This book is a revised version of my Doctor of Philosophy thesis submitted to the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London, in 2011. The idea for this study began on one side of the globe and was undertaken and completed on the other. In 2003, as an undergraduate student, I was fortunate enough to read for a pre-honours and masters level course entitled Assyrian Imperialism with Dr Noel Weeks at the University of Sydney. In that course, there was a seminar on “The Eighth Century ‘Crisis’” which planted the seeds for this study in my mind. The focus of that seminar was the role of the Assyrian magnates during the crisis years. My dissatisfaction with the historical explanations given for the rise of the powerful officialdom led to the idea to explore the so-called Assyrian crisis in greater depth. The result was a far broader study of the reign of the most significant king of this period, Adad-nīrārī III. I would like to acknowledge the outstanding contributions my supervisor, Professor A. R. George, has made to this study. His willingness to offer ideas and criticism combined with much patience has helped to shape not only this study, but also the mode of my scholarship. I also owe thanks to the other member of my supervisory team, Dr Daniel Schwemer. His keen insights have added much to the quality of this work. I would also like to acknowledge Professor Alan R. Millard and Professor Amélie Kuhrt who examined the original doctoral thesis version of this study and made a number of pertinent criticisms of that text. However, since this study is my own work no blame can be ascribed to these scholars for its short comings. A host of scholars have shown their generosity with information and the provision of unpublished work. Dr Stephanie Dalley (Oxford), Professor Eckart Frahm (Yale), Professor Grant Frame (Pennsylvania), Associate Professor Suichi Hasegawa (Morioka University), Dr Samuel Jackson (Sydney), Professor Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault (Paris), Dr Sarah Melville (Clarkson University), Dr Zoltan Niederreiter (Budapest), Assistant Professor Daisuke Shibata (Tsukuba), Dr Sana Svärd (Helsinki), Dr Martin Worthington (Cambridge) and Professor Shigeo Yamada (Tsukuba) have been kind enough to send me advanced copies of their research and newly examined texts during the course of my candidature. I would also like to thank the staff in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum for access to, and assistance with, the many cuneiform texts xii acknowledgements I read in their collection. The generosity of the above named scholars is without parallel. There have been others who have offered their time in an unofficial capacity. Dr Weeks, Dr Jackson and Dmitri Carroll have been generous in reading drafts and supplying extensive feedback. Chris Angwin has been a ready source of IT and other technical forms of support. Alyssa Coundouris edited and improved greatly the line drawings. Jo and Phil Wheeler cannot be thanked enough for housing me at various points during the years I studied in London. I have been fortunate enough to have been the recipient some generous funding in the course of this study. I would like to acknowledge the School of Oriental and African Studies for awarding me an Overseas Research Scholarship and a SOAS Research Fellowship. Without these awards I would not have been able to pursue this study in England. The Department of Classics and Ancient at the University of Sydney, and in particular, the support of Dr Julia Kindt, was decisive in sending me to London to pursue this study. The award of the Andrew Wright Travel Bursary was a most generous boost. I would also like to acknowledge the generosity of Dr Robyn Vern whose financial assistance greatly helped the transition to Britain. Finally, I would like to thank, with my deepest love and gratitude, my wife, Anastasia, to whom this book is dedicated for her support during the worst of times and being cheerful partner during the best of times

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