Naqiʾa

Naqiʾa or Naqia (Akkadian: Naqīʾa, also known as Zakūtu (), was a wife of the Assyrian king Sennacherib (r. 705–681 BC) and the mother of his son and successor Esarhaddon (r. 681–669). Naqiʾa is the best documented woman in the history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and she reached an unprecedented level of prominence and public visibility; she was perhaps the most influential woman in Assyrian history. She is one of the few ancient Assyrian women to be depicted in artwork, to commission her own building projects, and to be granted laudatory epithets in letters by courtiers. She is also the only known ancient Assyrian figure other than kings to write and issue a treaty.

Naqiʾa must have been married to Sennacherib before he became king (705) since she gave birth to his son Esarhaddon c. 713. Whether she ever held the position of queen is debated; Assyrian kings had multiple wives but the evidence suggests that only one of them could be the queen at any one given time. Sennacherib is known to have had another queen, Tašmētu-šarrat. Naqiʾa might have become queen late in Sennacherib's reign. She is referred to as the "queen of Sennacherib" in documents from the reign of her son. In 684, Sennacherib, perhaps influenced by Naqiʾa, designated Esarhaddon as his crown prince despite having older sons.

During the reign of her son, Naqiʾa reached her most prominent position, bearing the title ummi šari (lit. 'Mother of the King'). Under Esarhaddon, Naqiʾa secured ownership of several estates throughout the empire and grew enormously wealthy, perhaps wealthier than Esarhaddon's own queen Ešarra-ḫammat. Naqiʾa might have governed her own set of territories surrounding the Babylonian city of Lahira. The last known attestation of Naqiʾa is from 669, in the months after Esarhaddon's death. After her son's death, Naqiʾa wrote a treaty which forced the royal family, aristocracy and all of Assyria to swear loyalty to her grandson Ashurbanipal (r. 669–631). After this, Naqiʾa appears to have retired from public life.