Growing Old in the Cradle: Old Age and Immortality among the Kings of Ancient Assyria

Abstract

The desire for a long and healthy life was expressed often by Assyrian kings in their extant public texts from the 14th through the 7th centuries BC. But advanced old age, whether for monarchs or commoners, was not achieved very often in the ancient world. Consequently, Assyrian royal inscriptions frequently reflect concern for another kind of longevity—an immortality achieved by having one's works and one's name preserved and remembered by posterity. Almost every dedicatory inscription associated with public works—palaces, temples, etc.—expressed the importance of these kings' participation in what this writer terms a “family cult.” The latter constituted a sense of continuity from father to son to grandson, and so on, which depended upon each new generation to preserve and/or restore the works and the “names” of their predecessors. If the Assyrian kings each did their job as “Curator” or “Steward” of the family's heritage, they expressed the hope that they would not be forgotten—perhaps the closest they could get to achieving immortality.