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Battle of Qarqar

Type Event Region Syria Time -853

In 853 BCE, Assyrian king Shalmaneser III fought a Syro-Israelite coalition led by Hadadezer of Damascus near Qarqar on the Orontes.…

Timeline

  1. -854–-853Damascus · SyriaFacing the Assyrian advance westward, Hadadezer of Damascus allied with Hamath, Israel, Tyre, Sidon, and other city-states to form an anti-Assyrian league, assembling large forces of infantry, horses, and chariots.
  2. -853Qarqar (Qirqīsh) · SyriaShalmaneser III led the Assyrian army in fierce fighting near Qarqar, claiming in royal inscriptions to have slain many enemies and captured chariots and horses, but the coalition was not broken.
  3. -853–-845Syria · SyriaAlthough Assyria claimed victory in its inscriptions, it failed to capture Damascus, and the coalition of Syrian states endured. Over the following decade the two sides fought repeatedly, and Qarqar became a landmark case of multi-state coalitions resisting imperial expansion in the ancient Near East.

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