Aur-rea-ii I, inscribed ma-ur-SAG-i-i and meaning Aur has lifted my head, ca. 11331116 BC, son of Mutakkil-Nusku, was a king of Assyria, the 86th to appear on the Assyrian King List[i 1] and ruled for 18 years.[i 2] The Synchronistic King List[i 3] and its fragmentary copies[i 4][i 5] give him as a contemporary of the Babylonian kings Ninurta-nadin-umi, ca. 1132-1126 BC, Nabû-kudurri-u?ur, ca. 11261103 BC, and Enlil-nadin-apli, ca. 11031100 BC, although the last of these is unlikely if the current chronology favored is followed.
Biography
His royal titles included merciless hero in battle, crusher of the enemies of Aur, strong shackle binding the insubmissive, one who puts the insubordinate to flight, murderer of the extensive army of the Ahlam? (and) scatterer of their forces, the one who defeats the lands of [ ], the Lullubû, all the Qutu and their entire mountainous region and subdues them at his feet He styled himself muter gimilli mat Aur, avenger of Assyria, and seems to have directed his earlier campaigns to the east, as a broken chronicle[i 6] records his campaign staged from Erbil into the disputed Zagros mountains where his shock troops (?uradu) encountered the Babylonian king Ninurta-nadin-umi, here called Ninurta-nadin-umati, whose forces characteristically fled, a recurring motif in Assyrian accounts of their relationship with their southern neighbor.
Pressures from the west, however, were to draw Aur-rea-iis attention, and that of his successors, as the widespread (rapati) hordes of Ahlam? nomadic tribesmen were driven by the deprivations of climate change into the Assyrian hinterland.[1] Here he may also have encountered Nabû-kudurri-u?ur, who like him claimed victories against the Amorite lands and the Lullubû.[i 7]
The Synchronistic History[i 8] has a lengthy passage concerning his conflicts with Nabû-kudurri-u?ur. Initially they established an amicable relationship. However the Babylonian king subsequently besieged the Assyrian fortress of Zanqi and when Aur-rea-ii approached with his relief force, Nabû-kudurri-u?ur torched his siege engines (nepeu) to prevent their capture and withdrew. On a second campaign, he laid siege to the fortress of Idi and the arrival of the Assyrian army resulted in a pitched battle in which he brought about his total defeat, slaughtered his troops and carried off his camp. Forty of his chariots with harness were taken away and Karatu, Nabû-kudurri-u?urs field-marshal, was captured. [2]
The later king ulmanu-aaredu III credited him with rebuilding the city wall of Assur in his own rededication. His own brick inscriptions from the same city identify him as builder of the temple of the gods Adad and An, Itar of Assyria and Aur. He built a palace in Bumariyah, ancient Apqu a Adad, as witnessed by a baked brick inscription.[3] His most significant construction efforts were witnessed at his capital, Nineveh, where he rebuilt the tower-gates of the temple of Itar which had been damaged by earthquakes during the earlier reigns of ulmanu-aaredu I (ca. 1274 BC 1245 BC) and Aur-dan I (ca. 1179 to 1134 BC), the latter being his grandfather. These were flanked by monumental statues of lions.
His palace edict concerning men fraternizing with palace women gives the penalty of execution, with silent witnesses considered a party to the event and punished by being thrown into an oven.[4] The sequence of limmu officials in the eponym dating system is not known as column 2 of the only extant list is damaged at this point.[5]
He was succeeded by his son, Tukulti-apil-Earra I.
Child(ren):