People > Ashur-Dan III
Ashur-Dan III
Background
Ashur-dan III was the king of Assyria between 772 BC and 755 BC and presided over a period of internal social and political strife. Ashur-dan III was the son of Adad-Nirari III and the brother of Shalmaneser IV. He succeeded his brother as king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 773 BC however, he was never able to gain de-facto power of Assyria due to certain royal members of the palace court.
His leadership was limited by the influence of the commander of the military known as a turtanu named Shamshi-ilu who held considerable power within Assyria. Within a few years of his reign the civilization of Assyria was wrought with a deadly plague in 765 BC and this caused Ashur-dan III to forgo the annual military campaign as per ancient custom and tradition. In 763 BC following the strife a revolution broke out among the populace and this would last until 759 BC when another deadly plague would strike Assyria.
Following all this political and social strife Ashur-Dan III was succeeded by his brother named Ashur-Nirari V in 755 BC. One of the most important legacies of Ashur-Dan III is not his contributions towards Assyrian culture, architecture or customs but rather to our knowledge of the civilization as a whole. It is possible to astronomically date all of the reigns of the Assyrian kings that came before based on the recording of the Bur-Sagale eclipse during the reign of Ashur-Dan III. This is an extremely important find for archaeologists and lends a much better understanding to Assyrian history and its context in the global timeline.
Ashur-dan III was King of Assyria from 772 to 755 BC.[1]Ashur-dan III was the son of Adad-nirari III, and succeeded his brother Shalmaneser IV in 773 BC. Ashur-dan's reign was a difficult age for the Assyrian monarchy. The rulership was severely limited by the influence of court dignitaries, particularly that of Shamshi-ilu, who was the commander-in-chief of the army (turtanu) at that time. According to the eponym canon, in 765 BC, Assyria was hit by a plague, and in the following year, the king could not campaign (it was customary for the Assyrian king to lead a military expedition every year). In 763 BC, a revolt broke out, which lasted until 759 BC, when another plague struck the land. His reign and the reigns of preceding Assyrian kings have been astronomically dated based on the only verifiable reference to a solar eclipse in Assyrian chronicles, the eclipse of Bur Sagale. Ashur-dan was succeeded by another brother, Ashur-nirari V.Preceded byShalmaneser IVKing of Assyria772–755 BCSucceeded byAshur-nirari VSee also[edit]Assyrian eclipseReferences[edit]Jump up ^ Boardman, John (1982). The Cambridge Ancient History Vol. III Part I: The Prehistory of the Balkans, the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries BC. Cambridge University Press. p. 276. ISBN 978-0521224963. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
