Creating an Empire of Informers : Vigilance in the Assyrian Empire and King Esarhaddon’s adê-Covenant of 672 BC

Abstract

In the year 672 BC, Esarhaddon, King of Assyria imposed a succession covenant (adê) on his subjects, the inhabitants of the Assyrian Empire. This covenant required the empire’s population to monitor one another, and themselves, for signs of disloyalty to the monarch and his chosen successor, Ashurbanipal. This study examines the aims and outcomes, desired and undesired, of imposing this duty of vigilance across the extent of the Assyrian Empire.