Was Esarhaddon Considered to Be a God?

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the actions of Ik-Tešub, a king of Šubria at the time of Esarhaddon’s invasion, and to explain them as ritual countermeasures. Unlike earlier interpretations, which focused on a scapegoat ritual, a simple substitute ritual or a symbolic act of surrender, my proposal is to interpret the behaviour of the Šubrian ruler as a substitute king ritual based not on Mesopotamian but Hittite magical traditions. Moreover, the shape of this particular ritual might indicate that Esarhaddon was seen not only as the powerful king and governor of Aššur but in fact also as the god of plague himself.