Battle of Qarqar

Background

In the ninth century BC, Assyria was extending its power west of the Euphrates River. From the beginning of his reign, Shalmaneser III (reigned c. 859–824 BC) launched annual campaigns into Syria and toward the Mediterranean coast. In response, the smaller western states formed a coalition army. These included Aram, centered on Damascus; Hamath; and the northern kingdom of Israel, then ruled by Ahab.

These states were ordinarily at odds with one another, but they appear to have joined forces in the face of a common threat. 1 Kings 20:34 records that Ahab made a treaty with Ben-hadad, king of Aram, and 1 Kings 22:1 states that there was no war between Aram and Israel for three years. Many scholars connect this period of truce with the anti-Assyrian coalition.

Course of the Battle

The battle took place in 853 BC, the sixth year of Shalmaneser III's reign. This date rests on the Assyrian eponym lists, records that named each year after a particular official. Because an eclipse recorded in 763 BC fixes the lists in absolute chronology, they are widely accepted by scholars. Qarqar was a town on the Orontes River in western Syria, within the territory of Hamath.

The battle is known chiefly from the Kurkh Monolith, erected by Shalmaneser III. Discovered in 1861 in what is today southeastern Turkey and now held in the British Museum, the inscription describes the enemy as "twelve kings" and lists the forces of each state. Its principal entries are as follows:

• Hadadezer, king of Damascus (Adad-idri in Assyrian records): 1,200 chariots, 1,200 cavalry, 20,000 infantry
• Irhuleni, king of Hamath: 700 chariots, 700 cavalry, 10,000 infantry
• Ahab, king of Israel: 2,000 chariots, 10,000 infantry
• Gindibu the Arabian: 1,000 camels

The inscription also mentions forces from several Phoenician cities and from "Musri," which many interpret as Egypt. Ahab's 2,000 chariots are the largest number in the coalition, and some scholars regard the figure as a scribal error or an exaggeration.

Outcome and Consequences

In the inscription, Shalmaneser III claimed a great victory, asserting that he killed 14,000 enemy soldiers. In later inscriptions, however, the number grows to more than 20,000. Moreover, he did not capture Damascus or Hamath after the battle, and he fought the same coalition again in 849, 848, and 845 BC. For these reasons many historians regard the battle as closer to a draw that temporarily halted Assyria's westward advance.

The coalition did not last long. According to 1 Kings 22, Ahab was killed fighting against Aram at Ramoth-gilead. When Shalmaneser III attacked Damascus again in 841 BC, Jehu, king of Israel, paid tribute to Assyria, a scene depicted on the Black Obelisk.

Assessment

The Bible does not mention the Battle of Qarqar directly. The Kurkh Monolith is regarded as one of the earliest extrabiblical records to name a king of Israel. It also serves as evidence that Israel in Ahab's time, treated only briefly in the books of Kings, was a state with considerable military strength. Conservative biblical scholars value the monolith as evidence supporting the historical reliability of Kings. Scholars employing historical-critical methods note that Kings evaluates Ahab primarily from a religious perspective and gives little attention to international affairs, and they use the monolith as a resource for examining the narrative purposes of the biblical account.

This battle (853 BC) and Jehu's tribute (841 BC) serve as anchor points for dating the kings of Israel. Between Ahab's death and Jehu's accession, Ahaziah (2 years) and Joram (12 years) reigned. When the lengths of these two reigns are calculated by the non-accession-year method, which counts the year of accession as the first year of the reign, they actually total 12 years, matching the interval between the two dates. The chronology that Edwin Thiele developed on the basis of this calculation is used in many Bible dictionaries and commentaries. Other views exist, however, on details of the chronology, such as whether Ahab died in 853 BC itself.