Esarhaddon in Fausset's Bible Dictionary
Sennacherib's younger son, Sargon's grandson (2 Kings
19:37). frontASSYRIA.) After the murder of his father by his
two sons, Esarhaddon the oldest surviving son succeeded, 680
B.C. The Assyrian inscriptions state that for some months
after his accession he warred with his half brothers
(Rawlinson, Ant. Monarchies, 2:186). The Greek Abydenus
states the same. The Scripture is thus confirmed; for
naturally Esarhaddon would seek to avenge his father's
murder, and they would seek the throne. The Armenian records
state that the two assassins, having escaped from the scene
of conflict, took refuge in Armenia, where the king gave
them lands which long continued in possession of their
posterity (Mos. Choren., Hist. Arm., 1:22). Esarhaddon is
famed for his expedition into Arabia. an undertaking with
few parallels in history; for few conquerors have ventured
to pass the barrier of Arabian deserts.
Esarhaddon was perhaps the most potent of the
Assyrian kings, warring in the far East, according to the
monuments, with Median tribes "of which his father had never
heard the name"; extending his power W. to Cilicia and
Cyprus, ten kings of which submitted to him. Southward he
claimed authority over Egypt and Ethiopia; having driven the
Ethiopian Tirhakah out of Egypt. Having conquered Merodach
Baladan's sons, Esarhaddon made Babylon directly subject to
the Assyrian crown, instead of being governed by viceroys,
and as king of each of the two empires resided by turns at
Nineveh and Babylon. He is the only Assyrian king who
reigned at Babylon; the bricks of the palace he built there
still bearing his name. A tablet also bears the date of his
reign. Manasseh king of Judah is mentioned among his
tributaries. Scripture by a striking minute coincidence with
truth represents Manasseh as carried to Babylon, not to the
Assyrian capital Nineveh; which would seem inexplicable but
for the above fact, revealed by the monuments.
Esarhaddon's Babylonian reign lasted from 680 to 667
B.C., the very period when Manasseh was brought up by the
Assyrian king's captains to Babylon on a charge of rebellion
(2 Chronicles 33:11-19). By an unusual clemency on the part
of an oriental king, Manasseh was restored to his throne, a
marvelous proof of the power of prayer. The monuments tell
us of a similar act of Esarhaddon whereby he gave a
territory on the Persian gulf to Merodach Baladan's son, on
his submission as a refugee at his court. Esarhaddon built
three other palaces and 30 temples," shining with silver and
gold," in different parts of his dominions. His S.W. palace
at Nimrud, excavated by Layard, corresponds in plan to
Solomon's temple but is larger, namely, the hall being 220
by 100 ft. and the antechamber 160 by 60. Unfortunately the
sculptured stones and alabaster have been materially injured
by fire.
He boasts of his S.W. palace of Nimrud that it was a
building "such as the kings his fathers before him had never
made." Ptolemy's canon shows he reigned 13 years in Babylon,
and probably reigned in all 20 years, dying about 660 B.C.
Assur-bani-pal, or Sardanapalus II, for whom Esarhaddon
built a palace, succeeded, and caused the tablets to be
collected which furnish us with such information;
comparative vocabularies, lists of deities, records of
astronomical observations, histories, scientific works.
Saracus his son was attacked by the Scythians, then by the
Medes and Cyaxares, and Nabopolassar his own general.
Saracus burnt himself in his palace, and Nineveh was taken.
frontASSYRIA.)
Esarhaddon (as G. Smith reads an inscription) about
672 B.C., marching from Asshur (Kileh Sherghat) to Tyre,
besieged Bahal its king who was in league with Tirhakah,
thence he marched to Aphek at the foot of Lebanon, then to
Raphia S.W. of Judah, thence from Lower Egypt which was in
his hands to Miruha or Meroe. Though distressed on the way
by want of water, he at last drove Tirhakah out of Egypt.
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