Eriba-Adad II

Eriba-Adad II
Eriba-Adad II
King of Assyria
King of the Middle Assyrian Empire
Reign	1056–1054 BC
Predecessor	Ashur-bel-kala
Successor	Shamshi-Adad IV
Father	Ashur-bel-kala
Mother	Babylonian princess, daughter of Adad-apla-iddina (?)

Erība-Adad II, inscribed ^mSU-^dIM, “Adad has replaced,” was the king of Assyria 1056/55–1054 BC, the 94th to appear on the Assyrian Kinglist.^{[i 1]}^{[i 2]} He was the son of Aššur-bēl-kala whom he briefly succeeded and was deposed by his uncle Šamši-Adad IV.^[2]

Reign

The Khorsabad kinglist^{[i 3]} mistakenly gives him as a son of Ilu-kabkabi, i.e. the father of the 18th century BC king Shamshi-Adad I. Despite his short two-year reign, there are fragmentary inscriptions^{[i 4]}^{[i 5]} where he claims his rule extended to the Aramaeans and lists conquests far and wide in intense military campaigns, imitating those of Tiglath-Pileser I, for which he styled himself “king of the four quarters.”^[3] He would have appeared on a destroyed section of the eponym list designated as Cc.^{[i 6]}

The Synchronistic Kinglist gives his name, but the Babylonian counterpart is illegible, possibly having been Simbar-shipak based on the sequence of kings before and after. This chronicle seems quite fanciful in its chronology during the Assyrian dark-age. In any case, the king Adad-apla-iddina would have been his contemporary, sheltering his uncle, Šamši-Adad IV in political exile while he regrouped and planned his putsch. Although Aššur-bēl-kala had married Adad-apla-iddina’s daughter, it seems unlikely that Adad-apla-iddina would have then participated in an effort to depose his own grandson, so it seems likely that Erība-Adad was the issue of another queen and the Babylonian king’s change of attitude due to earlier political events in Assyria.^[4]

Assur

An Assur monumental stele (number 27) from the Stelenreihe, "row of stelae", has been attributed to him and is inscribed laconically: "Erība-adad, king of the universe".^[5] He was one of the restorers of the é.ḫur.sağ.kur.kur.ra, "House, Mountain of the Lands", or the cella of the temple of the god Aššur,^[6] as commemorated in one of his inscriptions.^{[i 7]} A fragmentary literary text is dated to his reign.^{[i 8]}

Usurpation

From Babylon, his rule came to an end when his exiled uncle Šamši-Adad “went up Kardun]iaš He drove Erība-Adad, [son of Aššur-bēl-ka]la, from the throne.”^[7]

Inscriptions

^ SDAS Kinglist, iii 31.
^ Nassouhi Kinglist, iv 12.
^ Khorsabad Kinglist, iii 45,
^ Clay cone fragment from Nineveh BM 123467, 6 lines.
^ Part of a clay tablet Rm-II.261 (RIMA 2 A.0.90.1), 7.
^ Eponym List VAT 11254, (KAV 21).
^ K.2693 Part of a clay tablet, with holes, 13 + 5 lines (RIMA 2 A.0.90.1).
^ Literary text, BM 98941.

References

^ Brinkman, J.A. (1968). Political history of Post-Kassite Babylonia (1158-722 b. C.) (A). Gregorian Biblical BookShop. p. 142.
^ P. Talon (1999). K. Radner (ed.). The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Volume 1, Part II: A. The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project. p. 400.
^ D. J. Wiseman (1975). "XXXI: Assyria & Babylonia 1200–1000 BC". In I. E. S. Edwards; C. J. Gadd; N. G. L. Hammond; S. Solberger (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume II, Part 2, History of the Middle East and the Aegean Region, 1380–1000 BC. Cambridge University Press. p. 469.
^ J. A. Brinkman (1968). A Political History of Post-Kassite Babylonia, 1158–722 B.C. Pontificium Institutum Biblicum. p. 144.
^ P. A. Miglus (1984). "Another Look at the "Stelenreihen" in Assur". Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie. 74: 136. doi:10.1515/zava.1984.74.1.133. S2CID 163992410.
^ A. R. George (2003). House Most High: The Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia. Eisenbrauns. pp. 101–102.
^ Jean-Jacques Glassner (2004). Mesopotamian Chronicles. SBL. pp. 142–143.