The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and BabyloniaPinches, Theophilus G. (Theophilus Goldridge)
Religion
The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia
Pinches, Theophilus G. (Theophilus Goldridge)
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
“On the 20th day of Tebet, Sin-âḫê-eriba, king of Assyria, his son killed
him in a revolt. For (? 25) years Sin-âḫê-eriba had ruled the kingdom of
Assyria. From the 20th day of the month Tebet until the 2nd day of the
month Adar, the revolt in Assyria continued. Month Adar, day 18th,
Aššur-âḫâ-iddina (Esarhaddon), his son, sat upon the throne in Assyria.”
According to Berosus, who agrees with the Biblical account in this, it was
two of his sons who killed him, but it may be taken that, though they were
both morally responsible, one only actually performed the deed. Shareser
is not mentioned, either by Abydenus or Polyhistor, as taking part in the
murder; it would seem to be very probable, that Adrammelech was the
culprit. From Berosus it is also clear that Esarhaddon had nothing to do
with it, and this is to a certain extent confirmed by his inscriptions,
which, as will be seen farther on, represent him as warring in Armenia,
whither his brothers had fled.
According to the received chronology, the assassination of Sennacherib and
the accession of Esarhaddon took place in the year 680 B.C.
Esarhaddon.
It is a matter greatly to be regretted that the royal inscriptions of
Esarhaddon have not come down to us in a complete state, and also that we
do not possess the later portions of the Assyrian Eponym Canon with
historical references, which would enable us to fix the date of the
campaigns. Of course, there is every probability that they are mentioned
in chronological order, but as their dates are not stated, at least some
uncertainty must prevail.
[Plate XII.]
Esarhaddon, King of Assyria. The kneeling figure, which has the negro type
of features and wears the uraeus ornament, is apparently Tirhakah, his
opponent in Egypt. The prisoners here represented are regarded as being
treated as the same king treated Manasseh (2 Chr. xxxiii. 11, R.V. marg.).
Found at Zenjirli. From _Mittheilungen aus den Orientalischen Sammlungen_,
Part XI., by permission of the publishing-house of Georg Reimer, Berlin.
It is therefore impossible to say with certainty whether the recital, in
forcible though apparently well-chosen language, of what took place in
Ḫanigalbat, or Mesopotamia, belongs to the account of the conflict with
his brothers (who would have liked to overthrow Esarhaddon that one of
them might reign in his stead) or not. The wording, however, makes it very
probable that the narrative does refer to them, for he overtook them on
the Nineveh road, and the disappearance of their resistance was more than
gratifying to the new king—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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