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Two Ashur-uballits

​​Two of the Amarna Letters supply a  crucial link between Egypt and Assyria: they were  written by a king 'Ashur-uballit'.  A fundamental assumption of the standard chronology is that they were written by the king of that name recorded in the AKL & Inscriptions. However, Newgrosh lists  a series of problems with this identification:

EA 16

    "To Napkhororia Great King, king of Egypt, my brother, thus speaks Ashur-uballit, king of Assyria, Great King, your brother: may well-being reign over you, your house and your land!"

 

Ashur-uballit I of the Royal Inscriptions

Ashur-uballit of the Amarna Letters

1. Humble 'vice-regent of Ashur'

2. His father and hs son mere vice-regents also

3. Ordinary, unassuming and unassertive

4. From a long and unbroken line of royalty

5. Generations of ancesters had been vassals of Mittani

6. Attested as far west only as Rimah

7. NE Hanigalbat conquered by his grandson, Arki-den-ili

8. No strong Assryian king for centuries before

9. Unrelated to Ashur-nadin-ahhe I and II

10. Ashur-nadin-ahhe I & II were minor kings

11. Too early an era for Levantine Assyrianisms

12. Too early an era for Assyrian tombs at Mari

13. Assyria a quiet backwater

14. Assyria emerging from long hibernation

15. A minor king, like his father and son

1. Accepted by Pharaoh as an equal of other Great Kings

2. Great King despite no obvious conquests

3. Brash, confident and assertive

4. Untrained in international etiquette

5. Babylonian king claims the Assyrians are his vassals

6. Titled himself 'king of the universe'

7. W. Hanigalbat invaded by his contemporary, Shuppiluliuma I

8. A previous marriage alliance with Egypt

9. Someone called Ashur-nadin-ahhe was his 'father'

10. This ancestor had the marriage alliance!

11. But Levantine Assyrianisms are well attested at this time

12. Equally well attested!

13. Assyria a major player with political clout

14. Assyria now fully fledged and politically influential

15. A powerful king from a different era

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