Shalmaneser II

Shalmaneser II
Assyrian
Schroeder’s line art for the KAV 21 list of Eponyms showing the twelve years of Salmānu-ašarēd II and his immediate successors.
Reign	1030 - 1019 BC
Predecessor	Ashurnasirpal I
Successor	Ashur-nirari IV
Father	Aššur-nāṣir-apli I

Salmānu-ašarēd II, inscribed ^mdSILIM-ma-nu-MAŠ/SAG, meaning "(the god) Salmānu is foremost," was the king of Assyria 1030–1019 BC, the 93rd to appear on the Khorsabad copy of the Assyrian Kinglist, although he has been apparently carelessly omitted altogether on the Nassouhi copy.

In recent years, there has been a trend towards reading the SILIM in his name as sal rather than šul on philological grounds. He succeeded his father, Aššur-nāṣir-apli I and ruled for 12 years according to the Assyrian Kinglist and confirmed by a heavily damaged fragment of an eponym list (pictured). Of the twelve limmu officials listed, only the names of the first two have been substantially preserved, that of Salmānu-ašarēd himself, who took the eponymy in his first year, and MU.ŠID-mu-šab-[ši]. The twelfth entry ša ar[ki si…] indicates that the limmu "which is after" (the previous name) either suggesting that the original from which this list was copied was defective in this place or the gap in the office coincides with a period of turbulence.

In the Synchronistic Kinglist he is listed beside his Babylonian counterpart, Eulmaš-šakin-šumi (1004–988 BC) of the Bῑt-Bazi dynasty, an unlikely pairing reflecting perhaps the isolation of the two kingdoms at the time. In all likelihood, he reigned concurrently with Nabû-šuma-libūr (1033–1026 BC) and Simbar-Šipak (1025–1008 BC), whose reigns were characterized by droughts, crop failures and incursions by Arameans, migrating under the pressure from climate change. The later king, Aššur-dān II (935–912 BC), recalled Salmānu-ašarēd's own losses to this tribal group:

[… who] from the time of Salmānu-ašarēd, king of [Assyria, my forefather], had destroyed [people of Assyria by …] and murder, had sold [all] their [sons (and) daughters].