Aššur-rabi II, inscribed maš-šur-RA-bi, "(the god) Aššur is great,"[1] was king of Assyria 1012–972 BC.
Despite his lengthy reign (41 years), one of the longest of the Assyrian monarchs, his tenure seems to have been an unhappy one judging by the scanty and laconic references to his setbacks from later sources.
His construction of the Bit-nathi, part of the temple of Ištar in Nineveh, was recalled in a dedicatory cone of Aššur-nāṣir-apli II (883–859 BC) commemorating his own repair work.
[2] Šulmānu-ašarēdu III recalled the loss of Ana-Aššur-utēr-aṣbat (Pitru, possibly Tell Aushariye) and Mutkinu, two towns close to Til Barsip, which had originally been taken and colonized by Tukultī-apil-Ešarra I around a hundred years earlier; in one of his inscriptions: "At the time of Aššur-rabi (II), king of Assyria, the king of Aram (Syria) took [two cities] by force—I restored these cities.
[3] His authority continued to stretch as far west as the Ḫārbūr river as recorded on the cylinder[i 6] of Bel-ereš, a šangû or governor of Šadikanni,[4] somewhat contradicting the picture of Assyrian retreat and decline painted elsewhere.