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Middle East

Dynasties, sultans, kings and family firms from Egypt and the Levant to the Gulf and Iran.

181 storiesUnited StatesUnited KingdomFranceItalyGermanyEgyptRussiaSwitzerlandGreeceIsrael and PalestineTurkeyIraqIranSaudi Arabia
AI illustration: A Qajar shah's treasury of pearls, gold and jewelled daggers listed for his heirs
Illustration made with AI for celebrity.estate, after Portrait in oils of Fath ‘Ali Shah Qajar title QS:P1476,en:"Portrait in oils of Fath ‘Ali Shah Qajar "label QS:Len,"Port.

What do the Middle East estate cases show?

A fortune kept in other people's names cannot be traced by the government, and it cannot be claimed by the heirs either. An heir can renounce an inheritance in advance to separate his own position from his father's money.

Stories
181
Years
5950 BCE to 2023
Main subjects
Egypt and Africa, Scripture and the ancient world, Islamic and Persian empires
Legal traditions
Royal and church law, Islamic law
Updated
30 October 2026

Every story in Middle East, best-known first

Best-known first: cases from 1900 on, then the United States, then Europe, and the people most read about on English Wikipedia each month. Fiction, scripture and legend come last.

  1. 1983The FBI believed Meyer Lansky had $300 million hidden; he died in Miami with less than $35,000 in the bankthemobmuseum.org and 2 more
  2. 2014Spain's King Felipe renounced his father's inheritance after a $100 million Saudi payment came to light, and Juan Carlos left for Abu Dhabieuronews.com and 2 more
  3. 2006Saddam Hussein was buried in his own mausoleum, the mausoleum was destroyed, and no one will say where his body iskuwaittimes.com and 3 more
  4. 1975Saudi King Faisal was shot by his nephew during an audience, and the nephew was beheaded in a Riyadh squareWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  5. 1975Umm Kulthum's heirs sued to pull the biopic "El Sett" from cinemas, and Egypt's Administrative Court ordered them to pay costsInternet Archive and 3 more
  6. 1951Iraq took the property of the Jews who left in 1951, US troops found their community's books in a flooded secret-police basement in 2003, and the books have stayed in Americajns.org and 3 more
  7. 1972A car bomb killed Ghassan Kanafani and his 17-year-old niece in Beirut on 8 July 1972, and Mossad is reported to have claimed responsibilitymiddleeasteye.net and 2 more
  8. 1944Revolutionaries demolished Reza Shah's mausoleum in 1980 and could not find his body, and a mummified body turned up on the site in 2018Encyclopaedia Britannica and 3 more
  9. 1915Talaat asked the US ambassador for the list of Armenians insured by American companies, and 89 years later New York Life paid $20 million to their heirsProject Gutenberg and 3 more
  10. 2022Angola's president made his daughter head of the state oil company; his successor fired her, and courts froze her assets in four countriesicij.org and 3 more
  11. 2020Switzerland froze 700 million francs tied to Mubarak's circle in 2011, and after 11 years released the last 400 million to its ownerspubliceye.ch and 3 more
  12. 2014A London judge awarded a Russian oligarch's ex-wife £453 million, then found their son had helped hide itCourts and Tribunals Judiciary and 3 more
  13. 1972Oman's sultan was counting his money when his son demanded his abdication in 1970; he fired a pistol, signed, and flew to London that nightmeforum.org and 3 more
  14. 1999King Hussein of Jordan removed his brother as heir after 34 years, two weeks before he diedWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  15. 2005Rafik Hariri was killed in 2005; his family chose the second son as political heir, the other brothers sold him their shares of Saudi Oger, and the company closed in 2017news.un.org and 4 more
  16. 1967Mohammed bin Laden's sons ran his construction group for decades, and three of them signed their shares over to the state while detainednewarab.com and 5 more
  17. 2013Rabbi Ovadia Yosef left nearly everything to his youngest son; his other children fought over the Jerusalem flat until 2016theyeshivaworld.com and 5 more
  18. 1904Herzl's testament asked for his children to lie beside him; Israel buried his suicide son and his daughter there 76 years after their deathshnn.us and 2 more
  19. 1923Egypt kept every object from Tutankhamun's tomb and paid the Carnarvon heirs their costs in 1930archive.aramcoworld.com and 6 more
  20. 2023The last Nizam of Hyderabad inherited one of the world's largest fortunes and died in Turkey after losing most of itthenewsminute.com and 4 more
  21. 2018Avicii died at 28 without a will; his parents inherited about $25 million and sold 75 percent of his catalogdancingastronaut.com and 2 more
  22. 2009Fairuz's nephews blocked her from staging her late husband's musical without their approval, and a Beirut court stopped her performing his brother's worknews.wjct.org and 3 more
  23. 1890Schliemann smuggled Priam's Treasure out of the Ottoman Empire and gave it to Berlin, the Red Army took it in 1945, and Moscow kept it secret for 50 yearssmb.museum and 2 more
  24. 1495Mehmed II's younger son lost the throne to his brother and spent 13 years as a paid captive of the Knights of Rhodes, the Pope and the King of FranceEncyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more
  25. 204 BCEFrench soldiers found the Rosetta Stone in 1799, General Menou claimed it as his own, and Britain took it under the 1801 surrenderProject Gutenberg and 3 more
  26. 2021Majid Al Futtaim died with ten heirs and a $16 billion mall group, and a court set up by Dubai's ruler gave government appointees five of nine board seatsgulfnews.com and 4 more
  27. 1979Iran's revolutionary court had plastics maker Habib Elghanian shot in 1979, and the state took the tower he builtjewishjournal.com and 4 more
  28. 2022Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky's youngest son agreed to sell his manuscripts for $7 million; his brothers said Torah law split the estate among three sons and none of the five daughtershe.wikisource.org and 3 more
  29. 2023Israeli troops shot hostage Yotam Haim as he fled his captors, and in 2026 a court let his mother use his sperm for a grandchildtimesofisrael.com and 2 more
  30. 2020Oman's sultan died childless, and his successor's name was read from a sealed envelopeWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  31. 2020One Sursock left his Beirut villa to the city as a museum; another Sursock palace passed to a single heiress; the 2020 port blast hit both, and she died of her injuriessursock.museum and 3 more
  32. 2019Tanzanian tycoon Reginald Mengi's will left his estate to his second wife and their twins, and the High Court threw it outtheeastafrican.co.ke and 2 more
  33. 2016Qatar's emir took power from his cousin in 1972; in 1995 his son took it from him and froze his bank accounts abroadarchives.mees.com and 7 more
  34. 2011Yuli Ofer's last will gave most of his empire to his daughter; his son said he was no longer clear of mind, and the daughter wonhaaretz.com and 2 more
  35. 2010Ras al-Khaimah's ruler removed his eldest son as heir after four decades; when the ruler died in 2010 the son came home to claim the throne and his guards were arrestedwashingtoninstitute.org and 3 more
  36. 2009A Saudi trading family accused its son-in-law of a $9 billion fraud, and a Cayman judge found the family had authorized himcaymancompass.com and 3 more
  37. 1989Three Abu Dhabi rulers were killed in family feuds in six years; the survivors swore to their mother never to do it again, and in 1966 one brother removed another without bloodshedchristopherdavidson.net and 4 more
  38. 1980Iran sued the exiled Shah in New York for billions, lost, and the tower his foundation built ended up paying terror victims $318 millionjta.org and 2 more
  39. 1967Mossadegh nationalised Iran's oil, was overthrown in a CIA and MI6 coup, and was buried under the floor of his own houseequaltimes.org and 2 more
  40. 1965Syria hanged Israeli spy Eli Cohen in 1965 and kept his body; 60 years later the Mossad brought back his will and the keys to his Damascus flat, but not his remainstimesofisrael.com and 2 more
  41. 1958Iraq's 23-year-old king and his family were shot in the palace courtyard, and the regent's body was dragged through BaghdadWikipedia (English) and 2 more
  42. 1954The Quandt fortune behind BMW used about 50,000 forced labourers, a 2011 family-funded study foundInternet Archive and 8 more
  43. 1829A Tehran mob killed Russia's envoy in 1829, and the Shah paid for it with a diamond carved with the names of three kingsgemdat.org and 3 more
  44. 1238A bankrupt emperor of Constantinople pawned the Crown of Thorns to Venetian lenders, and a fire chaplain carried it out of burning Notre-Damenewadvent.org and 4 more
  45. 1856Sayyid Said died at sea in 1856, his sons split Oman and Zanzibar, and his daughter Salme was refused her inheritanceWikisource (primary text) and 6 more
  46. 1229Monks scraped Archimedes off the page in 1229, a Paris family kept the book in a damp cellar, and a judge let them sell it hours before a church's claim could stop itarchive.archaeology.org and 4 more
  47. 1948Yemen's Imam Yahya groomed his son to inherit an office meant to go to the most able; rebels killed him in 1948, and the tribes that won the throne back for the son looted Sanaagulfnews.com and 3 more
  48. 1948Iraq hanged its richest Jew, Shafiq Ades, outside his own house in Basra in 1948 and took his estateInternet Archive and 2 more
  49. 1938Atatürk left his İş Bankası shares to his party, and the state took them twicesozcu.com.tr and 3 more
  50. 1747Nader Shah's Indian jewels cost his blind grandson his life under torture, and a deposed shah took them into the Russian legationiranicaonline.org and 2 more
  51. 1340 BCEThe Nefertiti bust left Egypt in 1913 listed as a plaster princess, and Berlin has kept it through a century of Egyptian demandspreussischer-kulturbesitz.de and 2 more
  52. 1595Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III had his 19 brothers strangled on the day he took the throneWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  53. 1863Khedive Ismail sold Egypt's Suez Canal shares to Britain for £4 million in 1875, and the Ottoman sultan deposed him four years laterlegislation.gov.uk and 3 more
  54. 1213 BCERamesses II outlived his first three crown princes, his thirteenth son succeeded him, and his sons' tomb KV5 has more than 130 roomskirkusreviews.com and 4 more
  55. 1481A Turkish court ruled in 2020 that Mehmed II's endowment deed still bound Hagia Sophia as a mosque, while an Armenian foundation could not recover its confiscated Istanbul innharvardlawreview.org and 2 more
  56. 1205Venice took four bronze horses from Constantinople in 1204, Napoleon took them and Veronese's Wedding at Cana in 1797, and in 1815 only the horses went homehaaimagehosting.omeka.fas.harvard.edu and 4 more
  57. 1798Napoleon took Malta from the Knights in three days in 1798, his flagship blew up with the island's treasure by legend, and Malta gave the Order part of its old fort back in 2001Project Gutenberg and 4 more
  58. 1261 BCEMes sued to recover land granted to his ancestor Neshi under Ahmose I, after a court ruled against his mother on a false registerInternet Archive and 1 more
  59. 1291 BCEA mummy sold in Luxor around 1860 spent over a century in a Niagara Falls curiosity museum before it was identified as Ramesses I and sent homearchive.archaeology.org and 4 more
  60. 1279 BCESeti I's empty sarcophagus was sold to the architect John Soane in 1824, and Soane obtained an Act of Parliament so his son could not inherit itUK Parliament, Hansard and 5 more
  61. 1562Süleyman paid the Shah of Persia to hand back his son Bayezid, who was strangled in Qazvin with his four sonsEncyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more
  62. 130 BCEPtolemy VIII married his sister Cleopatra II and then her daughter, and when his sister held Alexandria against him he sent her their son's head, hands and feetUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  63. 1458 BCEHatshepsut took the throne from her stepson Thutmose III, who had her statues smashed and her images erased two decades after her deathworldhistory.org and 3 more
  64. 269 BCEArsinoe II married her half-brother Ptolemy Keraunos to protect her sons, he had two of them killed in her arms, and she then married her full brotherUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 3 more
  65. 1323 BCEHoward Carter's team cut Tutankhamun's body apart to free it from his coffin in 1925, and Carter's published account left it outtutankhamun.griffith.ox.ac.uk and 4 more
  66. 1025Basil II left 200,000 pounds of gold and no son; his successors spent it, and the gold coin was debased to almost nothing by the 1080ssourcebooks.fordham.edu and 4 more
  67. 1826The Sultan abolished the Bektashi order in 1826 and gave its lodges away, Atatürk closed the rest in 1925, and in 2024 Albania proposed a sovereign state for its leadersarakuehn.com and 2 more
  68. 1353 BCEAmenhotep III promised the king of Mittani solid-gold statues for his daughter, and after Amenhotep died his son sent gold-plated woodrepository.bilkent.edu.tr and 3 more
  69. 323 BCEAlexander the Great left his empire "to the strongest", and his general Ptolemy hijacked his bodyWikisource (primary text) and 3 more
  70. 30 BCEMark Antony gave Cleopatra's children kingdoms in 34 BC, and after 30 BC Octavian killed Caesarion and gave the others to his sister to raiseUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 5 more
  71. 1124Hasan-i Sabbah had both his sons executed and left Alamut to a lieutenant from another castleiis.ac.uk and 2 more
  72. 1569Gracia Nasi's sister Brianda sued her in Venice for half the Mendes fortune and denounced her as a secret Jewjstor.org and 5 more
  73. 439Melania the Younger sold estates across the Roman West and freed 8,000 slaves, and a later account says opponents tried to have her estates seizedtertullian.org and 2 more
  74. 797Empress Irene had her son Constantine VI blinded in the room where he was born and ruled Byzantium alone from 797pbe.kcl.ac.uk and 4 more
  75. 70Rome carried the Temple treasures in triumph, the Vandals took them to Carthage, and Procopius says Justinian sent them to Jerusalem because a Jew warned they brought down every palace that held themsourcebooks.web.fordham.edu and 3 more
  76. 30 BCEPliny says Cleopatra drank one of the two greatest pearls she inherited from eastern kings, and Rome cut the other in half for a statue of VenusUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  77. 322 BCEAristotle's heirs hid his library in a trench to keep it from the kings of Pergamum, and Sulla carried it to Romeperseus.tufts.edu and 2 more
  78. 343 BCEThe last native pharaoh fled the Persians and never used his sarcophagus, and the British took it from Alexandria in 1801 as the tomb of AlexanderInternet Archive and 2 more
  79. 459 BCEAthens condemned Themistocles for treason, Persia gave him three cities, and his relatives buried his bones in Attica in secretProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  80. 711Justinian II lost his throne and his nose in 695, took Constantinople back in 705, and was killed with his son in 711Wikisource (primary text) and 3 more
  81. 51 BCEPtolemy XII's will named Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XIII joint heirs under Roman protection, and the heirs went to warclassics.mit.edu and 3 more
  82. 1021Sitt al-Mulk set aside the Fatimid heir after the caliph al-Hakim disappeared in 1021 and put his son al-Zahir on the throneislamansiklopedisi.org.tr and 3 more
  83. 680Mu'awiya made his son Yazid heir to the caliphate; Muhammad's grandson al-Husayn refused to swear and was killed at Karbala with most of his family's menInternet Archive and 2 more
  84. 1041Empress Zoe adopted Michael V as her heir, he exiled her, and the people of Constantinople had him blinded in 1042sourcebooks.fordham.edu and 2 more
  85. 41 BCECleopatra's sister Arsinoe IV fought Caesar, walked in chains in his triumph and was killed at a temple on Antony's orders, and the skeleton said to be hers was a boy'sUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 5 more
  86. 1200 BCEJoseph made Israel swear to carry his bones out of Egypt; Exodus says Moses took them, and his reputed tomb in Nablus was smashed in 2022mechon-mamre.org and 5 more
  87. 1249Shajar al-Durr hid the death of Sultan al-Salih Ayyub in 1249, became sultan after his heir was killed, and was beaten to death in 1257engelsbergideas.com and 3 more
  88. 175 BCESecond Maccabees says a king's minister came to seize the widows' and orphans' deposits in the Jerusalem Temple; a stele pieced together in 2005 and 2006 names the minister and a royal order on temple fundsbiblegateway.com and 4 more
  89. 1714The Ottomans beheaded Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu and his four sons in Istanbul in 1714 after four months of torture over his fortuneadevarul.ro and 4 more
  90. 1648The last male of the Ottoman house would not leave his room when told he was sultan, and eight years later his mother agreed to his depositionislamansiklopedisi.org.tr and 1 more
  91. 1629Shah Abbas had one son killed and two blinded, and died with no son able to ruleiranicaonline.org and 2 more
  92. 1553Süleyman had his eldest son Mustafa strangled in the imperial tent in 1553 after his grand vizier produced a letter in the prince's name to the ShahEncyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more
  93. 1517The Prophet's mantle and relics passed from dynasty to dynasty as proof of title, and the Ottomans shipped them from Cairo to Istanbul in 1517Encyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more
  94. 1555 BCEKing Seqenenre Tao died with his hands tied and his skull broken by Hyksos weapons, and his sons finished his warfrontiersin.org and 3 more
  95. 132Babatha hid her lawsuits over her son's guardianship and her dead husband's orchards in a cave during the Bar Kokhba revoltcambridge.org and 4 more
  96. 930Aleppo's Jews were told their 1,000-year-old Bible was burned in 1947; it reached Israel in 1957, and the community sued for itmattifriedman.com and 3 more
  97. 2550 BCEQueen Puabi of Ur was buried in gold, and the attendants Woolley said drank poison were killed with blows to the headalmanac.upenn.edu and 4 more
  98. 1962 BCEAmenemhat I was attacked by his own guards after supper, and his son raced back from a war in Libya to take the thronemaat.sofiatopia.org and 3 more
  99. 74 BCENicomedes IV left Bithynia to Rome, Mithridates said the queen had borne him a son, and Mithridates invadedUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 4 more
  100. 1000 BCEThe Abd el-Rassul brothers sold royal mummies from a hidden tomb for a decade, until the eldest confessed in 1881newlinesmag.com and 4 more
  101. 1327 BCEThe Deeds of Suppiluliuma say a widowed Egyptian queen asked the Hittite king for a son to marry, and the prince Zannanza died on the wayworldhistory.org and 5 more
  102. 2950 BCEMerneith ruled for her young son Den, was buried at Abydos in a king's tomb ringed by servants' graves, and later king lists left her outpenn.museum and 3 more
  103. 55 BCEBerenice IV took her father's throne, had one husband strangled within days, and was executed when Rome restored her father for 10,000 talentsUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  104. 204 BCECourtiers hid Ptolemy IV's death, killed his queen, read out a will naming themselves regents, and the Alexandrian crowd killed them and their familyUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 3 more
  105. 1361Plague estates paid for Sultan Hasan's Cairo mosque, a minaret fell and killed about 300, and the sultan was murdered and never buried in his tombmadainproject.com and 2 more
  106. 1290Sultan Qalawun built Cairo's great hospital with forced labour after a vow in a Damascus hospital funded by a captured European king's ransomegymonuments.gov.eg and 3 more
  107. 1340The sultan had his viceroy of Syria arrested, killed and stripped of his fortune; three years later the viceroy's grandson was sultan and his body came home to Damascussussex.ac.uk and 2 more
  108. 1258Hulagu took Baghdad and killed the last Abbasid caliph in 1258, chroniclers gave seven different deaths, and a surviving kinsman was made caliph in Cairocambridge.org and 3 more
  109. 1256The last lord of Alamut surrendered to the Mongols in 1256, the Persian historian Juvayni burned the castle's library, and the imam was killed on his way home from the Khaniis.ac.uk and 3 more
  110. 1193A waqf fed Maghrebi pilgrims in Jerusalem for 774 years, and its quarter was bulldozed in one night in June 1967laviedesidees.fr and 2 more
  111. 1193Saladin left a gold ingot and 47 silver dirhams, not enough for his grave, and his brother took the empire from his sonsEncyclopaedia Britannica and 5 more
  112. 1187Two Muslim families have opened the Church of the Holy Sepulchre every day for centuries, and dispute which of them came firstipsnews.net and 4 more
  113. 1138Yemen's Queen Arwa ruled for half a century and left her jewels by will to a boy imam who had vanished in Cairoiis.ac.uk and 2 more
  114. 1100Wuhsha the broker was thrown out of synagogue on Yom Kippur for her son by a lover, and her will gave the lover "not one penny"geniza.princeton.edu and 2 more
  115. 1094The vizier al-Afdal put al-Musta'li on the Fatimid throne in 1094 over his elder brother Nizar, and the Ismailis splitiis.ac.uk and 4 more
  116. 944Qarmatian raiders took the Black Stone from Mecca in 930 and held it for about 20 years before dropping it in a mosque in Kufamadainproject.com and 3 more
  117. 912Leo VI married his mistress as his fourth wife to make their son legitimate, and the patriarch who refused was forced outjohnsanidopoulos.com and 4 more
  118. 828The Bukhtishu physicians served the caliphs for six generations: one was sentenced to death, one died in exile, and one great-grandson was disinherited by his stepfatherjima.imana.org and 2 more
  119. 803Harun al-Rashid had his vizier Ja'far killed in one night in 803, hung his body in Baghdad, and took the Barmakid fortuneWikisource (primary text) and 4 more
  120. 660The exilarch Bostanai married a Persian princess; after his death his other sons claimed her and her children as slavesjewishencyclopedia.com and 3 more
  121. 634Full brothers left with nothing asked the caliph Umar to treat their father as a donkey, and he changed his rulingislamqa.info and 2 more
  122. 632Jabir, with only sisters to inherit, asked Muhammad how to leave his estate; the last verse revealed answered him, and the caliph Umar said he never fully understood itihadis.com and 3 more
  123. 632While Muhammad's family prepared his body, a meeting in a Medina courtyard chose Abu Bakr as successor over the people of Medina's own candidateihadis.com and 3 more
  124. 632Fatima asked Abu Bakr for her inheritance from Muhammad; he refused, she did not speak to him again, and caliphs returned and seized the land of Fadak for 200 yearsInternet Archive and 2 more
  125. 628Persia's crown prince overthrew his father to stop a half-brother's succession, executed him, killed his brothers, and died of plague within monthsiranicaonline.org and 2 more
  126. 625Sa'd ibn al-Rabi' was killed at Uhud and his brother took everything; his widow brought their two daughters to Muhammad, and the Koran's inheritance verse followedihadis.com and 3 more
  127. 520The exilarch Mar Zutra II ruled a Jewish state at Mahoza for seven years and was crucified on its bridge; his son was born the same dayencyclopedia.com and 2 more
  128. 425Rome stripped the last patriarch of the house of Hillel, let no son succeed him, and took the patriarch's tax for the imperial treasuryjewishencyclopedia.com and 4 more
  129. 267Palmyra's ruler and his heir were murdered in 267, and his widow Zenobia ruled for her own son; one Roman history says she was in on the plotUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  130. 30Luke's parable of the prodigal son: a younger son took his inheritance while his father lived, spent it, came home, and the elder son objectedbiblegateway.com and 2 more
  131. 2 BCEA slave woman sent from Rome persuaded the Parthian king to send his four sons to Rome, then her son killed him and married herWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  132. 4 BCEHerod the Great executed three sons, changed his will in his last days, and died five days after the last execution; Augustus split his kingdom among the survivorsperseus.tufts.edu and 6 more
  133. 30 BCECleopatra filled her tomb with treasure and torchwood so Octavian could not take it from her, and the tomb has never been foundUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  134. 80 BCESulla sent Ptolemy XI to marry Queen Berenice III, he had her killed within three weeks, the Alexandrians killed him, and Rome produced a will leaving Egypt to RomeUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 4 more
  135. 133 BCEKing Attalus III left his kingdom to Rome in his will, and a man claiming to be a royal bastard fought Rome for itUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  136. 401 BCECyrus the Younger's mother argued he was born to a reigning king; his elder brother got the throne, killed him at Cunaxa and cut off his head and handperseus.tufts.edu and 4 more
  137. 486 BCEDarius passed over his eldest son for Xerxes, grandson of Cyrus, on an argument supplied by an exiled Spartan kingWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  138. 508 BCEA Babylonian business house split its father's estate on one clay tablet, and its records stop when Babylon revolted against Xerxesnabucco.acdh.oeaw.ac.at and 2 more
  139. 522 BCECambyses killed his brother Bardiya in secret; a man ruled Persia under the dead brother's name until Darius killed him and took the throneperseus.tufts.edu and 7 more
  140. 525 BCEA boy king of Sidon cursed anyone who moved his coffin; in 1855 it was dug up, fought over and shipped to the LouvreGoogle Books and 3 more
  141. 530 BCEAlexander found Cyrus the Great's tomb robbed and the body thrown out, and tortured its hereditary guards, who named no oneWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
  142. 539 BCEBabylon took the Temple vessels; Daniel says Belshazzar drank from them the night he was killed, and Ezra says Cyrus returned 5,400mechon-mamre.org and 4 more
  143. 681 BCESennacherib named his younger son Esarhaddon heir; his elder sons killed him, and Esarhaddon then bound the empire by oath to his own chosen heiroracc.museum.upenn.edu and 5 more
  144. 687 BCEThe Bible says King Hezekiah showed Babylon's envoys his treasury, and Isaiah told him his heirs would lose it; Babylonian tablets record rations for a captive king of Judahbiblegateway.com and 2 more
  145. 814 BCEKing Pygmalion of Tyre killed his sister's husband for his buried gold, and she sailed away with it after dumping sacks of sand into the seatertullian.org and 2 more
  146. 1090 BCEThe Adoption Papyrus says an Egyptian stable master adopted his wife as his daughter to keep his estate from his siblings, and the widow freed and adopted their slave's childrenmediterraneoantico.it and 2 more
  147. 1100 BCEJudges says Gilead's sons drove their half-brother Jephthah out of the inheritance, then made him their chief, and his vow cost him his only daughtermechon-mamre.org and 2 more
  148. 1110 BCEEight thieves confessed to stripping the gold from the mummies of king Sobekemsaf and queen Nubkhas, and an inquiry under Ramesses IX recorded itInternet Archive and 5 more
  149. 1144 BCENaunakhte of Deir el-Medina cut the children who did not support her out of her willcambridge.org and 5 more
  150. 1157 BCEQueen Tiye plotted to put her son Pentawere on the throne of Ramesses III, and a 2012 CT scan found the king's throat had been cutInternet Archive and 5 more
  151. 1192 BCEChancellor Bay put a boy king on the throne and was given a tomb among the kings, and a potsherd records that the king had him killedifao.egnet.net and 2 more
  152. 1250 BCEA king of Ugarit divorced his Hittite-born queen, made their son choose between his mother and the throne, then had her killedlockwoodonlinejournals.com and 3 more
  153. 1319 BCEAy had himself painted burying Tutankhamun and took the throne, and Horemheb then erased Ay and dated his own reign from Amenhotep IIIworldhistory.org and 3 more
  154. 1323 BCEDNA tests in 2010 found that Tutankhamun's parents were brother and sister, and that the two stillborn girls buried in his tomb were his daughtersjamanetwork.com and 3 more
  155. 1336 BCEA king's coffin in tomb KV55 had its gold face hacked off and its names cut out, and the gold from its base turned up in a Munich museumarchive.archaeology.org and 3 more
  156. 1450 BCENuzi law kept land inside the family, so the landowner Tehip-tilla had himself adopted by seller after sellerInternet Archive and 3 more
  157. 1500 BCEAfter four reigns of Hittite princes killing each other, King Telipinu wrote the order of succession into law and spared the men who had plotted against himInternet Archive and 2 more
  158. 1800 BCEAround 1800 BC an Egyptian priest left everything to his wife and named a guardian for his son, in one of the oldest wills knowncollections.ucl.ac.uk and 3 more
  159. 2580 BCEThe hidden tomb of Khufu's mother Hetepheres held her organs in a sealed chest, but her sealed sarcophagus was empty when it was opened in 1927giza.fas.harvard.edu and 2 more
  160. 5950 BCEÇatalhöyük buried its dead under the house floor along the mother's line, and baby girls got five times the grave gifts of boyshaber.metu.edu.tr and 2 more
  161. Five daughters of Zelophehad asked Moses for their dead father's land, and the ruling made daughters heirs when there are no sonsmechon-mamre.org and 3 more
  162. 2180 BCEHerodotus says Queen Nitocris drowned the men who killed her brother the king at a banquet, and a modern scholar argues she never existedProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  163. 30The Gospel of John says soldiers diced for the executed Jesus's seamless robe, and three churches claim to have itbiblegateway.com and 2 more
  164. 1020Tradition says Sultan Mahmud's gold for the Shahnameh reached Ferdowsi's town as his coffin left it, and his daughter refused itjls.um.ac.ir and 2 more
  165. 750 BCEGenesis says Abraham paid 400 shekels for a family tomb at Hebron; the Talmud says Esau blocked Jacob's burial there and was killed at the cavemechon-mamre.org and 4 more
  166. 1010The Shahnameh says King Faridun gave Iran to his youngest son, and the two elder sons killed him and sent his head to their fatherInternet Archive and 4 more
  167. 474 BCEThe Book of Esther says the king hanged Haman on his own gallows and gave his house to Queen Esther the same daysefaria.org and 4 more
  168. 1100 BCEThe tribe of Dan lost the coastal land the lot gave it, stole a household's gods and priest, and burned the town of Laish to take a new inheritancesefaria.org and 5 more
  169. 950 BCEThe Kebra Nagast says Menelik I, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, took the Ark to Aksum and that only his male line may rule EthiopiaInternet Archive and 8 more
  170. 1147 BCEAn Egyptian papyrus says the gods argued for 80 years over whether the dead king Osiris's throne went to his son Horus or his brother Sethriull.ull.es and 3 more
  171. 615The Koran says a servant of God holed a poor family's ship and rebuilt a stranger's wall for free, to save the ship from a king and two orphans' treasure from a townquran.com and 4 more
  172. 220The Talmud says a dying man left everything to his one true son out of ten, and a rabbi found him by telling the sons to beat their father's gravesefaria.org and 2 more
  173. 70The Talmud says Kalba Savua disinherited his daughter for marrying the shepherd Akiva, then gave him half his fortunesefaria.org and 3 more
  174. 750 BCEGenesis says Jacob bought Esau's birthright for a bowl of stew and took his blind father's blessing in disguisemechon-mamre.org and 5 more
  175. 750 BCEGenesis says the dying Jacob took the firstborn's double share from Reuben and gave it to Joseph's sons, putting the younger firstmechon-mamre.org and 4 more
  176. 860 BCEKings says Naboth refused to sell King Ahab "the inheritance of my fathers," and Queen Jezebel had him and his sons killed for itmechon-mamre.org and 2 more
  177. 970 BCEKings says Solomon's mother and the prophet Nathan had the dying David name Solomon over his elder brother Adonijah, who was later executedmechon-mamre.org and 2 more
  178. 1400 BCEGenesis says Rachel stole her father's household gods as Jacob fled, and Jacob unknowingly swore death on the thiefmechon-mamre.org and 4 more
  179. 1400 BCEThe Book of Joshua says Achan hid silver and gold from Jericho in his tent, and Israel stoned him in the Valley of Achor with his sons and daughters presentbiblegateway.com and 2 more
  180. 1750 BCEGenesis says Sarah demanded that Hagar's son "shall not be heir with my son," and Abraham sent mother and child into the desertavalon.law.yale.edu and 3 more
  181. 1750 BCEGenesis says the Philistines filled Abraham's wells with earth after he died, and Isaac dug them out and gave them back his father's namesbiblegateway.com and 2 more