Mutakkil-Nusku, inscribed mmu-ta/tak-kil-dPA.KU, "he whom Nusku endows with confidence," was king of Assyria briefly ca. 1133 BC, during a period of political decline. He reigned sufficiently long to be the recipient of a letter or letters from the Babylonian king, presumed to be Ninurta-nadin-umi, in which he was lambasted and derided.
Biography
He was a younger son of the long-reigning king, Aur-dan I (ca. 1179 to 1134 BC) and succeeded his brother Ninurta-tukulti-Aur, whom he ousted in a coup and subsequently went on to fight in a civil war that seems to have pitched the Assyrian heartland against its provinces. He appears on the Khorsabad Kinglist[i 1] which relates that Mutakkil-Nusku, his (Ninurta-tukulti-Aurs) brother, fought against him. He drove him to Kardunia (Babylonia). Contemporary evidence suggests that Ninurta-tukulti-Aur sought sanctuary in the border town of Siil, where Mutakkil-Nuskus forces engaged him in battle, the outcome of which is lost.[1]
The fragments of one or perhaps two Middle Assyrian letters exist, from an unnamed Babylonian king, possibly Ninurta-nadin-umi, to Mutakkil-Nusku, where he is told that "You should act according to your heart (ki libbika). The texts lambastes him for failing to keep an appointment, or a challenge, in Zaqqa and seems to confirm that Ninurta-tukulti-Aur had reached exile in Babylonia.[2]
His victory was short-lived as ?uppiu Mutakkil-Nusku kussâ ukta'il KUR-a e-mid, (he) held the throne for ?uppiu (his tablet), then died, perhaps his inaugural year and part way into his first year only.[3] One interpretation suggests this was while his father still nominally ruled.[4] Apart from a brief economic text concerning 100 sheep of Mutakkil-Nusku, without a royal title, and his appearance in the genealogies of his descendants such as one of his son, Aur-rea-ii I,[2] there are no other extant inscriptions
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