Arda-Mulissu

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Stele with a depiction of an Assyrian crown prince, dated to Sennacherib's reign. Arda-Mulissu was Sennacherib's longest-serving crown prince but the stele could also depict the earlier Ashur-nadin-shumi or later Esarhaddon.

Arda-Mulissu or Arda-Mulissi (Neo-Assyrian Akkadian: 𒀴𒁹𒎏𒆤, romanized: Arda-Mulišši, lit. 'servant of Mullissu'),[1] also known as Urdu-Mullissi, Urad-Mullissu and Arad-Ninlil and known in Hebrew writings as Adrammelech (Hebrew: אַדְרַמֶּלֶךְ‎ ʾAḏrammeleḵ), was an ancient Assyrian prince of the Sargonid dynasty, the son of Sennacherib, king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and the older brother of Sennacherib's successor Esarhaddon. Arda-Mulissu served as Sennacherib's crown prince and heir for ten years, from the time of the death of Sennacherib's first crown prince Ashur-nadin-shumi in 694 BC, but was for unknown reasons replaced as heir by Esarhaddon in 684 BC.

Disappointed by this demotion, Arda-Mulissu was the chief orchestrator of a 681 BC conspiracy in which he and one of his younger brothers, Nabu-shar-usur, murdered Sennacherib in the hopes of seizing the throne.[a] Sennacherib's murder turned some of Arda-Mulissu's supporters against him and his coronation was postponed. In the turmoil that followed, Esarhaddon marched on the Assyrian capital of Nineveh and successfully seized the throne. After their failure, Arda-Mulissu and Nabu-shar-usur fled to the Kingdom of Urartu in the north.

  1. ^ Van der Spek 2014, p. 249.
  2. ^ Knapp 2020, p. 166.
  3. ^ Knapp 2020, p. 165.
  4. ^ Knapp 2020, pp. 167–181.


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