"Bēlu-bāni Dynasty"

(maš-šur-PAP-AŠ) NUMUN LUGAL-u-ti da-ru-u ša mdEN-⸢ba⸣-ni DUMU ma-da-si mu-kin LUGAL-u-ti KUR aš-šurKI šá du-ru-⸢ug⸣-[šú] bal-tilKI
"(Esarhaddon) royal descendant of the eternal line of Bēl-bāni, son of Adasi, founder of the kingship of Assyria, who[se] place of ultimate origin is Baltil (Aššur)"
Esarhaddon text no. 98 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/Q003327/]: r. 16-18

The reverence for an uninterrupted royal dynasty that started with the reign of Bēlu-bāni (or Bēl-bāni) is especially attested during the reign of Esarhaddon (681-668 BC), who repeatedly dated his noble origins back to this period. His claims were clearly based on a reading of the Assyrian King List (AKL [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/kinglists/assyriankinglist/assyriankinglist/index.html]) that positioned Bēlu-bāni as the first legitimate king following the period of the so-called "sons of nobody [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/sonsofnobody/index.html]." Bēlu-bāni [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/belubani/index.html] himself is recorded as the son of Adāsi, the last of those rulers, and the dynasty is often referred to by his name.

No royal inscriptions are known for the first period of this dynasty, from Bēlu-bāni to Išme-Dagān II (approximately the seventeenth and the early sixteenth centuries BC). However, the practice, from Erišum III onward, of taking throne names that echoed the Old Assyrian kings is a witness to an increased interest in the past that reflected political and cultural strengthening. The section ends with the reigns of Šamšī-Adad III [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/shamshiadadiii/index.html], Aššur-nārārī I [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/ashurnararii/index.html], and Puzur-Aššur III [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/puzurashuriii/index.html], for whom royal inscriptions have survived. This was a flourishing period, for which building projects are attested in both the city of Aššur and in peripheral areas (see the introduction to Puzur-Aššur III) and which can be seen as a precursor of what would become the Middle Assyrian kingdom, following the period of Mittani dominance during fifteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Rulers (in chronological order):

Bēlu-bāni [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/belubani/index.html] (?-? BC)
Libāya [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/libaya/index.html] (?-? BC)
Šarma-Adad I [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/sharmaadadi/index.html] (?-? BC)
Iptar-Sîn [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/iptarsin/index.html] (?-? BC)
Bāzāyu [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/bazayu/index.html] (?-? BC)
Lullāyu [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/lullayu/index.html] (?-? BC)
Šū-Nīnua [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/shuninuaorkidinninua/index.html] (or Kidin-Nīnua) (?-? BC)
Šarma-Adad II [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/sharmaadadii/index.html] (?-? BC)
Erišum III [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/erishumiii/index.html] (?-? BC)
Šamšī-Adad II [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/shamshiadadii/index.html] (?-? BC)
Išme-Dagān II [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/ishmedaganii/index.html] (?-? BC)
Šamšī-Adad III [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/shamshiadadiii/index.html] (?-? BC)
Aššur-nārārī I [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/ashurnararii/index.html] (?-? BC)
Puzur-Aššur III [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/puzurashuriii/index.html] (?-? BC)
Enlil-nāṣir I [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/enlilnasiri/index.html] (?-? BC)

Selected Bibliography

Miglus, P.A., 'Middle Assyrian Settlement in the South', in: P.A: Miglus and S. Mühl (eds.), Between the Cultures: The Central Tigris Region from the 3rd to the 1st Millennium BC ; Conference at Heidelberg, January 22nd - 24th, 2009, Heidelberg, 2011, pp. 217-225.
Yamada, S., 'The Transation Period (17th to 15th Century BC),' in E. Frahm (ed.) A Companion to Assyria , Malden, MA, 2017, pp. 108-116.

Nathan Morello

Nathan Morello, '"Bēlu-bāni Dynasty"', The Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online (RIAo) Project, The RIAo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2021 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/]

 
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