SALMANASAR (“Šulmānu-asarid [n]). - The name (“Šulmān [warrior god of the Ninurta type] takes precedence”; Hebr. Salman'ēser) belonged to 5 Assyrian kings between 1200 and 700 B.C. Among them, S. III (858-824) and S. V (727-722, mentioned in II Reg. 17, 3 ff., 18, 9 ff.) are important for the history of Israel.
S. III, an able politician and tenacious warrior, was among the great kings who “laid the foundations of Assyria’s imperial power” (Sidney Smith).
Numerous cuneiform inscriptions, especially the “Annals,” provide information about his deeds (concerning the literary genre and the different Assyrian editions cf. the studies of J. M. Peñuela and R. Follet). S. consolidated and extended the conquests of his father Aššur-nāšir-apal (883-859). In five expeditions he defeated Ahuni of Bit-Adini, the most powerful state of the Arameans “between the two rivers” (859-855), taking possession of the caravan route along the Euphrates. More demanding was the struggle to subjugate the neo-Hittite states on the lower Orontes, in Amanus and in Cilicia, in order to secure access to the cedars and mines of the Taurus and to the caravan route on the Mediterranean coast, in which already in 858 he “washed (ritually) the hands” of his army. But that splendid economic success came to him only after he had endured several harsh battles (the definitive fall of Què and Tarsus in 732). S. was opposed by a strong coalition led by Irbuleni of Hamāh and Hadad-idri (Hadad-ezer) of Damascus. In the fiercest war S. gained ever greater victories; but he was unable to destroy the enemy, not even with the “general mobilization” of all men capable of bearing arms which he carried out in the spring of nearly every third year. The famous battle of Qarqar (853 B.C.) was probably an enemy victory: S.’s “monolith” gives a “war communiqué” concerning it, which insists on the enemy’s “enormous losses” and on the immediate return from the spectacular “victory”; the battle is of the greatest importance for biblical chronology: even Ahabbu mat Sa'ilojā, to be identified Ahab (v.), S. is said to have annihilated 2,000 chariots and 10,000 infantrymen. The invasions of 848 and 845 also failed. The situation changed, however, in 841, Hazael (v.) Iehu (v.) had abandoned the coalition: Hazael was defeated despite having fortified himself on Mount Senir (Hermon) and had to withdraw to Damascus, whose walls S. was nevertheless unable to force; S. then devastated the country, especially the orchards around Damascus, as far as the mountains of the Hawrān. He did, however, secure political advantages: not only Iehu (the scene on the black obelisk) paid tribute, but also Tyre and Sidon; and Asatun subsequently obtained undisputed control of the Mediterranean coast from Byblos to the Taurus.
In the east, S. was perhaps the MEDINA (v.); to the southeast of Lake Urmia and in Parsuā his successes were short-lived. The same must be said of the expeditions to the sources of the Euphrates and the Tigris and to Lake Vau, on whose shores Sarduris I, king of Uraru (v.), ruled in the capital Turuipaš: there he exerted strong pressure, but achieved no decisive success.
S.’s political skill shines, however, in his relations with Babylonia, where he established Assyrian influence. A good neighbor and friend of Nabū-apal-iddin (d. in 852), he continued the same policy with the legitimate heir Marduk-zākir-šum). The latter called S. for help when the rebellion of his brother Marduk-bēl-usāte began; aided by a large part of the Babylonian people, he had established himself east of the Tigris. In two campaigns S. subdued the rebel and also punished the Chaldean tribes south of Babylon. The liberator then returned, visiting as a pious king the most notable sanctuaries of ancient Sumar and offering, especially in Babylon, spectacular sacrifices (and banquets), with rich gifts for the citizens.
S. was a prudent administrator of his own lands and of those he had conquered. He knew how to choose excellent collaborators and advisers. Consequently, during the rebellion of his son Aššur-dan-apal (827), who was supported by 27 cities, and the civil war between him and Samši-Adad V (823-831), the Empire did not collapse: this seems to be explained by the firmly established garrisons and colonies and by the entire rigid administration of the Assyrian provinces.
Of S. V (727-722), because of the brevity of his reign (and perhaps through the agency of Sargon II, who deposed him), almost no cuneiform inscriptions are found. Thus his reign unfolds in the darkness of history. According to Menander of Tyre, he once besieged Tyre. The Babylonian Chronicle attributes to him the sack of Šabara'in, clearly identifiable with Sib-ibrajim (Ez. 46, 16). On this occasion he must have begun the war against the king of Israel Osca (v.) SAMALIA (v.). He reigned in Babylonia under the name Ululai.