The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia

by Theophilus G. Pinches

Although doubt is now expressed as to whether Ḫatarika, whither Shalmaneser III. marched in 772 b.c., the last year of his reign, be really Hadrach (Zech. ix. 1) or not (the consonants do not agree so well as they ought to do), in all probability it was a district not far from Damascus to which he went.

Aššur-dan, his successor, ascended the throne in the following year, and at once began warring in [pg 345] Babylonia and on the east. In 765 b.c. he marched to Ḫatarika. Signs of revolt seem at this time to have broken out in Assyria, probably on account of the pestilence with which the land was afflicted, and it must have been for this reason that no expedition was undertaken in the year 764 b.c. Next year the rising, which was evidently expected, took place in the city of Aššur, and there was an eclipse of the sun in the month Sivan, an important astronomical occurrence which has been identified with an eclipse which passed over Assyria on the 15th of June, 763 b.c., and was supposed by Mr. Bosanquet to be referred to in Amos viii. 9, “I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and will darken the earth in the clear day.”

To all appearance this eclipse, taken in conjunction with the presence of pestilence and rebellion, was regarded as an evil omen. This revolt lasted into the next year, and spread, in 761 b.c., into Arrapḫa, where it continued three years. In 759 the revolt reached Gozan, and there was a recrudescence of the plague. There is no reference to the stamping out of the revolt in Assyria, but it seems very probable that the king and his supporters were active to that end, as he was able to march in the year 758 b.c., to Gozan, after which there is the entry, “Peace in the land.” Two years were to all appearance occupied in reorganizing the country and providing against a repetition of such risings, unless it be that Aššur-dan was too ill to take the field, for according to the received chronology, he died in 755 b.c. when Aššur-nirari II. ascended the throne.

This new ruler is represented to have made two expeditions, one in the year of his accession, to Ḫatarika, and the other, in 754 b.c., to Arpad. What the additional statement, “Return from the city of Aššur,” really refers to, is exceedingly doubtful—perhaps troops had been stationed there during the [pg 346] whole period since the breaking out of the revolt there in 763 b.c.

For four years no expeditions were made, pointing to a continued ferment of discontent in Assyria. In 749 and 748 b.c., however, Aššur-nirari made expeditions to Namri, south-west of Media. It is significant, however, that the Canon has, for the next year (747 b.c.), the usual words (“In the land”) when no expedition took place, the reason probably being the unsettled state of the country. The entry for the next year is “Revolt in Calah,” which, as has already been seen, was one of the principal cities of the kingdom. After this is the usual division-line, indicating the end of a reign, followed by the words “(Eponymy of Nabû-bêl-uṣur, governor of) Arrapḫa. In the month Aaru (Iyyar), day 13, Tiglath-pileser sat upon the throne. In the month Tisritu (Tisri) he made an expedition to (the district) between the rivers.” This corresponds with 745 b.c.

Thus is ushered in, in the Eponym Canon, one of the most important reigns in Assyrian history. By what right Tiglath-pileser III. took the throne is not known. To all appearance, he was not in any way related to his predecessor, Aššur-nirari, and it is therefore supposed that he was one of the generals of that king, who, taking advantage of the rising in Aššur (of which he may, indeed, have been the instigator), made away with his sovereign, and set himself in his place. Further light, however, is needed upon this period, before anything can be said as to the circumstances attending Tiglath-pileser's accession to the throne.

Tiglath-pileser III. in His Chariot. British Museum, Nimroud Central Saloon.

Though all Tiglath-pileser's inscriptions are imperfect, and most of them very fragmentary, they nevertheless contain enough to show of what enormous value they are. Their incompleteness and the absence of dates consequent thereon is fortunately compensated somewhat by the fact that the Eponym Canon is perfect in the part which refers to this king, [pg 347] and that we are therefore able to locate with certainty all the events of his reign.

As the entry translated above shows, his first campaign was “between the rivers,” that is, to Babylonia, the land lying between the Tigris and the Euphrates. His object in leading his forces thither was to break the power of the Aramean tribes, with the Arabs and others who were in alliance with them. Going first south-east, he subjugated the Chaldean tribes, including the Pekodites; turning afterwards west, he went against the Arameans, capturing Sippar, Dûr-Kuri-galzu, and other Babylonian cities, and it is supposed that it was on this occasion that he assumed the title “king of Šumer and Akkad.” To all appearance, however, he was not recognized by the Babylonians themselves as king, Nabonassar being then on the throne. There is hardly any doubt, however, that Babylonia acknowledged Assyrian overlordship on this occasion, thus giving Tiglath-pileser some justification for assuming the title.