Ashur-uballit II

Who is Ashur-uballit II?

Ashur-uballit II was the last king of the Assyrian empire. He reigned in the last capital city of Harran from 612 BC to somewhere between 609 and 605 BC, having escaped Nineveh during the siege and capture of that city by the Babylonian-Mede-Scythian alliance in 612 BC.

In alliance with Egypt, whose dynasty had been installed by the Assyrians, Ashuruballit's army was able to defend Harran from the combined Babylonian-Mede attack for a brief period following the destruction of Nineveh; however, when the Egyptian army were defeated and had to return their homeland in 610 BC, the Babylonians and Medes eventually took Harran and sacked it in 609 BC.

Assyria again called upon its former Egyptian colony, who came to their assistance. King Josiah of Judah allied himself with Babylon and tried to block the way of the forces of Egypt under Pharaoh Necho II. Josiah was defeated and killed at Meggido. Pharaoh Necho marched on together with Ashur-uballit II, to besiege Harran in 608 BC. They were defeated and the Egyptians retreated into northern Syria. Ashur-uballit II disappears from history, bringing an end to the Assyrian empire. Limmu new-year officials were appointed down to the very end of his recorded reign; his final known year, known eponymously for the limmu as Gargamišayu, was the last year ever in history so to receive an official Assyrian name.