Ashurnasirpal I
{{Infobox monarch||name=Ashurnasirpal I|title=King of Assyria||image=Neo-Assyrian Limestone White Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal I, Nineveh, 1049-1031 BC.jpg|caption=The White Obelisk sometimes associated with Ashurnasirpal I (although it is usually dated to the reign of Ashurnasirpal II)|reign=1050–1031 BC|predecessor=Shamshi-Adad IV|successor=Shalmaneser II|father=Shamshi-Adad IV|succession=King of the Middle Assyrian Empire|issue=Shalmaneser II, Ashur-rabi II}}
Ashurnasirpal I (Aššur-nāṣir-apli I, inscribed maš-šur-PAB-A, meaning "the god Assur is the protector of the heir") was the king of Assyria, 1049–1031 BC, and the 92nd to appear on the Assyrian Kinglist. He was the son and successor of Shamshi-Adad IV, and he ruled for 19 yearsKhorsabad Kinglist, tablet IM 60017 (excavation nos.: DS 828, DS 32-54), iv 5. during a troubled period of Assyrian history, marked by famine and war with nomads from the deserts to the west. He is best known for his penitential prayer to Ištar of Nineveh.
Reign
According to a royal hymn composed in his honor, he was born "in the mountains that nobody knows", suggesting he may have been born in exile, or perhaps a literary device, as it continues: "I was without understanding and I prayed not of your majesty". It relates that, when Ishtar appointed him to the kingship, he had restored her overthrown cult. Known from a single copy from the library of Ashurbanipal, it includes a plea to the goddess to restore him to health from the sickness that afflicted him, citing his temple-restoration, and devotions, to persuade her. It addresses Ištar of Nineveh, and Ištar of Arbil, as though they were separate deities.{{ cite journal | title = Ištar of Nineveh | author = W.G. Lambert | journal = Iraq | date = 2004 | volume = 66 | pages = 35–39 | doi=10.2307/4200555| jstor = 4200555 }} A second, fragmentary literary prayer thanks her for her favor.{{ cite book | title = The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Volume 1, Part I: A | chapter = Aššur-naṣir-apli I | author = S. Fischer | editor = K. Radner | publisher = The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project | year = 1998 | pages = 204–205}}
The Synchronistic KinglistSynchronistic Kinglist, Ass 14616c (KAV 216), iii 4. gives his Babylonian counterpart as Kashshu-nadin-ahi (c. 1006–1004 BC), but probably only for stylistic purposes as there seems to have been no recorded contact between the kingdoms during this period.{{ cite book | title = A Political History of Post Kassite Babylonia, 1158–722 BC | author = J. A. Brinkman | publisher = Pontificium Institutum Biblicum | year = 1968 | page = 29 }}
= Ashur =
A single short brick-inscription comes from his palace in Assur,RIMA 2 A.0.92.1:1. which was located between the south-west front of the ziggurat and the Anu-Adad temple. The "White Obelisk"White Obelisk, BM 118807. is sometimes attributed to him by historians, but more usually to his later namesake, Ashurnasirpal II, because its internal content (hunting, military campaigns, etc.) better matches what is known about his reign.{{ cite book | title = The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume II, Part 2, History of the Middle East and the Aegean Region, 1380–1000 BC | chapter = XXXI: Assyria & Babylonia 1200–1000 BC | author = D. J. Wiseman |editor1=I. E. S. Edwards |editor2=C. J. Gadd |editor3=N. G. L. Hammond |editor4=S. Solberger | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1975 | pages = 469–470 }}
= Succession =
He was succeeded by his son, Shalmaneser II, who mentions him in one of his own inscriptionsRIMA 2 A.0.93.1:4. and later by another son, the long-reigning Aššur-rabi II.
See also
Inscriptions
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |author=Albert Kirk Grayson |url=https://archive.org/details/assyrian-rulers-of-the-early-first-millennium-bc-i-1114-859-bc |title=Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC I (1114–859 BC) |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1991}}
{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
| title = King of Assyria
| before = Shamshi-Adad IV
| after = Shalmaneser II
| years = 1050–1031 BC
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Assyrian kings}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashurnasirpal 01}}