King of the Lands ( Akkadian: ''šar mātāti''), also interpreted as just King of Lands or the more boastful King of All Lands was a title of great prestige claimed by powerful monarchs in

ancient Mesopotamia The Civilization of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Paleolithic period up to Late antiquity. This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of writ ...

. Introduced during the

Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of South Caucasus, Nort ...

(911 BC–609 BC), the term ''mātāti'' explicitly refers to foreign (e.g. non-Assyrian) lands, often beyond the confines of Mesopotamia itself (in contrast to the word ''mātu'' which refers to the Assyrian land itself), suggesting that the Assyrian king had the right to govern foreign lands as well as his own.

History

The title was introduced by King

Ashurnasirpal II Ashur-nasir-pal II (transliteration: ''Aššur-nāṣir-apli'', meaning " Ashur is guardian of the heir") was the third king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 883 to 859 BC. Ashurnasirpal II succeeded his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II. His son and s ...

in the variation ''šar mātāti šarhu'', meaning "splendid" or "glorious king of lands". This title, and the similar epithet of ''murtedu kališ mātāte'' ("leader of all lands") were also used by Ashurnasirpal's son and successor

Shalmaneser III Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 859 BC to 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations o ...

. Other than these two kings, the title is rarely attested during the Neo-Assyrian period, only being used in connection to one other king,

Ashurbanipal Ashurbanipal (, meaning " Ashur is the creator of the heir")—or Osnappar ()—was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BC to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king of Assyria. Ashurbanipal inherited the th ...

. After his conquest of Babylon in 539 BC,

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia ( ; 530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Hailing from Persis, he brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by defeating the Media ...

assumed several traditional Mesopotamian titles, among them ''šar mātāti''. Cyrus and all succeeding kings of the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...

would use the similar title of King of Countries (

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

: ''xšāyaθiya dahyūnām'') in their inscriptions. Scribes in the city of Babylon translated this title into ''šar mātāti''. Achaemenid kings who are explicitly attested with the Akkadian-language variant (when discussed by Babylonian scribes) include Cyrus the Great,

Cambyses II Cambyses II () was the second King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning 530 to 522 BCE. He was the son of and successor to Cyrus the Great (); his mother was Cassandane. His relatively brief reign was marked by his conquests in North Afric ...

and

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, ; ) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" ( ''Makrókheir''; ), allegedly because his ri ...

. The title was also assumed by rebels in Babylon during Achaemenid times. Šamaš-erība, who rebelled against the rule of

Xerxes I Xerxes I ( – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was a List of monarchs of Persia, Persian ruler who served as the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC. He was ...

, claimed to be the "King of Babylon and of the Lands". Following the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire the title is only very rarely attested for some of the succeeding rulers of Mesopotamia. It occurs rarely during the Seleucid period, with king Antiochus I claiming it alongside several other traditional Mesopotamian titles in the

Antiochus cylinder The Antiochus cylinder is a devotional cylinder written in traditional Akkadian for Antiochus I Soter, . Discovered in Borsippa, it is now located in the British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human histor ...

, which describes how Antiochus rebuilt the Ezida Temple in the city of

Borsippa Borsippa (Sumerian language, Sumerian: BAD.SI.(A).AB.BAKI or Birs Nimrud, having been identified with Nimrod) is an archeological site in Babylon Governorate, Iraq, built on both sides of a lake about southwest of Babylon on the east bank of th ...

. It is used only once during the

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe ...

, claimed by king

Phraates II Phraates II (also spelled Frahad II; ''Frahāt'') was king of the Parthian Empire from 132 BC to 127 BC. He was the son and successor of Mithridates I (). Because he was still very young when he came to the throne, his mother Rinnu initially ru ...

List of known Kings of the Lands

Neo-Assyrian Empire

(r. 883–859 BC)' *

(r. 859–824 BC)' *

(r. 669–631 BC)'

Achaemenid Empire

(r. 559–530 BC), claimed the title from 539 BC.' *

(r. 530–522 BC)' *

(r. 465–424 BC)' * ''All other Achaemenid kings used the equivalent title King of Countries''.' * Šamaš-erība (r. 484 BC) – rebel in Babylon.'

Seleucid Empire

* Antiochus I (r. 281–261 BC)'

Parthian Empire

(r. 132–127 BC)'

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Ancient Mesopotamian royal titles 9th-century BC establishments 2nd-century BC disestablishments Ancient Mesopotamia Neo-Assyrian Empire Cyrus the Great Artaxerxes I Achaemenid Empire Royal titles