Sîn-šumu-līšir

King of Assyria
Sîn-šumu-līšir
King of Assyria
King of Babylon
Undated seal impression from Nineveh depicting a "beardless king" fighting a lion.[1] Since kings were always depicted with beards and eunuchs always without them, it could depict Sîn-šumu-līšir.[2]
Usurper in the Neo-Assyrian Empire
Reign626 BC
PredecessorSîn-šar-iškun
SuccessorSîn-šar-iškun
Died626 BC
AkkadianSîn-šumu-līšir
Sîn-šumu-lēšir

Sîn-šumu-līšir or Sîn-šumu-lēšir[3] (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: Sîn-šumu-līšir[4] or Sîn-šumu-lēšir,[2] meaning "Sîn, make the name prosper!"),[5][6][7] also spelled Sin-shum-lishir,[8] was a usurper king in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, ruling some cities in northern Babylonia for three months in 626 BC during a revolt against the rule of the king Sîn-šar-iškun. He was the only eunuch to ever claim the throne of Assyria.

Nothing is known of Sîn-šumu-līšir's background or family and he first appears as a prominent courtier and general in the reign of Aššur-etil-ilāni (r. 631–627 BC). After the death of Aššur-etil-ilāni's father and predecessor Ashurbanipal (r. 669–631 BC), Sîn-šumu-līšir was instrumental in securing Aššur-etil-ilāni's rise to the throne and consolidating his position as king by defeating attempted revolts against his rule. It is possible that Sîn-šumu-līšir, as a prominent general close to the king, was the de facto ruler of Assyria throughout Aššur-etil-ilāni's reign.

Aššur-etil-ilāni died in 627 BC after a very short reign and in the following year, Sîn-šumu-līšir rebelled against Aššur-etil-ilāni's brother and successor Sîn-šar-iškun, possibly due to feeling that his prominent position was threatened by the rise of the new king. Sîn-šumu-līšir successfully seized cities such as Nippur and Babylon but was defeated by Sîn-šar-iškun after just three months.

Biography

Further "beardless king" seal impressions from Nineveh, possibly depicting Sîn-šumu-līšir.[2]

Nothing is known of Sîn-šumu-līšir's background or family.[9] He was a eunuch and probably already a prominent courtier during the reign of Ashurbanipal (r. 669–631 BC).[10] Eunuchs had often been appointed to prominent government positions in the Assyrian Empire because they could have no dynastic aspirations and thus in the mind of the Assyrians could not represent potential threats.[9] After Ashurbanipal's death, Sîn-šumu-līšir played a key role in securing the rise of his son Aššur-etil-ilāni to the throne, probably with the aid of his own private soldiers.[10] Sîn-šumu-līšir is then first mentioned in Assyrian sources as the rab ša rēši (great/chief eunuch)[9] of Aššur-etil-ilāni.[8] He is likely to have been the head of Aššur-etil-ilāni's household[9] and was probably a prominent general who had served the new king since his youth.[8]

As in many other successions in Assyrian history, Aššur-etil-ilāni's rise to the Assyrian throne in 631 BC was initially met with opposition and unrest.[11] An official named Nabu-riḫtu-uṣur attempted to seize the Assyrian throne with the help of another official called Sîn-šar-ibni. As the king's rab ša rēši, it is likely that Sîn-šumu-līšir played a role in suppressing the conspiracy, which appears to have been crushed relatively quickly.[8] In addition to suppressing the revolt, there is also a preserved tablet which records a treaty imposed by Sîn-šumu-līšir on three private individuals, guaranteeing Aššur-etil-ilāni's sovereignty.[12] The text of this treaty is highly similar to the succession treaties created by Aššur-etil-ilāni's grandfather Esarhaddon in the 670s BC to ensure the succession of Ashurbanipal.[13] Sîn-šumu-līšir is also recorded as receiving land from Aššur-etil-ilāni, possibly as a rewards for his service to the king.[8]

It is possible that Sîn-šumu-līšir, as a prominent general closely tied to the king, was the de facto ruler of Assyria during Aššur-etil-ilāni's reign. Aššur-etil-ilāni died under obscure circumstances in 627 BC, after just four years as king. Aššur-etil-ilāni's Babylonian vassal king Kandalanu also died at roughly the same time and Aššur-etil-ilāni's brother Sîn-šar-iškun assumed rulership of the entire Neo-Assyrian Empire. Immediately after Sîn-šar-iškun became king, Sîn-šumu-līšir rebelled against him, possibly due to feeling that his prominent position was threatened by the rise of a new king.[14] Though a military leader attempting to claim the throne during a time of crisis and succession wasn't necessarily unusual, the possibility that a eunuch would do so had never been entertained prior to Sîn-šumu-līšir's attempt.[15] He was the only eunuch to ever claim the throne of Assyria.[9] It is possible that a set of undated seal impressions from Nineveh containing the image of a beardless king could depict Sîn-šumu-līšir, as Assyrian kings were always depicted with beards but eunuchs were always depicted beardless.[2]

Seeking to seize power for himself, Sîn-šumu-līšir quickly took some key cities in northern Babylonia, including Nippur and Babylon itself.[16] Though his area of control was limited to parts of Babylonia, it is unclear if Sîn-šumu-līšir claimed the title "king of Babylon" in addition to "king of Assyria".[17] Modern historians typically include him in lists of Babylonian kings, as did some ancient Babylonian king lists.[18][19] Sîn-šumu-līšir never successfully took control of the Assyrian Empire and his tenure as "king" in Nippur and Babylon lasted only three months before Sîn-šar-iškun successfully defeated him.[16] In a later Babylonian epic, the killing of Sîn-šumu-līšir, in the story called the "almighty commander of the eunuchs", is attributed to Nabopolassar (the first king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire), rather than Sîn-šar-iškun.[7]

Despite being a usurper and not successfully taking control of the Assyrian heartland, Sîn-šumu-līšir is routinely listed in modern historiography as one of the final Assyrian kings, together with the legitimate rulers Aššur-etil-ilāni and Sîn-šar-iškun.[3][20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Herbordt 1992, p. 123.
  2. ^ a b c d Watanabe 1999, p. 320.
  3. ^ a b Perdue & Carter 2015, p. 40.
  4. ^ Glassner 2004, p. 355.
  5. ^ "Sin-šumu-lišir [1] (RN)". Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus. University of Pennsylvania.
  6. ^ "Sin-šumu-lišir [1] (PN)". Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
  7. ^ a b Reallexikon 12, p. 524.
  8. ^ a b c d e Ahmed 2018, p. 121.
  9. ^ a b c d e Oates 1992, p. 172.
  10. ^ a b Leick 2002, p. 157.
  11. ^ Na’aman 1991, p. 255.
  12. ^ Grayson 1987, p. 130.
  13. ^ Barré 1988, p. 83.
  14. ^ Na’aman 1991, p. 256.
  15. ^ Siddal 2007, p. 236.
  16. ^ a b Lipschits 2005, p. 13.
  17. ^ Beaulieu 1997, p. 386.
  18. ^ Chen 2020, pp. 202–206.
  19. ^ Beaulieu 2018, p. 195.
  20. ^ Dalley 1994, p. 48.

Bibliography

  • Ahmed, Sami Said (2018). Southern Mesopotamia in the time of Ashurbanipal. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3111033587.
  • Barré, Michael L. (1988). "A Note on the Sin-Shumu-Lishir Treaty". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 40 (1): 81–83. doi:10.2307/1359710. JSTOR 1359710. S2CID 163601943.
  • Beaulieu, Paul-Alain (1997). "The Fourth Year of Hostilities in the Land". Baghdader Mitteilungen. 28: 367–394.
  • Beaulieu, Paul-Alain (2018). A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1405188999.
  • Chen, Fei (2020). "A List of Babylonian Kings". Study on the Synchronistic King List from Ashur. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004430921.
  • Dalley, Stephanie (1994). "Nineveh, Babylon and the Hanging Gardens: Cuneiform and Classical Sources Reconciled". Iraq. 56: 45–58. doi:10.1017/S0021088900002801. JSTOR 4200384. S2CID 194106498.
  • Glassner, Jean-Jacques (2004). Mesopotamian Chronicles. SBL Press. ISBN 978-1589830905.
  • Grayson, A. Kirk (1987). "Akkadian Treaties of the Seventh Century B.C.". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 39 (2): 127–160. doi:10.2307/1359778. JSTOR 1359778. S2CID 163429987.
  • Herbordt, Suzanne (1992). Neuassyrische Glyptik des 8.-7. Jh. v. Chr. The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project. ISBN 951-45-6047-7.
  • Leick, Gwendolyn (2002). Who's Who in the Ancient Near East. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415132312.
  • Lipschits, Oled (2005). The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem: Judah under Babylonian Rule. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1575060958.
  • Na’aman, Nadav (1991). "Chronology and History in the Late Assyrian Empire (631—619 B.C.)". Zeitschrift für Assyriologie. 81 (1–2): 243–267. doi:10.1515/zava.1991.81.1-2.243. S2CID 159785150.
  • Oates, Joan (1992). "The fall of Assyria (635–609 BC)". The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 3 Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-3111033587.
  • Perdue, Leo G.; Carter, Warren (2015). Israel and Empire: A Postcolonial History of Israel and Early Judaism. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0567054098.
  • Schaudig, H. (2009–2011). "Sîn-šumu-līšir". Reallexikon der Assyriologie. Vol. 12. De Gruyter.
  • Siddal, L. R. (2007). "A Re-Examination of the Title ša reši in the Neo-Assyrian period". In Azize, Joseph; Weeks, Noel (eds.). Gilgames̆ and the World of Assyria: Proceedings of the Conference Held at Mandelbaum House, the University of Sydney, 21-23 July, 2004. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 9789042918023.
  • Watanabe, Kazuko (1999). "Seals of Neo-Assyrian Officials". In Watanabe, Kazuko (ed.). Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East. Universitätsverlag C. Winter. ISBN 3-8253-0533-3.
Sîn-šumu-līšir
 Died: 626 BC
Preceded by King of Assyria
(Usurper)
626 BC 		Succeeded by
Preceded by King of Babylon
626 BC
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