Page Content (OCR)
18 and at sunrise, lo and behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. departed, and journeyed back and dwelt in Nineveh. According to the Old Testament, after Sennacherib had returned to Nineveh, "it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, that Adrammelech and Sharezzer his sons smote him with a sword; and they escaped unto the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead." Assyrian records confirm the biblical statement: Sennacherib was indeed so assas- sinated, and his younger son Esarhaddon did ascend the throne af- ter him. An inscription of Esarhaddon known as Prism B describes the circumstances more fully. On the command of the great gods, Sennacherib had publicly proclaimed his younger son as successor. "He called together the people of Assyria, young and old, and he made my brothers, the male offspring of my father, take a solemn oath in the presence of the gods of Assyria ... in order to secure my succession." The brothers then broke their oath, killing Sennacherib and seeking to kill Esarhaddon. But the gods snatched him away “and made me stay in a hiding place . . . preserving me for kingship." After a period of turmoil Esarhaddon received "a trustworthy command from the gods: 'Go, do not delay! We will march with you!'" The deity who was delegated to accompany Esarhaddon was Ishtar. As his brothers' forces came out of Nineveh to beat off his attack on the capital, "Ishtar, the Lady of Battle, who wished me to be her high priest, stood at my side. She broke their bows, scat- tered their orderly battle array." Once the Ninevite troops were disorganized, Ishtar addressed them in behalf of Esarhaddon. "Upon her lofty command, they went over in masses to me and rallied behind me," Esarhaddon wrote, “and recognized me as their king." Both Esarhaddon and his son and successor Ashurbanipal at- tempted to advance against Egypt, and both employed Weapons of Brilliance in the battles. "The terror-inspiring Brilliance of Ashur," Ashurbanipal wrote, "blinded the Pharaoh so that he be- came a madman." Other inscriptions of Ashurbanipal suggest that this weapon, which emitted an intense, blinding brightness, was worn by the THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN