Esarhaddon : The situation for the Arabs at Esarhaddon's ascension to the Assyrian throne in 681 was that the gods of Dumah were kept in Asshur, probably in some temple. The queen and priestess of the Arabs, Telhunu, had been taken to Assyria as well. Before follow- ing the course of events we have to make a short survey of the sources from Esarhaddon's reign which are relevant for the Arabs.297 The earliest passage runs as follows in the Heidel-prism: Haza?il, the king of the KUR a-ri-bi, with costly gifts came to Nineveh, my lordly city, kissed my feet, (55) begging me to give his gods. I had mercy upon him, the damages on these gods I repaired; the might of Asshur, my god and my name I wrote on them and returned and gave them to him. (60) Tabua (Ta-

doi:10.4324/9781315029535-29

Chapter

The situation for the Arabs at Esarhaddon's ascension to the Assyrian throne in 681 was that the gods of Dumah were kept in Asshur, probably in some temple. The queen and priestess of the Arabs, Telhunu, had been taken to Assyria as well. Before follow- ing the course of events we have to make a short survey of the sources from Esarhaddon's reign which are relevant for the Arabs.297 The earliest passage runs as follows in the Heidel-prism: Haza?il, the king of the KUR a-ri-bi, with costly gifts came to Nineveh, my lordly city, kissed my feet, (55) begging me to give his gods. I had mercy upon him, the damages on these gods I repaired; the might of Asshur, my god and my name I wrote on them and returned and gave them to him. (60) Tabua (Ta-

ABSTRACT

Eph'al has pointed out the interesting parallel between this piece of information and what we know of later military operations in the area between Palestine and Egypt.30' We shall see that a similar arrangement was made by the Achaemenid king Cambyses when he conquered Egypt in 525 Bc.'02 We should note that this is the first time we hear about several kings of the Arabs, which might indicate some kind of alliance between several groups. It is not certain that all the Arabs were dwelling in the northern Sinai."3 But Idbi'lil settled there by Tiglath Pileser might well have been included.