Ashurbanipal mirroring Esarhaddon in inscriptions, succession, maritime

by Damien F. Mackey “This arrangement was formalized by the so-called Succession Treaty, really an extended adê-oath of the kind which had been used to formalize Esarhaddon’s own succession. …. The fingerprints of Esarhaddon’s own struggle for the throne can be found all over the Succession Treaty”. Christopher W. Jones In the course of my seeking further to solidify my connection between Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, as just the one ruler of Assyro-Babylonia, I wrote: More clues in support of my view that Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal were one and the same king https://www.academia.edu/108468804/More_clues_in_support_of_my_view_that_Esarhaddon_and_Ashurbanipal_were_one_and_the_same_king “… there is a clear parallel between the Inscription of Esarhaddon and a text of Assurbanipal [who] … says that he has brought the peoples that live in the sea and those that inhabit the high mountains under his yoke, and this reference, as we understand it, is very like Esarhaddon’s text, since it is also “a general summary”.” Arcadio Del Castillo and Julia Montenegro There, too, I coupled Esarhaddon/Ashurbanipal with Nebuchednezzar/Nabonidus, as carrying baskets of bricks for building, referring to my article: Composite ‘Nebuchednezzar’ carrying baskets for building (7) Composite ‘Nebuchednezzar’ carrying baskets for building | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu …. Stone Monument of Esarhaddon …. His inscriptions also claim that he personally participated in the restoration project. The historian Michael Kerrigan comments on this, writing: Esarhaddon believed in leading from the front, taking a central role in what we nowadays call the ‘groundbreaking ceremony’ for the new Esagila. Once the damaged temple had been demolished and its site fully cleared, he says, “I poured libations of the finest oil, honey, ghee, red wine, white wine, to instil respect and fear for the power of Marduk in the people. I myself picked up the first basket of earth, raised it on to my head, and carried it” …. ASHURBANIPAL https://www.bible-history.com/archaeology/assyria/Stela-of-Ashurbanipal.html The king carrying a basket on his head The city of Babylon had been destroyed by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 689 BC [sic] but was rebuilt by … Esarhaddon … Ashurbanipal …. One of the duties of a Mesopotamian king was to care for the gods and restore or rebuild their temples. Much earlier, in the late third millennium BC, rulers in southern Mesopotamia depicted themselves carrying out this pious task in the form of foundation pegs, such as the copper figure of Ur-Nammu (reigned 2112-2095 BC) [sic], also in The British Museum. It is possible that similar figurines were discovered in the ruins of Babylon during Ashurbanipal's rebuilding works. For on this stela, Ashurbanipal, wearing the Assyrian king's head-dress, is shown in the pose of earlier kings, lifting up a large basket of earth for the ritual moulding of the first brick. …. NABONIDUS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinders_of_Nabonidus “…. In the beginning of my everlasting reign they sent me a dream. Marduk, the great lord, and Sin, the luminary of heaven and the netherworld, stood together. Marduk spoke with me: 'Nabonidus, king of Babylon, carry bricks on your riding horse, rebuild Ehulhul and cause Sin, the great lord, to establish his residence in its midst' …”. THE LOCATION OF TARSHISH: CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS Revue Biblique, 123, 2016, pp. 239-268 https://www.academia.edu/35529906/THE_LOCATION_OF_TARSHISH_CRITICAL_CONSIDERATIONS?auto=download But what struck me when reading through this article is yet another case of, as it seems to me, a ‘historical’ duplication, Ashurbanipal claiming what Esarhaddon claimed. Writing of the neo-Assyrian sailing efforts, the authors tell as follows (pp. 252-254): … the only record we have of them sailing the Mediterranean is when Sargon II gained control of Cyprus, which was further secured by his successors, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Assurbanipal, 668-627 BC…. My comment: As Esarhaddon, Ashurbanipal, is just the one king according to my article above, so, too, with: Assyrian King Sargon II, Otherwise Known As Sennacherib https://www.academia.edu/6708474/Assyrian_King_Sargon_II_Otherwise_Known_As_Sennacherib …. What can of course be readily accepted, as we have said, is that there is a clear parallel between the Inscription of Esarhaddon and a text of Assurbanipal, which is inscribed on Prism B: after stating that he ruled from the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea and that the kings of the rising sun and the setting sun brought him heavy tribute, Assurbanipal says that he has brought the peoples that live in the sea and those that inhabit the high mountains under his yoke … and this reference, as we understand it, is very like Esarhaddon’s text, since it is also “a general summary”. …. Now, bearing in mind my view that Esarhaddon, Ashurbanipal, was just one king: Christopher W. Jones writes, in “Failed Coup: The Assassination of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon’s Struggle for the Throne, 681–680 B.C” (Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 2023; 10(2): 293–369): https://doi.org/10.1515/janeh-2022-0013 …. Esarhaddon avoided assassination and prevailed in the conflict which followed by leveraging his status as the designated heir to create the perception that his candidacy for the throne was endorsed by the gods and therefore his victory was inevitable. Nevertheless, the assassination and the brief civil war that followed cast a pall over Esarhaddon’s reign, shaping his own succession arrangements as well as the atmosphere of paranoia which marked his final years. …. However, succession-related crises would increasingly dominate Assyrian politics in the seventh century. This included Sennacherib’s prevarication about the succession and eventual assassination in 681, Esarhaddon’s dual appointment of Assurbanipal and Šamaš-šumu-ukin over Assyria and Babylon and the subsequent civil war between them from 652–648, and the confusion following the death of Assurbanipal and the accession of Assur-etel-ilani. …. My comment: This is horrible. Sennacherib, not Esarhaddon, appointed Ashurbanipal, who was Esarhaddon! “Assur-etel-ilani” did not succeed Ashurbanipal, because “Assur-etel-ilani” was Esarhaddon (var. Ashur-etil-ilani-mukin-apli): Esarhaddon, re-named Ashur-Etil-Ilani-Mukin-Apli, and then duplicated by historians as Ashur-Etil-Ilani (4) Esarhaddon, re-named Ashur-Etil-Ilani-Mukin-Apli, and then duplicated by historians as Ashur-Etil-Ilani “Šamaš-šumu-ukin” was not a brother/co-ruler with Ashurbanipal, as is thought, but was his actual son, Sin-shar-ishkun. And, with Ashurbanipal also as Nebuchednezzar: King Ashurbanipal, the sick and paranoid Nebuchadnezzar of Daniel 4 (4) King Ashurbanipal, the sick and paranoid Nebuchadnezzar of Daniel 4 the ill-fated Shamash-shum-ukin (Sin-shar-ishkun) was the same as the ill-fated son of Nebuchednezzar, Belshazzar (Amēl-Marduk). The article continues: …. … Esarhaddon’s Succession Treaty, which was issued nine years after the struggle for the throne. While most of its stipulations contain non-specific language obliging the recipients to support the succession of Assurbanipal and inform the king about anyone who opposes it, several sections appear to respond to Esarhaddon’s own experiences during his tumultuous accession. Three sections give repeated warnings against stirring up hatred between Assurbanipal and his father, or between Assurbanipal and his brothers over the matter of succession, using some similar vocabulary to Esarhaddon’s Nineveh A inscription. My comment: Similar vocabulary for the same king. The article continues: …. Another unusually specific passage instructs those who swore the oath about how to respond to a specific situation: (If) a messenger from the palace comes to the crown prince [at the wr]ong time, whether by day or by night, saying: “Your father is summoning you, let my lord come,” you must not l[iste]n to him and you mustnot release him or let him leave, but [guard] him stronglyuntil one of you who loves his lord in your heart and is full of concern for the house of his lords goes to the palace and ascertains the well-being of the king his lord. Afterwards you may go to the palace with the crown prince your lord. The specificity of the scenario in which a false messenger is sent to the crown prince bearing an urgent summons from his father in order to lure him away suggests that this clause was also drawn from Esarhaddon’s life experiences. Did the conspirators send a messenger carrying a false summons from Sennacherib in order to lure Esarhaddon away from his secure location to a place where he could be ambushed and killed? …. Esarhaddon’s concern about his own succession culminated in a novel approach: he would appoint his younger son as king of Assyria, while he would give his older son Šamaš-šumu-ukin, who might have expected to inherit the throne, a consolation prize of the throne of the newly rebuilt Babylon.226 This arrangement was formalized by the so-called Succession Treaty, really an extended adê-oath of the kind which had been used to formalize Esarhaddon’s own succession.227 The fingerprints of Esarhaddon’s own struggle for the throne can be found all over the Succession Treaty, ACP 6: r. 34, 37 in Homes-Fredericq and Garelli (2018: 57` –58 and pl. VI), read ln. r. 34 as IGI IPAP— ra-mu LÚ.A-SIG and r. 37 as IGI INUMUN-u-ti-i LÚ.A-⸢SIG⸣ (675); from Burmarina see two broken names in No. 37: r. 4–5 in Fales et al. (2005: 646; dates to 676 BC); from the province of the rab šāqeˆ (‘chief cupbearer’) see Kiṣir-Issar in SAA 6 210: r. 7 (676). For names of all attested charioteers, including those from Esarhaddon’s later career, see Baker (2017: 53–55, 59–65, 135–39, 190–95). There is no shortage of legal texts from this decade compared to the preceding or following decades, see chart in Mattila and Harjumäki (2015: 13). 225 For arguments that the letters of Assyrian scholars to Esarhaddon represent a unique development rather than the chance survival of ancient sources, see Jones (2023) and Jones (2021: 504–60). The only scholars who recommend enthroning a substitute king or write to the king during the ritual are Adad-šumu-uṣur (SAA 10 3; 189; 209; 219–221; 314; 377); his brother Issar-šumu-ereš (SAA 10 12; 25); Marduk-šakin-šumi (SAA 10 25; 221; 240); Mar-Issar (SAA 10 350–352); Urad-Ea (SAA 10 25); Nabû-zerulišir (SAA 10 2–3); and Munnabitu(SAA 8 316: r. 1–3); note also Nabû-šumu-iddinain SAA 10 1: 3. For the use of ritual as a means of controlling access to the king, see Jones (2021: 515–28); Radner (2003: 171–76). 226 For the birth order of Šamash-šumu-ukin and Assurbanipal, as well as their sharing the same mother, see PNA 1/I: 161–62; Novotny and Singletary (2009: 167–69, 174–77). 227 For discussion of the evolution of the adeˆ-format, see Barcina (2016: 12–20, 23–36); Fales (2016: 134). from the clauses forbidding fomenting strife between the brothers or between the brothers and their father to pledges to not support any of Esarhaddon’s brothers or their sons in any attempt to claim the throne “whether those in Assyria or those who have fled to another country.” Most importantly, the Succession Treaty enjoined everyone who swore to it into constant vigilance, ordering them to immediately report all disloyal sentiments expressed against Esarhaddon or [sic] Assurbanipal. Without any mechanism to guard against false allegations, the correspondence of Esarhaddon’s final years is filled with denunciations, some anonymous and some not, which deluged the king in contradictory information. ….