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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>Qarqar (853 BCE) - Livius</title>  <meta name="HandheldFriendly" content="True"> <meta name="MobileOptimized" content="320"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">  <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="https://www.livius.org/apple-touch-icon.png"> <link href="https://www.livius.org/favicon.ico" rel="icon" type="image/x-icon">  <meta name="description" content=""> <link href='https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=PT+Sans:400,400italic,700,700italic&subset=latin,latin-ext' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'> <link href='https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=PT+Serif:400,400italic,700,700italic&subset=latin,latin-ext' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/site/templates/styles/main.css" />    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://openlayers.org/en/v4.6.5/css/ol.css" type="text/css"> <script src="https://openlayers.org/en/v4.6.5/build/ol.js"></script> <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js" ></script> <script src="https://vici.org/js/vici-2.latest.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/site/templates/scripts/main.js"></script> </head> <body class="article">  <header id="header"> <div id="masthead" class="clearfix"> <div id="logo"><p><a href="https://www.livius.org/">Livius.org</a></p></div> <div id="slogan"><p>Articles on ancient history</p></div> <div id="search"> <form id="search-form" class="clearfix" action="/search/" method="GET"> <input type="text" name="q" value="" placeholder="Search..."> </form> </div> </div> </header>  <section id="main" class="clearfix">  <aside id="sidebar_left"> <div class="advert"><a href="http://www.livius.nl/"><img src="/site/assets/files/1211/logo.jpg" alt="Livius Onderwijs"></a></div><div class="advert"><a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/home.html"><img src="/site/assets/files/1228/wolfie.jpg" alt="LacusCurtius"></a></div><div class="advert"><a href="https://vici.org/"><img src="/site/assets/files/1210/vici_org-logo.png" alt="vici.org"></a></div>  </aside>  <article id="content">  <header> <h1>Qarqar (853 BCE)</h1> <a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q849474" target="_blank" title="Wikidata ID" id="wikidata">Q849474</a> </header> <div id="antescript"><p><strong>Battle of Qarqar:</strong> one of the fights during the <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/place/assyria/">Assyrian</a> king 艩almaneser III's campaign against the city states of Syria. The main source is the Kurkh Stela, which has become famous because it mentions king Ahab of <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/people/israel/">Israel</a>.</p></div><div id="map"></div><h3 id="Prelude">Prelude</h3> <figure class="align_right"><img alt="艩almaneser III, statue from A拧拧ur" src="/site/assets/files/8731/assur_shalmaneser_iii_iam2.200x0-is-pid8732.jpg" width="200" /> <figcaption>艩almaneser III, statue from A拧拧ur</figcaption> </figure> <p>The <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/place/assyria/ ">Assyrian</a> king 艩almaneser III was a remarkable warrior, who often fought against the city states in the west. In 857, he reached the <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/place/amanus-mountains/ ">Amanus Mountains</a> and the Mediterranean shores, and in the next year, he settled Assyrians in this land. Far from stabilizing the region, it led to an escalation. The remaining city states and kingdoms in the west united in a defensive alliance, and seem to have tried to create dissension within the Assyrian realms. We are not certain about this, but the Kurkh Stela, our main source for 艩almaneser's western campaigns, refers to a rebel named Giammu in the valley of the river Balik. However this may be, 艩almaneser sought a decisive battle to show who was the boss.</p> <p>He departed from <a href="/articles/place/nineveh-mosul/">Nineveh</a> after the full month of the month <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/calendar-babylonian/ #Ajaru">Ajaru</a> had been observed, as was customary, in the year in which Dayan-A拧拧ur was <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/limmu/ ">limmu</a>; comparison to the <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/limmu/limmu-list-858-699-bce/ ">Assyrian Eponym List</a> helps to establish that this was the spring of 853. The army marched to the west and encountered the first resistance in the valley of the river Balik, where Giammu had seized power. At <a href="/articles/place/karchemish/">Karchemish</a>, which was by now called Kar-艩almaneser, the Assyrian army crossed the <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/place/euphrates/ ">Euphrates</a>. At Pitru, the king received envoys from <a href="/articles/place/melitene-arslantepe/">Melidu</a> (Melitene), Gurgum, Kummuhi (Commagene), Karchemi拧, and Arpad, who stressed their loyalty. More importantly, there were also representatives of the recently conquered territories in the west, Sam'al and Pattina.</p> <p>Proceeding to the west, the Assyrian army reached Halman, or Aleppo, as we know it. The town belonged to Sam'al, which had already surrendered, but 艩almaneser presents its surrender as something special. He climbed to the citadel, sacrificed to Hadad, and proceeded to the southwest, where he invaded Hamath: the first kingdom of the anti-Assyrian coalition. Pillaging the land, the Assyrians tried to force their enemies to battle.</p> <blockquote> <p>I approached the cities of [king] Irhuleni, the Hamathite. I captured Adennu, Parga, and Argana, his royal cities. I carried off captives, his valuables, and his palace possessions. I set fire to his palaces.</p> </blockquote> <p>The army continued to the Qarqar, a town on the plain of the <a href="/articles/place/orontes/">Orontes</a>. If Hamath had been the aim of 艩almaneser's invasion, this is illogical, and we may assume that the king had another reason to go in this direction: because he knew that the army of his enemies was - or would be arriving - here. This makes sense. One of the newly conquered territories, Pattina, was on the lower Orontes, and it would be logical for the coalition to try to liberate this state: after all, the inhabitants had fresh memories of Assyrian conquest, and might easily support the allies. If this was indeed the operational aim of the coalition, it is logical to find them in the valley of the Orontes.</p> <h3 id="The coalition">The coalition</h3> <p>In the Kurkh stela, 艩almaneser enumerates his opponents:</p> <blockquote> <p>I razed, destroyed, and burned the city of Qarqar, the royal city.</p> <ul> <li>1,200 chariots, 1,200 cavalry, and 20,000 troops of Hadad-Ezer ("Arad-idri") of <a href="/articles/place/damascus/">Damascus</a>;</li> <li>700 chariots, 700 cavalry, and 10,000 troops of Irhuleni, the Hamathite;</li> <li>2,000 chariots and 10,000 troops of Ahab, the <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/people/israel/ ">Israelite</a>;</li> <li>500 troops of <a href="/articles/place/byblos/">Byblos</a>;</li> <li>1,000 troops of Sumur;</li> <li>10 chariots and 10,000 troops of the land of Irqanatu;</li> <li>200 troops of Matinu-Ba'al of the city of Arvad;</li> <li>200 troops of the land of Usanat;</li> <li>30 chariots of Adon-Ba'al of the land of 艩ianu;</li> <li>1,000 dromedaries of Gindibu of <a href="/articles/people/arabs/">Arabia</a>;</li> <li>... hundred troops of Ba'asa of Bit-Ruhubi, the <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/place/ammon-kingdom/ ">Ammonite</a>;</li> </ul> <p>These twelve kings he took as allies. They marched against me to do war and battle.</p> </blockquote> <p>These lines are not unproblematic, if only because only eleven divisions are named. A possible solution is to assume that the final item is in fact a reference to two states: Ba'asa may have been king of Ammon and Beth-Rehob, although these two territories were separated by Damascus. Another solution is to assume that Qarqar, which had already been destroyed and could no longer fight, was the twelfth member of the league. However, it probably was not an independent state (the <a href="/pictures/a/assyrian-art/antakya-stela/">Antakya Stela</a> proves that Hamath controlled large parts of the Orontes valley). The most likely solution is that the number twelve is just symbolic.</p> <h3 id="Battle">Battle</h3> <figure class="align_right"><a href='/pictures/international/orontes/the-orontes-plain/'><img alt="The plain of the Orontes, seen from the Bargylus Mountains; the battlefield is in the distance." src="/site/assets/files/8622/orontes_plain_from_road_to_jablah.300x0-is-pid8732.jpg" width="300" /></a> <figcaption>The plain of the Orontes, seen from the Bargylus Mountains; the battlefield is in the distance.</figcaption> </figure> <p>艩almaneser describes the fight in highly stereotypical phrases:</p> <blockquote> <p>With the supreme forces which <a href="/articles/religion/assur-deity/">A拧拧ur</a>, my lord, had given me and with the mighty weapons which the divine standard, which goes before me, had granted me, I fought with them. I decisively defeated them from the city of Qarqar to the city of Gilzau. I felt with the sword 14,000 troops, their fighting men. Like Adad, I rained down upon them a devastating flood. I spread out their corpses and I filled the plain. I felled with the sword their extensive troops. I made their blood flow in the wadis. The field was too small for laying flat their bodies; the broad countryside had been consumed in burying them. I blocked the Orontes river with their corpses as with a causeway. In the midst of the battle I took away from them chariots, cavalry, and teams of horses.</p> </blockquote> <p>At this point, the account on the Kurkh Stela breaks off. This, and the great number of spelling errors, suggest that the stela had to be erected quickly. It had to be made clear to anyone who might have thought otherwise, that the king had achieved a splendid victory.</p> <h3 id="Aftermath">Aftermath</h3> <p>Reality may have been different. It seems that the battle of Qarqar had not been decisive, because we read about continuous warfare. Ten years later, 艩almaneser for the third time ordered the composition of his <span style="font-style:italic;">Annals </span>("Recension C"). The story of the campaign of 853 is summarized - the number of killed enemies is now 25,000 men - and we learn that the king boarded ships and went out upon the sea. But we also read that in 849, 艩almaneser had to fight against Karchemi拧 and Arpad, which had been loyal in 853, and against the coalition. Next year, the Assyrians again had to fight against Karchemi拧, Arpad, and Hamath; a third battle against the coalition forces ended in the inevitable Assyrian victory. Whatever the nature of Assyria's victories, the fact that he king needed to return proves that Qarqar, whoever may have been the tactical victor, had been a strategic victory for the coalition, which was able to expand its power to Karchemi拧 and Arpad.</p> <figure class="align_right"><a href='/pictures/iraq/nimrud-kalhu/nimrud-museum-pieces/nimrud-black-obelisk-of-salmaneser-iii-jehu/'><img alt="Jehu of Israel pays tribute to the Assyrian king 艩almaneser III" src="/site/assets/files/3063/jehu.400x0-is-pid8732.jpg" width="400" /></a> <figcaption>Jehu of Israel pays tribute to the Assyrian king 艩almaneser III</figcaption> </figure> <p>Recension C ends with another battle, in 845. This time, the coalition received no support from Arpad and Karchemi拧, and it seems that this time, victory was decisive: the two states never returned to the coalition. "Recension D" of 艩almaneser's <span style="font-style:italic;">Annals</span>, which is inscribed on two monumental bulls found in <a href="/articles/place/kalhu-nimrud/">Kalhu</a> (Nimrud), refers to another campaign, <a href="https://www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/280-tyres-tribute-to-salmaneser-iii/ ">in 841</a>. This time, the Assyrians seem to have met an isolated king Hazael of Damascus, because the coalition is not mentioned. They defeated him in battle, marched to Damascus, pillaged the land, and received tribute from <a href="/articles/place/sidon/">Sidon</a>, <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/place/tyre/ ">Tyre</a>, and Israel. This was repeated three years later, although this time, the tribute bearers were Sidon, Tyre, and Byblos. The coalition had been broken, and Assyrian power in Syria was to last for two centuries.</p> <p>Qarqar had not been decisive, but in retrospect, it had been the beginning of the end for independent Syria. In 833, 艩almaneser ordered his statue to be erected near one of the gates of A拧拧ur. The inscription records operations in all parts of the known world, but from the western front, it mentions two campaigns only: Qarqar and the first attack on Damascus.</p> <footer> <p id="modified">This page was created in 2009; last modified on 10 August 2020.</p> <nav id="breadcrumbs"><p><a href="/">Home</a> » <a href="/articles/">Articles</a> » <a href="/articles/battle/">Battle</a> » Qarqar (853 BCE)</p></nav> </footer> </article>  <aside id="sidebar_right"> <div id="toc"><h4>On this page</h4><ul><li><a href="#Prelude">Prelude</a></li><li><a href="#The coalition">The coalition</a></li><li><a href="#Battle">Battle</a></li><li><a href="#Aftermath">Aftermath</a></li><ul></div><h4>Author</h4><ul><li><a href="/contributor/jona-lendering/">Jona Lendering</a><li></ul><h4 id="countries">Country</h4><ul><li><a class="country" href="/country/syria/">Syria</a></li></ul><h4 id="categories">Categories</h4><ul><li><a class="category" href="/category/assyria/">Assyria</a></li><li><a class="category" href="/category/levant/">Levant</a></li><li><a class="category" href="/category/judaism/">Judaism</a></li></ul><h4 id="subdisciplines">Subdisciplines</h4><ul><li><a class="subdiscipline" href="/subdisciplines/biblical-studies/">Biblical studies</a></li><li><a class="subdiscipline" href="/subdisciplines/history/">History</a></li><li><a class="subdiscipline" href="/subdisciplines/oriental-studies/">Oriental studies</a></li></ul>  <div id="donate"> <a class="donate" href="/donate/">Donate to support Livius</a> </div> <p><p>  <div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style"> <a class="addthis_button_facebook_like" fb:like:layout="button_count"></a> <a class="addthis_button_tweet"></a> <a class="addthis_button_pinterest_pinit" pi:pinit:layout="horizontal"></a> </div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=xa-52ecf7d46dc9088c"></script>  </aside> </section>  <footer id="footer"> <div id="menu_bottom"> <nav> <p id="menu"><span class="menu-item"><a href="/about/">About</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/pictures/">Pictures</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/sources/">Sources</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/country/">Countries</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/language/">Languages</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/category/">Categories</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/tag/">Tags</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/thanks/">Thanks</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/faq/">FAQ</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/donate/">Donate</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/contact/">Contact</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/articles/">Articles</a></span> <span class="menu-item"><a href="/stubs/">Stubs</a></span> </p> </nav> </div> <p>All content copyright © 1995–2025 <a href="/">Livius.org</a>. 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