One can easily imagine that the political climate in Assyria after Sennacherib's surprising and heinous murder was almost paranoid. One letter (no. 95) gives a glimpse of the restless situation at Assur after Sennacherib's death. However, labelling the general frame of mind following Sennacherib's murder as paranoid seems not only exaggerated but also too simplistic. As Sennacherib's successor, Esarhaddon took careful precautions to ensure the continuity of the Sargonid dynasty, and these arrangements cannot but be seen as wise acts when viewed against the background of the political events before Esarhaddon's time. His glorious grandfather had been killed ominously on the battlefield and his father had been murdered by his own son, a brother of Esarhaddon. Against this background, Esarhaddon's reign seems surprisingly stable, or, conversely, it is because of this background that we can easily understand the rationale of his domestic policy.
A number of letters sent to the crown prince Assurbanipal attest to his deep involvement in domestic politics after he was appointed as crown prince of Assyria. [[73]] He is not mentioned by name in any of these letters, but because many of them concern purely Assyrian matters, it seems certain that the crown prince referred to was Assurbanipal rather than Šamaš-šumu-ukin. ln fragmentary letters, such as nos. 37 and 38, there is of course no way of proving for certain that they were sent to Assurbanipal. We assume, however, that not even a single letter in this volume was sent toŠamaš-šumu-ukin.
Military matters are not exceptional in the letters addressed to Assurbanipal. This is not surprising in view of the fact that Esarhaddon explicitly ordered intelligence reports from the eastern and northern borders of the Empire to be sent to Assurbanipal: "Should a deserter from Mannea, Media or Hubuškia fall in their (the frontier guards') hands, you are to put him immediately in the hands of your messenger and send him to the crown prince. And if he has something to say, you will tell it to the crown prince accurately" (no 148: 19-r.7). Note also the fragmentary letter no. 149, in which a bodyguard of the crown prince is mentioned in a context referring to a battle.
The king himself was at that time presumably either in the battlefield, concentrating on the more problematic issue of the Egyptian frontier, or confined to bed, struggling against the fits of his illness, which had taken a rum for the worse.[[74]] Thus it is no surprise that Esarhaddon wanted to share the responsibilities of his reign with Assurbanipal. Although Šamš-šumu-ukin had been nominated as crown prince of Babylon, Assurbanipal's activities were probably not restricted to the north and east; he may have been involved in Babylonian matters as well (cf. nos. 17 and 155). Assurbanipal's position as crown prince at the end of Esarhaddon' s reign is on the whole well comparable to that of Sennacherib during the latter half of the reign of Sargon.[[75]]
73 Nos. 34, 35, 37, 38, 69, 70, 106, 107, 116, and 124.
74 For Esarhaddon's illness see LAS II p. 230ff.
75 See Starr, SAA 4 p. LIX, Kuhrt ANE p. 522f, and the letters from Sennacherib as crown prince. SAA 1 29-40 and SAA 5 281. The "Succession Palace" was in the place from which the crown princes co-ruled with their fathers, see Parpola, CRRAI 30 (1986) 233.
Mikko Luukko & Greta van Buylaere
Mikko Luukko & Greta van Buylaere, 'Assyrian Domestic Affairs', The Political Correspondence of Esarhaddon, SAA 16. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 2002; online contents: SAAo/SAA16 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2022 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa16/assyriandomesticaffairs/]