The
plundering expeditions of the Assyrians.
There are
some messages of Assur-bel-ka and Adad-nirari II, but they used almost the same
texts as Tiglat-pileser I did. They go on ships of Arwad, they kill a ‘nahiru’
on the sea and they mention the town of Araziki
in the land of Hatti . One gets suspicious. Probably
they only copied the text of Tiglat-pileser I, but they never reached the
Mediterranean coast.
The first
serious plundering expedition after Tiglat-pileser I comes from Assurnasirpal
II (883-859 BC). In 876 BC he reports (ARA 479):
“At that time I marched along the side of Mount
Lebanon and to the Great Sea of the land
of Amurru I went up. In
the Great Sea I washed my weapons and I made
offerings unto the gods. The tribute of the kings of the seacoast, of the
people of Tyre, Sidon, Gebail, Mahalata, Maisa, Kaisa, Amurru and Arwad, which
lies in the midst of the sea…………..”
Notice that
Assurnasirpal does not speak of conquering or looting Phoenician towns. He just
collected the tributes and took logs of wood from the forests of the Lebanon and the
Amanus. All the big Phoenician towns pay their tribute and that was all the
damage.
The
successor of Assurnasirpal is Salmanassar III (859-824 BC) and he intensified
the plundering in a more systematic way. In his first years he is active in
Que, Sam’al, Amanus etc, etc. That is north of Arwad. Again the Phoenician
towns pay their tributes, but Arwad is not mentioned. Salmanassar acts very
violently. He conquers towns and plunders countries. He is very proud of the
amount of people his army has killed.
In 854 BC
things are getting all the more serious for the southern states on the Levant , but they have prepared themselves. A big
coalition has been made and the combined army of Israel , Hamath, Damas and others
formed a power of at least 60.000 men. Even some Phoenician towns participated,
under which was Arwad.
It happens
that the main battle is fought at Qarqar on the Orontes
(Arantu). ARA 611:
“Qarqar, his royal city, I destroyed, I
devastated, I burned with fire. 1200 chariots, 1200 cavalry, 20.000 soldiers of
Hadad-eser of Aram; 700 chariots, 700 cavalry, 10.000 soldiers of IrhulĂȘni of
Hamath; 2000 chariots, 10.000 soldiers of Ahab the Israelite; 500 soldiers of
the Gueans; 1000 soldiers of the Musreans; 10 chariots, 10.000 soldiers of the
Irkanateans; 200 soldiers of Matinu-ba’il the Arwadite; 200 soldiers of the
Usanateans; 30 chariots, [---]000 soldiers of Adunu-ba’il the Shianean; 1000
camels of Gindubu, the Arabian, [---]000 soldiers of Ba’sa, son of Ruhubi, the
Ammonite, these 12 kings he brought to his support: to offer battle and fight,
he came against me. (Trusting) in the exalted might which Assur, the lord, had
given (me), in the mighty weapons, which Nergal, who goes before me, had
presented (to me), I battled with them. 14.000 of their warriors I slew with
the sword. Like Adad, I rained destruction upon them. I scattered their corpses
far and wide, (and) covered the space of the desolate plain with their
widespread armies………..”
Salmanassar
boasts of a victory, but why is there no collecting of tributes and why is the
city of Hamath not taken by Salmanassar? Only after 5-6 years he returns again
to this region. Very probably the battle was a draw with also heavy losses for
the Assyrians. The allied army withstood the Assyrians in the following years
many times. It was a unique period. Never again the several states and towns in
the Levant were so close in harmony against
the deadly danger of the east! It lasted until 842/841 BC. Then finally
Salamanassar was victorious, but he needed 120.000 men to achieve this. It
lasted to 838 BC when there was again the case of tributes. Although his
contribution was very low the Arwadian first known king Mattanbaal I
participated active in this occasional coalition. He should have been proud of
this.
ncfps
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