Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon, 681-669 BCE

Between 681 and 669 BCE, Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib, launched a campaign against 22 kings in the area of Syria, Palestine and Cyprus. Although the Hittite Empire had disappeared long ago, Assryian and Babylonian documents, as well as the Bible, still referred to these lands as Hittite lands.

“I called out the kings of the Hatti-land and the Trans-Euphrates area; Ba’al, king of Tyre, Manasseh, king of Judah, Qaushgabri, king of Edom, Musuri, King of Moab, Sil-Bel, king of Gaza, Metinti, king of Ashkelon, Ikausu, king of Ekron, Milki-ashapa, king of Gebal, Matan-ba’al, king of Arvad, Abi-ba’al, king of Samsimuruna, Pudu-il, king of Beth-Ammon, Ahi-milki, king of Ashdod – 12 kings of the sea coast. Ekishtura, king of Edi’il (Idalion), Pilagura, king of Kitrusi (Chytrus), Kisu, king of Sillu’a (Soli), Ituandar, king of Pappa (Paphos), Erisu, king of Silli, Damasu, king of Kuri (Curium), Atmesu, king of Tamesi, Damusi, king of Qartihadasti, Unasagusu, king of Ledir (Ledra), Bosusu, king of Nuria – 10 kings of Iadnana (Cyprus), an island; – a total of 22 kings of the Hatti-land, the seashore and the island. I sent all of these to drag with pain and difficulty to Nineveh, the city of my dominion, as supplies needed for my palace, big beams, long posts and trimmed planks of cedar and cypress wood, products of the Sirara and Lebanon mountains, where for long they had grown tall and thick; also from their place of origin in the mountains the forms of winged bulls and colossi made of ashnan-stone, of breccia both large and fine grained, of yellow limestone, of pyrites.”