dreams, illness-madness, Egyptophobia
Part Seven:
Specifying status as ‘Son of a nobody’
by
Damien F. Mackey
"… the Neo-Babylonian king Nabopolassar (626-605) used the term "son of a nobody".
Its attestation is included here because of the Assyrian background of this ruler
and his family (Jursa 2007: 127-28)".
Mattias Karlsson
The title of this multi-part series lists several buzz-words that commonly relate to the various alter egos (as I see the situation, at least) of King Nebuchednezzar ‘the Great’. In Part Two: https://www.academia.edu/37512120/_Nebuchednezzar_Syndrome_dreams_illness-madness_Egyptophobia._Part_Two_Ashurbanipal_Nabonidus_Cambyses_Artaxerxes_III
I thought it necessary to include another common one, actually a phrase, ‘son of a nobody’, having written there:
Another common key-word (buzz word), or phrase, for various of these king-names would be ‘son of a nobody’, pertaining to a prince who was not expecting to be elevated to kingship. Thus I previously introduced Ashurbanipal-as-Nebuchednezzar/Nabonidus with the statement: "Nabonidus is not singular either in not expecting to become king. Ashurbanipal had felt the same".
Later on in this series I would come to include also (apart from Ashurbanipal and Nabonidus) Esarhaddon and Nabopolassar as constituting part of the "Nebuchednezzar Syndrome". Now, Esarhaddon and Nabopolassar are lumped together by Mattias Karisson, as ‘son of a nobody’, in his article:
The Expression "Son of a Nobody" in Assyrian Royal Inscriptions
2016
…. Esarhaddon may be the "son of a nobody" in question. Regarding this epithet, we here have another attestation of it as carrying a positive meaning. It is said of this "son of a nobody", which probably alludes to Esarhaddon (or at least to this king’s irregular ascent to the throne), even though he was of royal descent (Roux 1992: 324-25), that he "[will come out and se]ize [the throne]; he will restore the temples [and establish sacrifices of the gods; he will provide jointly for(all) the temples.]"
….
Also the Neo-Babylonian king Nabopolassar (626-605) used the term "son of a nobody". Its attestation is included here because of the Assyrian background of this ruler and his family (Jursa 2007: 127-28). The text highlighted below comes from a fictive autobiography in which Nabopolassar explains his ascent to the Babylonian throne (SANER 3:C12/1:4-12). It is written on a barrel cylinder of clay and has Babylon as provenance. It is rendered below in the translation of Da Riva (2013: 62).
When I was young, although I was the son of a nobody, I constantly sought in the sanctuaries of my lords Nabû and Marduk. ….
Who was the actual father of this composite king of ours?
If we turn to consider him with regard to his alter ego, "Nabonidus", then:
"His father was a certain Nabu-balatsu-iqbi, who is called the ‘wise prince’, though actually he seems to have been the chief priest of the once famous temple of the moon-god Sin in Mesopotamian Harran".
As for Ashurbanipal, generally considered to have been the son of Esarhaddon - but, according to my view, he was Esarhaddon - the reason why he (and logically, then, his alter egos) did not expect to become king was that he was by no means the first in line to the succession.
First came one Sin-iddina-apla, who died untimely – {making me think that he must have been the same as the ill-fated Ashur-nadin-shumi, or Nadin}:
Ashurbanipal had initially not been expected to succeed his father, Esarhaddon [sic], as king, since he had an older brother, Sin-iddina-apla. When this brother died in 672 BC, Ashurbanipal was made his father’s heir.
Since Ashurbanipal was not originally intended to inherit the kingship prior to his elder brother’s death, he was free to indulge in scholarly pursuits. As a result of this, he was able to read and write, and mastered various fields of knowledge, including mathematics and oil divination. It is perhaps due to this that Ashurbanipal had his royal library built after he had stabilized his empire. ….
But apparently Ashurbanipal was not even next in line after Sin-iddina-apla.
For, at presumably the same time as Sin-iddina-apla, the oldest in line, had been appointed Crown Prince of Assyria, one Shamash-shum-ukin, he also older than Ashurbanipal, was appointed as the ruler of Babylon.
This Shamash-shum-ukin was therefore superior to Ashurbanipal.
However, that is apparently not how Ashurbanipal wanted history to know of the relationship. As explained by: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/44088732.pdf
ASHURBANIPAL AND SHAMASH-SHUM-UKIN : A TALE OF TWO BROTHERS FROM THEARAMAIC TEXT IN DEMOTIC SCRIPT: PART 1
Author(s): Richard C. Steiner and Charles F. Nims
Source: Revue Biblique (1946-), Vol. 92, No. 1 (JANVIER 1985), pp. 60-81
Ashurbanipal and Shamash-shum-ukin were the two sons of Esarhaddon [sic] who, at their father's behest, divided his realm between them - the former becoming king of Assyria, and the latter, king of Babylon(ia). Although the two were, in theory, "equal brothers," [sic] Ashurbanipal assumed full control of Babylonia's foreign policy and even meddled in Babylonia's internal affairs. …. It was perhaps to rationalize this usurpation of the authority granted to Shamash-shum-ukin by his father that Ashurbanipal claimed to be the one who had appointed Shamash-shum-ukin to the kingship of Babylon. ….
Part Seven (ii):
Specifying status as ‘Son of a nobody’ (Mursilis)
“Mursili … was the youngest of five sons and nobody expected him to rule,
but when his father and eldest brother died, he was the only son left to be king”.
Here, in Mursilis, we have yet ‘another’ prince who was not expected to rule.
That may be significant given our tentative connection - through illness, not ruling prospects - of said Mursilis with our “Nebuchednezzar Syndrome” Nabopolasar in Part Five of this series:
"Nebuchednezzar Syndrome": dreams, illness-madness, Egyptophobia. Part Five: Emperors Mursilis and Nabopolassar
We read relevantly at: https://www.tumblr.com/search/hittitology
… Mursili II, King of Hatti (a Bronze Age kingdom and later empire in central Turkey). ….
Mursili was a badass warrior … a writer and a historian. He was the youngest of five sons and nobody expected him to rule, but when his father and eldest brother died, he was the only son left to be king. (Two of his other brothers were already local rulers in Syria, and the last brother, Zannanza, had died in an affair which is a story in its own right.) Mursili was very young at his accession, barely an adult, and after his badass father’s rule nobody took him seriously. His allies belittled him and called him a child, and when Mursili sent out envoys to negotiate, they never sent them back.
So Mursili defeated them all.
Within ten years, he had either conquered or allied himself with all the kings of the region. He was also the first Hittite king to subjugate Arzawa, a neighbouring kingdom which Hatti had been at odds with for centuries. Despite his young age, Mursili quickly became known for his success in battle. Under his rule and that of his father, the Hittite empire reached its peak.
But Mursili’s rule wasn’t just about fighting. For twenty years he struggled with a plague that was killing masses of his people. In those days, such a plague meant that the Gods were angry against the king, and Mursili clearly took it to heart. He wrote a number of extremely emotional prayers in which he asked for forgiveness, and as time went by, argued with the Gods about the unfairness of such suffering. These prayers are some of the most beautiful examples of Hittite literature.
But as if that wasn’t enough for poor Mursili, in his tenth year as king, his wife died of a mysterious illness. He accused his stepmother of cursing her (probably the most controversial thing he did) but though he was legally and religiously allowed to have her executed, he only banished her. He also wrote about this episode in his prayers, in vivid words:
I punished her with this one thing, that I sent her down from the palace. (…) Has her life now become miserable? Because she is alive, she beholds the sun of heaven with her eyes. She eats the bread of life. My punishment is the death of my wife. Has this gotten any better? Because she killed her, throughout the days of life [my soul] goes down to the dark netherworld [on her account]. For me it has been unbearable. ….
A few more facts about Mursili:
- he suffered from temporary speech loss that might’ve been caused by a stroke due to all the stress he was under
- he was interested in history and wrote not only annals (year-by-year events) for his own rule, but also for his father’s
- during the first years of his reign, his two surviving brothers regularly helped him out. They both died the same year as Mursili’s wife.
- he witnessed an eclipse which can (probably) be dated to the 24th of June 1312 BC. [sic] ….
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