TUKULTI-NINURTA I

(reigned c. 1243c. 1207 BC), king of Assyria who asserted Assyrian supremacy over King Kashtiliashu IV, ruler of Kassite-controlled Babylonia to the southeast, and subjugated the mountainous region to the northeast and, for a time, Babylonia. A promoter of cultic ritual, Tukulti-Ninurta erected a noted ziggurat temple to the goddess Ishtar-Dinitu (Ishtar of the Dawn) that served as a model for Assyrian architecture. He extended Ashur's fortifications, but, after constructing a new capital, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, facing Ashur across the Tigris River, he was slain by his son.