In the 6th year of my reign from Nineveh I set out .......... unto Qarqar I approached. Hadadidri of Damascus, Irhulina, the Hamathite, together with twelve kings of the sea-coast, trusted in their own power and came to make war and fight with me. With them I fought. 25,000 of their fighting men I destroyed with arms. Their chariots, their horses, their implements of war I took from them. They fled to save their lives. I embarked on a ship and went out to sea.
Four years later Shalmaneser records the subjugation of Carchemish, on the Euphrates (cf. Isa. 10:9; Jer. 46:2). His account of it is brief and runs thus:[502]
In the 10th year of my reign (850 B. C.), the river Euphrates I crossed for the eighth time. The cities of Sangar, the Carchemishite, I devastated, I destroyed I burned with fire. From the cities of Carchemish I departed and approached the cities of Arame.
The next year Shalmaneser again tried conclusions with the kings of the west. His longer account of this runs as follows:[503]
In the 11th year of my reign (849 B. C.) I set out from Nineveh. I crossed the river Euphrates at high water for the ninth time .......... At that time Hadadidri of Damascus, Irhulina the Hamathite, together with twelve kings of the sea-coast, trusted to their own power and to make war and battle with me they came. I fought with them, I accomplished their defeat. 10,000 of their fighting men I slew with arms. Their chariots, horsemen, and implements of war I took from them.
Shalmaneser’s third campaign against these kings is thus described:[504]
In the 14th year of my reign I mustered the broad land without number. I crossed the Euphrates at high water with 120,000 troops. At that time Hadadidri of Damascus and Irhulina, the Hamathite, together with twelve kings of the sea-coast, upper and lower, mustered their numerous armies without number and into my presence came. I fought with them, I accomplished their defeat. I brought away their chariots and horses, their implements of war I took from them; they fled to save their lives.
A fourth campaign another inscription describes thus:[505]
In the 18th year of my reign (842 B. C.), I crossed the river Euphrates for the sixteenth time. Hazael of Damascus (cf. 1 Kings 19:15, 17; 2 Kings 8) trusted to the great numbers of his forces and mustered his troops in large numbers. Saniru (i. e., Hermon, see Deut. 3:9), a mountain-peak at the side of Mount Lebanon, he made his fortress. I fought with him, I accomplished his defeat. 16,000 of his fighting men I slew with arms. 1,121 of his chariots, 470 of his horses with his camp I took from him. He fled to save his life. I pursued him and in Damascus, his capital city, shut him up. I cut down his parks. I marched to the mountains of Hauran. Cities innumerable I destroyed, devastated, I burned with fire; their untold spoil I took as plunder. To the mountain of Bilirasi,[506] a mountain at the head of the sea, I marched. My royal portrait in it I set up. At that time the tribute of the Tyrian, the Sidonian, and of Jehu, son of Omri, I received.
The tribute of Jehu of Israel, mentioned in the last line of this inscription, is pictured on Shalmaneser’s black obelisk; (see Figs. [295], [296]). Above its various panels is the following inscription:[507]