The Prophecy of the Substitute King

Esa hadon's court astrologers spent a lot of their time reassuring him. During the final years of his reign, he became obsessed with omens and prophecies. Because of dark omens seeming to gather around him, esarhadon undertook a number of times a bizarre ritual known as the substitute king. This involved the assyrian monarch going into hiding for a hundred days during which a commoner was found to take his place. He would spend those 100 days living in the palace, wearing his crown and royal clothes and eating his food. At the end of the hundred days, having absorbed whatever negative energy was out to get the king, the substitute was put to death