Ashur-nirari I

Aššur-nārāri I, inscribed maš-šur-ERIM.GABA, "Aššur is my help," (died 1522 BC) was an Old Assyrian king who ruled for around 26 years, 1548 to 1522 BC. He was the 60th king to be listed on the Assyrian Kinglist and expanded the titles adopted by Assyrian rulers to include muddiš, "restorer of," and bāni, "builder of," to the traditional epithets ensi, "governor," and iššiak, "vice-regent," of Aššur.

Succession and contemporaries

He was the son of Ishme-Dagan II, and succeeded his brother Shamshi-Adad III to the throne, ruling for around 26 years, an identification that all three Assyrian Kinglists (Khorsabad, SDAS and Nassouhi ) agree on. The Synchronistic Kinglist gives his Babylonian contemporary as Kaštil[...], possibly identified as Kashtiliash III, the son and (eventual) successor of Burnaburiash I, the Kassite kings of Babylon during the period when the dynasty was beginning to exert control over southern Mesopotamia.

Reign and Construction projects Evidence of his construction activities survives, with four short inscriptions commemorating work building the temple of Bel-ibrīia on bricks recovered from an old ravine, restoring the Abaru forecourt and rebuilding the Sîn-Šamaš (Moon-god/Sun-god) temple, called the é.ḫúl.ḫúl.dir.dir.ra, “House of Surpassing Joys,” which would be later restored by Tukulti-Ninurta I and Ashurnasirpal II. He ruled in a peaceful and uneventful period of Assyrian history following the overthrow of the Babylonians and Amorites by Puzur-Sin around 1732 BC and the rise of the Mitanni in the 1450s BC. He was succeeded by his son Puzur-Ashur III.

Inscriptions