Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/35

 ASSYRIA

13

ASSYRIA

place in 842 B. c, in the eighteenth year of Shal- maneser's reign.

After Shahnaneser II came his son Shamshi-Ram- man II (824 b. c), who, in order to quell the re- bellion caused by his elder son, Asshur-danin-pal, undertook four campaigns. He also fought and defeated the Babylonian King, Marduk-balatsu- iqbi, and his powerful army. Shamshi-Ramman II was succeeded by his son, Ramman-nirari III (812 B. c). This king undertook several expeditions against Media, .\nnenia, the land of Xairi, and the region around Lake I'rmi, and subjugated all the ooastlands of the West, including Tyre, Sidon, Edom, Philistia, and the "land of Omri", i. e. Israel. The chief object of this expedition was again to subdue Damascvis, which he did by compelling Mari', its king, to pay a heaN-y tribute in silver, gold, copper, and iron, besides quantities of cloth and furniture. Joachaz (Jehoahaz) was then king over Israel, and he welcomed with open arras Ramman-nirari's advance, inasmuch as this monarch's conquest of Damascus relieved Israel from the hea\'j' yoke of the SjTians. Ramman-nirari HI also claimed sovereignty over Babylonia. HLs name Is often given as that of Adad-nirari, and he reigned from 812 to 783 B. c. In one of his inscriptions, which are unfortunately scarce and laconic, he mentions the name of his wife, Sammuramat, which is the only Assj-rian or Baby- lonian name discovered so far having any phonetic resemblance to that of the famous legendarj' queen, Semiramis. The personal identity of the two queens, however, is not admissible. Ramman-ni- rari III was succeeded by Shalmaneser III (783- 773 B. c), and the latter by Asshurdan III (773-755 B. c), who in turn was followed by Asshur-nirari II (755-745 B. c). Of these three kings we know little, as no adequate inscriptions of their reigns have come down to us.

In the year 745 b. c. Tiglath-pileser III (in the Douay Version, Theglathphalasar) seized the throne of Assyria, at Nineveh. He is said to have begim life as a gardener, to have distinguished himself as a soldier, and to have been elevated to the throne by the army. He was a most capable monarch, enter- prising, energetic, wise, and daring. His military ability saved the Assyrian Empire from the utter ruin and decay which had begim to threaten its existence, and for this he is fitlj' spoken of a.s the founder of the Second AssjTian Empire. Tiglath- pileser's methods differed from those of his prede- cessors, who had been mere raiders and plunderers. He organized the empire and divided it into prov- inces, each of which had to pay a fixed tribute to the exchequer. He was thus able to extend Assyrian supremacy over almost all of Western Asia, from .\rmenia to Egj'pt, and from Persia to the Mediter- ranean. During his reign AssjTia came into close contact with the Hebrews, as is shown by his own inscriptions, as well as by the Old Testament records, where he is mentioned under the name of Phul (Pul). In the AssjTian inscriptions his name occurs only as that of Tiglath-pileser, but in the " List of Babylonian Kings ' he is also called Pul, which settles his iden- tity ^\^th the Pliul, or Pul, of the Bible. He reigned for eighteen years (745-727 b. c). In his annals he mentions the payment of tribute by several kings, amongst whom is "Menahem of Samaria", a fact confirmed by IV Kings, xv, 19, 20. During his reign, Achaz was ICing of Juda. This prince, having been hard pressed and harassed by Rasin (Rezin) of Damascus, and Phacee (Pekah) of Israel, en- treated protection from Tiglath-pileser (Theglath- phalasar), who, nothing loath, marchetl westward and attacked Rasin, whom he overthrew and shut up in Damascus. Two years later, the city surrendered, Rasin was slain, and the inhabitants were carried away captives (IV Kings, xvi, 7, 8, 9). Meanwhile

Israel also was overrun by the Assj'rian monarch, the country reduced to the condition of a desert, and the trans-Jordanic tribes carried into captivity. At the same time the Philistines, the Edomites. the Arabians, and many other tribes were subdued; and after the fall of Damascus, Tiglath-pileser held a durbar which was attended by manj- princes, amongst whom was Achaz himself. His next ex- pedition to Palestine was in 734, the objective this time being Gaza, an important town on the sea-coast. Achaz hastened to make, or, rather, to renew, his submission to the Assyrian monarch; as we find his name mentioned again with several other tributarj' kings on one of Tiglath-pileser's inscriptions. In 733 the .-^ssjTian monarch carried off the population from large portions of the Kingdom of Israel, sparing, however, the capital, Samaria. Tiglath-pileser was the first AssjTian king to come into contact with the Kingdom of Juda, and also the first Assyrian mon- arch to begin on a large scale the system of trans- planting peoples from one country to another, with the object of breaking down their national spirit, unity, and independence. According to many scholars, it was during Tiglath-pileser's reign that Jonas (Jonah) preached in Nineveh, although others prefer to locate the date of this Hebrew prophet a centurj' later, i. e. in the reign of Asshurbanipal (see below).

Tiglath-pileser III was succeeded by his son (?), Shalmaneser IV, who reigned but five years (727- 722 B. c). No historical inscriptions relating to this king have as yet been found. Nevertheless, the "Babylonian Chronicle" (which gives a list of the principal events occurring in Babylonia and .^ssjxia between 744 and 688 B. c.) has the following state- ment: "On the 25th of Thebet [December-January] Shalmaneser [in D. V. Salmanasar] ascended the throne of Assyria, and the city of Shamara'in [Sa- maria] was destroyed. In the fifth year of his reign he died in the month of Thebet. " The Assyrian "EponjTn Canon" (see above) also informs us that the first two years of Shalmaneser's reign passed without an expedition, but in the remaining three his armies were engaged. In what direction the armies of Shalmaneser (Salmanasar) were engaged, the "Canon" does not say, but the "Babylonian Chronicle" (quoted above) and the Old Testament (IV Kings, xviii) explicitly point to Palestine, and particularly to Samaria, the capital of the Israelitish Kingdom. In the second or third year of Shal- maneser's reign, Osee (Hoshea) King of Israel, together with the King of Tyre, rebelled against Assyria; and in order to crush the rebellion the AssjTian mon- arch marched against both kings and laid siege to their capitals. The Biblical account (Douaj' Version, IV Kings, xvii, 3 sqq.) of this expedition is as follows: ".\gainst him came up Salmanasar king of the AssjTians, and Osee became his servant, and paid him tribute. And when the king of the Assyrians found that Osee endeavouring to rebel had sent messengers to Sua the king of Egypt, that he might not pay tribute to the king of the Assyrians, as he had done everj' year, he besieged him, bound him, and cast him into prison. And he went through all the land: and going up to Samaria, he besieged it three years. And in the ninth year of Osee, the king of the .\ssjTians took Samaria, and carried Israel away to .\ssyria; and he placed them in Hala and Habor by the river of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes." — See also the parallel account in IV Kings, xviii, 9-11, which is one and the same as that here given. The two Biblical accounts, however, leave undecided the question, whether Shalmaneser himself or his suc- cessor conquered Samaria; while, from the .\ssjTian in- scriptions, it appears that Shalmaneser died, or was murdered, before he could personally carrj- his \-ic- torj' to an end. He was succeeded by Sargon II.