The History of Esarhaddon King of Assyria...

Sennacherib, king of Assyria (704-681 BC), whose name (Sin-ahhe-criba) means 'the god Sin has replaced the brothers', came to the throne of Assyria in 704 BC. The new king shifted the capital from Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad) to the ancient city of Nineveh, which he rebuilt in unparalleled splendour. This great palace, which Sennacherib describes... [continue reading]

Esarhaddon was King of Assyria from 680 to 669 BC. 'Esharhaddon' is a modern reading of the name, Ashur-ahu-iddina ('the god Ashur has given a brother'). His father, Sennacherib, was assassinated by two other sons, whom Esarhaddon had to fight for the throne. The successful son reaped the rewards of Sennacherib's hard-won successes... [continue reading]

Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia c. 5000 BCE. The name comes from the Latin word cuneus for `wedge' owing to the wedge-shaped style of writing. In cuneiform, a carefully cut writing implement known as a stylus is pressed into soft clay to produce wedge-like impressions which represent word-signs (pictographs... [continue reading]

Assyria was a Mesopotamian empire that grew out of the city-state of Ashur. It was one of the greatest empires in Mesopotamia, together with the Akkadian Empire of Sargon the Great and the Babylonian Empire under Hammurabi. At its height, the Assyrian Empire extended from Anatolia in the west, to Armenia in the... [continue reading]