Ashurbanipal
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| Ashurbanipal | |
| Ashurbanipal | |
 A relief depicting a lion hunt. |
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| Reign | 669 – ca. 631 BC |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Esarhaddon |
| Successor | Ashur-etil-ilani |
Ashurbanipal (Akkadian: Aššur-bāni-apli (= "Ashur created an heir" in Akkadian), (b. 685 BCE – d. 627 BCE), the son of Esarhaddon, was the last great king of ancient Assyria. He is famous as one of the few kings in antiquity who could read and write. Assyrian sculpture reached its apogee under his rule (Northern palace and south-western palace at Nineveh, battle of Ulai). The Greeks knew him as Sardanapalos; Latin and other medieval texts refer to him as Sardanapalus. In the Bible he is called As(e)nappar or Osnapper (Ezra 4:10). Roman historian Justinus identified him as Sardanapalus.[1]
During his rule, Assyrian splendour was not only visible in its military power, but also its culture and art. Ashurbanipal created "the first systematically collected library" at Nineveh, where he attempted to gather all cuneiform literature available by that time. A library was distinct from an archive: earlier repositories of documents had accumulated passively, in the course of administrative routine.
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[edit] Early life
Assurbanipal (also spelled Ashurbanipal, Ashurbanapal, known to Greeks as Sardanapal) was born toward the end of a fifteen-hundred-year period of Assyrian ascendancy. His name in Assyrian is "Ashur-bani-apli", meaning "Ashur has made a[nother] son".
His father, Esarhaddon, youngest son of Sennacherib, had become heir when the crown prince, Ashur-nadin-shumi, was deposed by rebels from his position as vassal for Babylon. Esarhaddon was not the son of Sennacherib's queen, Tashmetum-sharrat, but of the West Semitic "palace woman" Zakutu, known by her native name, Naqi'a. The only queen known for Esarhaddon was Ashur-hamat, who died in 672 BC
Ashurbanipal grew up in the small palace called bit reduti (house of succession), built by Sennacherib when he was crown prince in the northern quadrant of Nineveh. In 694, Sennacherib had completed the "Palace Without Rival" at the southwest corner of the acropolis, obliterating most of the older structures. The "House of Succession" had become the palace of Esarhaddon, the crown prince. In this house, Ashurbanipal's grandfather was assassinated by uncles identified only from the biblical account as Adrammelek and Sharezer. From this conspiracy, Esarhaddon emerged as king in 681. He proceeded to rebuild as his residence the bit masharti (weapons house, or arsenal). The "House of Succession" was left to his mother and the younger children, including Ashurbanipal.
The names of five brothers and one sister are known. Sin-iddin-apli, the intended crown prince, died prior to 672. Not having been expected to become heir to the throne, Ashurbanipal was trained in scholarly pursuits as well as the usual horsemanship, hunting, chariotry, soldierliness, craftsmanship, and royal decorum. In a unique autobiographical statement, Ashurbanipal specified his youthful scholarly pursuits as having included oil divination, mathematics, and reading and writing. Ashurbanipal was the only Assyrian king who learned how to read and write.
In 672, upon the death of his queen, Esarhaddon reorganized the line of succession at the instigation of his mother. He used the submission of Median chieftains to draft a treaty. The chieftains swore that if Esarhaddon died while his sons were still minors, they and their children would guarantee the succession of Ashurbanipal as king of Assyria and Shamash-shum-ukin as king of Babylon even though Ashurbanipal was the younger of the two. Before this his elder brother Sin-iddina-apla was Esarhaddon's heir but he died in the same year. A monumental stela set up two years later in a northwestern province portrays Esarhaddon in high relief upon its face and each of the sons on a side. These portraits, the earliest dated for Ashurbanipal and his brother, show both with the full beard of maturity.
The princes pursued diverse educations thereafter. Extant letters from Shamash-shum-ukin offer his father reports of the situation in Babylon; Ashurbanipal at home received letters as crown prince. The situation came to an immediate crisis in 669, when Esarhaddon, on campaign to Egypt, died suddenly. Ashurbanipal did not accede to the kingship of Assyria until late in the year. His grandmother Zakutu required all to support his sole claim to the throne and to report acts of treason from now on to him and herself. This shows how influential the old lady was at the beginning of Ashurbanipal's reign. The official ceremonies of coronation came in the second month of the new year, and within the same year (668), Ashurbanipal installed his brother as King of Babylon. The transition took place smoothly, and the dual monarchy of the youthful brothers began. Texts describe their relationship as if they were twins. It was cl