Three forgotten kings could rewrite the history of ancient Assyria
Three forgotten Assyrian kings may have been hiding in plain sight for more than 2,700 years. By piecing together clues from tablets, inscriptions, and an ancient statue, researchers argue that these rulers were omitted from the famous Assyrian King List.
For nearly a century, scholars have regarded the Assyrian King List (AKL) as the definitive source of information on the rulers of the Assyrian Empire. However, a recent study published in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies challenges the completeness and neutrality of this traditional record. Authors Alexander Johannes Edmonds and Eckart Frahm identify three previously overlooked Assyrian kings whose reigns can be inferred from other surviving historical evidence.
Their first discovery involves a king named Tiglath-pileser, whose name appears to replace that of an earlier Assyrian monarch. This Tiglath-pileser is believed to have ruled concurrently with Aṣḥiyā-dān III, who was also his nephew. According to royal records found on a clay tablet held by the British Museum, this Tiglath-pileser reigned from approximately 763-762 BCE before being overthrown. The tablet documents a royal grant, suggesting his administration had significant political and religious implications.
The second newly identified ruler is a figure named Shalmaneser, who precedes Tiglath-pileser III in the Assyrian timeline. References to Shalmaneser were overshadowed by Tiglath-pileser III's more prominent name in historical records. Edmonds and Frahm propose that Shalmaneser ruled from 745 BCE, just before Tiglath-pileser III ascended the throne.
The third forgotten king is Aṣḥiyā-uballiṭ, whose existence is inferred from a cuneiform text referencing a libation vessel created by his predecessor, Tukultī-Ninurta I, and later restored by Aṣḥiyā-uballiṭ. The AKL fails to record a king by this name between Tukultī-Ninurta I's reign (913-912 BCE) and his successor's reign (Tukultī-Ninurta II). This suggests Aṣḥiyā-uballiṭ ruled for a brief period during this gap, providing a plausible explanation for the reference to the restored vessel.
These three newly identified kings complicate the previously accepted narrative of Assyrian political history, indicating a more complex and dynamic period than previously thought. Edmonds and Frahm argue that the AKL may have served not just as an impartial chronicle but as a legitimizing canon of kings, periodically updated to erase short-lived or parallel rulers.
This perspective raises important questions about the motivations behind the compilation of the AKL and the role it played in shaping historical memory and political legitimacy within the Assyrian Empire.
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