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Gershon Galil, «A New Look at the Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III», Vol. 81 (2000) 511-520
The first part of the article re-examines the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III, mainly Summary inscriptions 4, 9, 10 and Ann. 18, 23, 24. The author proposes a new reading to line 6 of Summ. 4 by adding a verb (abil or aks$ud) at the end of this line, and separating lines 5-6 from lines 7-8. In the author’s opinion Ann. 18 and 24 are indeed parallel versions depicting the events of 732, yet, Ann. 18 describes the conquest of Galilee, while Ann. 24 deals with the conquest of Damascus. The second part of the article examines the relations between Assyria and the West in the days of Tiglath-pileser III in light of the new proposals offered in the first part of the article.
(inscription 24, line 9') is the total number of the exiles deported from the cities of the Galilee is doubtful. Consequently, I propose that the figure 13,520 refers to the number of exiles taken away from one city, perhaps Damascus itself (compare with the number of people exiled from Samaria by Sargon II namely 27,280, or 24,28011. According to my proposal, the conquest of the kingdom of Israel is initially mentioned in version A (Anns. 23, 24), followed by the conquest of Damascus. Whereas in version B (which include Ann. 18) the events are presented in reverse order. Both events apparently occurred during the same year, 732 B.C. (Cf. the account of the events of 738 in the Annals of Tiglath-pileser, which are likewise presented in no particular order.)
The left-hand column below sets out my estimated reconstruction of the events mentioned in the slab which contain Anns. 23 and 24; the right-hand column depicts an estimated reconstruction of the events mentioned in the parallel slab (which contains Ann. 18)
| Slab A (Layard, MS A, fol. 115-116 | Slab B (Layard, MS A, fol. 69) |
|
Inscription 23 (col. I) |
|
| * The battle against Aram | * [The battle against Aram] |
| * The siege of Damascus (which does not end this year) |
* [The siege of Damascus (which does not end this year)] |
| * The submission of Aramean cities amongst which are the home of the dynasty of Rezin |
* [The
submission of Aramean cities amongst which are the home of the dynasty of Rezin] |
| * The submission of 591 cities of the kingdom of Damascus |
* [The submission of
591 cities of the kingdom of Damascus] |
| * The Shamshi Episode | |
| Inscription 23 (col. II) | * [The Shamshi Episode] |
| [The continuation of Shamshi Episode] | |
| * [The conquest of the kingdom of Israel] | * [The completion of Aram-Damascus’ |
| conquest and the fall of Damascus] | |
| Inscription 24 | Inscription 18 |
| * The completion of Aram-Damascus’ | * The conquest of the kingdom of Israel |
| conquest and the fall of Damascus | |
| * The Episode of the king of Ashkelon | * The Episode of the king of Ashkelon |
| [The appointment of Idibi’ilu over the | * The appointment of Idibi’ilu over the |
| Egyptian Border] | Egyptian Border] |
3. The relations between Israel and Assyria (745-738)
The Assyrian hold on regions south of the Euphrates was abandoned during the reign of Ashur-dan III and Ashur-nirari V, the forerunners of Tiglath-pileser III. The king of Arpad and Unqi were accused by Tiglath-pileser III of violating an oath and revolting against Assyria12. The kingdom of Urartu expanded its control of the region and weakened its control over Kummuh, Carchemish and the Aleppo area.
In 743-742 the Assyrians defeated a coalition headed by Sarduri II, king of Urartu and Mati’il, king of Arpad and including other kings, for example, those
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