ABSTRACT
After marching against Shubria on the uppermost part of the Tigris in his fth regnal year, Shalmaneser III crossed the Euphrates once more in his sixth regnal year (853 bce) to face an unprecedented situation in the Assyrian records (Yamada 2000: 143). e Assyrian king encountered a large Syro-Palestinian coalition led by Aram-Damascus, Hamath and Israel. at confrontation took place at Qarqar, identied with Tell Qarqūr on the east bank of the Orontes, about 7 km from Jisr esh-Shughūr to the north of Hamath (Yamada 2000: 154). e account of the Qarqar confrontation is presented as the rst real battle in Shalmaneser’s 853 campaign (Younger 2007: 251) and is narrated in many of Shalmaneser’s annals, of which the Kurkh Monolith is the most detailed (Table 8.1) (Yamada 2000: 143; Galil 2002: 42). Shalmaneser’s records, primarily the Kurkh Monolith, indicate that the alliance which faced Shalmaneser at Qarqar included most of the kingdoms of central, southern and western Syria-Palestine, which had escaped Shalmaneser’s earlier campaigns (Cogan 2008: 18). All Assyrian records agree that the alliance was under the leadership of Damascus and Hamath; and the Kurkh Monolith adds Israel as a third important member in the coalition.
