameans. Marduk-shapik-zeri died around five years later and this seems to have galvanized Aššūr-bēl-kala into intervening militarily to install a successor of his choice:
In that year (the eponym of Aššur-ra’im-nišešu), in the month of Šebat, the chariots and […] went from the Inner City (of Assur) (and) conquered the cities of [x-x]indišulu and […]sandû, cities which are in the district of the city ofDūr-Kurigalzu. They capturedKadašman-Buriaš, the son of Itti-Marduk-balāṭu, governor of their land.
TheSynchronistic History[i 5] relates that the next king,Adad-apla-iddina, was appointed by Ashur-bel-kalaa, who married his daughter and "took her with a vast dowry to Assyria", while theEclectic Chronicle gives his father as Itti-Marduk-balāṭu. TheSynchronistic History concludes with noting that "the people of Assyria and Babylonia mingled (peacefully) with one another."[9]
His tomb was one of the five found on the lower reaches of the palace at Assur. He was briefly succeeded by his son,Eriba-Adad II, whose short reign was followed by that of his brotherShamshi-Adad IV.
| Preceded by | King of Assyria 1074–1056 BC | Succeeded by |