Although the king in this story is Assyrian, the setting takes place in Babylon. It is the 13th-century B.C. and King Tukulti-Ninurta of Assyria has just conquered the Hittites in their territory and has moved south to overtake the Babylonians. He assumed the Babylonian throne after overthrowing the native king of the land, King Kashtiliash IV, and sending him to Assyria as a captive prisoner. In Babylon, after completely destroying and raiding multiple temples the Mesopotamians of that region held sacred to their hearts he built a new capital, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, naming it after himself. Here, he ruled for 7 years until his sons betrayed him. They rebelled against the state, against what new beliefs their father had imposed on the Babylonian inhabitants and, in doing so, they murdered him. The circumstances surrounding the murder and how his sons killed him are unknown but what is known is that after his death in 1207 B.C., one of his sons, Ashur-nadin-apli, took over. Assyrian leadership over Babylon from this point on continued for, at least, another 30 years under different Assyrian rulers.
