On
1 Nisannu (Mar/Apr, 680 BCE), Esarhaddon celebrated the New Year and the start of his regnal Year 1, the formal beginning of his reign following the accession year (last year of the regnal year of Sennacherib).
Paranoia depicting Esarhaddon (right) and his mother
Naqiʾa (left). Possibly as a result of his distrust of his male relatives, the women of the royal family were allowed greater political influence and power during Esarhaddon's reign than in any previous period of Assyrian history. As a result of his tumultuous rise to the throne, Esarhaddon was distrustful of his servants, vassals and family members. He frequently sought the advice of oracles and priests on whether any of his relatives or officials wished to harm him.'
Although highly distrustful of his male relatives, Esarhaddon seems to not have been paranoid in regards to his female relatives. During his reign, his wife Ešarra-ḫammat, his mother Naqiʾa and his daughter Šērūʾa-ēṭirat all wielded considerably more influence and political power than women during earlier parts of Assyrian history.' Esarhaddon's paranoia was also reflected in where he chose to live. One of his main residences was a palace in the city of
Nimrud originally constructed as an armoury by his predecessor
Shalmaneser III (r. 859–824 BC) almost two hundred years earlier. Rather than occupying a central and visible spot within the cultic and administrative center of the city, this palace was located on the outskirts of the city on a separate mound, which made it well-protected. Between 676 and 672, the palace was strengthened with its gateways being modified into impregnable fortifications, which could seal the entire building off completely from the city. If these entrances were sealed, the only way into the palace would be through a steep and narrow path protected by several strong doors. A similar palace, also located on a separate mound far from the city center, was built at
Nineveh. All Assyrian kings are known to have sought the guidance of the sun-god
Shamash (which was obtained through interpreting what was perceived as signs from the gods) for advice in political and military matters, such as whom to appoint to a certain position or if a planned military campaign would be successful. Queries concerning the possibility of betrayal are known only from Esarhaddon's reign. Most scholars have classified Esarhaddon as paranoid, some going as far as suggesting that he developed
paranoid personality disorder after the murder of his father. Other scholars have refrained from using this label, instead simply characterizing him as "mistrustful" and noting that paranoia is "by definition delusional and irrational" while Esarhaddon is likely to have had many real opponents and enemies.
Reconstruction of Babylon monument of Esarhaddon in traditional
Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform, which narrates his restoration of
Babylon. . Exhibited at the
British Museum, BM 91027. Esarhaddon wished to ensure the support of the inhabitants of
Babylonia, the southern part of his empire. To this end, the king sponsored building and restoration projects throughout the south to a far greater extent than any of his predecessors had. Babylonia had only become an inner part of the
Assyrian Empire relatively recently, having been ruled by native kings as vassals of the Assyrians until its conquest and annexation by the Assyrian king
Tiglath-Pileser III in the previous century. Through his building program, Esarhaddon likely hoped to show the benefits of continuing Assyrian rule over the region and that he meant to rule Babylon with the same care and generosity as a native Babylonian king. The city of
Babylon, which gave its name to
Babylonia, had been the political centre of
southern Mesopotamia for more than a thousand years. In an effort to quell Babylonian aspirations of independence, the city had been razed by Esarhaddon's father in 689 BC, and the
statue of Bel (also known as
Marduk), the patron deity of the city, had been carried off deep into Assyrian territory. The restoration of the city, announced by Esarhaddon in 680, became one of his most important projects. Throughout Esarhaddon's reign, reports from the officials the king appointed to oversee the reconstruction speak of the great scope of the building project. The ambitious restoration of the city involved removing the large amount of debris left since Sennacherib's destruction of the city; resettlement of the many Babylonians who by this point were either enslaved or scattered across the empire; the reconstruction of most of the buildings; the restoration of the great temple complex dedicated to
Bel, known as the
Esagila, and the enormous
ziggurat complex called
Etemenanki; as well as the restoration of the two inner walls of the city. The project was not only important because it illustrated goodwill towards the Babylonian people but also because it allowed Esarhaddon to assume one of the essential characteristics the Babylonians invested in kingship. While the king of Assyria was generally supposed to be a military figure, the king of Babylon was ideally a builder and restorer, particularly of temples. Careful to not associate himself with the city's destruction, he only refers to himself as a king "ordained by the gods" in his inscriptions in Babylon, only mentioning
Sennacherib in his inscriptions in the north and blaming the city's destruction not on his father but on Babylon "offending its gods." Writing of his reconstruction of Babylon, Esarhaddon states the following: record of Esarhaddon's restoration of
Babylon. . Exhibited at the
British Museum. Esarhaddon successfully rebuilt the city gates, battlements, drains, courtyards, shrines, and various other buildings and structures. Great care was taken during the rebuilding of the
Esagila, depositing precious stones,
scented oils, and perfumes into its foundations. Precious metals were chosen to cover the doors of the temple, and the pedestal that was to house the statue of
Bel was constructed in gold. A report from the governor Esarhaddon installed in Babylon confirms that the reconstruction was very well received by the Babylonians: . Exhibited at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. The rebuilding of the city was not completed during Esarhaddon's lifetime, and much work was also done during the reign of his successors. Exactly how much of the reconstruction was done during the reign of Esarhaddon is uncertain, but stones with his inscriptions are found in the ruins of the city's temples, suggesting that a substantial amount of work had been completed. Esarhaddon likely fulfilled most of his restoration goals, including the near-complete restoration of
Esagila and
Etemenanki, with the possible exception of the city walls, which were likely fully restored by his successor. '''''' Esarhaddon also sponsored restoration programs in other southern cities. In his first regnal year, Esarhaddon returned the statues of various southern gods that had been captured in wars and held in Assyria. During the time since
Sennacherib's destruction of the city, the statue of
Bel had, along with statues of several other traditional Babylonian deities, been kept at the town of
Issete in the northeastern parts of Assyria. '
Although the statue of Bel remained in Assyria, statues of other gods were returned to the cities of Der, Humhumia, and Sippar-aruru.' In the years to follow, statues were also returned to the cities of
Larsa and
Uruk. As he had in Babylon, Esarhaddon also cleared away debris in Uruk and repaired the city's
Eanna temple, dedicated to the goddess
Ishtar. Similar small-scale restoration projects were undertaken in the cities of
Nippur,
Borsippa and
Akkad. Because of Esarhaddon's extensive building projects in the south and his efforts to link himself to the Babylonian royal tradition, some scholars have described him as the "Babylonian king of Assyria," but such a view might misrepresent the actual efforts of the king. Esarhaddon was king of both Assyria and Babylonia, and his military and political base remained in the north, much like his predecessors. While his southern building projects were impressive, ambitious, and unprecedented, he completed projects in the
Assyrian heartland as well, although they were not as civically oriented as those in Babylonia. In Assyria, Esarhaddon constructed and restored temples but also worked on palaces and military fortifications.'''''' Possibly to reassure the Assyrian people that his projects in the south would be matched with projects of equal proportion in the north, Esarhaddon ensured that repairs were made to the temple of
Ešarra in
Assur, one of the chief temples of
northern Mesopotamia.'
Similar projects were conducted for temples in the Assyrian capital, Nineveh and in the city of Arbela.' Though the temple-building projects conducted in the south were matched with temple-building projects in the north, Esarhaddon's prioritizing of
Assyria over
Babylonia is apparent from the various administrative and military building projects undertaken in the north and the complete lack of such projects in the south. ''''''
Military campaigns 's (purple) northern border 680–610 BC.
Urartu (yellow) was one of Esarhaddon's main rivals. Vassals who had hoped to use the unstable political climate in Assyria to free themselves, perhaps believing that the new king hadn't yet consolidated his position well enough to stop them, and foreign powers eager to expand their territory soon realized that (despite Esarhaddon's distrust) the governors and soldiers of Assyria fully supported the new king.'
Two of the principal threats to Assyria were the Kingdom of Urartu under King Rusa II in the north, a sworn enemy of Assyria that still sheltered his brothers, and the Cimmerians, an iranic nomadic tribe that was harassing his western borders.' Esarhaddon allied with the nomadic
Scythians, famous for their cavalry, to dissuade the Cimmerians from attacking, but it didn't appear to have helped. In 679 BC, the
Cimmerians invaded the westernmost provinces of the empire, and by 676 they had penetrated further into Esarhaddon's empire, destroying temples and cities on the way. To stop this invasion, Esarhaddon personally led his soldiers in battle in
Cilicia and successfully repelled the Cimmerians. In his inscriptions, Esarhaddon claims to personally have killed the Cimmerian king
Teušpa.'''''' While the Cimmerian invasion was underway, one of Esarhaddon's vassals in the
Levant, the
Phoenician city-state of
Sidon, rebelled against his rule.'''''' Sidon had only recently been conquered by Assyria, having been made a vassal by Esarhaddon's father in 701.'
Esarhaddon marched his army down along the Mediterranean coast and captured the rebellious city in 677, but its king, Abdi-Milkutti, escaped by boat. He was captured and executed a year later, the same year that Esarhaddon decisively defeated the Cimmerians. Another rebellious vassal king, Sanduarri of "Kundu and Sissu" (likely locations in Cilicia), was also defeated and executed. To celebrate his victory, Esarhaddon had the heads of the two vassal kings hung around the necks of their nobles, who were paraded around Nineveh.' Sidon was reduced to an Assyrian province, and two cities that had been under the Sidonian king's control were gifted to another vassal king,
Baal of
Tyre.'''''' Esarhaddon discusses his victory over Sidon in a contemporary inscription: , showing
Kushites defeating
Assyrians "
Taharqa of
Egypt was a recurring enemy of Esarhaddon, defeating his planned invasion of Egypt in 673 BC and in turn being defeated by Esarhaddon in 671 BC. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek,
Copenhagen. After dealing with the problems in
Sidon and
Cilicia, Esarhaddon turned his attention to
Urartu. At first, he struck at the
Mannaeans, a people allied with Urartu, but by 673 he was openly at war with the kingdom of Urartu itself.'
As part of this war, Esarhaddon attacked and conquered the kingdom of Shupria, a vassal kingdom to Urartu whose capital Ubumu was located on the shores of Lake Van.' The king's
casus belli for this invasion was the king of Shupria's refusal to hand over political refugees from Assyria (possibly some of the conspirators behind
Sennacherib's death), and though the Shuprian king had agreed to give up the refugees after a long series of letters, Esarhaddon considered it took him too long to relent. The Assyrians seized and plundered the city after the defenders had attempted to burn down the Assyrian siege weapons and the fires had instead spread into Ubumu. The political refugees were captured and executed. Some criminals from Urartu, whom the Shuprian king had similarly refused to give up to the king of Urartu, were seized and sent to Urartu, perhaps to improve relations. Ubumu was repaired, renamed, and annexed, with two eunuchs being appointed as its governors.'''''' In 675, the
Elamites invaded
Babylonia and captured the city of
Sippar. The Assyrian army had been away at the time, campaigning in
Anatolia, and was forced to abandon this campaign to defend the southern provinces. Little is recorded of this conflict, and as the fall of Sippar was an embarrassment, it is not mentioned by Esarhaddon in any of his inscriptions. Shortly after seizing Sippar, the Elamite king
Khumban-khaltash II died, which left the new Elamite king,
Urtak, in a bad position. To repair relations with Assyria and avoid further conflict, Urtak abandoned the invasion and returned some statues of gods which the Elamites had stolen. The two monarchs allied and exchanged children to be raised at each other's courts.'''''' Near the end of Esarhaddon's seventh year on the throne, in the winter of 673, the king invaded
Egypt. This invasion, which only a few Assyrian sources discuss, ended in what some scholars have assumed was possibly one of Assyria's worst defeats.'
The Egyptians had for years sponsored rebels and dissenters in Assyria, and Esarhaddon had hoped to storm Egypt and take this rival out in one fell swoop. Because Esarhaddon had marched his army at great speed, the Assyrians were exhausted once they arrived outside the Egyptian-controlled city of Ashkelon, where they were defeated by the Kushite Pharaoh Taharqa. Following this defeat, Esarhaddon abandoned his plan to conquer Egypt for the moment and withdrew back to Nineveh.'
Deteriorating health and depression By the time of Esarhaddon's first failed invasion of Egypt in 673 BC, it had become apparent that the king's health was deteriorating.'
This presented a problem since one of the chief requirements of being the Assyrian king was that one had perfect mental and physical health. The king was constantly suffering from some illness and would often spend days in his sleeping quarters without food, drink and human contact. The death of Esharra-hammat, his beloved wife, in February 672 BC is unlikely to have improved his condition.' Surviving court documents overwhelmingly point to Esarhaddon often being sad. The deaths of his wife and their recently born infant child made Esarhaddon depressed. This can clearly be seen in letters written by the king's chief exorcist Adad-shumu-usur, the man who was chiefly responsible for Esarhaddon's well-being. One such letter reads: Notes and letters preserved from those at the royal court, including Esarhaddon's physicians, describe his condition in some detail, discussing violent vomiting, constant fever, nosebleeds, dizziness, painful earaches, diarrhea and depression. The king often feared that his death was near, and his condition would have been apparent to anyone who saw him, as he was affected by a permanent skin rash which covered most of his body, including his face. The physicians, likely the best in Assyria, were perplexed and eventually had to confess that they were powerless to aid him. This is clearly expressed in their letters, such as the following: Because the Assyrians saw illness as divine punishment, a king who was ill would have been seen as an indication that the gods were not supportive of him. Because of this, Esarhaddon's poor health had to be hidden from his subjects at all costs.'
That his subjects remained unaware was ensured through the ancient royal Assyrian tradition that anyone who approached the king had to be both on their knees and veiled.'
Planning the succession Seeing as he himself had only acquired the Assyrian throne with great difficulty, Esarhaddon took several steps to ensure that the transition of power following his own death would be a smooth and peaceful one. A treaty concluded between Esarhaddon and his vassal
Ramataia, the ruler of a
Median kingdom in the east called
Urakazabarna in 672 BC makes it clear that all of Esarhaddon's sons were still minors at the time, which was problematic. The same treaty also shows that Esarhaddon was worried that there might be several factions who might oppose his successor's rise to the throne after his death, listing potential opposing forces as his successor's brothers, uncles and cousins and even "descendants of former royalty" and "one of the chiefs or governors of Assyria". This indicates that at least some of Esarhaddon's brothers were still alive at this point and that they or their children could possibly represent threats to his own children. The mention of "descendants of former royalty" might allude to the fact that Esarhaddon's grandfather
Sargon II had acquired the Assyrian throne through usurpation and may not have been related to any earlier Assyrian king. Descendants of earlier kings may still have been alive and in a position to press their claims on the Assyrian throne. To avoid a civil war upon his death, Esarhaddon appointed his eldest son
Sin-nadin-apli as crown prince in 674, but he died just two years later, again threatening a succession crisis. This time, Esarhaddon appointed two crown princes; his eldest living son
Shamash-shum-ukin was selected as the heir to Babylon, whilst a younger son,
Ashurbanipal, was selected as the heir to Assyria. The two princes arrived at the capital of
Nineveh together and partook in a celebration with foreign representatives, Assyrian nobles, and soldiers. Promoting one of his sons as the heir to Assyria and another as the heir to Babylon was a new idea, for in the past decades the Assyrian king had simultaneously been the King of Babylon.'''''' The choice to name a younger son as the crown prince of Assyria, which was clearly Esarhaddon's primary title, and an older son as the crown prince of Babylon, might be explained by the mothers of the two sons. While Ashurbanipal's mother was likely Assyrian in origin, Shamash-shum-ukin was the son of a woman from Babylon (though this is uncertain, Ashurbanipal and Shamash-shum-ukin may have shared the same mother which would probably have had problematic consequences if Shamash-shum-ukin was to ascend to the Assyrian throne). Since Ashurbanipal was the next oldest son, he was the superior candidate for the throne. Esarhaddon probably surmised that the Babylonians would be content with someone of Babylonian heritage as their king and, as such, set Shamash-shum-ukin to inherit Babylon and the southern parts of his empire instead. Treaties drawn up by Esarhaddon are somewhat unclear as to the relationship he intended his two sons to have. It is clear that Ashurbanipal was the primary heir to the empire and that Shamash-shum-ukin was to swear him an oath of allegiance, but other parts also specify that Ashurbanipal was not to interfere in Shamash-shum-ukin's affairs, which indicates a more equal standing. The two crown princes soon became heavily involved with Assyrian politics, which lifted some of the burden from the shoulders of their sickly father.'''''' Esarhaddon's mother Naqiʾa ensured that any potential enemies and claimants took an oath to support Ashurbanipal's rise to the Assyrian throne, another step to avoid the bloodshed which had begun Esarhaddon's own reign.'
To ensure the succession of Ashurbanipal and Shamash-shum-ukin, Esarhaddon himself also concluded succession treaties with at least six independent rulers in the east and with several of his own governors outside the Assyrian heartland in 672. Perhaps the main motivating factor to create these treaties was the possibility that his brothers, particularly Arda-Mulissu, were still alive and sought to claim the Assyrian throne. Some inscriptions suggest that they were alive and free as late as 673.'
Conquest of Egypt and substitute kings In the early months of 671 BC, Esarhaddon again marched against
Egypt.'
The army assembled for this second Egyptian campaign was considerably larger than the one Esarhaddon had used in 673 and he marched at a much slower speed to avoid the problems that had plagued his previous attempt.' On his way he passed through
Harran, one of the major cities in the western parts of his empire. Here, a prophecy was revealed to the king, which predicted that Esarhaddon's conquest of Egypt would be a successful one. According to a letter sent to
Ashurbanipal after Esarhaddon's death, the prophecy was the following: Three months after having received this prophecy, Esarhaddon's forces were victorious in their first battle with the Egyptians. Despite the prophecy and initial success, Esarhaddon was not convinced of his own safety. Just eleven days after he had defeated the Egyptians, he performed the
substitute king ritual, an ancient Assyrian method intended to protect and shield the king from imminent danger announced by some sort of omen. Esarhaddon had performed the ritual earlier in his reign, but this time it left him unable to command his invasion of Egypt.'''''' in 671 BC, after Esarhaddon's successful invasion of
Egypt. The "substitute king" ritual involved the Assyrian monarch going into hiding for a hundred days, during which a substitute (preferably one with mental deficiencies) took the king's place by sleeping in the royal bed, wearing the crown and the royal garbs and eating the king's food. During these hundred days, the actual king remained hidden and was known only under the alias "the farmer". The goal of the ritual was that any evil intended for the king would instead be focused on the substitute king, who was killed regardless of if anything had happened at the end of the hundred days, keeping the real monarch safe.'''''' Whatever omen Esarhaddon was fearing, he survived 671 and would perform the ritual twice during the two years that followed, which left him unable to fulfill his duties as the Assyrian king for a total of almost a year. During this time, most of the civil administration of his empire was overseen by his crown princes and the army in Egypt was likely commanded by his chief eunuch,
Ashur-nasir. The Assyrian army defeated the Egyptians in two additional battles and successfully seized and plundered the Egyptian capital of
Memphis.'
The Assyrian army was also forced to fight some of their vassals in the Levant, such as Baal of Tyre, who had allied with the Egyptians against Esarhaddon.' Although the Pharaoh
Taharqa had escaped, Esarhaddon captured the Pharaoh's family, including his son and wife, and most of the royal court, which were sent back to Assyria as hostages. Governors loyal to the Assyrian king were placed in charge of the conquered territories. In his
victory stele, erected to commemorate the defeat of Egypt, Esarhaddon is depicted in a majestic pose with a war mace in his hand and a vassal king kneeling before him. Also present is the son of the defeated pharaoh, kneeling and with a rope around his neck.'
The conquest resulted in the relocation of a large number of Egyptians to the Assyrian heartland.' In an excerpt from the text inscribed on his victory stele, Esarhaddon describes the conquest with the following words:
Conspiracy of 671–670 BC . Exhibited at the
Erbil Civilization Museum. Shortly following Esarhaddon's victory in
Egypt, news spread throughout his empire of a new prophecy at
Harran. Since Esarhaddon had conquered Egypt and proven the previous prophecy from the city right, the oracles of Harran were seen as trustworthy. The prophecy, spoken by an ecstatic woman (the
oracle of Nusku), was the following: The meaning of the prophecy was clear: it provided a possible religious foundation for a revolt against Esarhaddon's rule by declaring all of
Sennacherib's descendants as usurpers.'''''' It is possible that Esarhaddon's skin condition would have become apparent during his visit to Harran, which might be the reason for declaring him illegitimate. The identity of the
Sasî who was proclaimed as the rightful king is unknown, but he might have been connected to previous Assyrian royalty in some manner to give him a claim to the throne. It is possible that he was a descendant of Esarhaddon's grandfather
Sargon II. Sasî managed to rally a large amount of support throughout the empire quickly, perhaps even rallying Esarhaddon's chief eunuch Ashur-nasir to his side.'''''' It did not take long for Esarhaddon to learn of the conspiracy. Because of his paranoia, Esarhaddon had a vast information network of servants throughout the empire, sworn to report to him once they heard of any planned actions against him. Through these reports, Esarhaddon was made aware that conspirators were active not only in
Harran, but also in
Babylon and in the
Assyrian heartland. For a while, Esarhaddon simply gathered information on the activities of the conspirators and fearing for his life, performed the "substitute king" ritual for a second time in 671 BC, just three months after he had previously completed it.'''''' As soon as the ritual was complete, Esarhaddon emerged from hiding and brutally massacred the conspirators, the second such purge during his reign. The fate of Sasî and the woman who had proclaimed him king is unknown, but it is likely that they were captured and executed. Because of the extent of the officials killed, the administrative structure of Assyria suffered more than it had in many years. For the first few months of 670, no official was chosen to select the name of the year, something which was extremely rare in Assyrian history. Remains of several buildings in various cities, believed to have been the homes of supporters of Sasî, have been dated as having been destroyed in 670. The aftermath of the conspiracy saw Esarhaddon tighten security considerably. He introduced two new ranks into the court hierarchy to make it more difficult to meet him, which also limited the number of officials who controlled the access to his palaces.''''''
Death from the palace of Esarhaddon in
Nimrud, . Exhibited at the
British Museum. Although he had successfully survived the conspiracy, Esarhaddon remained diseased and paranoid. Just a year later, in 669 BC, he once more performed the "substitute king" ritual. Around this time, the defeated Pharaoh
Taharqa appeared from the south and, perhaps combined with the chaotic political situation within Assyria, inspired Egypt to attempt to free itself from Esarhaddon's control.'''''' Esarhaddon received word of this rebellion and learnt that even some of his own governors who he had appointed in Egypt had ceased to pay tribute to him and joined the rebels.'
After emerging from his hundred days of hiding, apparently relatively healthy by his standards, Esarhaddon left to campaign against Egypt for the third time. The king died at Harran on 10 Araḫsamn 669 BC (approximately November 1 in the proleptic Julian calendar), before reaching the Egyptian border. The absence of evidence to the contrary suggests that his death was natural and unexpected.' After Esarhaddon's death, his sons
Ashurbanipal and
Shamash-shum-ukin successfully ascended the thrones of Assyria and Babylonia without political turmoil and bloodshed, meaning that Esarhaddon's succession plans were a success, at least initially.'''''' == Diplomacy ==