From CojsWiki
First mention of Israel in the records of the Assyrian Empire
I set out from Aleppo and approached the cities of Irhuleni of Hamath. I captured the cities
Adennu, Parga (and) Argana, his royal cities; I took his booty, his property, the possessions in
his palaces, and set fire to his palaces. I set out from Argana and approached Qarqarr. Qarqar,
his royal city, I demolished, tore down and burned. He took as his allies these twelve kings...
2,000 chariots, 10,000 soldiers of Ahab of Israel...
Date: 853 BCE
Current Location: British Museum, London, England (BM 118884)
Language and Script: Assyrian?; cuneiform
Biblical Verses: Reference to this story is absent from the Bible.
General Information:
• In 853 BCE Shalmaneser III fought a coalition of Aramean states at Qarqar along the Orontes River, of which the most detailed account is on this stele. It is written in Assyrian, the ancient Semitic language of Mesopotamia and which by that time had become the official scribal language. Since it describes Shalmaneser III’s military exploits during the first six years of his reign, culminating with the Battle of Qarqar and omits the following campaigns, it likely was erected sometime in 853–852 BCE. Of the twelve members of the coalition, the most important were Irhuleni of Hamath, Ahab of Israel, and Adad-idri of Damascus, or the Bible’s (2 Samuel 8:3) Hadadezer, as his name would have been pronounced in his native Aramaic.
• The stele describes Shalmaneser’s decisive victory over the Aramean coalition, led by Irhuleni. One would assume that for propagandistic purposes, the extent of this victory was probably exaggerated, as was common practice. From our vantage point, we know that ancient military texts contain such exaggerations since we often find conflicting accounts of the outcomes of battles (see for instance the Mesha Stele inscription versus the Biblical account). In this case, it seems clear that the claims of total victory are overstated because we know that Shalmaneser faced this coalition several more times over the next few years.
• The text reads as follows:
In the eponymy of Dayan-Ashur, on the fourteenth of Adar, I set out from Nineveh and I crossed the Tigris River. I approached the cities of Giammu that were on the Balih River. They (his subjects) were afraid of my awe-inspiring lordship and the splendor of my fierce weapons, and with their own weapons, they killed Giammu, their lord. I entered the cities Sahlala and Til-sha-Tirahi and brought (the images of) my gods into his palaces; I celebrated the tašiltu-festival in his palaces. I opened his storehouses and beheld his treasures. I plundered his possessions and carried them off to Ashur, my city.
I set out from Sahlala and approached Kar-Shalmaneser. I crossed the Euphrates River at its flood for the second time on rafts of goatskins. In the city Ana-Ashur-utir-asbat that is on the other side of the Euphrates on the Sagur River—that the Hittites (i.e., north Syrians) call Pitru—(there) I received the tribute of the kings of the other side of the Euphrates: Sangar of Carchemish, Kundashpi of Kummuh, Arame son of Gusi, Lalli of Melid, Haiani son of Gabari, Kalparuda of Pattin, Kalparuda of Gurgum, silver, gold, tin, copper, copper bowls. I set out from the Euphrates and approached Aleppo. They (the people of Aleppo) were afraid to do battle and so grasped my feet. I received silver and gold as their tribute and offered sacrifices to the god Adad of Aleppo.
I set out from Aleppo and approached the cities of Irhuleni of Hamath. I captured Adenni, Barga (and) Argana, his royal city and carried off his spoil, his possessions, and the contents of his palaces. I set fire to his palaces. I set out from Argana and approached Qarqar. Qarqar, his (text: my) royal city, I destroyed and wasted and set afire.
1,200 chariots, 1,200 horsemen, 20,000 foot soldiers of Adad-idri of Damascus
700 chariots, 700 horsemen, 10,000 foot soldiers of Irhuleni of Hamath
200 (?) (text: 2,000) chariots, 10,000 foot soldiers of Ahab the Israelite
500 foot soldiers of Byblus (text: Gua)
1,000 foot soldiers of Egypt
10 chariots, 1,000 (?) (text: 10,000) foot soldiers of Irqata (text: Irqanata)
200 foot soldiers of Matinu-baal of Arvad
200 foot soldiers of Usanata
30 chariots, [ ]000 foot soldiers of Adunu-baal of Siana (text: Sizana)
1,000 camels of Gindibu of the Arabs
[ ]000 foot soldiers of Baasha son of Rehob from Mount Amana
—these twelve kings came to his aid. They set out against me to do battle. I fought with them with the exalted strength that the god Ashur my lord gave me, and the mighty weapons that the god Nergal, who goes ahead of me, granted me. I defeated them from Qarqar to Gilzau (or: Dilziau). I struck down 14,000 of their warriors with the sword. Like the god Adad, I rained down upon them a flood. I scattered their corpses and filled the steppe with his vast army. With my [507] weapon I let their blood flow into [ ]. The plain was too small to hold (all) the bodies and the broad field was insufficient for their burial. On the corpses, like a bridge, I reached the Orontes River. In that battle, I took from them their chariots, their stallions, and their horses broken to the yoke.
(Translated by Mordechai Cogan. Anchor Bible. p.505-507.)
Relevance to Ancient Israel: According to the Kurkh Stele, the Aramean coalition was supported by King Ahab of Israel, who provided 2,000 chariots and 10,000 troops. (Some historians, though, have suggested that the number of Israel's forces was mistakenly recorded or deliberately multiplied.) From Ahab’s presence as one of the leaders of the Syrian coalition, we get a glimpse of the political power of the kingdom of Israel amongst the chiefdoms of Syro-Palestine. This accords well with the biblical picture of Ahab as an international force, in keeping with his marriage to Jezebel, a Tyrian princess, which created something like a treaty between the two chiefdoms, and his territorial expansion across the Jordan River into Moab.
Circumstances of Discovery and Acquisition: The stele was discovered in Kurkh, located in southeastern Turkey, by J.E. Taylor in 1861.
