Explore / Articles Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680-669 BC)
'Esarhaddon' is a modern reading of the name, Ashur-ahu-iddina
('the god Ashur has given a brother'). His father, Sennacherib,
was assassinated by two other sons, whom Esarhaddon had to fight
for the throne. The successful son reaped the rewards of
Sennacherib's hard-won successes in Babylonia and almost all
Esarhaddon's campaigning was related to safeguarding frontier
security. Egypt's repeated meddling in Palestine eventually
provoked Esarhaddon to extend Assyrian activity into Egypt
itself, and in 671 BC the Assyrian armies captured Memphis.
Establishing control required more than the defeat of the
Twenty-fifth Dynasty and in 669 BC Esarhaddon mounted another
campaign to Egypt to cement Assyrian domination but died on
route. He was probably about to move the capital from Nineveh,
back to Nimrud. Esarhaddon's mother was Naqia, a lady of
Aramaean descent. During his reign she held a position of
unprecedented authority, behaving in many ways like a k