Mutakkil-Nusku, inscribed <sup>m</sup>mu-ta/tak-kil-<sup>d</sup><small>PA.KU</small> (meaning "he whom Nusku endows with confidence") was king of Assyria briefly 1132 BC, during a period of political decline. He reigned sufficiently long to be the recipient of a letter or letters from the Babylonian king, presumed to be Ninurta-nÃÂdin-à ¡umi, in which he was lambasted and derided.
He appears on the Khorsabad Kinglist which relates that âÂÂMutakkil-Nusku, his (Ninurta-tukultë-Aà ¡à ¡urâÂÂs) brother, fought against him. He drove him to Karduniaà ¡ (Babylonia).â Contemporary evidence suggests that Ninurta-tukultë-Aà ¡à ¡ur sought sanctuary in the border town of Sià ¡il, where Mutakkil-NuskuâÂÂs forces engaged him in battle, the outcome of which is lost.
He was a younger son of the long-reigning king, Aà ¡à ¡ur-dÃÂn I (c. 1179 to 1134 BC) and succeeded his brother Ninurta-tukultë-Aà ¡à ¡ur, whom he ousted in a coup and subsequently went on to fight in a civil war that seems to have pitched the Assyrian heartland against its provinces.
The fragments of one or perhaps two Middle Assyrian letters exist, from an unnamed Babylonian king, possibly Ninurta-nÃÂdin-à ¡umi, to Mutakkil-Nusku, where he is told that "You should act according to your heart (ki libbika).â The text lambastes him for failing to keep an appointment, or a challenge, in Zaqqa and seems to confirm that Ninurta-tukultë-Aà ¡à ¡ur had reached exile in Babylonia.
His victory was short-lived as á¹Âuppià ¡u Mutakkil-Nusku kussâ ukta'il <small>KUR</small>-a e-mid, âÂÂ(he) held the throne for á¹Âuppià ¡u (his tablet), then died,â perhaps his inaugural year and part way into his first year only. One interpretation suggests this was while his father still nominally ruled. Apart from a brief economic text concerning 100 sheep of Mutakkil-Nusku, without a royal title, and his appearance in the genealogies of his descendants such as one of his sons, Aà ¡à ¡ur-rÃÂà ¡a-ià ¡i I, there are no other extant inscriptions.