Are there any theories of Tiglath Pileser III's origins?
score:4
The problem with determining Tiglath Pileser III's origins is lack of evidence.
As Amélie Kuhrt has repeatedly observed in her 2-volume work The Ancient Near East, C. 3000-330 BC, alteration of Assyrian inscriptions in antiquity was commonplace.
In the case of Tiglath Pileser III, we have contradictory evidence. As Dr Floyd Nolen Jones noted:
It is well known and accepted by most Assyriologists that a significant number of the inscriptions claimed by Tiglath-pileser (III) deal with events that precede his reign.
- [Nolen Jones, 2002, p158]
For example, there is a mutilated brick inscription states that Tiglath-pileser III is the son of Adad-nirari III. However, the Assyrian King List makes him the son of Ashur-nirari V, son of Adad-nirari III [Pritchard, 1969, p566].
This is a problem, since the King List places Adad-nirari III four monarchs before Tiglath-pileser III came to the throne, and depicts Ashur-nirari V as both his father and immediate predecessor upon the throne.
Wikipedia takes a charitable view, and observes simply:
He described himself as a son of Adad-nirari III in his inscriptions, but the accuracy of this claim remains uncertain.
As you mentioned in the question, we know that Tiglath-pileser III was a general named Pulu before he became ruler. We also know that he seems previously to have been the governor of Kalhu/Nimrud [Healey, 2000]. Beyond that, we really know nothing of his origins.
However, the fact that he and his sons took different throne names doesn't actually support the idea that they were foreign usurpers. His assumed name, Tiglath Pileser III, is actually the Hebrew version of the Akkadian Tukulti-Apil-Esara. This was clearly a name chosen to link himself directly to great kings of the past, presumably as a means of legitimising his position.
His son and successor Shalmaneser V was previously known as Ululayu, but this simply means "born in Elul" - Elul being the 6th month of the Assyrian calendar. His throne-name, Shalmaneser, meant "the god Salmanu is foremost", and once again provided him with a link with distinguished predecessors.
Shalmaneser V was succeeded by his brother, Sargon II. We actually don't know what name he was known by before he assumed his throne-name (which meant "the king is true").
As governor of Kalhu/Nimrud, it seems unlikely that Tiglath Pileser III would have been a foreigner. The usual assumption these days seems to be that he was a usurper, probably of royal blood, who took the Assyrian crown by force after engineering a coup against his ineffective predecessor. There is no suggestion, however, that he was a foreign usurper.
However, as I said right at the start, we really don't have the evidence to be at all certain.
That said, there are probably many theories about Tiglath-pileser III's origins, but none, so far as I am aware, that are ascribed to by reputable Assyriologists.
Sources
Healy, Mark: The Ancient Assyrians, Bloomsbury, 2000
Kuhrt, Amélie: The Ancient Near East, C. 3000-330 BC (2 vols), Routledge, 1995
Nolen Jones, Floyd: Chronology of the Old Testament: A Return to the Basics, Kingsword, 2002
Pritchard, James, B: Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Princeton University Press, 1969
More post
- 📝 How did the "Forty Niners" get to California in 1849?
- 📝 Why was Patriarch Nikon removed from power?
- 📝 Besides the US in 1958, has there been a post-WWII show of force by any military in the Taiwan Strait (excluding Taiwan and China)?
- 📝 What were the crime rates In the American Old West?
- 📝 Why did some regions end their prehistory much before others?
- 📝 Was the act of servicemen exchanging their weapons for enemy weapons common during WWII?
- 📝 Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
- 📝 Were there any watermills within sailing distance of the sea?
- 📝 Why did United States choose conflict with Japan over China?
- 📝 Were Christians really burned for lighting by Nero?
- 📝 What courses would have been required to get a B.A. in America in the 1930s?
- 📝 How did different asset classes perform during the Weimar hyperinflation?
- 📝 Was Nebuchadnezzar made King in a year other than 605 BC?
- 📝 How did British queens get power over kings despite a male-dominant society?
- 📝 Percentage of Christians (Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians) in Asia Minor/Anatolia in the early 19th century
- 📝 What is the story behind the tall Northern offshoot on the West Virginia map?
- 📝 Was the Weimar Republic referred to as such by contemporaries?
- 📝 Is the Tokugawa escape scene in Clavell's "Shogun" historically accurate?
- 📝 Did the Muslims of Granada expect their Christian conquerors to keep their promised terms?
- 📝 Before entering WW II, why was the US so against Japanese aggression in China but did nothing about Germany in Europe?
- 📝 Why was the North willing to go to war over Slavery?
- 📝 What did the post world war two civilian food ration consist of in the UK?
- 📝 Did Machimoi fight in Phalanx formation?
- 📝 Did anyone in Alta California pay in cash?
- 📝 Were New York or Philadelphia ever declared the capital of the United States?
- 📝 Is the name of "Diocletian" just a coincidence?
- 📝 Is Carolyn Seymour (the actress) related to Alexander von Benckendorff (the Russian statesman)?
- 📝 Why does Spain have enclaves in Morocco?
- 📝 How much was the wealthy elite harmed by the Bolshevik revolution?
- 📝 What is the correct English terminology to refer to New Mexico and Texas under Spain, then Mexico?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Are there any theories of Tiglath Pileser III's origins?
- 📝 Are there any theories about what health problems would a man of the past suffer in the current age?
- 📝 Are there any "general" historical theories about all the "cultural revolutions" in the mid-1960s?
- 📝 Are there any important biographies of nobodies?
- 📝 Are there any examples of technologies have been lost over time?
- 📝 Are there any accounts of everyday life during the Black Death?
- 📝 Are there any accounts written by torturers on their actions?
- 📝 Are there any documented examples of wooden ships which were in active service for 100 years or more? If not, what is the longest?
- 📝 Is there any documentation that indicates the Aztecs were as violent as they are made out?
- 📝 Are there any underground cities known except those found in Cappadocia?
- 📝 Are there any records that indicate a submarine vs submarine battle?
- 📝 Are there any medieval manuals relating to castle building?
- 📝 Are there any scientific estimates for the population of Mycenaean Greece?
- 📝 Are there any writings by blinded and/or exiled Byzantine emperors?
- 📝 Are there any existing foreign language teaching texts from the Ancient Near East?
- 📝 Are there any historians who believe that the crusades were not motivated as a distraction from internal conflicts?
- 📝 Are there any historical sources that support the claim that ancient high-speed archers held multiple arrows in their hand?
- 📝 Are there any ideas as to what the English landscape was like before the arrival of the Angles?
- 📝 Are there any cases of rewarding an enemy commander for sparing a city from looting?
- 📝 Are there any historical examples of successful price ceilings (aka price gouging laws)?
- 📝 Are there any accounts of German junior enlisted soldiers surviving the siege of Stalingrad and subsequent captivity?
- 📝 Are there any examples of single combat between kings/generals ending a war?
- 📝 Are there any examples of California gold rush prospectors becoming exceedingly wealthy due to their claim(s)?
- 📝 Are there any Vandal or Goth relics or monuments in Rome?
- 📝 Are there any remaining existant texts that describe the styles and techniques of Medieval European swordsmanship?
- 📝 Are there any British peers whose surname matches their title?
- 📝 In Dutch history two people are referred to as "William III"; are there any more cases where this happens?
- 📝 Are there any exemplars of the 'trope of the exiled poet' prior to CE 8?
- 📝 Are there any independent historical records of ancient Persia allowing freedom of worship for the Jews?
- 📝 Are there any sound historical proofs that soma contained cannabis?