Ashur-bel-nisheshu

Aššūr-bēl-nīšēšu, (, ) and meaning “(the god) Aššur (is) lord of his people,” was the ruler of Assyria 1417–1409 BC or 1407–1398 BC (short chronology), the variants due to uncertainties in the later chronology. He succeeded his father, Aššur-nērārī II, to the throne and is best known for his treaty with Kassite king Karaindaš.

Biography Schroeder's line art for one of Aššūr-bēl-nīšēšu’s memorial cones.

As was the practice during this period of the Assyrian monarchy, he modestly titled himself “vice-regent”, or išši'ak Aššur, of the god Ashur. The Synchronistic Chronicle records his apparently amicable territorial treaty with Karaindaš, king of Babylon, and recounts that they “took an oath together concerning this very boundary.”. This treaty, made independently, indicates the Mitanni Empire influence over Assyria was waning. His numerous clay cone inscriptions (line art for an example pictured) celebrate his re-facing of Puzur-Aššur III’s wall of the “New City” district of Assur.

There is a discrepancy in the data about his son and eventual successor. The Assyrian King List gives his immediate successor, Aššur-rā’im-nišēšu, as his son, but Aššur-rā’im-nišēšu's own contemporary inscription names his father as Aššur-nērārī II, suggesting that he may have been a brother of Aššūr-bēl-nīšēšu. The confusion is further compounded with the Khorsabad Kinglist

Inscriptions