Ninurta-apal-Ekur

Middle Assyrian king (r. 1192-1180 BCE per Nassouhi King List, or 1182-1180 BCE per shorter chronology). Founder of a new dynastic branch after the assassination of Tukulti-Ninurta I had thrown the senior line into chaos. Mortal class — Assyrian kings explicitly were not considered divine themselves but rather "vicars of Ashur" (Iššiʾak Aššur) and the god's chief representative on earth. Father of Ashur-dan I, whose 46-year reign (1178-1133 BCE) preserved Assyrian power through the Bronze Age Collapse. Already dead by 1172 BCE — his son Ashur-dan I is the Middle Assyrian king actually alive at that moment.

Children

• Ashur-dan I

Relations

• father: Ilī-padâ (Assyrian grand vizier and king of Ḫanigalbat, descendant of Eriba-Adad I) · MesopotamianAssyrian King List (primary)
• father of: Ashur-dan I (Middle Assyrian king r. 1178-1133 BCE; reigned 46 years; the long stabilizing reign that preserved Assyria through the Bronze Age Collapse) · MesopotamianAssyrian King List (primary)
• ally: Meli-Šipak II of Babylon (registered as mesopotamian_meli_shipak_ii — see entry; sent him diplomatic gifts of horses and rugs) · MesopotamianRecently-excavated Assur tablet (primary)

Sources

• existence: Assyrian King List (Nassouhi, Khorsabad, SDAS copies); Middle Assyrian palace decrees; recently-excavated Assur tablet recording Meli-Šipak's gifts; royal inscriptions claiming descent from Eriba-Adad I (primary)