Aššūr-dugul, inscribed maš-šur-du-gul, “Look to (the god) Aššur!”, was the king of Assyria probably during the 18th century BC, a period of confusion in Assyrian history.
Šamši-Adad had been an Amorite who founded a brief, foreign dynasty which was apparently greatly resented by the locals.
This resentment is attested by an alabaster slab inscription left by Puzur-Sîn, an otherwise unattested Assyrian monarch who had deposed the son of Asinum, descendant of Šamši-Adad.
[2] The Assyrian Kinglist[i 1][i 2] says of Aššūr-dugul that he was a “son of a nobody, without right to the throne” meaning that he was not of royal descent and consequently unqualified to govern according to the patrilineal principle of legitimacy relied upon by later monarchs.
The Assyrian King List claims that during his reign six other kings, “sons of nobodies also ruled at the time.” This may suggest a fragmentation in the small Assyrian kingdom, with rival claims to the throne.