Since the normal meaning of mār šarri, or its functional equivalent, "the prince par excellence," fits all the references hitherto analyzed, the likelihood is great that this is the case even in the Sennacherib texts not yet analyzed. Chronologically, the 14 documents from this reign with references to mār šarri fall into two distinct groups. Six of them date from the years 696-692,[[56]] two from the very end of Sennacherib's reign (years 683-681),[[57]] The dates of the remaining six texts are destroyed.
Sennacherib installed his eldest son Aššur-nadin-šumi as king in Babylon in 699. Since this was clearly meant as a permanent arrangement (the rule of Aššur-nadin-šumi lasted for six years until his deportation to Elam in 694-VII/VIII), the need of settling the succession at home must have become pressing in Assyria soon after 699. The earlier group of texts dating from 696-692 can thus very plausibly be assumed to refer to a heir designate chosen at this time, while the later texts would refer to Esarhaddon as the crown prince.
A closer look at the texts confirms these assumptions. It was already pointed out above that one of the texts belonging to the earlier group, no. 103, dated 694-VII-12, is atypical in that it is the only text in the whole corpus mentioning a prince (Arda-Mullissi) by name. This text has been of pivotal importance to the identification of Sennacherib's murderer, but it has remained unclear whether the title mār šarri accorded to Arda-Mullissi in the text actually means that he was crown prince at the time concerned (which would of course provide a good motive for the murder).[[58]] We believe now to be in a position to show that this indeed was the case.
No. 103 is not an isolated document but belongs to a larger whole, the archive of a 'third man' (i.e., the shield-bearer on a chariot) named Aplaya, covering a period of 16 years from 698-III-10 to 683-I-23. This archive consist of purchases (of large tracts) of land and slaves, as well as of debt-notes attesting to a flourishing money-lending business of this archive holder. Structurally, it closely resembles the archives of the royal charioteers Šumma-ilani, Nabu-šumu-iškun and Remanni-Adad elsewhere in this volume. In no. 103, Aplaya is defined as "the 'third man' of Arda-Mullissi, mār šarri," just as Nabu-šumu-iškun is called "the [chariot driv]er of Sennacherib, [king of Assyria]" in no. 57, or Remanni-Adad "the chief chariot driver of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria" (passim). Such parallels, certainly meant to bolster the high status of these officials, imply that Arda-Mullissi must have been a crown prince. The same is implied by Aplaya's obvious wealth and the size of his archive, which in this volume is matched only by the above three royal charioteers and a few other highly placed court officials.
For their affluence and power people like Aplaya depended on their royal employers; they would not have been able to carry out their luxurious life without the money their lords poured upon them in order to secure their loyalty. In this light the chronological coverage of Aplaya's archive assumes considerable significance, for it must be related to the time of his employment with Arda-Mullissi. Since the earliest document in the archive, from year 698 B.C., already concerns a major real estate purchase, it appears likely that Arda-Mullissi was already crown prince at that time. This accords well with the implications of Aššur-nadin-šumi's installation as monarch in Babylon in 699, discussed above.
Two further occurrences of the title mār
šarri in the early
Sennacherib group (in no. 85, dated 692-X-6, and no. 130, dated 696)
may likewise be taken to refer to Arda-Mullissi. However, in three
texts of the group (nos. 37, 39 and 40), referring to a certain
Samaʾ, "horse raiser of the mār
šarri," this is not possible, as in
one of the texts from the very same period the word mār
šarri is replaced by the name Nergal-šumu-[...] in the title of
Samaʾ:
39 r. 16 (694-I) [Witne]ss Samaʾ, horse raiser of the mār
šarri
37 r. 7 (694-VII-1) [Witness S]amaʾ, horse raiser of the mār
šarri
40 r. 4 (693-I) [Witne]ss Samaʾ, horse raiser of the mār
šarri
41 r. 5 (693-I) Witness Samaʾ, horse raiser of Nergal-šumu-[
... ]
It should be noted that no. 37 is practically contemporary with no. 103
694-VII-12 referring to Arda-Mullissi, the crown prince.
If mār
šarri has its normal meaning in these texts too, then one will
have to accept the existence of two crown princes in Assyria in the
year 694. In view of the later parallel of Assurbanipal and
Šamaš-šumu-ukin. It seems possible that the other prince,
Nergal-šumu-[...], had been appointed as a successor to Aššur-nadin-šumi on the throne of Babylon; this would explain why he is no longer called mār
šarri after the latter's deportation (in 694-
VII/VIII).[[59]]
The two mār šarri texts from the end of Sennacherib's reign (nos. 109 and 110), on the other hand, belong to the archive of a certain Seʾ-madi, entitled "the village manager of the crown prince" in both texts.[[59]] No. 109 is dated 683-[?]-7, the other text 681-XII-16, just 12 (or two) days before Esarhaddon's accession. The latest text in the archive, no. 111, is from the first year of Esarhaddon (680- VII). In this text, the qualification "of the crown prince" is, however, dropped from Seʾ-madi's title. As pointed out in the critical apparatus to the text, this can only mean that the crown prince concerned was Esarhaddon and that he had been promoted to this status by the year 683 at the latest.
This is a most important piece of information, for the exact year in which Esarhaddon became crown prince has so far remained unknown. The evidence previously available suggested that the promotion had taken place either in Nisan 683 or 682.[[61]] The latter alternative can now be ruled out and Nisan 683 be taken as the most likely time of the appointment.
We thus have two legal archives from the reign of Sennacherib attributable to officials of two dIfferent crown princes: the archive of Aplaya, servant of Arda-Mullissi, covenng the time from 698-III-10 to 683-I-23 and the archive of Seʾ-madi, a servant of Esarhaddon, covering the period 683-[?]-7 to 680-VII. The fact that the last document in the former dates from Nisan 683, the very month in which Esarhaddon would have been appointed, while the latter starts in the same year seems more than a coincidence.
In summary, the title mār šarri can be shown to mean "crown prince" in all the texts included in the present volume, with the possible exception of the early Assurbanipal texts where it most likely means "the prince par excellence, (prospective) crown pnnce." This usage is in accordance with the normal meaning of the title in other contemporary texts and has important historical consequences. We may tabulate the implications of the foregoing analysis to contemporary history as follows:
699 Aššur-nadin-šumi installed as king in Babylon
698 Arda-Mullissi appointed crown prince of Assyria
694 Nergal-šumu-[ibni] attested as crown prince [of Babylon?]
693-1 Esarhaddon appointed crown prince of Assyria
676-1 Sin-nadin-apli appointed crown prince of Assyria
667-660 Assurbanipal's eldest son accepted as heir to the throne (at the age of 4 to 10)
56 Nos. 37, 39, 40, 85, 103 and 130.
57 Nos. 109 and 110. The title mār šarri is restored in no. 109.
58 Cf. CRRAI 26 (1980), p. 178 n. 31.
59 Since Nergal-šumu-[ ... ], judging from his "non-royal" name, presumably also was the senior son of Sennacherib (born before his father had become crown prince), he would qualify well for the second-eldest son referred to in later texts as an accomplice of Arda-Mullissi in Sennacherib's assasination. In the Bible, the name of this son si given as Šar-eṣer, which coupled with the fact that Nergal-šumu-uṣur was a very common name, would make the restoration of the last (broken) name element as [uṣur] quite tempting. However, even assuming that the first name element was dropped in the Bible, harmonizing the biblical name form with the hypothetical *Sumu-uṣur would present serious difficulties. It is more likely that the name of the prince is to be restored as Nergal-šumu-ibni on the basis of no. 186:7 dated 683-[?]-7.
60 Title partiailly restored in no. 109.
61 See JCS 39 (1987), 164f.
Simo Parpola
Simo Parpola, 'The Promotion of Esarhaddon', Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part I: Tiglath-Pileser III through Esarhaddon, SAA 6. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1991; online contents: SAAo/SAA06 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa06/natureoftheninevehlegalarchive/ninevitelegaltextsashistoricaldocuments/promotionofesarhaddon/]