The Head That Wears the Crown

Seven hundred years before Christ was born the Assyrian king Sennacherib presided over the greatest empire that had ever been. In this story of Naqia his favourite wife we are caught up in the turbulent sweep of history the treachery and the valour and the ordinary lives of those who were connected with her. From the humblest hut to the glorious palaces we enter a world both foreign in its culture and familiar in its humanity. Through it all Naqia grows in confidence. Starting as a mere chattel before being pledged to the goddess Ishtar she later becomes the most powerful woman of her time.