Šū-Nīnua (or Kidin-Nīnua)

Šū-Nīnua was the fifty-fourth ruler of Aššur according to the Assyrian King List [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/kinglists/assyriankinglist/index.html] (AKL). His unusual name means "one from Nineveh" (Michel 2011-13, 315) and J. Reade (2001, 8) suggests that he may have been a governor of Nineveh. No royal inscriptions of his are presently known. According to the AKL, Šū-Nīnua was the son of Bāzāyu [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/bazayu/index.html] (the fifty-second ruler) and he succeeded Lullāyu [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/lullayu/index.html], a "son of a nobody" who may or may not have been a usurper. A different king list, fragment VAT 9812 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/kinglists/fragmentvat9812/index.html], omits the thirteen names listed prior to Šū-Nīnua in the better preserved copies of the AKL and places Šū-Nīnua's name immediately after a horizontal line, possibly indicating that the period before his reign was one of confusion and that he refounded the Bēlu-bāni dynastic line (Yamada 1994, 27).

According to the AKL, two of Šū-Nīnua's sons succeeded him to the throne: first Šarma-Adad II [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/sharmaadadii/index.html] and then Erišum III [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/erishumiii/index.html]. However, Reade (2001, 8) proposes that Šarma-Adad I [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/sharmaadadi/index.html] and Šarma-Adad II [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/sharmaadadii/index.html] are the same person. If this is the case, then Šarma-Adad II could not have been Šū-Nīnua's son. Šū-Nīnua may also have had a son named Išmē-Dagān who did not rule as king and that man may have been the father of Šamšī-Adad III [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/shamshiadadiii/index.html], who the AKL records was the son of an Išmē-Dagān who was the son of Šū-Nīnua and the brother of Šarma-Adad II [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/sharmaadadii/index.html]; the identity of Šamšī-Adad III [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/fromsamsiaddutomittanicilent18081364bc/belubanidynasty/shamshiadadiii/index.html]'s father is debated (see the introduction to that monarch's reign).

Bibliography

Michel, C., 'Šu-Ninua,' Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie 13, 2011-13, 315.
Reade, J., 'Assyrian King-lists, The Royal Tombs of Ur, and Indus Origins,' Journal of Near Eastern Studies 60/4 (2001), 1-29.
Yamada, S., 'The Editorial History of the Assyrian King List,' ZA 84, 1994, 11-37.

Poppy Tushingham & Jamie Novotny

Poppy Tushingham & Jamie Novotny, 'Šū-Nīnua (or Kidin-Nīnua)', 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/shuninuaorkidinninua/]

 
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