Eriba-Adad II

Erība-Adad II, inscribed ^mSU-^dIM, “Adad has replaced,” was the king of Assyria 1056/55-1054 BC, the 94^th 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.^[1]

Biography

The Khorsabad kinglist^{[i 3]} mistakenly gives him as a son of Ilu-kabkabi, i.e. the father of the 18^th century BC king Šamši-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 Tukultī-apil-Ešarra I, for which he styled himself “king of the four quarters.”^[2] He would have appeared on a destroyed section of the eponym list designated as Cc.^{[i 6]}

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,^[3] as commemorated in one of his inscriptions.^{[i 7]} A fragmentary literary text is dated to his reign.^{[i 8]} The Synchronistic Kinglist gives his name, but the Babylonian counterpart is illegible, possibly having been Simbar-Šipak 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] His rule came to an end when Šamši-Adad “went up [from Kardun]iaš. He drove Erība-Adad, [son of Aššur-bēl-ka]la, from the throne.”^[5]

An Aššur 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".^[6]

Inscriptions

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

References