A New Reconstruction of the Reigns of Adad-nārārī II and Tukultī-Ninurta II in Light of Five Unattributed Royal Inscriptions

Abstract

The reigns of Adad-nārārī II (911–891) and his son Tukultī-Ninurta II (890–884) are vital to understanding the rise of Neo-Assyria; yet, reconstruction of these is hampered by the scarce and fragmentary sources available. This study surveys the reigns of these two kings, and examines five fragmentary early Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions from the city of Aššur published in 2009 by Frahm within Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts 3, providing solid ascriptions of three of these to Adad-nārārī II and two to Tukultī-Ninurta II on philological and historical grounds. These findings are then integrated into present knowledge of this period in order to present new portraits of these kings’ respective reigns. This results in a clearer historical articulation of Adad-nārārī II’s remarkably successful incumbency, particularly shedding light on his early victories. In turn, Tukultī-Ninurta II’s difficult reign spent consolidating his father’s territorial gains can also be better understood. Interestingly, various innovations can be ascribed to this latter king, not least the ‘calculated frightfulness’ for which his son would become so (in)famous within Assyriology. Finally, some repercussions of these findings for the study of 10th and 9th century royal inscriptions are explored.