Sardanapālus
（
Σαρδανάπαλος). The last king who reigned over the
Assyrian Empire of Nineveh. The account given of him by Ctesias asserts that he passed his
time in his palace unseen by any of his subjects, dressed in woman's apparel, and surrounded
by concubines. At length Arbaces, satrap of Media, and Beletys, the noblest of the Chaldaean
priests, resolved to renounce allegiance to such a monarch, and advanced at the head of a
formidable army against Nineveh. But all of a sudden the effeminate prince threw off his
luxurious habits and appeared an undaunted warrior. Placing himself at the head of his troops,
he twice defeated the rebels, but was at length worsted and obliged to shut himself up in
Nineveh. Here he sustained a siege for two years, until at length, finding it impossible to
hold out any longer, he collected all his treasures, wives, and concubines, and placing them
on an immense pile which he had constructed, set it on fire, and thus destroyed both himself
and them. The enemies then obtained possession of the city. This is the account of Ctesias,
which has been preserved by Diodorus Siculus and which has been followed by most subsequent
writers and chronologists (see
Diod.ii. 21; Syncell. p. 359;
C. D. xviii. 21), and has been taken as the subject of a very spirited
dramatic fragment by Lord Byron entitled
Sardanapalus. The death of
Sardanapalus and the fall of the Assyrian Empire were placed B.C. 876. Modern writers however
have shown that the whole narrative of Ctesias is mythical, and must not be received as
genuine history. It is contradicted by the statements in Herodotus and the Christian writers.
Sardanapalus is to be identified with the King Ashurbanipal, of whom many cuneiform records
survive, and who made two successful expeditions against Egypt (B.C.
670-650); but was defeated in B.C. 646, when Cyaxares, King of Media, and the governor of
Babylon took Nineveh and destroyed it, Sardanapalus perishing in the flames. See Bezold's
Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in the Kougunjik Collection in the British
Museum, 3 vols.
(1889-93); and the article
Assyria.
