Editing Shalmaneser II (section)

==Biography==
[[File: KAV 21 Obverse.jpg|thumb|240px|Schroeder’s line art for the KAV 21 list of Eponyms showing the twelve years of Shalmaneser II and his immediate successors.<ref group=i name=kav>Eponym List KAV 21, tablet VAT 11254, iv.</ref>]]
In recent years, there has been a trend towards reading the <small>SILIM</small> in his name as ''sal'' rather than ''šul'' on [[philological]] grounds.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Der Gott Salmānu ("Šulmānu") und seine Beziehung zur Stadt Dūr-Katlimmu |author=Karen Radner |author-link = Karen Radner |journal=Die Welt des Orients |volume=29 |year=1998 |jstor=25683683 |pages=33–51}}</ref> He succeeded his father, [[Ashurnasirpal I|Aššur-nāṣir-apli I]] and ruled for 12 years according to the Assyrian Kinglist and confirmed by a heavily damaged fragment of an [[Eponym dating system|eponym]] list (pictured).<ref group=i name=kav /> Of the twelve [[limmu]] officials listed, only the names of the first two have been substantially preserved, that of Shalmaneser  himself, who took the eponymy in his first year, and <small>MU.ŠID</small>''-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.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Unusual Eponymy-datings from Mari and Assyria |author=M. T. Larsen |journal=Revue d'Assyriologie |year=1974 |page=21}}</ref>

In the ''Synchronistic Kinglist''<ref group=i>''Synchronistic Kingliest'', tablet excavation no. Ass 14616c, first publication KAV 216.</ref> he is listed beside his [[Babylon]]ian counterpart, [[Eulmash-shakin-shumi]] (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 [[Nabu-shum-libur]] (1033–1026 BC) and [[Simbar-shipak]] (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, [[Ashur-dan II|Aššur-dān II]] (935–912 BC), recalled Shalmaneser 's own losses to this tribal group:

{{bquote|[...who] from the time of Shalmaneser , king of [Assyria, my forefather], had destroyed [people of Assyria by …] and murder, had sold [all] their [sons (and) daughters].<ref name=younger>{{cite book |title=Ugarit at Seventy-Five |chapter=The LB/Iron Age Transition and the Origins of the Arameans |author=K. Lawson Younger |publisher=Eisenbrauns |year=2007 |pages=159, 161}}</ref>}}

Another retrospective reference can probably be found in an inscription of [[Ashurnasirpal II]] unless it refers to the earlier king by this name. It relates "I repossessed the cities of Sinabu (and) Tidu—fortresses which Salmānu-ašarēd, king of Assyria, a prince who preceded me, had garrisoned against the land of [[Nairi]] (and) which the Arameans had captured by force."<ref name=younger />

There are few inscriptions which may be attributed for certainty to him as several may belong to the [[Shalmaneser I]] who preceded him, or to one of the three who followed.<ref>{{cite book |title=Reallexikon der Assyriologie: Prinz, Prinzessin – Samug, Bd. 11 |chapter=Salmānu-ašarēd II |author=Heather D. Baker |publisher=Walter De Gruyter |year=2008 |page=581}}</ref> Of those that can be reliably attributed, a monumental stele (number 14) from Aššur, from the Stelenreihe, "row of stelae," provides his genealogy thus permitting identification but nothing else. It reads: "Shalmaneser , great king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Aššur-nāṣir-apli (I), king of Assyria, son of [[Shamshi-Adad IV|Šamši-adad (IV)]], who was also king of Assyria". A temple endowment<ref group=i>Temple endowment, KAV 78.</ref> lists quantities of cedar balsam (''dam erêni'') donated by the king to the Assurtemple and its "temples" and includes the provision of a quantity of aromatics to Idiglat, the deified river [[Tigris]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie: Ia – Kizzuwatna |chapter=Idiglat |author=W.G. Lambert |editor=Edzard |publisher=Walter De Gruyter |year=1999 |page=31}}</ref> There is a long dedication inscription of Shalmaneser , II or III undetermined, to [[Ishtar|Ištar]] composed for the consecration of a temple.<ref group=i>KAR 98.</ref> A gold and a silver disk are inscribed with the name "Salmānu-ašarēd" and could possibly represent this king or his predecessor.<ref name=grayson>{{cite book |title=Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, Volume 1 |author=A. K. Grayson |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz |year=1972 |page=99}} §&nbsp;33.</ref>

He was succeeded by his son, the briefly reigning [[Ashur-nirari IV]], and then his brother [[Ashur-rabi II]].