Sennacherib named his younger son Esarhaddon heir; his elder sons killed him, and Esarhaddon then bound the empire by oath to his own chosen heir

Esarhaddon's own inscription says he was the youngest of his older brothers. His father Sennacherib questioned the gods by divination, named him "the son who will succeed me" before the assembled brothers, and made the people of Assyria swear oaths to protect his succession. Esarhaddon says his brothers then spread slander, turned his father against him, and the gods hid him "in a secret place." His brothers "butted each other like kids" in Nineveh for the kingship. The Bible, 2 Kings 19:37, says two of Sennacherib's sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, struck him with the sword while he worshipped and fled to Ararat. Esarhaddon says he marched in the winter cold without waiting for his army, the rebels' troops came over to him, and the rebels fled. He entered Nineveh and sat on his father's throne. He says he hunted down the soldiers who had backed his brothers and "exterminated their offspring." In 672 BC Esarhaddon imposed a succession treaty naming his son Ashurbanipal crown prince; one copy, dated to the second month of 672 BC, was found at Tell Tayinat in Turkey. After he died, his mother Zakutu made the royal family, including Ashurbanipal's brother Shamash-shum-ukin, swear loyalty to "her favourite grandson." Ashurbanipal later made Babylonian allies swear to report any message from Shamash-shum-ukin, who was then fighting him.