Assyria [and Arabia]

Contacts between Assyria and the Arabian tribes took place over a vast area, ranging from the Southern Levant, the Jazīra, and Southern Babylonia to East and South Arabia. Arabs are first mentioned in Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions and correspondence from the 9th century BCE onwards. In addition, iconographic material, namely depictions of military campaigns against Arab tribes from the reigns of Tiglath-pileser III (745–727 BCE; Barnett & Falkner 1962: pl. xiii–xvii, xxiv–xxviii), and Ashurbanipal (668–627 BCE; see below), can be related to passages from written sources. Aribi, a term written with different spellings (Arabi, Aribu, Arubu), referring to the dwellers of the Syrian and North Arabian deserts, was a general designation for nomads, but could also refer to specific tribes in the Southern Levant and the Arabian Peninsula. In the Assyrian mental map, the region where Arabs dwelled represented the southern border of the empire, and was associated with a natural barrier, namely the desert.

The first reference to Arabs dates from the year 853 BCE, when Shalmaneser III (858–824 BCE) confronted an anti-Assyrian coalition in Northern Syria. One of the confederates at the battle of Qarqar was the Arab Gindibu’ (Grayson, Assyrian Rulers 23, ii, 94). Among the rulers who paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser III more than a hundred years later in 738, was an Arabian queen named Zabibē (Tadmor & Yamada, Tiglath-pileser 48, 2). It was the first time that Arabs paid tribute. In 733 BCE, Tiglath-pileser admonished another Arab queen for breaking her oath, a certain Samsi, who was defeated, pursued into the desert, captured, and brought to Assyria (Tadmor & Yamada, Tiglath-pileser 59, 18’). In 715 BCE, Sargon II defeated several Arab tribes and deported part of the population to Samaria (Frame, Sargon 63, 120–123). Some letters from his correspondence document the presence of Arabs in central Syria (Parpola, Correspondence No 173–175 and 177–180) and in the region of the Wadi Tharthār (Parpola, Correspondence No 82 and 85).

Between 691 and 689 BCE, Sennacherib (707–681 BCE) campaigned against the Arabs in North Arabia; the queen Teʾelkhunu and a certain Khazāʾil were defeated and Adummatu (Dūmat al-Jandal) was conquered (Grayson & Novotny, Sennacherib 232, 53’–59’, 1’’–9’’).

Sennacherib was the first Assyrian king to penetrate so deeply into the Arabian Peninsula. His successor Esarhaddon (680–669 BCE) returned to Khazāʾil the statues of his gods taken to Nineveh by Sennacherib, increased his tribute, and placed his son Jautaʾ on the throne after his death. Esarhaddon’s intervention in the Arabs’ internal matters went further, as he gave Jautaʾ military aid, when a local chieftain rebelled against him some time later. He also appointed the princess Tabuʾa, who was raised in Sennacherib’s palace, as ruler over the Arabs (Leichty, Esarhaddon 19, iv, 1–31). Esarhaddon was the only Assyrian ruler who campaigned to eastern Arabia around 677/676 BCE against the land of Bāzu. During this campaign, six kings and two queens were defeated and killed (Leichty, Esarhaddon 29, iv, 53–77).

Ashurbanipal’s wars against the Arabs went on for almost a decade (Novotny & Jeffers, Ashurbanipal 253, vii, 82–260, ix, 114). He campaigned in Transjordan against the Qedarites in 652, when Jautaʾ broke his oath and refused to deliver the yearly tribute. Reliefs from his North palace in Nineveh probably depict military operations during this campaign (Barnett & Falkner, Sculptures pl. 32–33 and C). Some years later, when the Arabs interfered in the civil war between Ashurbanipal and his brother Šamaš-šumu-ukīn, at that time King of Babylonia, and fought alongside the latter, they were severely punished.

Contacts between Assyria and the Arabian tribes did not solely consist of military confrontations. In some cases peaceful relations were implemented by means of loyalty oaths and commercial exchange, within the political framework. While direct contacts took place on the southern border of the Assyrian empire, relations with Central and South Arabia were indirect and consisted of trade or payment of tribute. Intruders who directly threatened the Assyrian provinces or vassal states, or indirectly by means of alliances with Assyrian enemies, were fought off with all their strength. Nevertheless, capitulation never led to territorial annexation because of the severe geo-climatic conditions. The Assyrians were aware of this, and knew that the treasures of this region were only accessible by gaining control of the trade routes. In addition, the Assyrians benefited indirectly from this trade through the tribute of Arabian tribes or states, who maintained commercial relations with them. In this way, precious stones and spices of all kinds flowed to the Assyrian capitals over the years.

Ariel M. Bagg

References and suggested readings

Sources

• Barnett, R.D. & M. Falkner 1962. The sculptures of Aššur-Naṣir-Apli II (883–859 B.C.), Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 B.C.), Esarhaddon (681–669 B.C.) from the Central and South-West Palaces at Nimrud. London: The Trustees of the British Museum.
• Frame, G. 2021. The royal inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria (721-705 BC) (The Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period volume 2). University Park: Eisenbrauns.
• Grayson, A.K. 1996. Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millenium BC II (858–745 BC). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• Grayson, A.K. & J. Novotny 2012. The Royal Inscriptions of Sennacherib, King of Assyria (704–681 BC), Part 1. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
• Leichty, E. 2011. The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC). Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
• Novotny, J. & J. Jeffers 2018. The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal (668–631 BC), Aššur-etel-ilāni (630–627 BC), and Sîn-šarra-iškun (626–612 BC), Kings of Assyria, Part 1. University Park: Eisenbrauns.
• Parpola, S. 1987. The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I. Letters from Assyria and the West. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press.
• Tadmor, H. & Sh. Yamada 2011. The Royal Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III (744–727 BC) and Shalmaneser V (726–722 BC), Kings of Assyria. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.

Studies

• Eph‛al, I. 1984, The Ancient Arabs. Nomads on the Border of the Fertile Crescent 9th–5th Centuries B.C. Jerusalem: The Magness Press.
• Frahm, E. 2017. Assyria and the Far South: The Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf, in E. Frahm (ed.) A Companion to Assyria: 299–310. Malden: John Wiley & Sons. DOI: 10.1002/9781118325216.ch16.
• Reade, J.E. 1998. Assyrian illustrations of Arabs, in C.S. Phillips, D.T. Potts & S. Searight (eds.) Arabia and its Neighbours. Essays on Prehistorical and Historical Developments Presented in Honour of Beatrice de Cardi: 221–232. Turnhout: Brepols.
• Retsö, J. 2003. The Arabs in Antiquity. London: Routledge.
• Zadok, R. 1981. Arabians in Mesopotamia during the Late-Assyrian, Chaldean, Achaemenian and Hellenistic Periods Chiefly According to Cuneiform Sources. ZDMG 131: 42–84. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43376753

_{Alternate spellings: Assyrian, Assyrians}