Sardanapalus
the name of several princes of Assyria, the most celebrated of whom was the last sovereign of the first Assyrian empire. His reign dates from 836 to 817 B. C., when he was dethroned by Arbaces and Belesis, at the head of a revolt of the Medes, Persians, and Babylonians. In the last extremity, Sardanapalus, who had withstood a siege for three years in Nineveh, placed himself, his treasures, his wives, and his eunuchs on a funeral pile, which he fired with his own hand. He had ceased to exist when the city was taken, and that event was followed by the dismemberment of the Assyrian empire. The above is a Greek legend (dates uncertain) of the reign of Asshur-banipal. See ASSYRIA.