Šamšī-Adad IV

Šamšī-Adad IV (1053-1050 BC) was a son of Tiglath-pileser I (1114-1076 BC). According to the Assyrian King List [/riao/KingLists/AssyrianKingList/AssyrianKingList/index.html#Shamshi-Adad], in which he appears as the ninety-first ruler of Ashur, he came up from Babylonia (Karduniaš, in the text), removed Erība-Adad II (1055-1054 BC) from the throne and ruled for 4 years. He was succeeded by his son Ashurnasirpal I (1049-1031 BC). In the Synchronistic King List [/riao/KingLists/SynchronisticKingList/index.html#Shamshi-Adad], Šamšī-Adad IV is named as a contemporary of the Babylonian king Ea-[ ... ], possibly Ea-mukīn-zēri [/ribo/babylon3/Rulers/Ea-mukin-zeri/index.html] (1008 BC). Prior to his reign, Šamšī-Adad IV was probably in the exile in Babylonia and was assisted in his coup by the Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina [/ribo/babylon2/Rulers/Adad-apla-iddina/index.html] (1068-1047 BC) late in the latter's reign (Baker 2008, 636; Grayson 1986, 119; 123). Few fragmentary inscriptions of Šamšī-Adad IV record his building activities at the Ishtar temple in Ashur and Nineveh.

[Alexander Kudryavtsev]

Bibliography

Baker, H.D., Šamšī-Adad IV. In D. O. Edzard (Ed.), Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie (Band 11), p. 636, Berlin, 2008

Grayson, A. K., Königslisten und Chroniken. B. Akkadisch. In D. O. Edzard (Ed.), Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie (Band 6), pp. 86–135, Berlin, 1986

Browse the RIA 3 Corpus [/riao/ria3/pager/]

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1

This text has been restored from 9 fragmentary inscriptions on clay cones found at Nineveh. Although all fragments deal with the building activities at the towers of the Ishtar temple at Ashur, it is possible that they do not bear exactly the same text. They may have also described other works.

[Alexander Kudryavtsev]

Access the composite text [/riao/ria3/Q006001/] of Šamšī-Adad IV 01.

Sources: (1) 1856-09-09, 0172 (2) 1856-09-09, 0179 (3) BM 122661 (1930-05-08, 0094) (4) 1856-09-09, 0198 (5) BM 123510 (1932-12-10, 0453) (6) 1856-09-09, 0157 (7) BM 128387 (1932-12-10, 0644) (8) BM 122659 (1930-05-08, 0092) (9) 1856-09-09, 0196

Bibliography

1870 3 R pl. 3 nos. 1-2 and 9 (exs. 2, 6, 9, copy)

1902 King, AKA pp. 150-51 (exs. 1-2, 4, edition)

1926 Luckenbill, ARAB 1 §§342-43 (exs. 1-2, 4, edition)

1932 Thompson, AAA 19 pp. 98 and 104 and pls. LXXIII, LXXV, LXXVII, and LXXX nos. 118, 151, 172, and 257 (exs. 3, 5, 7-8, study, copy)

1961 Borger, EAK 1 pp. 145-46 (exs. 1-6, 8-9, study)

1967 Borger, HKL 1 p. 31 (ex. 7, study)

1968 Lambert and Millard, Cat. pp. 17, 31, and 65 (study)

1976 Grayson, ARI 2 XCI 1 (exs. 1-9, translation)

2

This fragmentary text which describes the rebuilding of the Ishtar temple is attested on a piece of a clay cone found at Nineveh.

[Alexander Kudryavtsev]

Access the composite text [/riao/ria3/Q006002/] of Šamšī-Adad IV 02.

Source: 1856-09-09, 0169

Bibliography

1870 3 R pl. 3 no. 11 (copy)

1902 King, AKA p. 150 n. 1 (study)

1961 Borger, EAK 1 p. 146 (study)

1976 Grayson, ARI 2 CI 3 (study)

3

This fragmentary text which describes the rebuilding of the Ishtar temple is attested on a piece of a clay cone found in the Ishtar Temple (U. 3) at Nineveh. It may be the part of the text no. 2, although there is no physical join between the two objects. The lions mentioned in line 2' call to mind the inscriptions of Aššur-rēša-iši I [/riao/ria2/Ashur-resha-ishiI/index.html] (1132-1115 BC) (text no. 1 [/riao/ria2/Ashur-resha-ishiI/Texts1-14/index.html#ashurreshaishi101]: 8 and text no. 2 [/riao/ria2/Ashur-resha-ishiI/Texts1-14/index.html#ashurreshaishi102]: 4).

[Alexander Kudryavtsev]

Access the composite text [/riao/ria3/Q006003/] of Šamšī-Adad IV 03.

Source: BM 123468 (1932-12-10, 0411)

Bibliography

1932 Thompson, AAA 19 p. 104 and pl. LXXIX no. 222 (copy, edition)

1959 Weidner, Tn. p. 54 (study)

1961 Borger, EAK 1 p. 146 (study)

1976 Grayson, ARI 2 CI 4 (study)

4

This is a dedicatory inscription which appears on a piece of limestone found at Ashur (probably a pestle). Cf. a similar inscription by Ashurnasirpal I (1049-1031 BC) (text no. 1001).

[Alexander Kudryavtsev]

Access the composite text [/riao/ria3/Q006004/] of Šamšī-Adad IV 04.

Source: Ass 17558

Bibliography

1922 Schroeder, KAH 2 no. 79 (copy)

1926 Luckenbill, ARAB 1 §344 (translation)

1961 Borger, EAK 1 p. 146 (study)

1976 Grayson, ARI 2 CI 2 (translation)

5

This ten-word inscription of Šamšī-Adad IV is inscribed on a stele that was erected beside other steles at Ashur; the object, which was found in two pieces, comes from the so-called "row of steles."

[Poppy Tushingham]

Access the composite text [/riao/ria3/Q006005/] of Šamšī-Adad IV 05.

Source: VA Ass 02015 (Ass 15259 + Ass 15272)

Bibliography

1909 Andrae, MDOG 40 pp. 24-25 (provenance, edition)

1913 Andrae, Stelenreihen pp. 24-30 and pls. XV and XVI no. 15 (photo, copy, edition)

1976 Grayson, ARI 2 CI 5 (translation)

1991 Grayson, RIMA 2, pp. 120-1 A.0.91.5

Jamie Novotny, Poppy Tushingham & Alexander Kudryavtsev

Jamie Novotny, Poppy Tushingham & Alexander Kudryavtsev, 'Šamšī-Adad IV', RIA 3: Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser I to Tukultī-Ninurta II, The RIA Project, 2025 [http://oracc.org/Shamshi-AdadIV/]