Sinharib

Sinharib or Sanharib, was according to the Hagiography of Mar Behnam, an Assyrian king who controlled Nineveh in the fourth century AD. Nineveh was at the time within the Asōristān province of the Sasanian Empire. Much like Julian the Apostate of the Roman Empire, Sanharib disliked Christianity and tried to persuade his son Behnam to reject Christianity. Although greatly influenced by the Persian Zoroastrian religion at first, he later became Christian. As there is no actual evidence beyond the legend of Mar Behnam that such a king ever existed, Assyriologist Karen Radner believes that Sanharib is simply a christianized version of the ancient Assyrian king Sennacherib (705–681 BC), cast in a role befitting the then Christian Assyrians so that he could still be revered.