# Ninurta-apal-Ekur
**Ninurta-apal-Ekur** (also printed Ninurta-apil-Ekur) was a king of Assyria in the late 12th century BC, the son of Ila-Hadda and a descendant of [Eriba-Adad I](https://www.edgepedia.org/eriba-adad-i), who took the throne by force after the fall of the line of [Tukulti-Ninurta I](https://www.edgepedia.org/tukulti-ninurta-i).[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/) The Assyrian King List says he had gone to Karduniaš, the Babylonian kingdom, and came up from there to seize the throne; it credits him with a reign of 3 years.[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/) How long he actually ruled is disputed: the eBL king-list tool assigns him 13 years (1189–1178 BC), while a scholarly critique of the king list dates him 1181–1169 BC.[2](https://ebl.badw.de/tools/list-of-kings) • [3](https://www.academia.edu/18867223/The_Assyrian_King_List_and_Chronology_a_Critique) He was succeeded by his son Aššur-dan I.[4](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/272-synchronic-king-list/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Identity | Son of Ila-Hadda, descendant of Eriba-Adad I; a cadet-line prince rather than a son of Tukulti-Ninurta I[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/) |
| Route to power | Went to Karduniaš, returned, and seized the throne after the fall of Enlil-kudurri-usur[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/) • [5](https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/16108/1/assyrian-king-list.pdf) |
| Reign length (king list) | 3 years[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/) |
| Reign length (eBL) | 13 years, 1189–1178 BC[2](https://ebl.badw.de/tools/list-of-kings) |
| Alternative dating | 1181–1169 BC in one king-list critique[3](https://www.academia.edu/18867223/The_Assyrian_King_List_and_Chronology_a_Critique) |
| Babylonian contemporary | Adad-šum-iddina, per the Synchronistic King List; Meli-Šipak attests him in an Emar document[4](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/272-synchronic-king-list/) • [5](https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/16108/1/assyrian-king-list.pdf) |
| Successor | His son Aššur-dan I[4](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/272-synchronic-king-list/) |
## The succession crisis and his rise
Ninurta-apal-Ekur came to power in the aftermath of a dynastic collapse. Aššūr-nādin-apli, a son of Tukulti-Ninurta I, had taken the throne; his scanty inscriptions include bricks from Assur reading "(Property of) the palace of Aššūr-nādin-apli" and a stone tablet commemorating the rerouting of the Tigris to the north of the city.[6](https://cavac.at/cavacopedia/Ashur-nadin-apli) After Enlil-kudurri-usur, the Synchronistic Chronicle records the decisive turn: after the battle between Enlil-kudur-usur and the Babylonian king [Adad-shuma-usur](https://www.edgepedia.org/adad-shuma-usur), "Ninurta-apil-Ekur went home. He mustered his numerous troops and marched to conquer Libbi-ali (the city of Aššur)."[5](https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/16108/1/assyrian-king-list.pdf)
The king-list critique and [Chronicle](https://www.edgepedia.org/chronicle) 25 both state that he dethroned Enlil-kudurrī-uṣur.[3](https://www.academia.edu/18867223/The_Assyrian_King_List_and_Chronology_a_Critique) The chronographic sources present him as one of several princes of the period who took the throne by force, alongside Aššūr-nādin-apli's deposition of his own father Tukultī-Ninurta I.[3](https://www.academia.edu/18867223/The_Assyrian_King_List_and_Chronology_a_Critique) His own genealogy mattered: as a descendant of Eriba-Adad I he could claim royal blood, but through a cadet line rather than Tukulti-Ninurta I's direct descent, and the King List says he went to Karduniaš and came up from there to seize the throne.[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/)
## The primary evidence
Four bodies of evidence bear on the reign.
The [Assyrian King List](https://www.edgepedia.org/assyrian-king-list) gives his genealogy and the sequence of his rise: "Ninurta-apil-Ekur, son of Ila-Hadda, a descendant of Eriba-Adad, went to Karduniaš. He came up from Karduniaš, seized the throne and ruled for 3 years."[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/)
The [Synchronistic King List](https://www.edgepedia.org/synchronistic-king-list) is a four-column cuneiform tablet from Aššur, comparatively well preserved, which synchronizes Assyrian and Babylonian kings from Erišu and Šumulail down to Aššurbanipal and [Kandalanu](https://www.edgepedia.org/kandalanu).[4](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/272-synchronic-king-list/) Its entry pairs Ninurta-apil-Ekur with the Babylonian king Adad-šum-iddina, immediately after [Enlil-kudurri-usur](https://www.edgepedia.org/enlil-kudurri-usur).[4](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/272-synchronic-king-list/)
The palace or harem decrees, edited by Ernst Weidner in 1954, are preserved on eight fragmentary clay tablets and comprise 23 decrees from nine rulers, running from Ninurta-apil-Ekur through Tiglath-pileser I.[5](https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/16108/1/assyrian-king-list.pdf)
An economic document from [Emar](https://www.edgepedia.org/emar), in Syria, records items that "Melishipak, King of Karduniash sent to [Ninurta-apil] Ekur, king of Assyria" (Frahm 2002, 75D-2217).[5](https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/16108/1/assyrian-king-list.pdf) [Meli-Šipak](https://www.edgepedia.org/meli-sipak) is the same king whom the Synchronistic King List places alongside his reign and that of his son.[4](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/272-synchronic-king-list/)
No continuous Middle Assyrian eponym (annual official whose name dated Assyrian years) list is known for this period; the only known eponym list, KAV 21+, starts with the last decade of Tiglath-pileser I, so the eponym chronology covering the reign has to be reconstructed, a process described as far from complete.[7](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/tcma/Eponyms/index.html)
## Reign dates and the chronology problem
Three mutually incompatible date schemes circulate for this reign.
The **Assyrian King List tradition** gives a 3-year reign, dated 1181–1179 BC, and the Synchronistic King List independently agrees with the same dates.[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/) • [4](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/272-synchronic-king-list/) The eBL, the Bavarian Academy's list-of-kings tool, instead assigns **13 years, 1189–1178 BC**, followed by Aššur-dan I with 46 years (1177–1133).[2](https://ebl.badw.de/tools/list-of-kings) A critique of the king list argues for **1181–1169 BC**, a twelve-year reign.[3](https://www.academia.edu/18867223/The_Assyrian_King_List_and_Chronology_a_Critique)
The disagreement is not trivial. The surviving king-list copies diverge before 1178 BC, though they agree down to the reign of Aššur-dan I, whose regnal years are given as 1178–1133 in the list tradition.[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/) The uncertainty over Ninurta-apal-Ekur's reign length propagates backwards: Aššūr-nādin-apli is dated either 1206–1203 or 1196–1193 BC (short chronology) precisely because of the unresolved length of this later monarch's reign.[6](https://cavac.at/cavacopedia/Ashur-nadin-apli) One fully alternative chronology goes further, placing him at 1044–1032 "alternative years" with Aššur-dan I at 1031–996, following Eckart Frahm's count of 36 years for Aššur-dan I.[5](https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/16108/1/assyrian-king-list.pdf) The anchoring of the chronology rests on the king lists, which are built on the lists of yearly eponym officials, and on the incomplete eponym reconstruction.[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/) • [7](https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/tcma/Eponyms/index.html)
## Comparison with predecessor and successor
Against Enlil-kudurri-usur, his immediate predecessor in the Synchronistic King List (1186–1182 BC), after whose battle with the Babylonian king Adad-shuma-usur the Chronicle has him march on Aššur, Ninurta-apal-Ekur represents an outsider's takeover: the throne passed from Tukulti-Ninurta I's direct line to a descendant of Eriba-Adad I.[4](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/272-synchronic-king-list/) • [5](https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/16108/1/assyrian-king-list.pdf)
His son and successor **Aššur-dan I** contrasts sharply in duration. Whether dated 1178–1133 (46 years) in the list tradition or 1177–1133 (46 years) in the eBL, Aššur-dan I's reign was several times longer than his father's, and its Kassite contemporaries in the Synchronistic King List were Zababa-šum-iddina and [Enlil-nadin-ahi](https://www.edgepedia.org/enlil-nadin-ahi).[1](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/) • [2](https://ebl.badw.de/tools/list-of-kings) • [4](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/272-synchronic-king-list/) The succession to Aššur-dan I thus held within Ninurta-apal-Ekur's own line for a long reign.
A later namesake, Ašarēd-apil-Ekur (1075–1074 BC) of the same dynastic line, is distinguished from him in A. K. Grayson's numbering of the Assyrian rulers (A.0.88 for Ašarēd-apil-Ekur).[8](https://ia804706.us.archive.org/26/items/AssyrianRulersOfTheEarlyFirstMillenniumBc11114-859Bc/A.Kirk_Grayson_Assyrian_Rulers_of__Early_First_MBookFi.org.pdf)
## References
1. The Assyrian King List (ANET 564–566, via Livius). https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/564-566-the-assyrian-king-list/
2. List of Kings (eBL, Bavarian Academy of Sciences). https://ebl.badw.de/tools/list-of-kings
3. The Assyrian King List and Chronology: a Critique. https://www.academia.edu/18867223/The_Assyrian_King_List_and_Chronology_a_Critique
4. Synchronic King List (ANET 272, via Livius). https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/272-synchronic-king-list/
5. The Assyrian King List, Chronology and the Dark Ages in the Ancient Near East. https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/16108/1/assyrian-king-list.pdf
6. Ashur-nadin-apli (CAVACopedia). https://cavac.at/cavacopedia/Ashur-nadin-apli
7. Dating of tablets: Kings, calendar and eponyms (ORACC/TCMA). https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/tcma/Eponyms/index.html
8. A. K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC I (1114–859 BC). https://ia804706.us.archive.org/26/items/AssyrianRulersOfTheEarlyFirstMillenniumBc11114-859Bc/A.Kirk_Grayson_Assyrian_Rulers_of__Early_First_MBookFi.org.pdf
9. Three New Kings of Assyria, Journal of Cuneiform Studies 78 (2024). https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/741239
10. The Eponyms of the Babylonian War of Tukultī-Ninurta I, Altorientalische Forschung (2023). https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/aofo-2023-0003/html
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Periods and civilizations › Ancient Near East, Egypt, Nubia, and the Punic world › Ancient Mesopotamia › Kassite Babylonia and Middle Assyria › Kassite Babylonia and Middle Assyria: rulers and royal family › Middle Assyrian kings*
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