Aššur-dān I (1178-1133 BC) was the eighty-third ruler of Ashur according to the Assyrian King List [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/kinglists/assyriankinglist/index.html] (AKL). That chronographic text states that he ruled for forty-six years (Var: Nassouhi Kist [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/kinglists/assyriankinglist/nassouhilist/index.html] "twenty-six years") and that he succeeded his father Ninurta-apil-Ekur [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/thekingdomofassyria13631115bc/ninurtaapilekur/index.html] and was followed on the throne by his son Ninurta-tukultī-Aššur [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/thekingdomofassyria13631115bc/ninurtatukultiashur/index.html]; Ninurta-tukultī-Aššur may have acted as co-regent during the later years of Aššur-dān's reign (see the introduction [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/thekingdomofassyria13631115bc/ninurtatukultiashur/index.html] to that monarch). In his inscriptions, Tiglath-pileser I [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/thekingdomofassyria1114884bc/tiglathpileseri/index.html] reports that his great-grandfather Aššur-dān "lived to a ripe old age" (text no. 1 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q005926/] vii 54).
The Synchronistic History reports that during the reign of the Babylonian king Zababa-šuma-iddina, Aššur-dān "went down to Karduniaš," captured the cities Zaban, Irriya, and Ugarsallu and took "their vast booty to Assyria" (Grayson 1975, 162: ii 10-12).
Four inscriptions have been ascribed to him. In addition, Aššur-dān's great-grandson Tiglath-pileser I records that he tore down the Anu-Adad temple at Aššur, but did not rebuild it (text no. 1 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q005926/] vii 66-70).
Browse the RIAo Corpus [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/pager/]
A fragment of a brick from Aššur preserves part of an inscription of Aššur-dān I. The object is in Istanbul (Eski Șark Eserleri Müzesi of the Arkeoloji Müzeleri).
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q005895/] of Aššur-dān I 1.
Text no. 1
See Tukulti-Ninurta I text no. 1012 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/thekingdomofassyria13631115bc/tukultininurtai/texts10011012and2001/index.html#tukultininurta11012]
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q005896/] of Aššur-dān I 1001.
A flake off a clay tablet from Nineveh preserves a small portion of a Middle Asssyrian inscription describing the defeat of Ari-Tešub, a king of the land Subartu. On the suggestion of A.R. Millard, this text has been tentatively assigned to around the time of Aššur-dān I. The piece is now in the British Museum (London).
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q005897/] of Aššur-dān I 1002.
A small bronze statue found at Lake Urmia, originally from Arbela, has a private dedicatory inscription written on it. The temple scribe Šamšī-bēl dedicated it to the goddess Ištar, Arbela's tutelary deity, on behalf of Aššur-dān, presumably the first Assyrian king with that name. The statue -- whose name is "O Ištar, my ear (is directed) towards you!" -- is now in Paris (Louvre).
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/Q005898/] of Aššur-dān I 2001.
Jamie Novotny & Poppy Tushingham
Jamie Novotny & Poppy Tushingham, 'Aššur-dān I', The Royal Inscriptions of Assyria online (RIAo) Project, The RIAo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2021 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/riao/thekingdomofassyria13631115bc/ashurdani/]