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Thanks again. for listening.

2:18

In the obelisk inscription for 831,

2:21

we join Shalmanazer in progress.

2:24

In my 28th year, while

2:26

I was staying at Kalhu, word

2:28

was brought to me that the people of Patten

2:31

had slain their Lord Lubarna,

2:34

and had raised Suri, who was not

2:36

of royal blood, to the kingship

2:38

over them.

2:39

I dispatched Dayan Asur,

2:42

commander of my immense armies,

2:45

sending him at the head of my army and

2:47

camp.

2:48

He crossed the Euphrates at its flood

2:51

and came to halt at Kinalua, the

2:53

royal city.

2:55

The awe-inspiring splendor

2:57

of Asur, my Lord, overcame

2:59

Suri, who, not being

3:02

of royal blood, went to his

3:04

death.

3:05

The people of Patten, being

3:07

afraid before the terror of my mighty

3:10

weapons, seized Suri's sons

3:13

together with the transgressors and

3:15

delivered them to me.

3:17

I impaled these rebels

3:19

on stakes. Sassy

3:21

the Uzzite prostrated himself at

3:24

my feet, so I appointed

3:26

him over them as king.

3:28

I accepted silver, gold,

3:30

lead, copper, iron, and

3:33

ivory without measure from them.

3:35

I made a heroic image of

3:37

my royal self and had it set

3:40

up in his temple in Kinalua,

3:42

his royal city.

3:44

Apart from how the usurper

3:47

died of fear by

3:49

his own hand or at the hands of his

3:51

people, the story is pretty

3:53

straightforward.

3:55

Though it's worth considering if

3:57

the coup had been sparked by the level

3:59

of Assyrian people. tribute demanded. But

4:02

hey, they got a shiny new king, a shiny

4:05

new statue, and just a handful

4:07

of rebel impalings. And

4:10

all it cost them was an enormous pile

4:12

of treasure.

4:14

When dealing with the Syria, you're welcome

4:16

to call that a win. By

4:19

the way, it's a bit of a spoiler, but

4:21

this is the first and last time we'll

4:23

ever hear about King Sasse. So

4:26

we'll just have to wonder if he managed

4:28

to live up to his name.

4:31

To sum up recent Syrian events,

4:33

and again I'll point you to the maps I've

4:36

posted, Shalmaneser now

4:38

replaced the kings of Qa'an,

4:40

Patton, and plopped down in a Syrian

4:43

fortress in the middle of Bit-A-Gusi.

4:46

We mentioned last episode that we

4:48

don't really have the story on Hamath

4:50

to the south, but just

4:52

to the north of Bit-A-Gusi is

4:55

another small kingdom I'd like to return

4:57

to,

4:58

the Aramaean kingdom of Samal.

5:01

I introduced Samal back in episode

5:04

c16, but just to refresh

5:06

your memory, according to historian

5:09

Trevor Bryce, during the last

5:11

decades of the 10th century BC,

5:14

a tribal chieftain named Gebar

5:17

laid the foundations of a small kingdom

5:19

on the eastern slope of the Ammanis

5:22

range in southeastern Anatolia.

5:25

The kingdom became known by the Semitic

5:27

name Samal, which means north,

5:31

probably reflecting a northern branch

5:33

of an Aramaean tribe.

5:35

It was also known as Bit-Gebari.

5:40

The king of Samal was named Kilamua

5:43

and were lucky to have a well-preserved stele

5:46

actually written by the king,

5:48

which I was able to see in the Pergamon

5:51

Museum back in 2021.

5:54

And yes, I'll be posting pictures. The

5:57

stele has a number of cool aspects.

6:01

First, it shows a relief of Killamua

6:03

in Somalian royal regalia,

6:06

consisting of a long-fringed robe,

6:09

a pointed fez-type hat,

6:11

wristbands or bracelets, and sandals.

6:15

Historian Brian Brown highlights

6:17

that Killamua's right arm is

6:19

bent upwards, with the hand pointing

6:22

above him to a row of four

6:24

divine symbols. A

6:26

horned hat, stylized horns,

6:29

a winged sun disk, and a lunar

6:31

crescent.

6:32

His left arm hangs at his side,

6:35

holding a drooping lotus flower.

6:38

As Brown sums up, overall

6:41

the appearance of Killamua in this representation

6:44

is very close to that of Assyrian

6:47

kings, in particular

6:49

to Shalmanazer III.

6:52

The language of the accompanying inscription

6:55

is neither Luian nor Aramaic,

6:58

but somewhat surprisingly Phoenician,

7:01

though it's written using Aramaic letters.

7:04

And the inscription gives us plenty of details

7:07

about the kingdom's history and politics.

7:10

And spoiler alert, Killamua

7:13

was not afraid to dunk on a few

7:15

royal predecessors.

7:17

It begins, I am Killamua,

7:20

son of Hianu. Gebar

7:23

became king over Samal, but

7:25

he was ineffective. There

7:28

was Bhima, but he was ineffective.

7:31

There was my father Hianu,

7:34

but he was ineffective. There

7:37

was my brother Sha'il, but

7:40

anyone want to guess? Yeah, that's right,

7:42

he was ineffective. But

7:45

I, Killamua, the son of T'Mott,

7:48

what I achieved the former kings

7:50

did not achieve.

7:52

T'Mott, by the way, was probably

7:55

his mother. So all you

7:57

kids out there, remember to thank mom

7:59

on your royal

7:59

It continues that,

8:14

for

8:30

a garment.

8:32

So we've established that

8:34

dude has a way with words and is comfortable

8:36

writing a few metaphors.

8:39

To explain the last few lines,

8:42

the Danunites refer to the Danian

8:44

or Danaeans, likely the

8:46

former Mycenaean Greeks.

8:49

I mentioned back in episode c9

8:51

that Mycenaean Greek remnants made

8:53

a part of the population of several

8:56

Syrian coastal kingdoms, including

8:59

Patin, Hilaku, and Kwe.

9:02

In fact, Kwe was also known

9:04

as Hiawa, as in Ahiyawa,

9:07

as in Achaeans.

9:09

To coin a term, I'll refer to

9:11

this region as the Mycenaean

9:14

shoulder of Syria. With

9:17

this understanding, let's go back to the inscription.

9:21

Kilamua claims that the Danunites

9:23

tried to overpower him, which

9:26

likely meant that Samal had been attacked

9:28

by its western neighbor of Kwe.

9:31

He then says that he hired King

9:34

Shalmanazer to deal with the situation,

9:37

which is maybe putting a positive

9:39

spin on paying as a Syrian tribute.

9:43

Kilamua then takes credit for prompting

9:46

Shalmanazer's recent conquest

9:48

of Kwe and his killing and

9:50

replacing of its king,

9:52

which Kilamua boasts of doing

9:54

for pennies on the dollar. Again,

9:57

we're dealing with a talented wordsmith.

10:00

and he's still got a bit more to say.

10:16

What's

10:30

interesting here is that

10:53

Mushkebim

10:56

appears to mean Louisian speakers

10:59

or Neo-Hittites. So,

11:01

Killamoo is relating how, under his

11:04

Aramaean predecessors, the Neo-Hittites

11:06

were basically treated like dogs.

11:09

At least until he, seeing

11:12

their potential, needing their support,

11:15

or just generally choosing not to be

11:17

a jerk, decided to raise

11:19

them up and help them prosper.

11:22

Killamoo decides to wrap

11:24

things up by dropping a serious

11:27

warning. If any of

11:29

his successors damages his inscription,

11:32

may the Mushkebim not respect

11:34

the Birim, widely interpreted

11:37

as Aramaeans, and may the

11:39

Birim not respect the Mushkebim.

11:42

So, basically threatening future

11:45

kings with violent ethnic strife,

11:48

which was apparently a realistic

11:50

fear.

11:51

Brown even suggests that the reason

11:54

the inscription was written in Phoenician

11:56

may have been the neutrality of the language.

11:59

not associated with any particular

12:02

local ethnic group or political

12:04

or class faction,

12:06

allowing Killamua to emphasize

12:09

his role of father, mother,

12:11

and brother to all of his people.

12:14

By the time of our story, 830 BC,

12:18

Killamua had already been in power for a decade

12:21

and would continue ruling for another 20 long

12:25

and eventful years.

12:27

In 830 BC, Shalmanazer

12:30

only records one minor event,

12:33

dispatching his armies against a territory

12:35

called Kirhi.

12:37

But the next two years, like

12:39

a fireworks show, he went out with

12:42

a big grand finale. The

12:44

Hubishkians, boom, the

12:46

Malhysites, pop-pop, the

12:49

Manaeans, Harunians, Shordirites,

12:53

Eelsanites, Shashganites,

12:55

Andites, Namrites...

12:58

I mean, the list goes on and on.

13:01

Many of these are Zagros territories,

13:04

and I've been fleshing out Shalmanazer's Zagros

13:07

campaigns on Patreon, so

13:09

you can head over there for more detail.

13:12

But the campaigns weren't only

13:14

in the Zagros.

13:16

In his 31st year, 828 BC,

13:20

Shalmanazer records that I

13:23

marched against Sapiria, the

13:25

fortress of the land of Musa Seer,

13:27

and captured it, along with 46

13:30

cities of the Musa Seerites. I

13:33

marched as far as the fortresses

13:36

of the Orartians. I

13:38

destroyed, devastated, and set

13:40

fire to 50 of their cities.

13:43

As usual lately, this

13:46

isn't Shalmanazer doing the work.

13:48

It's his tortanu, Dayan Asur.

13:51

But since we're back in Urartu

13:54

and Musa Seer, let's dig in

13:56

a bit more. I

13:58

noted last episode that Musa Seer

14:01

was an independent kingdom allied

14:03

with Urartu, whose capital,

14:06

also named Musa Seer, held

14:08

a major temple to the chief Urartian

14:11

god, Haldy.

14:12

According to historian Karen Radner,

14:15

the city of Musa Seer is attested

14:18

to as far back as the late third

14:20

millennium BC, when

14:22

it was known as Ardini, which

14:24

is simply Hurrian for the city.

14:28

Though Musa Seer's location remains

14:30

a mystery, we know from later Assyrian

14:32

campaigns that it sat somewhere

14:36

high in the mountains between central

14:38

Assyria and Lake Urmia, likely in the region north

14:41

of Urbil in modern Iraqi Kurdistan. We actually

14:43

have a detailed relief of Musa Seer's temple

14:47

of Haldy, at

14:49

least as it stood a century later, recovered from Assyrian corsabad.

14:56

Radner

14:57

notes that the illustration

15:00

of Haldy's shrine, with its unique roof construction

15:02

and its facade decorated with shields, spears, and

15:04

statues, is perhaps the most celebrated architectural

15:09

representation in all of Assyrian art. We also have

15:11

images of Haldy himself.

15:16

The earliest known depiction on a recovered

15:18

shield from

15:20

an Urartian temple depicts the deity

15:23

as a warrior, with a bow and javelin, and surrounded

15:26

by an aura of flames that calls to mind

15:28

the blazing

15:31

sun. The image would seem to strengthen

15:33

the view that

15:35

there is a conceptual link between Haldy

15:40

and the Iranian Mithra, especially considering

15:43

that Urartian traditions played an

15:45

important role

15:47

in shaping later Achaemenid royal ideology. In other

15:49

reliefs, Haldy is depicted as

15:54

a beardless man with horns

15:56

and a bow and javelin, and the a

16:00

crown and sometimes wings,

16:02

standing atop a lion. I

16:06

was pretty surprised and delighted listening

16:08

to Trevor Cully's The History of Persia

16:10

podcast last year when he mentioned

16:13

that echoes of the regional worship

16:15

of Haldy may have endured for centuries.

16:18

Cully related how the Greek

16:20

general Xenophon, approaching

16:22

the Armenian border in 401 BC

16:26

with his retreating army of 10,000 Greeks, recorded

16:30

the presence of a group of called

16:32

Cully mercenaries.

16:34

Cully noted that the Cully

16:36

appeared to share their name with the chief

16:39

god of ancient Urartu and

16:41

spoke a language unrelated to the

16:44

others around them,

16:45

with Urartian, as I mentioned,

16:47

being an isolated language.

16:50

He continued that it's possible

16:52

that these called who appear

16:54

in numerous classical sources were

16:56

the last holdouts of the Urartian

16:59

culture.

17:01

The Assyrian campaign

17:03

against Urartu and Musa Seer in 828

17:06

BC coincided with two

17:08

major events.

17:10

The first was the death of the Urartian

17:13

king, Sarduri I, who

17:15

may have been killed in the conflict.

17:18

He was succeeded by his son Ishpooini,

17:21

who'd end up ruling for nearly two decades,

17:25

very critical decades for both Urartu

17:27

and Assyria.

17:29

The second major event was

17:31

the founding of a new Urartian royal

17:34

capital along the western shores

17:36

of Lake Van, known as Van

17:38

Kaleysi or Tushpa.

17:41

According to historian Mirjo

17:43

Salvini, the oldest building

17:46

at Van Kaleysi is the so-called

17:48

Sardorsburg, named for

17:50

Sarduri I.

17:52

It consists of a few

17:54

rows of large, well-squared limestone

17:57

blocks holding six cuneiformes.

17:59

inscriptions in the Assyrian language.

18:03

The tone of the inscriptions is also

18:06

pretty Assyrian, with Sardori

18:08

calling himself Great King,

18:11

Powerful King, King of the Universe,

18:14

King of Nairi, King without

18:16

equal,

18:17

Great Shepherd who does not fear

18:19

the fight, King who represses

18:22

the walls. Sardori says,

18:24

I have brought here these foundation

18:27

stones from the city Alni

18:29

Unu.

18:30

I have built this wall.

18:33

As Salvini highlights, with

18:36

this written document we have the

18:38

beginning not only of the history

18:40

of the Arartian Kingdom, but

18:43

also of written documentation period

18:46

for the entire Anatolian-Armenian-Iranian

18:49

plateau.

18:51

Radnor suggests that Sardori's

18:54

inscriptions were likely the creation

18:57

of an Assyrian, either captive

18:59

or renegade, who was familiar

19:01

with the letter-writing conventions of

19:03

the Assyrian government and

19:05

therefore also its administrative

19:08

practices more generally.

19:10

The advice and services of

19:12

such an individual would have been invaluable

19:15

at a time when consolidating and

19:18

organizing the young Arartian

19:20

state was the key challenge for

19:22

Sardori.

19:24

It may also explain many

19:26

structural similarities in how

19:28

the two kingdoms were organized.

19:31

Speaking of Assyrian organizational

19:34

structure, at this point we

19:36

really need to flesh out our understanding

19:39

of the empire as it stood in 828 so

19:42

we can better understand the events of

19:44

the next few years.

19:46

Because as much as I know you're

19:49

going to miss them, it was at this point

19:51

that Shamaneser hung up his stylus

19:53

and stopped writing royal inscriptions.

19:56

As for what came next, well, from the perspective

19:59

of the Roman Empire, we have a very important of the Neo-Hittite

20:01

kingdoms, there was only one real

20:03

headline, which was that no

20:06

Assyrian king would cross the Euphrates

20:09

for the following 23 years.

20:12

And the reasons for this were well established

20:15

by the end of Shalmaneser's reign.

20:18

Let's start with imperial structure.

20:21

According to historian Mark van

20:23

de Meeroop, by 828 Assyria

20:27

proper, the region stretching

20:29

from the Zagros to the Euphrates,

20:32

was uniformly organized

20:34

under a provincial administration.

20:36

Men appointed by Shalmaneser

20:39

acted as his direct representatives

20:41

in the provinces. While the

20:43

provinces themselves were integrated

20:45

into a system of maintenance of the god

20:48

Asur, whose sole temple

20:50

was in the city of Asur and

20:53

who functioned as the god for the entire

20:55

land of Assyria.

20:57

Every province had to supply

21:00

basic foodstuffs to support him,

21:02

which in effect meant feeding

21:05

the central Assyrian state bureaucracy.

21:08

In political terms, the provinces

21:11

were equivalent in status, though

21:13

some were accorded greater autonomy.

21:16

In all directions beyond

21:18

this region lay kingdoms under

21:21

the yoke of Asur, vassal

21:23

rulers who owed annual tribute

21:26

directly to the Assyrian king.

21:29

The enormous size of the

21:31

Assyrian empire meant that Shalmaneser

21:34

relied on an extensive bureaucracy.

21:37

The power of the higher administrators

21:39

and military officers was considerable,

21:42

and they became more independent

21:44

as the king grew older.

21:47

The most visible external

21:49

sign was delegating war fighting

21:51

to Dayan Asur, but

21:54

it's highly likely that other aspects

21:56

of his kingly duties similarly

21:58

slipped from his hands.

22:01

Watching the growing weakness at

22:03

the core aggrieved or ambitious

22:05

Assyrian nobles began pondering

22:08

the once unthinkable.

22:10

The end result in 827

22:14

was Assyrian Civil War.

22:17

Whether or not he instigated

22:19

things, the rebellious faction

22:21

coalesced around Shalmaneser's older

22:24

son, the crown prince Asur

22:26

Dan and Paul, who may

22:28

have just grown tired of waiting for his

22:30

chance to rule the empire.

22:33

The Assyrian tortanu Dayan-Asur

22:36

vanishes from the records, and

22:38

he may have been an early loyalist

22:41

casualty.

22:42

In his absence, the defense

22:44

of Shalmaneser's regime fell

22:46

to his younger son, Shamsia

22:49

Dand,

22:50

which made it not only a civil war,

22:53

the first in Assyrian history, but

22:55

also a family war between two

22:57

brothers.

22:59

It was also an existential

23:01

threat to the recently reforged

23:03

empire.

23:05

Historian George Roo notes

23:07

that 27 cities,

23:09

including such major cities as Asur,

23:12

Nineveh, Arbela, and Arappa,

23:15

joined the revolt of Asur Dan

23:17

and Paul. Or, as

23:19

Shamsia Dand described it, fell

23:22

into the sedition, rebellion,

23:24

and wicked plotting instigated

23:26

by his brother.

23:28

This is the context

23:30

that led to the creation of one of the

23:33

most famous monuments of the ancient

23:35

world, the Black Obelisk

23:37

of Shalmaneser III or Black

23:40

Obelisk of Assyria.

23:42

I should start off by noting that

23:45

this is not the first Assyrian obelisk.

23:48

We've briefly mentioned two or three others.

23:51

There was the broken obelisk of Ashur

23:54

Belkala, the white obelisk

23:57

likely raised by Ashur Nasir Paul

23:59

I.

23:59

and the obelisk raised by

24:02

Ashurnasirpal II in his

24:04

palace courtyard at Kalhu,

24:06

conventionally known as the Rasam

24:09

Obelisk. I'll likely

24:11

cover the first three in detail in a Patreon

24:14

episode, so you can head over to Patreon

24:16

for more info.

24:18

To start with the basics, the

24:20

black obelisk is made of black limestone

24:23

and stands roughly 2 meters or 6

24:26

feet high, which suggests

24:28

that its contents were intended to be seen

24:31

and read.

24:32

It features 20 panel-style

24:35

relief scenes, five on each

24:37

side, with accompanying cuneiform

24:40

text.

24:41

The reliefs are intended to be read

24:43

horizontally, continuing

24:46

around each side of the obelisk.

24:48

In other words, we have five comic

24:51

panel-like scenes, each

24:53

depicting the tribute of a specific

24:56

vassal king.

24:57

I've seen the original at the British

24:59

Museum and was able to take close-up

25:02

photos of a replica, so I'll

25:04

post lots of photos online.

25:07

The highest register across

25:10

all four sides is devoted

25:12

to the tribute of Sua of Gilzhanu,

25:15

located in modern southeastern Turkey.

25:19

The second register covers the tribute

25:21

of Jehu the Israelite. Which

25:23

we've already discussed. The

25:26

third register covers the tribute of

25:28

Muzri.

25:29

Similar to the case with the Battle

25:32

of Kharkar, this is sometimes

25:34

interpreted as Egypt.

25:36

But if you've listened to my Patreon

25:38

episodes on the Libyan pharaohs of Egypt,

25:41

you know this is pretty unlikely.

25:44

At Kharkar, the term

25:46

Muzri likely referred to the Muzrayans,

25:49

Anatolian allies of coastal

25:51

Kwe. But on

25:53

the Black Obelisk, it likely

25:55

meant someone else. Radner

25:59

notes that

25:59

the Assyrian name Musa-sir

26:03

is likely derived from the region's designation

26:06

as Musri, most clearly

26:08

in the inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser

26:10

I.

26:12

So though I haven't seen

26:14

it proposed elsewhere, it seems possible

26:17

that the third register records the

26:19

tribute of a king of Musa-sir.

26:22

To round things out, the fourth

26:25

register covers the tribute of Marduk-apla-usir,

26:29

not the later Babylonian king, but

26:31

a ruler of the Middle Euphrates region

26:34

of Suhu,

26:35

from which our old friend King Suhi

26:37

of Karchemish may have hailed. The

26:40

lowest register covers the tribute

26:42

of King Hal-paru-ntayah II of Patton.

26:47

Above and below the five relief panels

26:49

is a continuous cuneiform text,

26:53

much of which you've heard me read on this podcast,

26:56

because it touches on every single Assyrian

26:59

campaign between the very

27:01

first year of Shalmanezer's reign, 859

27:04

BC, right down to

27:06

the last campaign of Dayan-asur

27:09

in 828 BC,

27:12

which is why we know that the obelisk

27:14

was created sometime after this

27:17

in the context of the Assyrian Civil

27:19

War, which began in 827.

27:23

One of the most obvious questions

27:26

is, why were these five kings

27:28

or regions chosen for the reliefs?

27:32

The obelisk seems intended

27:34

to highlight Assyrian conquests

27:36

in the north, Gilzhanu

27:38

and Musa-sir, and the west.

27:41

Israel may have represented

27:43

southern coastal Syria, Patton

27:46

the northern coast, and Suhu,

27:48

the often rebellious Middle Euphrates.

27:52

Babylonia to the south was

27:54

an Assyrian ally, which is

27:56

why it wasn't included, but

27:59

it's curious that didn't include a Zagros

28:01

kingdom, particularly since several

28:04

recent Assyrian campaigns had targeted

28:06

the region. An

28:09

equally important question is why

28:11

the obelisk was made at all.

28:14

We know it was erected in the courtyard

28:17

of the royal palace at the Assyrian

28:19

showpiece of Kalhu or Nimrud,

28:22

paired with a very similar obelisk

28:24

raised by Shamanazer's father, Ashurnasirpal

28:28

II.

28:29

So on the one hand, Shamanazer

28:31

was just doing what his father had done,

28:34

raising a monument to highlight his

28:36

royal accomplishments. But

28:40

if we factor in the civil war,

28:42

we might get a little more context. The

28:46

rebels held Asur, the

28:48

ancient traditional Assyrian capital,

28:51

home of their god and burial

28:53

place of all their kings. That's

28:57

a pretty strong hand to play.

29:00

We can also assume that, like many

29:02

people seeking to overturn the status

29:04

quo, Asur, Don, and Paul

29:07

framed his rebellion as a return

29:09

to ancient tradition.

29:11

The empires heading in the wrong direction,

29:14

the kingly duties are being delegated,

29:17

jumped up functionaries like Dayan,

29:19

Asur, are wielding inordinate power,

29:22

so support Asur, Don, and Paul,

29:25

a vital young king who get us

29:27

back on track.

29:29

The loyalists played

29:31

a very different hand. Their

29:34

base and centerpiece was Kalhu,

29:36

a magnificent showpiece

29:39

built and embellished by only two

29:41

kings, Shamanazer III

29:44

and his father, Ashurnasirpal II. And

29:47

their strongest argument

29:49

may have been, sure, we

29:52

need to accommodate a growing empire

29:54

by tweaking a few details on how we

29:56

run things, but honestly,

29:59

aren't you better? better off than you were four

30:01

years ago? Or the

30:03

Assyrian equivalent, aren't you better

30:06

off than you were before this king

30:08

and his father made you the wealthiest

30:11

and most powerful empire the

30:13

world has ever known?

30:15

If so, maybe take

30:17

a look at this pair of obelisks because

30:20

they'll show you who you can thank.

30:23

The audience, of course, wasn't

30:25

the general population,

30:27

the vast majority of whom were agricultural

30:30

workers, but the Assyrian nobility,

30:34

particularly the governors and generals

30:36

who controlled the Assyrian army.

30:39

From the little we know of the conflict's

30:42

details, neither side was

30:44

willing to settle for anything less than

30:46

total victory.

30:48

Which meant that either Shamshia Dodd

30:50

had to capture Asur and destroy

30:53

his brother or Asur

30:55

Dhananpal had to take Kalhu

30:57

and destroy his father and brother.

31:00

Each side had at their disposal

31:03

a massive army of well-trained,

31:05

highly experienced troops.

31:08

To me, it sounds like a recipe

31:11

for absolute carnage. Three

31:14

years later, as the war continued

31:17

to rage unabated, the

31:19

Assyrian king, Shalmanazer III,

31:21

finally passed away.

31:24

He technically ruled for 35

31:26

years, though in his final

31:29

years it's very, very likely

31:31

that his loyal son, Shamshia Dodd,

31:34

was effectively running the empire.

31:37

On Shalmanazer's death, it

31:40

was left to the young prince, now

31:42

raised to king, to try

31:44

to contain the maelstrom of chaos

31:47

unleashed by his older brother.

32:05

The Ancient World Podcast is part

32:07

of the Airwave Media Podcast Network.

32:10

Along with My History Can Beat Up Your Politics,

32:13

The Explorer's Podcast, and other

32:15

great shows.