Ashur-dan III

Who was Ashur-dan III?

Ashur-dan III was King of Assyria from 772 to 755 BC.

Ashur-dan III was the son of Adad-nirari III, and succeeded his brother Shalmaneser IV in 773 BC. Ashur-dan's reign was a difficult age for the Assyrian monarchy. The rulership was severely limited by the influence of court dignitaries, particularly that of Shamshi-ilu, who was the commander-in-chief of the army at that time. According to the eponym canon, in 765 BC Assyria was hit by a plague, and the following year the king could not campaign. In 763 BC a revolt broke out, which lasted until 759 BC, when another plague hit the land. His reign and the reigns of preceding Assyrian kings have been astronomically dated based on the only verifiable reference to a solar eclipse in Assyrian chronicles, the so-called eclipse of Bur Sagale. Ashur-dan was succeeded by another brother, Ashur-nirari V.