Mesopotamian Myths and History: Legends, Gods, and Heroes, #2

By Learn Alchemical

Among the numerous remarkable accomplishments of the current century, none is more extraordinary than the restoration and interpretation of the artifacts from ancient Nineveh. For generations, the colossal oppressive city lay dormant, entombed beneath the remnants of its decay, its history obscured, and its location forgotten. During the classical period of Greek and Roman literature, Ninos, or Nineveh, emerged as a legendary figure, inspiring peculiar myths and legendary triumphs that extended from the Mediterranean to India. Limited knowledge exists regarding the history of the formidable Assyrian Empire, primarily derived from the Old Testament; that knowledge is fraught with uncertainty and ambiguity. Scholars authored comprehensive treatises to reconcile the assertions of Greek historians with Scripture; however, their endeavors ultimately led to the formulation of theories that later writers refuted and dismantled. No one dared to propose that the history and existence of Assyria remained buried underground, ready to emerge and reveal their secrets at the touch of a wizard's wand.

The discerning wisdom elucidated and interpreted the discoveries made by the rod, which functioned as the spade. Individuals may have thought that Assyria's cuneiform inscriptions, characterized by their wedge-shaped form, would remain inscrutable. The language went unrecognized, and the significance of the numerous characters remained obscured. No bilingual text assisted the decipherer, akin to the Rosetta Stone, whose Greek inscription provided the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics. Nevertheless, we realized a significant achievement. We progressively interpreted the significance of the cuneiform symbols and the words they concealed, allowing us to translate a standard Assyrian text with the same ease and confidence as a passage from the Old Testament. The revelation that awaited the decipherer was exceedingly startling. The remnants of Nineveh produced not only stone sculptures and inscriptions but also an entire library of texts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LEARN ALCHEMICAL
• Release date: Dec 30, 2024
• ISBN: 9798230104971

Learn Alchemical

Learn Alchemical is a team of dedicated researchers, translators, and editors who share a deep passion for Norse mythology and the timeless stories it conveys. With expertise in history, linguistics, and cultural studies, we have worked meticulously to ensure these ancient narratives are accessible while preserving their original integrity. From precise translations and careful transliterations of ancient texts to rigorous research and thoughtful editing, every step reflects our devotion to this field. This work is not just a task but a shared mission to illuminate the myths and legends that continue to inspire and captivate minds around the world.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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Writing this book has been an incredible journey into the ancient world of Mesopotamia, and it would not have been possible without the support, encouragement, and guidance of many individuals and organizations. First and foremost, I extend my deepest gratitude to the scholars whose tireless research laid the foundation for this work.

The writings of Sumerologists, Assyriologists, and historians, including Samuel Noah Kramer, Stephanie Dalley, and the late E.A. Speiser, have been indispensable in understanding the complexities of this fascinating region and its myths. Your dedication to unearthing the truths of history inspires all who delve into the past.

A heartfelt thanks to the museums and archives that preserve Mesopotamia’s rich legacy. Institutions like the British Museum, the Louvre, and the Oriental Institute have been vital in granting access to ancient artifacts and cuneiform tablets. These treasures breathe life into the narratives of gods, kings, and civilizations that once flourished between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

1. INTRODUCTION

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Among the numerous remarkable accomplishments of the current century, none is more extraordinary than the restoration and interpretation of the artifacts from ancient Nineveh. For generations, the colossal oppressive city lay dormant, entombed beneath the remnants of its decay, its history obscured, and its location forgotten. During the classical period of Greek and Roman literature, Ninos, or Nineveh, emerged as a legendary figure, inspiring peculiar myths and legendary triumphs that extended from the Mediterranean to India. Limited knowledge exists regarding the history of the formidable Assyrian Empire, primarily derived from the Old Testament; that knowledge is fraught with uncertainty and ambiguity. Scholars authored comprehensive treatises to reconcile the assertions of Greek historians with Scripture; however, their endeavors ultimately led to the formulation of theories that later writers refuted and dismantled. No one dared to propose that the history and existence of Assyria remained buried underground, ready to emerge and reveal their secrets at the touch of a wizard's wand.

The discerning wisdom elucidated and interpreted the discoveries made by the rod, which functioned as the spade. Individuals may have thought that Assyria's cuneiform inscriptions, characterized by their wedge-shaped form, would remain inscrutable. The language went unrecognized, and the significance of the numerous characters remained obscured. No bilingual text assisted the decipherer, akin to the Rosetta Stone, whose Greek inscription provided the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics. Nevertheless, we realized a significant achievement. We progressively interpreted the significance of the cuneiform symbols and the words they concealed, allowing us to translate a standard Assyrian text with the same ease and confidence as a passage from the Old Testament. The revelation that awaited the decipherer was exceedingly startling. The remnants of Nineveh produced not only stone sculptures and inscriptions but also an entire library of texts.

While the texts are written on clay instead of paper, they are still real books that cover all fields of knowledge known at the time they were put together and give a clear and accurate picture of Assyrian thought and belief. Examining Assyrian palaces' architectural plans and bas-reliefs reveals insights into their inner thoughts, emotions, and self-narrated history. Analyzing a clay tablet from the ancient Assyrian library for the first time is an exceptional experience. The calamity of that fateful day, when Nineveh's adversaries seized it and obliterated the palace and library, has rendered it largely in ruins. Regardless of whether it is a fragment or a complete tablet, we must treat it with reverence as we cleanse it of the dirt accumulated during its prolonged entombment and articulate its words for the first time in over 2,000 years. When the characters last perused it, Assyria was still a dread name, and the devastation foretold by God's prophets had yet to occur. When its final reader set it down, Judah had not yet experienced the punishment of the Babylonian exile; the Old Testament remained unfinished, and the kingdom of the Messiah was a distant promise. Isaiah, Hezekiah, and Ahaz, familiar figures from our biblical readings with our mothers, confront us directly. We can no longer perceive Tiglath-Pileser and Sennacherib as mere names.

We possess the documents they created outlining their campaigns in Palestine. The records are not reproductions of prior texts, devoid of the inaccuracies introduced by human fallibility in copyists and scribes. The monarchs who commissioned the creation of these original documents may have personally possessed them. The narrative of Sennacherib's incursion into Judah, purportedly articulated by him, connects the extensive temporal chasm between us and him. We can no longer perceive the heroes of the Old Testament as mere representations, with a voice emanating from a distant and illusory past narrating their tale. The voice, now animated, allows us to acknowledge that Isaiah and his peers were human, sharing the same passions, needs, and temptations as we do. Comprehending Old Testament history is one of the numerous results of the resurgence of Assyria through biblical scholarship. This result is significant, yet there are others of comparable importance. Assyrian discoveries provide an unforeseen validation of the accuracy of the Holy Writ. The Old Testament's subsequent history no longer exists in isolation. At one time, it served as the exclusive testament to the veracity of its accounts. No additional documents corroborated the assertions of the Old Testament; classical history or mythology encompassed different regions and epochs.

Everything has changed now.

The Earth has disclosed its secrets; the ancient civilization of Assyria has emerged, offering undeniably authentic records that align with the Books of Kings, thereby providing confirmation, elucidation, and illustration. At a time when skeptical criticism was at its peak, turning the Old Testament stories into myths or fables, God's Providence emerged from the depths of time to definitively prove their truth. Indeed, this was so clear that one of the arguments against the accuracy of early Assyrian decipherment was the idea that Assyrian kings could not have been busy with small kingdoms like Samaria and Judah, as the decipherers suggested. It was unforeseen that the interpretation of cuneiform monuments would illuminate Old Testament history significantly. This light is diverse. The language of the inscriptions has elucidated challenging passages in the Hebrew Bible. The relationship between Assyrian and Hebrew resembles that of two distinctly characterized English dialects. Assyrian exhibits a closer affinity to Hebrew than any other Semitic language, except Phoenician. Due to the library of Nineveh and its lexicons and lists of synonyms, we possess a more extensive literature and vocabulary for Assyrian than Hebrew.

The result is that Assyrians may occasionally clarify the meaning of a word that appears only once or infrequently in the Old Testament. The Assyrian texts show that the word z'bhûl, which Hebrew scholars had previously thought meant a dwelling, means a height. For example, in 1 Kings viii.13, Solomon doesn't tell God that he built a house to dwell in, as the Authorized Version says, but a lofty temple. To understand this, we must first figure out what the Assyrian terms Rab-shakeh and Tartan mean. The terms are not proper names but titles; the Rab-shakeh refers to 'the chief of the princes' or Vizier, while the Tartan denotes the commander-in-chief. We observe parallels between individual Assyrian words and Hebrew and analogous expressions that elucidate and clarify the Hebrew text. The phrase 'the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven' is well-known. An unpublished Akkadian hymn uses this identical expression to refer to an unnamed deity, presumably Rimmon the Air-god. The Akkadian original depicts him as 'raining fire and stones upon the enemy,' while the Assyrian translation alters it to 'raining stones and fire upon the foe,' aligning precisely with the Hebrew expression. The phrase the Lord of Hosts sounds a lot like the title of the Assyrian supreme god Assur, who was called lord of the legions of heaven and earth, which meant all the spirits and angels who lived in the heaven above and the earth below. It is difficult to read the stories of Creation, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel in what Mr. George Smith called the Chaldean Genesis because they sound so much like the stories in the Hebrew Book of Genesis.

Although located in the Library of Nineveh, these texts are reproductions of earlier Babylonian works and consequently pertain to Babylonian rather than Assyrian history. The account of Creation in six days may solely originate from Assyrian sources. The excerpts from the chapter on Assyrian Religion demonstrate a notable similarity to the initial chapter of Genesis. Assyrian research has illuminated Old Testament Scripture most comprehensively and robustly in historical context. One cannot examine the depiction of Assyrian history presented by the monuments in the subsequent pages without recognizing the significance of accurately interpreting the ancient Scriptures. Isaiah elucidates the prophecies concerning the capture of Jerusalem for the first time, addressing the skeptical critique that they forecast events that did not transpire. The parts of Isaiah's book that talk about the Assyrian army's march toward Jerusalem (ch. x.) are not an ideal description of an ideal campaign. The parts that talk about the troubles the people of the Jewish capital were going through (ch. xxii.) are not an exaggerated description of a possible disaster. The predictions that the holy city was about to fall to its enemies (x. 34, xxii. 14) were not just empty threats. Inscriptional evidence from Sargon indicates that a decade before his son Sennacherib's campaign, the Assyrian king had traversed 'the extensive territory of Judah' and rendered it a tributary province. When Isaiah announced that the Assyrian forces were at Nob, merely thirty minutes north of Jerusalem, he was not alluding to Sennacherib's army but to the more formidable veterans of Sargon advancing toward the sacred city via the northern route. The Assyrian monuments illuminate another prophecy of Isaiah, which predicts the devastation of Egypt (ch. xix.).

Critics occasionally assert that the prophecy originates from a period after the esteemed prophet; however, the records of Esarhaddon illustrate its exclusive relevance to his era. The unexpected discovery that the Assyrians ruled over Egypt and divided it into twenty vassal satrapies reveals the identity of the cruel lord and fierce king who ruled the Egyptians. It also shows a time when people were fighting with each other: everyone against his brother and everyone against his neighbor; city against city and kingdom against kingdom. The authorship of the burden of Egypt by Isaias can no longer be questioned. We can now approach Nahum with renewed interest and comprehension. We can approximately determine the long-contested date of his prophecy by referencing the sack of No-Amon, or Thebes. He proclaimed the prophecy sixty years before the demise of Nineveh amidst the Assyrian Empire's zenith of affluence and supremacy over the Eastern world. Human foresight could scarcely have anticipated the abrupt vanishing of such a formidable and dreadful force. Notwithstanding its ostensible strength and security, the Jewish prophet foretold what the excavations conducted by Botta and Layard have corroborated. As we navigate the remnants of Nineveh and examine the subsequent history of the abandoned site, we observe the realization of Nahum's prophecy in every aspect. None of the statements he made regarding the fated city have materialized.

Individuals seeking to understand how the monuments of Assyria magnificently exemplify and validate sacred history need only juxtapose their inscriptions with the accounts in the Books of Kings about the same era. One complements and provides the missing chapters supplied by the other. The Bible elucidates why Sennacherib spared Hezekiah and refrained from sending another army to Palestine; the cuneiform annals clarify the reasons for his assassination and the subsequent flight of his sons to Ararat or Armenia. The sole reference to Sargon in Scripture is no longer obscure; there is no longer a need to conflate him with Tiglath-Pileser, Shalmaneser, or any other Assyrian ruler with whom earlier commentators mistakenly associated him. We now recognize him as one of the most formidable Assyrian conquerors, supported by his own independent account of the siege and capture of Ashdod, which is the context for his mention in Scripture. The history of the monuments is in continual dialogue with that of the Bible, and the monuments' narrative harmonizes seamlessly with the Old Testament.

The Nation and its Inhabitants Assur was originally the designated city established in ancient times on the western bank of the Tigris, situated between the Greater and Lesser Zab rivers. The district derives its name from its primitive capital. The Semitic Assyrians subsequently replaced the original builders, communicating in an agglutinative language akin to contemporary Finns and Turks. In their language, the name probably signified 'water boundary.' During the occupation by the Semitic Assyrians, they modified the name to resemble a term that denoted 'gracious' in Assyrian. Assyrian mythology acknowledged a deity named Sar as the embodiment of the firmament. Over time, individuals conflated Sar's name with Assur, the divine patron of the Assyrian capital, resulting in Assur's dual significance as both a city and a nation, as well as the paramount deity venerated by its populace. Assur embodied the divine representation of Assyria's power and structure; concurrently, he was also 'the gracious' deity and the primordial expanse of heaven. Assur, now recognized as Kalah Sherghat, infrequently served as the capital of Assyria. Nineveh, Calah, and Dur-Sargon, a cluster of cities, were situated roughly 60 miles north, above the Greater Zab, on the eastern bank of the Tigris. The establishment of Nineveh, present-day Kouyunjik, likely dates back to a period as early as that of Assur; however, it evolved into a significant city, ultimately replacing the older capital of the kingdom. Assur-natsir-pal and Shalmaneser II constructed Calah, presently referred to as Nimrûd, approximately four centuries prior; however, it was not designated as the royal seat until the 9th century B.C.

Sargon subsequently established Dur-Sargon, as indicated by its modern name, Khorsabad. The Book of Genesis (x. 11) refers to Resen as between Nineveh and Calah rather than Dur-Sargon. The location of Resen remains unidentified; however, Assyrian inscriptions reference it as Res-eni, meaning 'the head of the spring.' Regrettably, the Genesis passage mentioning Resen allows for dual translations. If you follow the margin's interpretation and translate it as he went out into Assyria and built Nineveh, you could figure out that Nineveh and the towns nearby didn't exist before Babylonians moved there from other cities and pushed out the people who lived there before them. Nonetheless, cuneiform inscriptions indicate that the ascendance of Assyria transpired not solely during the decline of the Onceonian monarchy. Sir H. Rawlinson has presumably identified the region subsequently recognized as Assyria, also referred to as Gutium or Kurdistan, with the Goyyim or 'nations' cited in Genesis xiv, over which Tidal presided. It appears there was a period when the rulers of Assur were governors designated by the Babylonian kings; indeed, the earliest known rulers did not adopt the title of king but instead employed a term that denotes viceroy in the Chaldean inscriptions. These viceroys ultimately liberated themselves from their Babylonian overlords, and one of them, Bel-kapkapi, founded an independent kingdom in Assur during the 17th or 16th century BCE.

Undoubtedly, his kingdom encompassed the region north of the Greater Zab, the location of Nineveh, and stretched across both banks of the Tigris. Nonetheless, the exact boundaries of Assyria remained ambiguous. They fluctuated with the military strength and conquests of its sovereigns. At various points, Assyria included segments of the western Mesopotamian plateau, the region traversed by the Tigris River, the boundaries of Babylonia, and the Kurdish mountains. At times, the expansive cities of Assyria occupied a limited area. The inhabitants of Assyria were of Semitic origin, indicating a shared lineage and language with the Hebrews, Arameans, and Arabs. The older population faced either expulsion or annihilation. The Assyrians, therefore, were distinct from the Babylonians, who constituted a mixed ethnicity comprising both Semitic and non-Semitic elements. Typically, we identify the non-Semitic element as Akkadian; they spoke agglutinative dialects and were the first people to inhabit the Chaldean plain. The Akkadians developed the cuneiform writing system, established Babylonia's principal cities and civilization, and constructed the earliest known Babylonian monuments. They progressively yielded to the Semites, and only through assimilation with the indigenous populace and the adoption of Akkadian culture did they attain their ultimate triumph in Babylonia.

The Akkadian language persisted for an extended period, and upon its extinction, it was maintained as a scholarly language akin to Latin in contemporary times, which every educated Babylonian was anticipated to comprehend. Therefore, we expected the pure-blooded Semites of Assyria and the heterogeneous populace of Babylonia to exhibit numerous differences. The Babylonians were agriculturalists, appreciative of literature and tranquil activities. We have accurately characterized the Assyrians as the Eastern Romans, a martial society primarily focused on warfare and commerce. Like their culture and art, they appropriated their literature from Babylonia, which they never fully adopted. Despite the illustrious patronage of Assur-bani-pal, Assyrian literature remained exotic. Only a few individuals mastered it, while in Babylonia, most of the populace was literate. While the Assyrian was less opulent than his Babylonian counterpart, he was less compassionate. The Assyrian annals boast a record of brutality that leaves us astonished. Conversely, in contrast to the Babylonians, the Assyrians exhibited lesser superstition. Although they credited their achievements to Assur, they impaled or incinerated the residents of subjugated towns for their disbelief in the national deity.

Nahum proclaimed himself as the lion that 'did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey and his dens with ravin.' Assyria was entirely a military force, and the annihilation of Nineveh led to the Assyrian Empire's collapse and the Assyrian nation's eradication. The breach of the 'gates of the rivers' of Nineveh—the Tigris and Khusur—and the disintegration of the palace marked the end of Assyria. In the Sassanian period, a village briefly inhabited the mounds concealing the remnants of the ancient city, but these, too, disappeared over time, rendering the precise location of Nineveh unknown for centuries. In 1818, Rich hypothesized that the mounds of Kouyunjik, situated across from the contemporary town of Mosul, harbored its ruins beneath their surface. Nonetheless, it was only after the excavations undertaken by the Frenchman Botta in 1842 and the Englishman Layard in 1845 that the world first encountered the remnants of Dur-Sargon and, subsequently, Nineveh itself. We retrieved the capital of the Assyrian Empire, the sculpted monuments of its rulers, and the artifacts of its clay-inscribed library. The discovery occurred at a fortuitous time. European scholars have finally figured out what the cuneiform writings in Persia were trying to say. This cuneiform writing, which is different in style and language, led them to find other Assyrian records that had been lost. Gradually analyzing the records, recent expeditions to the subterranean cities of Assyria and Babylonia returned to Europe with novel discoveries, facilitating the elucidation of the history, daily existence, and ideologies of a civilization that, merely fifty years prior, was merely a name.

The history of Assyria commences with the patesis, or viceroys, of the city of Assur. We only know their names; contemporary records don't go into enormous detail. Syria has ceased to be a dependency of a foreign power and has emerged as an independent kingdom. In the 16th or 17th century BCE, Bel-kapkapi first assumed the title of king. For two to three centuries following its establishment, our knowledge of the monarchy was chiefly derived from the occasionally antagonistic and sometimes amicable interactions between his successors and Babylonia. Rimmon-nirari I, who reigned around 1320 B.C., has inscribed an account detailing the conflicts he engaged in against the Babylonians, Kurds, Aramæans, and the Shuites, nomadic tribes residing along the western bank of the Euphrates. The establishment of Calah is credited to Shalmaneser I, whose lineage maintained the throne for six generations until Tiglath-Pileser I arose as the founder of the first Assyrian Empire. He extended his dominion to Cilicia and Malatiyeh in the west and the wild tribes of Kurdistan in the east; he vanquished the Moschi or Meshech, defeated the Hittites and their Colchian allies, and established a monument commemorating his victories at the sources of the Tigris.

Assyrian troops occupied the Hittite city of Pethor, located at the confluence of the Euphrates and Sajur rivers, while the Assyrian king at Arvad demonstrated his dominion over the Mediterranean by boarding a ship and slaying a dolphin in the sea. In Nineveh, he founded a botanical garden, populated with the exotic trees he had retrieved from his campaigns. In 1130 B.C., he advanced into Babylonia, and after a brief defeat by the Babylonian king, he triumphed over his foes along the banks of the Lower Zab. He devastated Babylonia and seized Babylon itself. Following the demise of Tiglath-Pileser I, Assyrian history becomes somewhat obscure. When ineffectual rulers inherited the scepter, the empire forfeited its remote territories. During this hiatus, the kingdom of David and Solomon emerged in the west. The Assyrian dominance was not restored until the reign of Assur-dân II, whose progeny, Rimmon-nirari II (c. 911-889 BCE), and great-grandson, Assur-natsir-pal (c. 883-858 BCE), commanded their devastating forces across Western Asia, reinstating the fearsome reputation of Assyria among neighboring nations. Assur-natsir-pal was one of the most formidable and vigorous Assyrian kings. Impalements, pyramids of severed heads, and other unspeakably atrocious acts characterized his path.

However, his campaigns extended beyond those of Tiglath-Pileser. Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Kurdistan were repeatedly invaded; the Babylonians were compelled to negotiate peace; Sangara, the Hittite monarch of Carchemish, rendered tribute, and the affluent cities of Phœnicia contributed their offerings to the treasury of Nineveh. The Assyrian armies advanced as far as Nizir, where it was thought that the ark of the Chaldean Noah had come to rest on the summit of Rowandiz. Assyria adorned its cities with the spoils of foreign conquests, constructed magnificent palaces, and revitalized Calah, which had deteriorated. Assur-natsir-pal designated a library as his preferred domicile. His son Shalmaneser II, likely named after the original founder of Calah, succeeded him. Shalmaneser's military achievements surpassed those of his father, and his extensive thirty-five-year reign signifies the zenith of the first Assyrian Empire. The British Museum presently contains three monuments that chiefly inscribe his records. One is a monolith originating from Kurkh, approximately twenty miles from Diarbekr. The stone displays a full-length depiction of Shalmaneser, with the inscription encompassing its entire surface. Another monument is a diminutive obelisk of polished black stone, with the upper section designed as three ascending tiers. Inscriptions proceed.

Thirty bas-reliefs adorn its four sides, depicting the tribute presented by foreign states to 'the powerful king.' Among the tribute-bearers are the Israelite subjects of 'Jehu, son of Omri.' In 1878, researchers uncovered the third monument at Balawât, located roughly nine miles from Nimrûd or Calah. The monument consists of a bronze structure that supports two large rectangular doors, each measuring twenty-two feet in height and twenty-six feet in width. Nails affixed the bronze to the wooden doors, which led into a temple. They fashioned the bronze into horizontal bands across the doors, segmenting each into two rows of embossed reliefs. These reliefs were hammered rather than cast, signifying their rigorous creation by indigenous artists, not the Phoenician settlers in Nineveh, of whom we possess several examples. We incorporate brief texts to elucidate the reliefs, enabling us to discern the distinct campaigns and cities they signify. Included among the cities is the Hittite capital Carchemish, with Armenian warriors portrayed in attire remarkably akin to that of the ancient Greeks. Shalmaneser's inaugural campaign targeted the turbulent tribes of Kurdistan. He subsequently directed his course northward and confronted the Armenian monarch of Van and the Mannâ or Minni, who resided in the region between the Kotûr mountains and Lake Urumiyeh. This forced the Hittites of Carchemish and their allies from Cilicia and nearby areas to seek peace. The Assyrians took back Pethor, which they had lost when Tiglath-Pileser died, and used it to take control of the Euphrates ford again.

The outcome occurred in B.C. In 854, Shalmaneser engaged in hostilities with the kingdom of Hamath. The common threat compelled Hadadezer of Damascus, referred to as Benhaded II in the Bible, to ally with Hamath, establishing a confederacy to counter the Assyrian incursion. Ahab of Israel, a confederate, supplied the allies with 2,000 chariots and 10,000 infantry soldiers. Nevertheless, the confederacy disintegrated at Karkar or Aroer, as Shalmaneser's personal afflictions hindered him from solidifying his triumph. Consequently, Syria experienced a period of tranquility, allowing the Assyrian king to focus on Babylonia, which he subjugated under the guise of aiding the Babylonian ruler against his insurrectionist sibling. Following Karkar, Shalmaneser returned to the west twelve years subsequently. Hazael succeeded Hadadezer as the ruler of Damascus, redirecting the full force of Assyrian power against him. He maintained control over Assyrian power for a period, but this altered in B.C. The year was 841. 841: He experienced a devastating defeat on the heights of Shenir (refer to Deut. iii. 9), resulting in the capture of his camp, along with 1,121 chariots and 470 carriages, by the Assyrians, who subsequently besieged him in his capital, Damascus. Nevertheless, the Assyrians promptly lifted the siege, and Shalmaneser contented himself with devastating the Hauran and advancing to Beyrout, inscribing his likeness on the rocky promontory of Baal-rosh, at the estuary of the Nahr el-Kelb.

During his time in this neighborhood, Jehu's ambassadors arrived with proposals of tribute and allegiance. The tribute reportedly included 'silver, gold, a golden bowl, vessels of gold, goblets of gold, pitchers of gold, a scepter for the king's hand, and spear handles,' with Jehu mistakenly referred to as 'the son of Omri.' Following Hazael's defeat, Shalmaneser's campaigns were limited to remote areas such as Phœnicia, Kappadokia, and Armenia, aimed at collecting gifts. Shalmaneser ceased any further endeavors for permanent conquest, and his reign concluded after B.C. 834. In 834, the aging monarch ceased to personally command his armies, and the tartan, referred to as the commander-in-chief, assumed his role. Subsequently, his eldest son initiated a rebellion, appearing assured in his capacity to usurp the scepter from the debilitated monarch. Still, Shalmaneser's second son, Samas-Rimmon, rose to power soon after (B.C. 823–810) and put down the rebellion, which included twenty-seven cities such as Nineveh and Assur, with his energy and military power. Subsequent to his demise, his son Rimmon-nirari III (810-781) coerced Mariha of Damascus, along with the Philippians, Israelites, Edomites, and Philistines, to render tribute. However, the vitality of the dynasty was commencing to wane. Subsequent to Rimmon-nirari's reign, several brief reigns ensued, during which the initial Assyrian Empire disintegrated. Armenia ascended as a formidable power, compelling the Assyrian armies to retreat to their national borders while discontent proliferated throughout Assyria itself on the 15th of June, B.C.

In 763, a solar eclipse occurred, prompting a revolt in the city of Assur. The insurrection endured for three years, culminating in the loss of the peripheral provinces prior to its quelling. Assur-nirari, the last ruler of his dynasty, ascended to the throne in 753 BC; the empire had already disintegrated, and unrest was surging within the Assyrian cities. After