Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III
By Levi Clancy for Student Reader on
- Neo-Assyrian Empire
- 668 - 627 BCAssyrian king Ashurbanipal
- 704 - 681 BCAssyrian king Sennacherib
- 721 - 705 BCAssyrian king Sargon II
- 744 - 727 BCAssyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III
- 754 - 745 BCAssyrian king Ashur-Nirari V
- 810 - 783 BCAssyrian king Adad-Nirari III
- 824 - 811 BCAssyrian king Shamshi-Adad V
- 853 - 824 BCAssyrian king Shalmaneser III
- 883 - 859 BCAssyrian king Ashurnasirpal II
- 934 - 912 BCAssyrian king Ashur-Dan II
- Aramization
Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III ascended the throne in the aftermath of a power struggle and the implosion of Assyrian power which his father Shamshi-Adad V mostly succeeded in concluding. However, he was just a child when he became king. It seemed he drag down Assyria into a descension, but with the right support — especially his mother, the former queen — his reign succeeded in terms of stability and maintaining state power.
Legacy
Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III started his reign as a child, supported by his mother and royal eunuchs. Over time, however, his reign turned out to be remarkably stable and three of his sons — Shalmaneser IV, Ashur-Dan III, and lastly Ashur-Nirari V — would succeed him. During their reigns, however, there was trouble brewing with the rising Urartian threat. This culminated with the Urartians managing to stage a defeat against the Assyrians, the same year Ashur-Nirari V took the throne. The defeat caused disputes over the direction that Assyria should take. The power struggle that ensued ended when Tiglath-Pileser III — one of Ashur-Nirari V's sons, and a grandson of Adad-Niari III — staged a coup and ushered in the start of the extremely militaristic expansion phase of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.