The Sasî movement was a set of conspiracies and plots directed against the Assyrian king Esarhaddon in 671–670 BCE, each in some way involving Sasî, a high-ranking official of dubious loyalty. Aimed at dethroning Esarhaddon, the conspiracies involved the simultaneous proclamation of perhaps as many as three rival contenders for the throne, including Sasî himself. Conspirators were active throughout the Assyrian Empire, apparently concentrated around the city of Harran but also operating in Babylonia and even in central Assyria.
Official Assyrian records contain no information on the conspiracies, and their history is instead reconstructed based on contemporary letters and indirect evidence. The earliest known reference that may be related to the later events dates to 675 BCE. The true beginning of the conspiracies was likely connected to the 671 BCE Assyrian conquest of Egypt, in particular Esarhaddon's visit to Harran prior to the conquest. During this visit, Esarhaddon received a prophecy that foretold the successful invasion. The king also showed himself in public, which made the general populace aware of his poor physical health. In ancient Assyria, poor health was seen as indicating divine displeasure with a king's rule. Through his extensive spy network and loyalist informants, Esarhaddon was able to uncover the conspiracies and responded by enacting a brutal massacre of suspected officials, likely causing more serious damage to the empire than it would have suffered if one of the conspiracies had succeeded.
Background
Esarhaddon ruled the Neo-Assyrian Empire 681–669 BCE. In this time, Assyria was the dominant power in the Middle East, with its empire covering what is today Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, alongside large parts of Palestine, Iran, and Turkey. Every citizen of the empire was tied to the reigning king through a loyalty oath, imposed on the populace during important events such as the accession of a new king or the proclamation of an heir to the throne. Any male relative of the Assyrian king had a claim to the throne; the incumbent ruler appointed a crown prince, typically one of his sons, who was given administrative duties to prepare for their reign.
Esarhaddon was named crown prince by his father Sennacherib in 683. In doing so, Sennacherib dismissed the previous crown prince, Esarhaddon's elder half-brother Arda-Mulissu. Arda-Mulissu had served as crown prince for well over twelve years and, after failing to convince his father to reappoint him, orchestrated a plot to murder Sennacherib and seize power. Esarhaddon only succeeded in becoming king after defeating his brother's loyalists and the events had great effect on him thereafter. A great purge of officials was conducted upon Esarhaddon's accession, for instance involving the execution of the entire security staffs of the palaces in Nineveh (the Assyrian capital) and Nimrud. For the rest of his reign, Esarhaddon was paranoid and distrustful of those around him.
Another issue that plagued Esarhaddon was his health. The king was often struck with severe illness, facing symptoms such as fever, dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea, and painful earaches. His most visible and alarming condition was a large skin rash that covered large parts of his body, including his face. The royal physicians were unable to treat these symptoms. Esarhaddon was also depressed and appears to have struggled with a constant fear of death. These issues only grew worse after his wife, Queen Ešarra-ḫammat, died in 673. The surviving sources all indicate that Esarhaddon was a worried and frail king who mostly preferred his own company. An essential element of royal legitimacy in Assyria was that the king was of perfect health, both physically and mentally. Esarhaddon's condition would have been worrying to the general populace and would have been interpreted as the gods opposing the king's rule. Esarhaddon's inner circle thus worked to successfully ensure that the king's condition was hidden from the public.
Despite the chaotic beginning of Esarhaddon's reign and his personal problems, he was a largely successful king. In 673, he attempted to invade Egypt but was defeated by Pharaoh Taharqa. Although this was the first major Assyrian defeat in centuries, Esarhaddon was undeterred. In early 671, he attempted another invasion. On the way to Egypt with the army, Esarhaddon visited the city of Harran to consult with the cult of the moon-god Sin. This visit is likely connected to Esarhaddon's disease. Every Mesopotamian deity was connected with a specific curse and Sin's curse was an incurable skin disease. While trying to appease Sin in Harran, Esarhaddon also received an encouraging prophecy from the local priests: he would succeed in conquering Egypt. Three months later, the Assyrian army was victorious in its first battle against Taharqa. Eleven days after this victory, Esarhaddon retired from the campaign and performed the "substitute king" ritual which left him gone for a hundred days. The Assyrian invasion of Egypt was then likely led by the chief eunuch, Aššur-naṣir. Eunuchs were employed in many high-ranking Assyrian positions since they were believed to lack dynastic ambitions due to not being able to father children. Under Aššur-naṣir, the Assyrians defeated Taharqa's forces again, captured and plundered Memphis, and conquered Egypt.
Although the conquest of Egypt was Esarhaddon's greatest triumph, his visit to Harran before the campaign had unforeseen effects. That the prophecy of the conquest had been correct gave prophecies from Harran a certain trustworthiness. More alarmingly, it appears that the visit also made the populace aware of Esarhaddon's physical condition, which had up until that point been avoided and may have raised questions about his right to the throne.
Sources The official documentation of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, such as the royal inscriptions by Esarhaddon and the Neo-Assyrian chronicles, do not mention any plots against Esarhaddon. The history of the conspiracies of 671–670 instead has to be constructed through indirect evidence in some chronicle texts, as well as from contemporary letters written on clay tablets. The poorly preserved nature of several of the letters and their implicit writing style (the recipient was assumed to understand the surrounding context) makes reconstructing the full sequence of events difficult.
Karen Radner considers the most important sources for the conspiracies to be the letters SAA 10 179, SAA 10 377 and SAA 16 59–62. There are also a number of other letters, including texts from Babylonia, that appear to belong to the same context. The bulk of the known relevant material can be found translated and discussed in Martti Nissinen's References to Prophecy in Neo-Assyrian Sources (1998).
Conspiracies Early records of Sasî
The identity and origin of Sasî is not known. The earliest dateable reference to a person with this name who can be presumed to be the same individual is the letter SAA 10 112, written by Bel-ušezib in 675. Bel-ušezib was a Babylonian scholar who worked in Nineveh as an astronomer and diviner. Bel-ušezib kept Esarhaddon informed about divine omens in the stars and also wrote to him about treachery and schemes within the empire based information he received from his own network of informants. In SAA 10 112, Bel-ušezib wrote to the king to inform him that the son of Šumu-iddina, the governor of Nippur, had smuggled gold and other treasures from Babylonia. Šumu-iddina had then in turn given these to three people named Sasiya, Ṣillaya, and a third person whose name is not preserved. "Sasiya" is a Babylonian way to write the name Sasî. Šumu-iddina's son appears to have been arrested, though Bel-ušezib further informed Esarhaddon that he believed there was a plot against the king. Bel-ušezib believed Šumu-iddina to be part of this plot and also suspected Šarru-lu-dari, an Egyptian whose friends included Sasiya and a man named Bel-eṭir.
Further letters that concern Babylonian affairs of Sasî include CT 54 37 and CT 54 462. These cannot be dated with certainty but likely predate the later letters concerning conspiracies. CT 54 37 deals with the ousting of Ašaredu, the governor of Kutha, and mentions that three people loyal to Esarhaddon—"the horse-driver", "the governor of HAR" (perhaps Harran), and "Sasiya the mayor"—might be able to pick out witnesses for Ašaredu. CT 54 462 was written to Esarhaddon by a man named Marduk-naṣir and informed the king of the activities of Sasiya, Ereši, "Remanni-Adad the chariot driver", Nabû-uhašu, and "Bel-eṭir the governor of ...". These men had (in an unknown context) taken a fast chariot somewhere and were refusing the king's order to return this chariot. Remanni-Adad may be identical to a chariot driver of the same name who later held high office as charioteer for the crown prince (and later king) Ashurbanipal. Collectively, these letters suggest that Sasî was a man involved in suspicious activities, who associated with a man who may have been the governor of Harran and with the prominent chariot-driver Remanni-Adad.
As "Sasiya the mayor", Sasî is indicated to at some point have become the mayor of a city. He is also documented to have served as a high official in Esarhaddon's royal libraries in Nineveh, where he was responsible for the supervision of scholars. The conspiracies that Sasî was involved in, in particular his proclamation as king, might suggest that he had royal descent; Karen Radner has speculated that he could have been a descendant of Esarhaddon's grandfather, Sargon II.
Sasî is proclaimed king At around the same time as Aššur-naṣir was victorious in Egypt, a second prophecy was made in Harran. This time it was spoken by a slave-girl, reported to have fallen into ecstasy, and sounded as follows: "This is the word of the god Nusku: Kingship belongs to Sasî. I shall destroy the name and the seed of Sennacherib!". The incident was reported to Esarhaddon in letters written by Nabû-rēhtu-uṣur, an official who may have been employed by Esarhaddon's mother Naqiʾa. Nabû-rēhtu-uṣur did not provide the name of the prophetess, only that she was a slave-girl (amtu) owned by a man named Bel-ahu-uṣur who seems to have lived in Harran. Modern historians sometimes refer to her as the "Oracle of Nusku". She was reportedly "enraptured" in some way for three months, perhaps a sign of divine possession, and spoke the words directly as if she had been a mouthpiece for the god. The choice of god and location of the prophecy cannot have been coincidental. Nusku was in the Neo-Assyrian period seen as the son of Sin. The new prophecy was described as being spoken in the "outskirts of Harran", the same wording used in the texts that mention Esarhaddon's previous Harranian prophecy and thus perhaps the exact same place.