Tukulti-Ninurta I

Who is Tukulti-Ninurta I?

Tukulti-Ninurta I was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian Empire.

He succeeded Shalmaneser I, his father, as king and won a major victory against the Hittite Empire at the Battle of Nihriya in the first half of his reign, appropriating Hittite territory in Asia Minor and The Levant. Tukulti-Ninurta I retained Assyrian control of Urartu, and later defeated Kashtiliash IV, the Kassite king of Babylonia and captured the rival city of Babylon to ensure full Assyrian supremacy over Mesopotamia. He set himself up as king of Babylon, thus becoming the first native Mesopotamian to rule there, its previous kings having all been non native Amorites or Kassites. He took on the ancient title "King of Sumer and Akkad" first used by Sargon of Akkad.

Tukulti-Ninurta had petitioned the god Shamash before beginning his counter offensive. Kashtiliash IV was captured, single-handed by Tukulti-Ninurta according to his account, who "trod with my feet upon his lordly neck as though it were a footstool" and deported him ignominiously in chains to Assyria. The victorious Assyrian demolished the walls of Babylon, massacred many of the inhabitants, pillaged and plundered his way across the city to the Esagila temple, where he made off with the statue of Marduk. After capturing Babylonia he invaded the Arabian Peninsula, conquering the Pre-Arab states of Dilmun and Meluhha.