Shu-Ninua

Shu-Ninua or ŠÚ- or Kidin-Ninua, inscribed ^mŠÚ-URU.AB x ḪA,^{[i 1][i 2]} the 54th king to appear on the Assyrian Kinglist, was the ruler of Assyria, c. 1615 to 1602 BC, and was the son of his predecessor-but-one, succeeding Lullaya, a “son of nobody.”^[2]

Shu-Ninua
Issi'ak Assur
King of Assur
Reign	c. 1615–1602 BC[1]
Predecessor	Lullaya
Successor	Sharma-Adad II
Issue	Sharma-Adad II
Father	Bazaya

Name and contemporaries

The reading of the first element in his name is uncertain, as Ignace Gelb and Benno Landsberger originally proposed BAR, giving Kidin-Ninua, "[Under] the protection of Nineveh," while Arno Poebel read the name as beginning with [Š]Ú- and Weidner read it as [Š]I- on another fragmentary copy of the kinglist.^{[i 3]} J. A. Brinkman observed that with the exception of this disputed interpretation, all transliterations gave ŠÚ, reinforced by the Synchronistic Kinglist,^{[i 4]} ˹^mŠÚ-ni˺-nu-a, which had led to the preponderance for interpreting his name as Shu-Ninua in recent years,^[3] “he of Ishtar,”^[4] if Nina is correctly identified as a Babylonian name for this deity, although this remains unproven. A recleaning of the fragmentary kinglist,^{[i 3]} however, has revealed a name collated by Heeßel to be [^mki-d]in-^dNINUA.^[5]

There are no contemporary inscriptions of his reign.^[6] He is recorded as having been a contemporary of Akurduana of the Sealand Dynasty in southern Babylonia in the Synchronistic Kinglist,^{[i 4]} rather than any supposed ruler from the Kassite dynasty. The Assyrian Kinglist records that he reigned for fourteen years before being succeeded by his sons, Sharma-Adad II and then Erishum III.

Inscriptions

1. Khorsabad Kinglist, tablet IM 60017 (excavation nos.: DS 828, DS 32-54). ii 24, 26, 28 and 35,
2. SDAS Kinglist, tablet IM 60484, ii 20, 21, 22 and 27.
3. Kinglist fragment VAT 9812 (KAV 14), 6.
4. Synchronistic Kinglist, Ass. 14616c, i 8.