also a preserved tablet which records a treaty imposed by Sîn-šumu-līšir on three private individuals, guaranteeing Aššur-etil-ilāni's sovereignty. The text of this treaty is highly similar to the succession treaties created by Aššur-etil-ilāni's grandfather Esarhaddon in the 670s BC to ensure the succession of Ashurbanipal. Sîn-šumu-līšir is also recorded as receiving land from Aššur-etil-ilāni, possibly as a rewards for his service to the king. It is possible that Sîn-šumu-līšir, as a prominent general closely tied to the king, was the ruler of Assyria during Aššur-etil-ilāni's reign. Aššur-etil-ilāni died under obscure circumstances in 627 BC, after just four years as king. Aššur-etil-ilāni's Babylonian vassal king Kandalanu also died at roughly the same time and Aššur-etil-ilāni's brother Sîn-šar-iškun assumed rulership of the entire Neo-Assyrian Empire. Immediately after Sîn-šar-iškun became king, Sîn-šumu-līšir rebelled against him, possibly due to feeling that his prominent position was threatened by the rise of a new king. Though a military leader attempting to claim the throne during a time of crisis and succession wasn't necessarily unusual, the possibility that a eunuch would do so had never been entertained prior to Sîn-šumu-līšir's attempt. He was the only eunuch to ever claim the throne of Assyria. It is possible that a set of undated seal impressions from Nineveh containing the image of a beardless king could depict Sîn-šumu-līšir, as Assyrian kings were always depicted with beards but eunuchs were always depicted beardless. Seeking to seize power for himself, Sîn-šumu-līšir quickly took some key cities in northern Babylonia, including Nippur and Babylon itself. Though his area of control was limited to parts of Babylonia, it is unclear if Sîn-šumu-līšir claimed the title "king of Babylon" in addition to "king of Assyria". Modern historians typically include him in lists of Babylonian kings, as did some ancient Babylonian king lists. Sîn-šumu-līšir never successfully took control of the Assyrian Empire and his tenure as "king" in Nippur and Babylon lasted only three months before Sîn-šar-iškun successfully defeated him. In a later Babylonian epic, the killing of Sîn-šumu-līšir, in the story called the "almighty commander of the eunuchs", is attributed to Nabopolassar (the first king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire), rather than Sîn-šar-iškun. Despite being a usurper and not successfully taking control of the Assyrian heartland, Sîn-šumu-līšir is routinely listed in modern historiography as one of the final Assyrian kings, together with the legitimate rulers Aššur-etil-ilāni and Sîn-šar-iškun. See also List of Assyrian kings Military history