Abdi-Milkutti () was a

King of Sidon The King of Sidon was the ruler of Sidon, an ancient Phoenician city in what is now Lebanon. Scholars have pieced together the fragmented list from various archaeological finds since the 19th century. Egyptian period * c.1700s BC Zimrida * c. 13 ...

(reigned ca. 680-677 BC) who rose up against

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n rule. He had formed an alliance with , king of Kundi and Sizu, a prince of the

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, probably during the time of the civil war waged between

Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (, also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 to 669 BC. The third king of the S ...

and two of his brothers who disputed his succession after they had murdered his father. The two kings had sworn to each other by the names of the great gods and revolted. As soon as this struggle was over, in response to the rebellion, Esarhaddon laid siege to Sidon, which after three years of siege, in 677 BC, was finally captured, destroyed and rebuilt as Kar-Ashur-aha-iddina, the Harbour of Esarhaddon. The Sidonian king was

decapitated Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common ...

. Sanduarri was also captured and decapitated and the heads of the two kings were hung around the necks of their nobles who were paraded through the streets of Nineveh. Part of the treasure taken from Sidon went to the loyal king of the rival city Tyre. In his annals the Assyrian king states that he conquered Sidon and “tore up and cast into the sea its walls and its foundations.” This city was situated on a promontory jutting into the sea. The Sidonian king Abdi-Milkutti tried to escape by boat, but was “pulled out of the sea like a fish“ by the Assyrian king who cut off his head. Esarhaddon sent off to Assyria a rich treasure, including: “gold, silver, precious stones, elephant hides, ivory, maple and boxwood, garments of brightly colored wool and linen.” He also took away the king’s wife, his children, and his courtiers: “His people from far and near, which were countless.” The defeated and executed king of Sidon was depicted on the Sam'al

Victory stele of Esarhaddon The Victory stele of Esarhaddon (also Zenjirli or Zincirli stele) is a dolerite stele commemorating the return of Esarhaddon after his army's 2nd battle and victory over Pharaoh Taharqa in northern ancient Egypt in 671 BC. It was discovered in 1888 ...

from Zenjirli. The stele shows Abdi-Milkutti, dressed in his native costume and held with a coiled leash. Although he is shown standing with his hands raised, he reaches only to about Esarhaddon's knee. Next to him is shown a kneeling Egyptian prince. He may be prince Ushankhuru, son of the Egyptian Pharaoh

Taharqa Taharqa, also spelled Taharka or Taharqo, Akkadian: ''Tar-qu-ú'', , Manetho's ''Tarakos'', Strabo's ''Tearco''), was a pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and qore (king) of the Kingdom of Kush (present day Sudan) from 690 to 664 BC. ...

with a rope tied around his neck; others deem the kneeling figure to be Pharaoh Taharqa himself, as he is wearing the

uraeus drawing of a Uraeus The Uraeus () or Ouraeus (Ancient Greek: , ; Egyptian: ', "rearing cobra", plural: ''Uraei'') is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra, used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in anci ...

tiara of Egyptian rule. Ascalone, Enrico. 2007. Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians (Dictionaries of Civilizations; 1). Berkeley: University of California Press, p.75.

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* Year of birth unknown 670s BC deaths 7th-century BC monarchs in Asia Executed royalty People executed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire 1st-millennium BC executions Kings of Sidon 7th-century BC Phoenician people Executed monarchs 7th-century BC rebels {{AncientNearEast-stub