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107-662: Nimrim , in Moab , is mentioned twice in scripture in the Tanakh and Bible , in Isaiah 15:6 and in Jeremiah 48:34 . Little is known of Nimrim other than it was in Moab. It is mentioned in connection with several cities that were under Moabite control at that time (around 626BC - 586BC) such as Heshbon , Zoar and Horonaim . Scholars are not in agreement of whether Nimrim was a river, or

214-494: A "high place" for Chemosh on the hill before Jerusalem ( 1 Kings 11:7 ), which the Bible describes as "this detestation of Moab". The altar was not destroyed until the reign of Josiah ( 2 Kings 23:13 ). The Moabite Stone also mentions (line 17) a female counterpart of Chemosh, Ashtar-Chemosh . The Moabite language was spoken in Moab. It was a Canaanite language closely related to Biblical Hebrew , Ammonite and Edomite , and

321-469: A braided hairstyle like the Shasu from later reliefs that contained the name Moab; a possible explanation is that Mw-i-bw, if it was indeed the land of Moab, was at that time inhabited by a pre-Moabite population, whereas the historical Moabites settled in the area only in the 12th century BCE. Na'aman concluded, however, that the identification of Mw-i-bw with the biblical land of Moab can no longer be upheld;

428-624: A brother"; Biblical Hebrew : אֵסַר־חַדֹּן ‎ ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn ) was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 BC to 669 BC. The third king of the Sargonid dynasty , Esarhaddon is most famous for his conquest of Egypt in 671 BC, which made his empire the largest the world had ever seen, and for his reconstruction of Babylon , which had been destroyed by his father. After Sennacherib's eldest son and heir Aššur-nādin-šumi had been captured and presumably executed in 694,

535-574: A corruption of "seed of a father", or as a participial form from "to desire", thus connoting "the desirable (land)". Rashi explains the word Mo'ab to mean "from the father", since ab in Hebrew and Arabic and other Semitic languages means "father". He writes that as a result of the immodesty of Moab's name, God did not command the Israelites to refrain from inflicting pain upon the Moabites in

642-640: A few Assyrian sources discuss, ended in what some scholars have assumed was possibly one of Assyria's worst defeats. The Egyptians had for years sponsored rebels and dissenters in Assyria and Esarhaddon had hoped to storm Egypt and take this rival out in one fell swoop. Because Esarhaddon had marched his army at great speed, the Assyrians were exhausted once they arrived outside the Egyptian-controlled city of Ashkelon , where they were defeated by

749-596: A gathering of my brothers he asked Shamash, "is this my heir?" and the gods answered, "he is your second self". And then my brothers went mad. They drew their swords, godlessly, in the middle of Nineveh. But Ashur, Shamash, Bel, Nabu, Ishtar , all the gods looked with wrath on the deeds of these scoundrels, brought their strength to weakness and humbled them beneath me. Arda-Mulissu was forced to swear loyalty to Esarhaddon by his father, but repeatedly appealed to Sennacherib to again accept him as heir instead. These appeals were not successful, and Sennacherib came to realize that

856-501: A lake, or a city. This Bible -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Moab The etymology of the word Moab is uncertain. The earliest gloss is found in the Koine Greek Septuagint ( Genesis 19:37 ) which explains the name, in obvious allusion to the account of Moab's parentage, as ἐκ τοῦ πατρός μου ("from my father"). Other etymologies which have been proposed regard it as

963-704: A mixed character, sometimes warlike and sometimes peaceable. With the tribe of Benjamin they had at least one severe struggle, in union with their kindred the Ammonites and the Amalekites ( Judges 3:12–30 ). The Benjaminite shofet Ehud ben Gera assassinated the Moabite king Eglon and led an Israelite army against the Moabites at a ford of the Jordan river, killing many of them. The Book of Ruth testifies to friendly relations between Moab and Bethlehem , one of

1070-476: A more equal standing. The two crown princes soon became heavily involved with Assyrian politics, which lifted some of the burden from the shoulders of their sickly father. Esarhaddon's mother Naqiʾa ensured that any potential enemies and claimants took an oath to support Ashurbanipal's rise to the Assyrian throne, another step to avoid the bloodshed which had begun Esarhaddon's own reign. In order to ensure

1177-457: A permanent skin rash which covered most of his body, including his face. The physicians, likely the best in Assyria, were perplexed and eventually had to confess that they were powerless to aid him. This is clearly expressed in their letters, such as the following: My lord, the king, keeps telling me: "Why do you not identify the nature of my disease and find a cure?" As I told the king already in person, his symptoms cannot be classified. Because

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1284-476: A return to the law because men had been marrying women who had not been converted at all ( Ezra 9:1–2 , 12; Nehemiah 13:23–25 ). The heir of King Solomon was Rehoboam , the son of an Ammonite woman, Naamah ( 1 Kings 14:21 ). On the other hand, the marriages of the Bethlehem Ephrathites (of the tribe of Judah ) Mahlon and Chilion to the Moabite women Orpah and Ruth ( Ruth 1:2–4 ), and

1391-610: A series of nations conquered during a campaign. Four inscriptions from the time of Ramesses II mention Mw-i-bw as a rebellious place that refuses to recognize Egypt's control over Canaan and, together with the Shasu of Mount Seir , conducted raids in Egypt. Pharaoh sent troops to the area and suppressed the rebellion - in the inscriptions of Ramesses II, the inhabitants are shown as having hairstyles identical to those of neighboring Canaanites (long hair collected and arranged) and not

1498-726: A six-week long civil war. His brothers' attempted coup had been unexpected and troublesome for Esarhaddon and he would be plagued by paranoia and mistrust for his officials, governors and male family members until the end of his reign. As a result of this paranoia, most of the palaces used by Esarhaddon were high-security fortifications located outside of the major population centers of the cities. Also perhaps resulting from his mistrust for his male relatives, Esarhaddon's female relatives, such as his mother Naqiʾa and his daughter Šērūʾa-ēṭirat , were allowed to wield considerably more influence and political power during his reign than women had been allowed in any previous period of Assyrian history, with

1605-412: A substantial amount of work had been completed. It is likely that Esarhaddon fulfilled most of his restoration goals, including the near complete restoration of Esagila and Etemenanki , with the possible exception of the city walls, which were likely fully restored by his successor. Esarhaddon also sponsored restoration programs in other southern cities. In his first regnal year, Esarhaddon returned

1712-449: A substitute (preferably one with mental deficiencies) took the king's place by sleeping in the royal bed, wearing the crown and the royal garbs and eating the king's food. During these hundred days, the actual king remained hidden and was known only under the alias "the farmer". The goal of the ritual was that any evil intended for the king would instead be focused on the substitute king, who was killed regardless of if anything had happened at

1819-408: A succession crisis. This time, Esarhaddon appointed two crown princes; his eldest living son Shamash-shum-ukin was selected as the heir to Babylon whilst a younger son, Ashurbanipal , was selected as the heir to Assyria. The two princes arrived at the capital of Nineveh together and partook in a celebration with foreign representatives and Assyrian nobles and soldiers. Promoting one of his sons as

1926-478: A war against the Moabites, who were under tribute to Israel. The Moabites were subdued, but seeing Mesha 's act of offering his own son (and singular heir) as a propitiatory human sacrifice on the walls of Kir of Moab filled Israel with horror, and they withdrew and returned to their own land. According to the Book of Jeremiah , Moab was exiled to Babylon for his arrogance and idolatry. According to Rashi , it

2033-513: Is mentioned as tributary to Assyria . Sargon II mentions on a clay prism a revolt against him by Moab together with Philistia , Judah , and Edom ; but on the Taylor prism , which recounts the expedition against Hezekiah , Kammusu-Nadbi ( Chemosh-nadab ), King of Moab, brings tribute to Sargon as his suzerain. Musuri, King of Moab, paid too a tribute to Assarhaddon at the same time as Manasseh of Judah , Qosgabar of Edom and other kings of

2140-413: Is something that cannot be done. Notes and letters preserved from those at the royal court, including Esarhaddon's physicians, describe his condition in some detail, discussing violent vomiting, constant fever, nosebleeds, dizziness, painful earaches, diarrhea and depression. The king often feared that his death was near, and his condition would have been apparent to anyone who saw him as he was affected by

2247-734: The Arabian Peninsula , Anatolia , the Caucasus , and the Levant , defeated the Kushite Empire and conquered Egypt and Libya , enforced a vassal treaty upon the Medes and Persians and ensured a peaceful transition of power to his two sons and heirs Ashurbanipal as ruler of the empire and Šamaš-šuma-ukin as king of Babylonia after his death. Although Esarhaddon had been the crown prince of Assyria for three years and

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2354-521: The Assyrian heartland as well, although they were not as civically oriented as those in Babylonia. In Assyria, Esarhaddon constructed and restored temples but also worked on palaces and military fortifications. Possibly in order to reassure the Assyrian people that his projects in the south would be matched with projects of equal proportion in the north, Esarhaddon ensured that repairs were made to

2461-631: The Cimmerians invaded the westernmost provinces of the empire and by 676 they had penetrated further into Esarhaddon's empire, destroying temples and cities on the way. To stop this invasion, Esarhaddon personally led his soldiers in battle in Cilicia and successfully repelled the Cimmerians. In his inscriptions, Esarhaddon claims to personally have killed the Cimmerian king Teušpa . While

2568-454: The Kingdom of Israel until the death of Ahab which according to E. R. Thiele 's reckoning was in about 853 BCE, when the Moabites refused to pay tribute and asserted their independence, making war upon the kingdom of Judah ( 2 Chronicles 22:1 ). After the death of Ahab in about 853 BCE, the Moabites under Mesha rebelled against Jehoram , who allied himself with Jehoshaphat , King of

2675-629: The Kingdom of Judah , and with the King of Edom. According to the Bible, the prophet Elisha directed the Israelites to dig a series of ditches between themselves and the enemy, and during the night these channels were miraculously filled with water which appeared red as blood in the morning light. According to the biblical account, the crimson color deceived the Moabites into thinking that the Israelites, and their allies, had attacked one another. Eager to acquire plunder, they were ambushed and defeated by

2782-522: The Kushite Pharaoh Taharqa . Following this defeat, Esarhaddon abandoned his plan to conquer Egypt for the moment and withdrew back to Nineveh . By the time of Esarhaddon's first failed invasion of Egypt in 673 BC, it had become apparent that the king's health was deteriorating. This presented a problem since one of the chief requirements of being the Assyrian king was that one had perfect mental and physical health. The king

2889-535: The Levant . They send building materials to Nineveh . Moab militarily supported Assurbanipal during his campaign against Egypt and the pharaoh Taharqa . The status of vassal of Assyria allows Moab to benefit in return from the support of Assyria against the nomadic tribes of the Arabian desert , and in particular against the Qedarites. King Kamōš-ʿaśa seemed to have defeated Ammuladi, king of Qedar . After

2996-553: The Roman conquest of the Levant by Pompey in 63 BCE, Moab lost its distinct identity through assimilation. Early modern travellers in the region included Ulrich Jasper Seetzen (1805), Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1812), Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles (1818), and Louis Félicien de Saulcy (1851). According to the biblical account, Moab and Ammon were born to Lot and Lot's elder and younger daughters, respectively, in

3103-446: The prophetical books ( Isa 25:10 ; Ezek 25:8–11 ; Amos 2:1–3 ; Zephaniah 2:8–11 ). Two chapters of Isaiah (15 and 16) and one of Jeremiah (48) are devoted to the "burden of Moab". Its prosperity and pride, which the Israelites believed incurred the wrath of God , are frequently mentioned ( Isa 16:6 ; Jer 48:11–29 ; Zephaniah 2:10 ), and their contempt for Israel is once expressly noted ( Jer. 48:27 ). Moab would be dealt with during

3210-482: The river Jordan . These Amorites, described in the Bible as being ruled by King Sihon , confined the Moabites to the country south of the river Arnon, which formed their northern boundary ( Numbers 21:13 ; Judges 11:18 ). God renewed his covenant with the Israelites at Moab before the Israelites entered the Promised Land ( Deuteronomy 29:1 ). Moses died there ( Deut 34:5 ), prevented by God from entering

3317-403: The Assyrian throne with great difficulty, Esarhaddon took several steps in order to ensure that the transition of power following his own death would be a smooth and peaceful one. A treaty concluded between Esarhaddon and his vassal Ramataia , the ruler of a Median kingdom in the east called Urakazabarna in c.   672 BC makes it clear that all of Esarhaddon's sons were still minors at

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3424-446: The Assyrian throne. Some inscriptions suggest that they were alive and free as late as 673. In the early months of 671 BC, Esarhaddon again marched against Egypt . The army assembled for this second Egytian campaign was considerably larger than the one Esarhaddon had used in 673 and he marched at a much slower speed in order to avoid the problems that had plagued his previous attempt. On his way he passed through Harran , one of

3531-454: The Assyrians saw illness as divine punishment, a king who was ill would have been seen as an indication that the gods were not supportive of him. Because of this, Esarhaddon's poor health had to be hidden from his subjects at all costs. That his subjects remained unaware was ensured through the ancient royal Assyrian tradition that anyone who approached the king had to be both on their knees and veiled. Seeing as he himself had only acquired

3638-485: The Bible refers to them as the "people of Chemosh" ( Num 21:29 ; Jer 48:46 ). During the Iron Age, several Moabite cultic sites have been found in places such as Deir Alla , Damiyah , Ataruz or Khirbet al-Mudayna. According to II Kings , at times, especially in dire peril, human sacrifices were offered to Chemosh, as by Mesha, who gave up his son and heir to him ( 2 Kings 3:27 ). Nevertheless, King Solomon built

3745-572: The Book of Ruth to settle the dispute as the rule had been forgotten since the time of Boaz . Another interpretation is that the Book of Ruth is simply reporting the events in an impartial fashion, leaving any praise or condemnation to be done by the reader. The Babylonian Talmud in Yevamot 76B explains that one of the reasons was the Ammonites did not greet the Children of Israel with friendship and

3852-543: The Cimmerian invasion was underway, one of Esarhaddon's vassals in the Levant , the Phoenician city-state of Sidon , rebelled against his rule. Sidon had only recently been conquered by Assyria, having been made a vassal by Esarhaddon's father in 701. Esarhaddon marched his army down along the Mediterranean coast and captured the rebellious city in 677 but its king, Abdi-Milkutti , escaped by boat. He

3959-474: The Egyptians, he performed the substitute king ritual , an ancient Assyrian method intended to protect and shield the king from imminent danger announced by some sort of omen. Esarhaddon had performed the ritual earlier in his reign, but this time it left him unable to command his invasion of Egypt. The "substitute king" ritual involved the Assyrian monarch going into hiding for a hundred days, during which

4066-634: The Elamites and some Chaldean rebels which had fled there. In response to this attack, the Elamites invaded from another route Babylonia in the south of Sennacherib's empire and in 694 successfully captured Ashur-nadin-shumi at the city of Sippar . The prince was taken back to Elam and probably executed, causing Sennacherib to wreak savage revenge on the Elamites, Chaldeans and Babylonians. After Aššur-nādin-šumi's presumed death, Sennacherib elevated his second eldest surviving son, Arda-Mulissu , as crown prince. After several years as crown prince, Arda-Mulissu

4173-572: The Holy of Holies" (Ex R. viii. 3). He was assassinated by two of his servants, one of whom was the son of an Ammonite woman and the other the offspring of a Moabite ( 2 Chron. 24:26 ); for God said: "Let the descendants of the two ungrateful families chastise the ungrateful Joash" ( Yalk. , Ex. 262). Moab and Ammon were the two offspring of Lot 's incest with his two daughters as described in Gen. 19:30–38 . Jehoshaphet subsequently joined Jehoram of Israel in

4280-575: The Israelite religion. According to the Hebrew Bible, the Moabites were not hospitable to the Israelites who exited Egypt and hired Balaam to curse them. As a consequence, male Moabites were excluded by Torah law from marrying Jewish women. The term "tenth generation" used in connection with that prohibition is considered an idiom, used for an unlimited time, as opposed to the third generation, which allows an Egyptian convert to marry into

4387-533: The Israelites ( 2 Kings 3 ). According to Mesha's inscription on the Mesha Stele , however, he was completely victorious and regained all the territory of which Israel had deprived him. This battle is the last important date in the history of the Moabites as recorded in the Bible. In the year of Elisha's death they invaded Israel ( 2 Kings 13:20 ) and later aided Nebuchadnezzar in his expedition against Jehoiakim ( 2 Kings 24:2 ). Allusions to Moab are frequent in

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4494-546: The Israelites is linked to the conquests by the Jewish Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus . During that period, the Moabites were called the "Arabian Moabites". In Ezekiel 25:9 the boundaries are given as being marked by Beth-jeshimoth (north), Baal-meon (east), and Kiriathaim (south). That these limits were not fixed, however, is plain from the lists of cities given in Isaiah 15–16 and Jeremiah 48 , where Heshbon , Elealeh , and Jazer are mentioned to

4601-488: The Moabites hired Balaam to curse them. The difference in the responses of the two people led to God allowing the Jewish people to harass the Moabites (but not go to war) but forbade them to even harass the Ammonites ( Deuteronomy 23:3–4 ). Jehoash was one of the four men who pretended to be gods. He was persuaded thereto particularly by the princes, who said to him. "Wert thou not a god thou couldst not come out alive from

4708-466: The Promised Land. He was buried in an unknown location in Moab and the Israelites spent a period of thirty days there in mourning ( Deuteronomy 34:6–8 ). According to the Book of Judges, the Israelites did not pass through the land of the Moabites ( Judges 11:18 ), but conquered Sihon's kingdom and his capital at Heshbon . After the conquest of Canaan the relations of Moab with Israel were of

4815-631: The aftermath of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah . The Bible refers to both the Moabites and Ammonites as Lot's sons, born of incest with his daughters ( Genesis 19:37–38 ). The Moabites first inhabited the rich highlands at the eastern side of the chasm of the Dead Sea, extending as far as Wadi Mujib to Wadi Hasa , from which country they expelled the Emim , the original inhabitants ( Deuteronomy 2:11 ), but they themselves were afterward driven southward by warlike tribes of Amorites , who had crossed

4922-489: The chiefs of the Chaldeans bless the king, saying, "(It is he) who resettled (the people) of Babylon". The rebuilding of the city was not completed during Esarhaddon's lifetime and much work was also done during the reign of his successors. Exactly how much of the reconstruction was done during the reign of Esarhaddon is uncertain, but stones with his inscriptions are found in the ruins of the city's temples, suggesting that

5029-556: The cities of Der , Humhumia and Sippar-aruru . In the years to follow, statues were also returned to the cities of Larsa and Uruk . As he had in Babylon, Esarhaddon also cleared away debris in Uruk and repaired the city's Eanna temple, dedicated to the goddess Ishtar . Similar small-scale restoration projects were undertaken in the cities of Nippur , Borsippa and Akkad . Because of Esarhaddon's extensive building projects in

5136-517: The city of Sippar . The Assyrian army had been away at the time, campaigning in Anatolia , and was forced to abandon this campaign in order to defend the southern provinces. Little is recorded of this conflict and as the fall of Sippar was an embarrassment it is not mentioned by Esarhaddon in any of his inscriptions. Shortly after seizing Sippar, the Elamite king Khumban-khaltash II died, which left

5243-630: The city's destruction, he only refers to himself as a king "ordained by the gods" in his inscriptions in Babylon, only mentioning Sennacherib in his inscriptions in the north and blaming the city's destruction not on his father but on Babylon "offending its gods". Writing of his reconstruction of Babylon, Esarhaddon states the following: Great king, mighty monarch, lord of all, king of the land of Assur, ruler of Babylon, faithful shepherd, beloved of Marduk, lord of lords, dutiful leader, loved by Marduk's Consort Zurpanitum, humble, obedient, full of praise for their strength and awestruck from his earliest days in

5350-486: The community. The Talmud expresses the view that the prohibition applied only to male Moabites, who were not allowed to marry born Jews or legitimate converts. Female Moabites, when converted to Judaism, were permitted to marry with only the normal prohibition of a convert marrying a kohen (priest) applying. However, the prohibition was not followed during the Babylonian captivity , and Ezra and Nehemiah sought to compel

5457-446: The designated heir of King Sennacherib , with the entire empire having taken oaths to support him, it was only with great difficulty that he successfully ascended the Assyrian throne. Sennacherib's first choice as successor had been his eldest son, Aššur-nādin-šumi , who he had appointed as the ruler of Babylon in about 700 BC. Shortly thereafter, Sennacherib attacked the land of Elam (modern day southern Iran ) in order to defeat

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5564-478: The district below sea level in the tropical depths of the Jordan valley ( Numbers 22:1 ). References to the religion of Moab are scant. Most of the Moabites followed the ancient Semitic religion like other ancient Semitic-speaking peoples , and the Book of Numbers says that they induced the Israelites to join in their sacrifices ( Num 25:2 ; Judges 10:6 ). Their chief god seems to have been Chemosh , and

5671-496: The doors of the temple and the pedestal that was to house the statue of Bel was constructed in gold. A report from the governor Esarhaddon installed in Babylon confirms that the reconstruction was very well received by the Babylonians: I have entered Babylon. The Babylonians have received me kindly, and daily they bless the king, saying, "what was taken and plundered from Babylon, he has returned" and from Sippar to Bab-marrat

5778-405: The end of the hundred days, keeping the real monarch safe. Whatever omen Esarhaddon was fearing, he survived 671 and would perform the ritual twice during the two years that followed, which left him unable to fulfill his duties as the Assyrian king for a total of almost a year. During this time, most of the civil administration of his empire was overseen by his crown princes and the army in Egypt

5885-542: The enemy generals fled. He then marched on Nineveh without opposition. Six weeks after his father's death he was accepted and recognized as the new Assyrian king at Nineveh. Shortly after taking the throne, Esarhaddon made sure to execute all conspirators and political enemies he could get his hands on, including the families of his brothers. All servants involved with the security of the royal palace at Nineveh were "dismissed" (i.e. executed). Arda-Mulissu and Nabû-šarru-uṣur survived this purge as they had escaped as exiles to

5992-479: The fact that Esarhaddon's grandfather Sargon II had acquired the Assyrian throne through usurpation and may not have been related to any earlier Assyrian king. It is possible that descendants of earlier kings may still have been alive and in a position to press their claims on the Assyrian throne. In order to avoid a civil war upon his death, Esarhaddon appointed his eldest son Sin-nadin-apli as crown prince in 674, but he died just two years later, again threatening

6099-532: The fires had instead spread into Ubumu. The political refugees were captured and executed. Some criminals from Urartu, who the Shuprian king had similarly refused to give up to the king of Urartu, were seized and sent to Urartu, perhaps in order to improve relations. Ubumu was repaired, renamed and annexed, with two eunuchs being appointed as its governors. In 675, the Elamites invaded Babylonia and captured

6206-731: The former was more likely well to the north. An 8th-century BCE inscription seems to indicate that the Kingdom of Moab expanded into the eastern part of the Jordan Valley after a successful campaign against the Ammonites . In the Nimrud clay inscription of Tiglath-pileser III (r. 745–727 BCE), the Moabite king Salmanu (perhaps the Shalman who sacked Beth-arbel in Hosea 10:14 )

6313-505: The gods they alienated my father's well-disposed heart from me, though in secret his heart was affected with compassion, and he still intended me to exercise kingship. Though Sennacherib had foreseen the danger of keeping Esarhaddon near his ambitious brothers, he had not foreseen the dangers to his own life. On 20 October 681, Arda-Mulissu and another of Sennacherib's sons, Nabû-šarru-uṣur, attacked and killed their father in one of Nineveh 's temples. However, Arda-Mulissu's dreams of claiming

6420-501: The guidance of the sun-god Shamash (which was obtained through interpreting what was perceived as signs from the gods) for advice in political and military matters, such as whom to appoint to a certain position or if a planned military campaign would be successful. Queries concerning the possibility of betrayal are known only from Esarhaddon's reign. Most scholars have classified Esarhaddon as paranoid, some going as far as suggesting that he developed paranoid personality disorder after

6527-441: The heir to Assyria and another as the heir to Babylon was a new idea, for in the past decades the Assyrian king had simultaneously been the King of Babylon. The choice to name a younger son as crown prince of Assyria, which was clearly Esarhaddon's primary title, and an older son as crown prince of Babylon might be explained by the mothers of the two sons. While Ashurbanipal's mother was likely Assyrian in origin, Shamash-shum-ukin

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6634-399: The king's chief exorcist Adad-shumu-usur, the man who was chiefly responsible for Esarhaddon's well-being. One such letter reads: As to what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "I am feeling very sad; how did we act that I have become so depressed for this little one of mine?" Had it been curable you would have given away half your kingdom to have it cured! But what can we do? O king, my lord, it

6741-457: The large amount of debris left since Sennacherib's destruction of the city, resettlement of the many Babylonians who by this point were either enslaved or scattered across the empire, the reconstruction of most of the buildings, the restoration of the great temple complex dedicated to Bel , known as the Esagila , and the enormous ziggurat complex called Etemenanki as well as the restoration of

6848-687: The last man and I laid a heavy penalty upon them, I destroyed their seed. As a result of his tumultuous rise to the throne, Esarhaddon was distrustful of his servants, vassals and family members. He frequently sought the advice of oracles and priests on whether any of his relatives or officials wished to harm him. Although highly distrustful of his male relatives, Esarhaddon seems to not have been paranoid in regards to his female relatives. During his reign his wife Ešarra-ḫammat , his mother Naqiʾa and his daughter Šērūʾa-ēṭirat all wielded considerably more influence and political power than women during earlier parts of Assyrian history. Esarhaddon's paranoia

6955-468: The major cities in the western parts of his empire. Here, a prophecy was revealed to the king, which predicted that Esarhaddon's conquest of Egypt would be a successful one. According to a letter sent to Ashurbanipal after Esarhaddon's death, the prophecy was the following: When Esarhaddon marched to Egypt, a temple of cedar wood was erected at Harran. There, the god Sin was enthroned on a wooden column, two crowns on his head, and standing in front of him

7062-479: The manner in which he did with regard to the Ammonites . Fritz Hommel regards Moab as an abbreviation of Immo-ab = "his mother is his father". Despite a scarcity of archaeological evidence, the existence of the Kingdom of Moab prior to the rise of the Israelite state has been deduced from a colossal statue erected at Luxor by pharaoh Ramesses II , in the 13th century BCE. The statue lists Mu'ab among

7169-400: The marriage of the latter, after her husband's death, to Boaz ( Ruth 4:10–13 ) who by her was the great-grandfather of David , are mentioned with no shade of reproach. The Talmudic explanation, however, is that the language of the law applies only to Moabite and Ammonite men (Hebrew, like all Semitic languages, has grammatical gender ). The Talmud also states that the prophet Samuel wrote

7276-464: The midst of the sea [missing portion] Like a fish I caught him up out of the sea and cut off his head. His wife, his sons, the people of his palace, property and goods, precious stones, garments of colored wool and linen, maple and boxwood, all kinds of treasures of his palace, in great abundance, I carried off. His widespreading peoples – there was no numbering them, cattle, sheep and asses, in great number, I transported to Assyria. After dealing with

7383-460: The murder of his father. Other scholars have refrained from using this label, instead simply characterizing him as "mistrustful" and noting that paranoia is "by definition delusional and irrational" while Esarhaddon is likely to have had many real opponents and enemies. Esarhaddon wished to ensure the support of the inhabitants of Babylonia , the southern part of his empire. To this end, the king sponsored building and restoration projects throughout

7490-442: The new Elamite king, Urtak , in a bad position. To repair relations with Assyria and avoid further conflict, Urtak abandoned the invasion and returned some statues of gods which the Elamites had stolen. The two monarchs entered into an alliance and exchanged children to be raised at each other's courts. Near the end of Esarhaddon's seventh year on the throne, in the winter of 673, the king invaded Egypt . This invasion, which only

7597-508: The new heir had originally been the second eldest son, Arda-Mulissu , but in 684, Esarhaddon, a younger son, was appointed instead. Angered by this decision, Arda-Mulissu and another brother, Nabû-šarru-uṣur , murdered their father in 681 and planned to seize the Neo-Assyrian throne. The murder, and Arda-Mulissu's aspirations of becoming king himself, made Esarhaddon's rise to the throne difficult and he first had to defeat his brothers in

7704-449: The new king. Two of the principal threats to Assyria were the Kingdom of Urartu under King Rusa II in the north, a sworn enemy of Assyria which still sheltered his brothers, and the Cimmerians , an iranic nomadic tribe which was harassing his western borders. Esarhaddon allied with the nomadic Scythians , famous for their cavalry, in order to dissuade the Cimmerians from attacking but it doesn't appear to have helped. In 679 BC,

7811-413: The north and the complete lack of such projects in the south. Vassals who had hoped to use the unstable political climate in Assyria to free themselves, perhaps believing that the new king hadn't yet consolidated his position well enough to stop them, and foreign powers eager to expand their territory soon realized that (despite Esarhaddon's distrust) the governors and soldiers of Assyria fully supported

7918-672: The north of Beth-jeshimoth; Madaba , Beth-gamul , and Mephaath to the east of Baalmeon ; and Dibon , Aroer , Bezer , Jahaz , and Kirhareseth to the south of Kiriathaim. The principal rivers of Moab mentioned in the Bible are the Arnon , the Dibon or Dimon, and the Nimrim . In the north are a number of long, deep ravines , and Mount Nebo , famous as the scene of the death of Moses ( Deuteronomy 34:1–8 ). The territory occupied by Moab at

8025-514: The northern kingdom of Urartu a vassal state of the Assyrian Empire in Anatolia . The frequent mentions of Arda-Mulissu and Esarhaddon's other brothers in his inscriptions indicates that he was surprised and bothered by their actions. Esarhaddon's own inscription chronicling his entry into Nineveh and his purge of those in support of the conspiracy reads as follows:9 I entered into Nineveh, my royal city, joyfully, and took my seat upon

8132-444: The palace was strengthened with its gateways being modified into impregnable fortifications which could seal the entire building off completely from the city. If these entrances were sealed, the only way into the palace would be through a steep and narrow path protected by several strong doors. A similar palace, also located on a separate mound far from the city center, was built at Nineveh . All Assyrian kings are known to have sought

8239-403: The patron deity of the city, had been carried off deep into Assyrian territory. The restoration of the city, announced by Esarhaddon in 680, became one of his most important projects. Throughout Esarhaddon's reign, reports from the officials the king appointed to oversee the reconstruction speak of the great scope of the building project. The ambitious restoration of the city involved removing

8346-528: The period of its greatest extent, before the invasion of the Amorites , divided itself naturally into three distinct and independent portions: the enclosed corner or canton south of the Arnon, referred to in the Bible as "field of Moab" ( Ruth 1:1,2,6 ). The more open rolling country north of the Arnon, opposite Jericho and up to the hills of Gilead , called the "land of Moab" ( Deuteronomy 1:5; 32:49 ) and

8453-501: The possible exception of Sammuramat in the 8th century BC. Despite a relatively short and difficult reign, and being plagued by paranoia, depression and constant illness, Esarhaddon remains recognized as one of the greatest and most successful Assyrian kings . He quickly defeated his brothers in 681, completed ambitious and large-scale building projects in both Assyria and Babylonia , successfully campaigned in Media , Persia , Elam ,

8560-448: The presence of their divine greatness [am I, Esarhaddon]. When in the reign of an earlier king there were ill omens, the city offended its gods and was destroyed at their command. It was me, Esarhaddon, whom they chose to restore everything to its rightful place, to calm their anger, to assuage their wrath. You, Marduk, entrusted the protection of the land of Assur to me. The Gods of Babylon meanwhile told me to rebuild their shrines and renew

8667-548: The problems in Sidon and Cilicia , Esarhaddon turned his attention to Urartu . At first, he struck at the Mannaeans , a people allied with Urartu, but by 673 he was openly at war with the kingdom of Urartu itself. As part of this war, Esarhaddon attacked and conquered the kingdom of Shupria , a vassal kingdom to Urartu whose capital Ubumu was located on the shores of Lake Van . The king's casus belli for this invasion

8774-519: The proper religious observances of their palace, Esagila. I called up all my workmen and conscripted all the people of Babylonia. I set them to work, digging up the ground and carrying the earth away in baskets. Esarhaddon successfully rebuilt the city gates, battlements, drains, courtyards, shrines and various other buildings and structures. Great care was taken during rebuilding of the Esagila , depositing precious stones, scented oils and perfumes into its foundations. Precious metals were chosen to cover

8881-427: The region and that he meant to rule Babylon with the same care and generosity as a native Babylonian king. The city of Babylon , which gave its name to Babylonia , had been the political center of southern Mesopotamia for more than a thousand years. In an effort to quell Babylonian aspirations of independence, the city had been razed by Esarhaddon's father in 689 BC, and the statue of Bel (also known as Marduk ),

8988-412: The rule of an Israelite governor during this period; among the exiles who returned to Judea from Babylonia were a clan descended from Pahath-Moab , whose name means "ruler of Moab". The Moabite Ruth is regarded as a prototype of a convert to Judaism . At the disruption of the kingdom under the reign of Rehoboam , Moab seems to have been absorbed into the northern realm. It continued in vassalage to

9095-403: The situation was tense, so he sent Esarhaddon into exile in the western provinces for his own protection. Esarhaddon was unhappy with his exile and blamed his brothers for it, describing it with the following words: Malicious gossip, slander and falsehood they [i.e. Esarhaddon's brothers] wove around me in a godless way, lies and insincerity. They plotted evil behind my back. Against the will of

9202-517: The south and his efforts to link himself to the Babylonian royal tradition, some scholars have described him as the "Babylonian king of Assyria", but such a view might misrepresent the actual efforts of the king. Esarhaddon was king of both Assyria and Babylonia and his military and political base remained in the north, much like his predecessors. While his southern building projects were impressive, ambitious and unprecedented, he completed projects in

9309-489: The south to a far greater extent than any of his predecessors had. Babylonia had only become an inner part of the Assyrian Empire relatively recently, having been ruled by native kings as vassals of the Assyrians until its conquest and annexation by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III in the previous century. Through his building program, Esarhaddon likely hoped to show the benefits of continuing Assyrian rule over

9416-467: The southern parts of his empire instead. Treaties drawn up by Esarhaddon are somewhat unclear as to the relationship he intended his two sons to have. It is clear that Ashurbanipal was the primary heir to the empire and that Shamash-shum-ukin was to swear him an oath of allegiance, but other parts also specify that Ashurbanipal was not to interfere in Shamash-shum-ukin's affairs which indicates

9523-406: The statues of various southern gods that had been captured in wars and held in Assyria. During the time since Sennacherib 's destruction of the city, the statue of Bel had, along with statues of several other traditional Babylonian deities, been kept at the town of Issete in the northeastern parts of Assyria. Although the statue of Bel remained in Assyria, statues of other gods were returned to

9630-403: The succession of Ashurbanipal and Shamash-shum-ukin, Esarhaddon himself also concluded succession treaties with at least six independent rulers in the east and with several of his own governors outside the Assyrian heartland in 672. Perhaps the main motivating factor to create these treaties was the possibility that his brothers, particularly Arda-Mulissu , were still alive and sought to claim

9737-512: The temple of Ešarra in Assur , one of the chief temples of northern Mesopotamia . Similar projects were conducted for temples in the Assyrian capital, Nineveh and in the city of Arbela . Though the temple-building projects conducted in the south were matched with temple-building projects in the north, Esarhaddon's prioritizing of Assyria over Babylonia is apparent from the various administrative and military building projects undertaken in

9844-449: The throne of my father in safety. The south wind blew, the breath of Ea , the wind whose blowing is favorable for exercising kingship. There awaited me favorable signs in heaven and on earth, a message of the soothsayers, tidings from the gods and goddesses. Continually [missing portion] and gave my heart courage. The soldiers, the rebels who had fomented the plot to seize the rulership of Assyria for my brothers, their ranks I examined to

9951-401: The throne would be crushed. The murder of Sennacherib had caused some friction between Arda-Mulissu and his supporters which delayed a potential coronation and in the meantime, Esarhaddon had raised an army. With this army at his back he met an army raised by his brothers at Hanigalbat , a region in the western parts of the empire, where most of the soldiers deserted his brothers to join him and

10058-557: The time of the Messiah's rulership according to the prophets. The book of Zephaniah states that Moab would become "a permanent desolation". Moab is also made reference to in the 2 Meqabyan , a book considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church . In that text, a Moabite king named Maccabeus joins forces with Edom and Amalek to attack Israel, later repenting of his sins and adopting

10165-608: The time, which was problematic. The same treaty also shows that Esarhaddon was worried that there might be several factions who might oppose his successor's rise to the throne after his death, listing potential opposing forces as his successor's brothers, uncles and cousins and even "descendants of former royalty" and "one of the chiefs or governors of Assyria". This indicates that at least some of Esarhaddon's brothers were still alive at this point and that they or their children could possibly represent threats to his own children. The mention of "descendants of former royalty" might allude to

10272-471: The towns of the tribe of Judah . By his descent from Ruth, David may be said to have been part Moabite. He committed his parents to the protection of the king of Moab (who may have been his kinsman), when hard pressed by King Saul . (1 Samuel 22:3,4) But here all friendly relations stop forever. The next time the name is mentioned is in the account of David's war, who made the Moabites tributary ( 2 Samuel 8:2 ; 1 Chronicles 18:2 ). Moab may have been under

10379-509: The two inner walls of the city. The project was not only important because it illustrated goodwill towards the Babylonian people, but also because it allowed Esarhaddon to assume one of the essential characteristics the Babylonians invested in kingship. While the king of Assyria was generally supposed to be a military figure, the king of Babylon was ideally a builder and restorer, particularly of temples. Careful to not associate himself with

10486-445: Was also due to their gross ingratitude even though Abraham , Israel's ancestor, had saved Lot , Moab's ancestor from Sodom . Jeremiah prophesies that Moab's captivity will be returned in the end of days . The book of Zephaniah states that "Moab will assuredly be like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah—Ground overgrown with weeds and full of salt mines, and a permanent desolation." (2:9). The prophecy regarding their defeat by

10593-450: Was also reflected by where he chose to live. One of his main residences was a palace in the city of Nimrud originally constructed as an armory by his predecessor Shalmaneser III (r. 859–824 BC) almost two hundred years earlier. Rather than occupying a central and visible spot within the cultic and administrative center of the city, this palace was located in its outskirts on a separate mound which made it well-protected. Between 676 and 672,

10700-400: Was captured and executed a year later, the same year that Esarhaddon decisively defeated the Cimmerians. Another rebellious vassal king, Sanduarri of "Kundu and Sissu" (likely locations in Cilicia ), was also defeated and executed. In order to celebrate his victory, Esarhaddon had the heads of the two vassal kings hung around the necks of their nobles, who were paraded around Nineveh . Sidon

10807-514: Was constantly suffering from some illness and would often spend days in his sleeping quarters without food, drink and human contact. The death of Esharra-hammat, his beloved wife, in February 672 BC is unlikely to have improved his condition. Surviving court documents overwhelmingly point to Esarhaddon often being sad. The deaths of his wife and their recently born infant child made Esarhaddon depressed. This can clearly be seen in letters written by

10914-477: Was reduced to an Assyrian province and two cities which had been under the Sidonian king's control were gifted to another vassal king, Baal of Tyre . Esarhaddon discusses his victory over Sidon in a contemporary inscription: Abdi-milkutti, king of Sidon, who did not fear my majesty, did not heed the word of my lips, who trusted in the fearful sea and cast off my yoke – Sidon, his garrison city, which lies in

11021-425: Was replaced as heir by Esarhaddon in 684. The reason for Arda-Mulissu's sudden dismissal from the prominent position is unknown, but it is clear that he was very disappointed. Esarhaddon described the reaction of his brothers to his appointment as heir in a later inscription: Of my older brothers, the younger brother was I. But by decree of [the gods] Ashur and Shamash , Bel and Nabu , my father exalted me, amid

11128-446: Was the god Nuska . Esarhaddon entered and placed the crowns onto his head, and the following was proclaimed: 'You shall go forth and conquer the world!' And he went and conquered Egypt. Three months after having received this prophecy, Esarhaddon's forces were victorious in their first battle with the Egyptians. Despite the prophecy and initial success, Esarhaddon was not convinced of his own safety. Just eleven days after he had defeated

11235-415: Was the king of Shupria's refusal to hand over political refugees from Assyria (possibly some of the conspirators behind Sennacherib 's death) and though the Shuprian king had agreed to give up the refugees after a long series of letters, Esarhaddon considered it took him too long to relent. The Assyrians seized and plundered the city after the defenders had attempted to burn down the Assyrian siege weapons and

11342-512: Was the son of a woman from Babylon (though this is uncertain, Ashurbanipal and Shamash-shum-ukin may have shared the same mother which would probably have had problematic consequences if Shamash-shum-ukin was to ascend to the Assyrian throne). Since Ashurbanipal was the next oldest son, he then was the superior candidate to the throne. Esarhaddon probably surmised that the Babylonians would be content with someone of Babylonian heritage as their king and as such set Shamash-shum-ukin to inherit Babylon and

11449-653: Was written using a variant of the Phoenician alphabet . Most of our knowledge of it comes from the Mesha Stele , which is the only known extensive text in this language. In addition, there are the three line El-Kerak Inscription and a few seals. The following is a list of rulers of the ancient kingdom of Moab. 31°30′06″N 35°46′36″E  /  31.50167°N 35.77667°E  / 31.50167; 35.77667 Assarhaddon Esarhaddon , also spelled Essarhaddon , Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon ( Neo-Assyrian Akkadian : 𒀭𒊹𒉽𒀸 , also 𒀭𒊹𒉽𒋧𒈾 Aššur-aḫa-iddina , meaning " Ashur has given me

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