Two new studies have revealed the existence of three Assyrian kings whose names were not included in the official list of kings, overturning the traditional understanding of the history of the Assyrian Empire.
The results of this research suggest that historical records may have been subjected to a political "cleaning" process to conceal undesirable rulers.
For nearly a century, researchers have relied on the so-called "Assyrian King List" as the most reliable source for the succession of Assyrian rulers, especially in later periods. However, a new study by Alexander Johannes Edmonds and Eckart Frahm, published in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies under the title "Three New Kings of Assyria," argues that this list is not as objective as previously thought. It presents, for the first time, the identities of three kings whose names were deliberately omitted from the official record, but whose reigns can be reconstructed using other evidence.
The first marginalized king was Tiglath-Pileser, who took his name from a previous ruler. This king ruled in parallel with the legitimate king Ashur-dan III (who was his nephew), and tried to overthrow him by taking advantage of a solar eclipse that was considered an omen of bad luck at that time.
A royal grant dating from his reign indicates that he ruled around 763-762 BC before being overthrown.
Clay tablets preserved in the British Museum, inscribed with a royal grant bearing records of his administration, confirming that he was indeed able to exercise power for a brief period, indicate that this king's reign lasted only about one year, from 763 to 762 BC, before he was deposed and overthrown.
Evidence for the second king comes from a stone tablet discovered in 1894 at Tell Abtah in Iraq. There has been much debate regarding the rewriting of the contemporary king's name on this tablet and its replacement with that of another king.
Edmonds and Frahm explain that this puzzle can be solved simply by acknowledging the existence of another king named Shalmaneser, who ruled for a very short period just before the rise of King Tiglath-Pileser III in 745 BC, and whose name was later erased and replaced by the name of the king who succeeded him, in an attempt to hide his short and unstable reign.
The third king: Ashur-uballit... the potter who disappeared from the records
The third case concerns a king named Ashur-uballit, who is mentioned in a cuneiform text describing an offering vessel made by King Tukulti-Ninurta I and later restored by King Ashur-uballit. However, no king by this name appears between Tukulti-Ninurta I and Tukulti-Ninurta II in the official list.
Edmonds and Frahm believe that the unrecorded reign of Ashur-uballit, which lasted around 913-912 BC, may explain this reference, and may also identify a king represented by a statue discovered in the city of Ashur, whose head had been removed and whose arms had been eroded.
The researchers argue that the inclusion of these three kings necessitates a re-examination of the nature of the Assyrian King List. Rather than being a neutral historical record, it is more likely that it was a "legal code" that was periodically updated to remove kings who ruled for short periods or who participated in governance illegitimately.
The research raises new questions: What determined the legitimacy of the king? Was the list a practical tool for recording history or merely a ceremonial document reflecting political power?
With the discovery of these three hidden stories, the early history of the Assyrian Empire has become more complex, but also more exciting than previously thought.
This discovery offers a new and dynamic perspective on the formation of the first empire in human history, and opens the door to a comprehensive re-reading of the historical records of the ancient world.
