Sardanapalus

Sardanapalus ( /ˌsɑrdəˈnæpələs/; sometimes spelled Sardanapallus) was, according to the Greek writer Ctesias of Cnidus, the last king of Assyria, although in actuality Ashur-uballit II (612-605 BC) holds that distinction. Ctesias' Persica is lost, but we know of its contents by later compilations and from the work of Diodorus (II.27). In this account Sardanapalus, supposed to have lived in the 7th Century BC, is portrayed as a decadent figure who spends his life in self-indulgence and dies in an orgy of destruction.

His legendary decadence later became a theme in literature and art, especially in the Romantic era.

The name is probably a corruption of Ashurbanipal, the last great Assyrian emperor-king of the Assyrian Empire, but Sardanapalus as described by Diodorus bears little relationship with what is known of that king, who in fact was a militarily powerful, highly efficient and scholarly ruler, presiding over the largest empire the world had yet seen. Ashurbanipal died of natural causes in 627 BC. Greek legend holds that Sardanapalus was the son of Anakyndaraxes, however it is known that Ashurbanipal was the son of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon.