Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC, Vol. 2: 858-745 BC

Richard C. Smith is a professor in the Department of Classics,
University of Alberta.

This is another outstanding contribution to the Royal Inscriptions of
Mesopotamia series. The texts of the Assyrian ruler’s inscriptions are
both transliterated (for Assyriologists) and translated (for historians
and other nonspecialists). Brief introductions and commentaries,
footnotes on the various readings, and bibliographies of editions and
studies of the texts are also provided.

This particular volume deals with six Assyrian rulers from around the
middle of the ninth century through the middle of the eighth century BC,
along with some of their field marshals and a few unidentified
fragments. The most notable of the monarchs, Shalmaneser III (858–24
BC), was most effective in carrying on the military campaigns of his
father, Ashurinasirpal II, and even received tribute from Jehu, the
ruler of Israel. Also mentioned in the inscriptions of his grandson,
Adad-narari III (810–783 BC), is the legendary Semiramis,
Shalmaneser’s daughter-in-law, who was transformed by later Babylonian
and Greek sources into one of the mightiest rulers of all time.
Nevertheless, the fact that Adad-narari gives such prominence to his
mother and notes her presence in an expedition beyond the Euphrates is a
striking exception to the usual lists of kings and gods that make up the
majority of the inscriptions. Oracles commanding military campaigns are
even inscribed as letters from the god to the king, illustrating the
Assyrian understanding of history as a product of divine forces.