176 SHAWn ZeLIG ASTeR In 853, Shalmaneser III sent his armies against a coalition of twelve kings in Syro-Palestine who sought to block Assyrian advances to the west. Among these kings was Ahab “the Israelite”. The Assyrian annals describe the ensuing battle, at Qarqar, as a complete defeat of the twelve kings. However, the annals also record battles some or all of these 12 kings fought against the Assyrians in 849, 848, and 846. These subsequent battles indicate that Assyria did not enjoy a com- plete victory. By 841, the alliance of the 12 kings had disintegrated, and the inscriptions of Shalmaneser III record a successful campaign to the west in that year, including the receipt of tribute from the Is- raelite king “Jehu son of omri” 3. Shalmaneser III was succeeded by Shamshi-Adad v (823-811 BCe), whose inscriptions do not record any interactions with Israel. He was succeeded by his son Adad-nirari III who ruled for 28 years (810-783) and was then succeeded by three of his sons sequentially: Shalmaneser Iv (782-773), Ashur-Dan III (772-755), and Ashur-nirari v (754-745) 4. During the reigns of these five kings, we find a single attestation of Israelite-Assyrian interactions. The Tell al-Rimah Stele of Adad-nirari III records the receipt of tribute from “Joash of Samaria”, as well as from the Tyrians and Sidonians. This stele seems to describe events that took place in 796 BCe, during the only cam- III’s Campaigns in 734-732 BC: Historical Background of Isaiah 7, 2 kings 15– 16 and 2 Chronicles 28–29”, Bib 87 (2006) 153-170. For the period of Sargon II, see GALIL, Israel and Assyria, 77-97, and the works cited above in note 1. For the period of Sennacherib, see P. DUBovSky´, Hezekiah and the Assyrian Spies. Recon- struction of the neo-Assyrian Intelligence Services and Its Significance for 2 kings 18–19 (Biblica et orientalia 49; Rome 2006); W.R. GALLAGHeR, Sennacherib’s Campaign to Judah: New Studies (Leiden 1999); D. kAHn, “Tirhakah king of kush and Sennacherib”, Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 6 (2014) (online); ID., “The War of Sennacherib against egypt as Described in Herodotus II 141”, JAEI 6 (2014) 23-33. For the period of Adad-nirari III, see W.H. SHeA, “Adad- nirari III and Jehoash of Israel”, JCS 30 (1978) 101-113. 3 The battles of Shalmaneser III against the alliance of the twelve kings are first recorded in the kurkh Monolith, published in A. kIRk GRAySon, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC II (858-745 BC) (Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian Periods, volume 3; Toronto 1996), as inscription A.0.102.2 ii lines 89b-102. Henceforth, all references to this and other volumes in this series are referred to as RIMA, followed by the volume number and the inscription number. For a table showing which editions mention the campaigns of 849 and 848, and the submission of Jehu in 842/841, see RIMA 3, 6. 4 none of these dates appear to be the subject of controversy. For a convenient summary, see L.R. SIDDALL, The Reign of Adad-Nirari III. An Historical and Ideological Analysis of an Assyrian king and His Time (Leiden 2013) 95.