Although Nineveh was in ruins and Sîn-šarra-iškun was dead, the Assyrian Empire still had a little bit of fight in her. Aššur-uballiṭ II (611–609), a man who was very likely the son and designated heir of Sîn-šarra-iškun, declared himself king of Assyria in Ḫarrān, an important provincial capital located in the northwestern part of Assyria, near the Baliḫ River (close to modern Urfa).[238] Assyria's last ruler — who could not officially be crowned king of Assyria since the Aššur temple at Aššur was in ruins and, thus, the ancient coronation ceremony that would confirm him as Aššur's earthly representative could not be performed[239] — relied upon Assyria's last remaining ally: Egypt. While Nabopolassar's armies consolidated Babylonia's hold over the Assyrian heartland in 611, Aššur-uballiṭ was able to prepare for battle in his makeshift capital. In 610, Nabopolassar, together with Cyaxares, marched west, crossed the Euphrates River, and headed directly for Ḫarrān, Assyria's last bastion. As the Babylonian and Median forces approached the city, Aššur-uballiṭ and his supporters fled since any fight would have been futile. By saving his own skin, this Assyrian ruler put off the final death blow of his kingdom by one year. When the armies of Nabopolassar and Cyaxares arrived at Ḫarrān, they thoroughly looted and destroyed it and its principal temple Eḫulḫul, which was dedicated to the moon-god Sîn. During the following year, 609, Aššur-uballiṭ returned with a large Egyptian army and attacked the Babylonian garrisons that Nabopolassar had stationed near Ḫarrān. Despite this minor victory, he failed to retake the city. By the time, the king of Babylon arrived on the scene, Aššur-uballiṭ and his Egyptian allies were no longer in the vicinity of Ḫarrān and, therefore, he marched to the land Izalla and attacked it instead. Aššur-uballiṭ was never to be heard from again. The once-great Assyrian Empire was gone, but not forgotten.[240]
Some key events of the Neo-Assyrian Period were recorded in the Bible, the writings of Greek and Roman historians (for example, Berossus, Ctesias of Cnidus, Herodotus, and Josephus), and Aramaic and Demotic tales (for example, the tale of Ahiqar, the Inaros Cycle, and the Brothers' War [Amherst Papyrus 63]) and these sources, with their portrayals of Assyria and some of its more memorable kings and their deeds (or misdeeds), kept the memory of the Assyrian Empire alive until Assyria's rediscovery in the mid-19th century, when its capital cities began to be unearthed and native, contemporary cuneiform sources written in the Akkadian language came to light.[241]
[238] On Aššur-uballiṭ II, see, for example, J. Oates, CAH2 3/2 p. 182; Brinkman, PNA 1/1 p. 228 sub Aššūr-uballiṭ no. 2; Radner, Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad pp. 17–19; Frahm, Companion to Assyria p. 192; Radner in Yamada, SAAS 28 pp. 135–142; and MacGinnis in Brereton, I am Ashurbanipal pp. 283–284.
[239] On Aššur-uballiṭ remaining as the heir designate, rather than the king, of Assyria, see Radner in Yamada, SAAS 28 pp. 135–142.
[240] For Assyria after 612, its "afterlife," and legacy (with references to previous literature), see, for example, Curtis, Continuity of Empire pp. 157–167; Frahm, Companion to Assyria pp. 193–196; and Hauser in Frahm, Companion to Assyria pp. 229–246. For Nabopolassar (625–605) and Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562) modelling the organization of their central palace bureaucracy and imperial administration on Assyria's, see Jursa, Achämenidenhof pp. 67–106; and Jursa, Imperien und Reiche pp. 121–148. Urban life continued to some extent in Assyria's once-grand metropolises and the cult of the god Aššur survived in Aššur. See, for example, Miglus, Studies Strommenger pp. 135–142; Dalley, AoF 20 (1993) pp. 134–147; Dalley, Hanging Garden pp. 179–202; Frahm, Companion to Assyria pp. 193–194; and Radner, Herrschaftslegitimation pp. 77–96. A handful of "post-Assyrian" legal contracts have been discovered at Dur-Katlimmu (modern Tell Sheikh Hamad), a site on the eastern bank of the Khabur River. These texts come from the early reign of the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, between 603 and 600; see Postgate, SAAB 7 (1993) pp. 109–124; and Radner, Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad pp. 61–69 nos. 37–40.
[241] For Assyria in the Hebrew Bible and in Classical Sources, see respectively Frahm, Companion to Assyria pp. 556–569; and Rollinger in Frahm, Companion to Assyria pp. 570–582.
Jamie Novotny
Jamie Novotny, 'Aššur-uballiṭ II and the End of the Assyrian Empire', RINAP 5: The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, Aššur-etel-ilāni, and Sîn-šarra-iškun, The RINAP/RINAP 5 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2023 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap5/RINAP53Introduction/Sin-sharra-ishkun,Ashur-uballitII/Ashur-uballitIIandtheEndoftheAssyrianEmpire/]