Eshmunazar I

Eshmunazar I
Reignc. 575 BC – c. 550 BC
PredecessorNot documented
SuccessorTabnit I
Phoenician language𐤀𐤔𐤌𐤍𐤏𐤆𐤓‎
DynastyFounder of his namesake dynasty
ReligionCanaanite polytheism
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Eshmunazar I (Phoenician: 𐤀𐤔𐤌𐤍𐤏𐤆𐤓 ʾšmnʿzr, a theophoric name meaning 'Eshmun helps') was a priest of Astarte and the Phoenician King of Sidon (r. c. 575 – c. 550 BC). He was the founder of his namesake dynasty, and a vassal king of the Achaemenid Empire. Eshmunazar participated in the Neo-Babylonian campaigns against Egypt under the command of either Nebuchadnezzar II or Nabonidus. The Sidonian king is mentioned in the funerary inscriptions engraved on the royal sarcophagi of his son Tabnit I and his grandson Eshmunazar II. The monarch's name is also attested in the dedicatory temple inscriptions of his other grandson, King Bodashtart.