The Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC is the earliest recorded engagement involving Arab peoples and featured a larger number of combatants than any prior known battle.
Key Facts
- Date
- 853 BC (alt. 854 BC)
- Number of allied kings
- 11 kings
- Location
- Qarqar, near Orontes River, NW Syria
- Primary Assyrian record
- Kurkh Monoliths
- Campaign departure point
- Nineveh, 14th day of Iyar
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Shalmaneser III launched his annual military campaign from Nineveh as part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire's broader 854–846 BC conquest of Aram. Crossing the Tigris and Euphrates, he received tribute from several cities including Aleppo, then defeated and plundered the kingdom of Irhuleni of Ḥamā before pressing further south toward the Orontes River.
At Qarqar, Shalmaneser III's Assyrian army clashed with a coalition of eleven allied kings led by Hadadezer of Aram-Damascus and Ahab of Israel. The battle took place near the Orontes River and is recorded on the Kurkh Monoliths. It was notable for the largest number of combatants in any battle recorded up to that point, and marks the first appearance of Arab peoples in written history.
The battle is recorded as an Assyrian engagement in Shalmaneser's inscriptions, though the coalition's resistance temporarily checked Assyrian expansion into the Levant. The event introduced several peoples, including the Arabs, into recorded history for the first time, and the Kurkh Monoliths remain a key primary source for understanding the mid-ninth-century BC Near East.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Shalmaneser III.
Side B
1 belligerent
Hadadezer (Adad-idir) of Aram-Damascus, Ahab of Israel, Irhuleni of Ḥamā.