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Battle of Qarqar

 
Battle of Qarqar

 
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The Battle of Karkar (or Qarqar) was fought in 853 BC when the army of Assyria
Assyria

Assyria was a political state centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history....
, led by king Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III

Shalmaneser III was king of Assyria , and son of the previous ruler, Ashurnasirpal II.His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations of Mesopotamia and Syria, as well as Kizzuwadna and Urartu....
, encountered an allied army of 12 kings at Karkar led by Hadadezer
Hadadezer

Hadadezer ; also known as Adad-Idri and possibly the same as Bar-Hadad II ]]; Ben-Hadad II , was the king of Aram Damascus at the time of the battle of Qarqar against the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in 853 BCE....
 (also called Adad-idri and possibly the same as Ben Hadad) of Damascus
Aram Damascus

Aram Damascus was an Aramaean state around Damascus in Syria, from the late 12th century BCE to 734 BCE.Sources for this state come from texts that can be divided into three categories: Assyrian annals, Aramaean texts, and the Hebrew Bible....
 and King Ahab of Israel
Kingdom of Israel

The Kingdom of Israel was one of the successor states to the older United Monarchy . It existed roughly from the 930s BC until about the 720s BC....
. This battle is notable for having a larger number of combatants than any previous battle, and for being the first instance some peoples enter recorded history (such as the Arabs).






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The Battle of Karkar (or Qarqar) was fought in 853 BC when the army of Assyria
Assyria

Assyria was a political state centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history....
, led by king Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III

Shalmaneser III was king of Assyria , and son of the previous ruler, Ashurnasirpal II.His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations of Mesopotamia and Syria, as well as Kizzuwadna and Urartu....
, encountered an allied army of 12 kings at Karkar led by Hadadezer
Hadadezer

Hadadezer ; also known as Adad-Idri and possibly the same as Bar-Hadad II ]]; Ben-Hadad II , was the king of Aram Damascus at the time of the battle of Qarqar against the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in 853 BCE....
 (also called Adad-idri and possibly the same as Ben Hadad) of Damascus
Aram Damascus

Aram Damascus was an Aramaean state around Damascus in Syria, from the late 12th century BCE to 734 BCE.Sources for this state come from texts that can be divided into three categories: Assyrian annals, Aramaean texts, and the Hebrew Bible....
 and King Ahab of Israel
Kingdom of Israel

The Kingdom of Israel was one of the successor states to the older United Monarchy . It existed roughly from the 930s BC until about the 720s BC....
. This battle is notable for having a larger number of combatants than any previous battle, and for being the first instance some peoples enter recorded history (such as the Arabs). It is recorded on The Kurkh Monolith. The ancient town of Qarqar at which the battle took place has generally been identified with the modern archaeological site of Tell Qarqur
Tell Qarqur

Tell Qarqur is a major archaeological site located in the Orontes River Valley of western Syria. Situated in a rich alluvial plain known as the Ghab Basin, the double-mounded site lies near the modern Syrian town of Jisr Shugur and village of Qarqur....
.

According to an inscription later erected by Shalmaneser, he had started his annual campaign, leaving Nineveh
Nineveh

Nineveh , an "exceeding great city", as it is called in the Book of Jonah, lay on the eastern bank of the Tigris in ancient Assyria, across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, Iraq....
 on the 14th day of Aiaru. He crossed both the Tigris
Tigris

The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq....
 and Euphrates
Euphrates

The Euphrates is the western of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia which flows from Anatolia....
 without incident, receiving the submission and tribute of several cities along the way, including that of Aleppo
Aleppo

Aleppo is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate; the Governorate extends around the city for over 16,000 km? and has a population of 4,393,000, making it the largest Governorate in Syria by population....
. Once past Aleppo, he encountered his first resistance from troops of Iruleni, king of Hamath, whom he defeated; in retribution, he plundered both the palaces and the cities of Iruleni's kingdom. Continuing his march after having sacked Karkar, he encountered the allied forces near the Orontes River
Orontes River

The Orontes or ?A?i is a river of Lebanon, Syria and TurkeyIt was anciently the chief river of the Levant, also called Draco, Typhon and Axius....
.

The Contending Allied Forces


Shalmaneser's inscription describes the forces of his opponent Hadadezer in considerable detail as follows:

  1. King Hadadezer
    Hadadezer

    Hadadezer ; also known as Adad-Idri and possibly the same as Bar-Hadad II ]]; Ben-Hadad II , was the king of Aram Damascus at the time of the battle of Qarqar against the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in 853 BCE....
     himself commanded 1,200 chariots, 1,200 horsemen and 20,000 soldiers;
  2. King Irhuleni of Hamath commanded 700 chariots, 700 horsemen and 10,000 soldiers;
  3. King Ahab
    Ahab

    Ahab was Kingdom of Israel and the son and successor of Omri . William F. Albright dated his reign to 869 – 850 BC, while E. R. Thiele offered the dates 874 – 853 BC....
     of Israel
    Kingdom of Israel

    The Kingdom of Israel was one of the successor states to the older United Monarchy . It existed roughly from the 930s BC until about the 720s BC....
     sent 2,000 chariots and 10,000 soldiers;
  4. The land of KUR Gu-a-a (sometimes identified with Que - Cilicia
    Cilicia

    In antiquity, Cilicia now known as ?ukurova, was a commonly used name of the south coastal region of the Anatolian peninsula, and a political entity in Roman times....
    ) sent 500 soldiers;
  5. The land of KUR Mu-us-ra- (sometimes identified with Egypt
    Egypt

    Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
     but possibly somewhere near Que) sent 1,000 soldiers;
  6. The land of Irqanata (Tell Arqa) sent 10 chariots and 10,000 soldiers;
  7. The land of Arwad
    Arwad

    Arwad – formerly known as Arado , Arados , Arvad, Arpad, Arphad, and Antiochia in Pieria , also called Ruad Island – located in the Mediterranean Sea, is the only island in Syria....
     sent 200 soldiers;
  8. The land of Usannata (in the Jeble region of Lebanon) sent 200 soldiers;
  9. The land of Shianu (in the Jeble region) - figures lost
  10. King Gindibu
    Gindibu

    Gindibu was king of Damascus who led the Arab forces at the battle of Qarqar as they fought against Assyria. An Assyrian scribe recorded a description of the size of the Arab infantry, this record "is the first known reference to the Arabs as a distinct group." Little else is known of him or the Arabs of his time....
     of Arabia
    Arabian Peninsula

    The Arabian Peninsula , Arabia, Arabistan, and the Arabian subcontinent is a peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia. The area is an important part of the Middle East and plays a critically important geopolitics role because of its vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas....
     sent 1000 camel
    Camel

    Camels are even-toed ungulates within the genus Camelus. The dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump and is well known for its healthy low fat milk, and the Bactrian camel has two humps....
    -riders;
  11. King Ba'asa, son of Ruhubi
    Ruhubi

    Ruhubi was the father of Baasha ben Ruhubi, who was king of Ammon in the 850s BCE. Whether Ruhubi himself was king of Ammon is unclear, as no Ammonite inscriptions from his reign have been unearthed and he is not mentioned independently in any Assyrian sources....
    , of the land of Aman (anti-Lebanon) - numbers lost.


Battle


Shalmaneser boasts that his troops inflicted 14,000 casualties upon the allied army, capturing countless chariots and horses, and describes the damage he inflicted on his opponents in savage detail. However, the royal inscriptions from this period are notoriously unreliable and never directly acknowledge defeats, and sometimes claim victories won by ancestors or predecessors. If Shalmaneser had won a clear victory at Karkar, it did not immediately enable further Assyrian conquests in Syria. Assyrian records make it clear that he campaigned in the region several more times in the following decade, engaging Hadadezer six times, who was supported by Iruleni of Hamath at least twice. Shalmaneser's opponents held on to their thrones after this battle: though Ahab of Israel died shortly afterwards in an unrelated battle, Hadadezer was king of Damascus until at least 841 BC.