SALMANASAR (Šulmānu-Ašarid [I]). - The name ("Šulmān [a warrior god of the Ninurta type] is pre-eminent"; Heb. Salman'ēser) belonged to 5 Assyrian kings between 1200 and 700 B.C. Among them, S. III (858-824) and S. V (727-722, named in 2 Kings 17:3 ff., 18:9 ff.) are of importance for the history of Israel.
S. III, a skilled politician and tenacious warrior, is among the great kings who "laid the foundations of Assyria's imperial power" (Sidney Smith).
Numerous cuneiform inscriptions inform us of his deeds, especially the "Annals" (regarding 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 campaigns he subdued Ahuni of Bit-Adini, the most powerful state of the Arameans "between the two rivers" (859-855), taking possession of the caravan route on the Euphrates. More demanding was the struggle to subjugate the small Neo-Hittite states on the lower Orontes, on the Amanus and in Cilicia, in order to free access to the cedars and the 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 fine economic success smiled upon him only after he had sustained various hard battles (the definitive fall of Què and of Tarsus in 732). S. was opposed by a strong coalition led by Irbuleni of Hamāh and Hadad-idri (Hadad-ezer) of Damascus. In the extremely stubborn war S. won more and more; but he could not destroy the enemy, not even with the "general mobilization" of all men capable of bearing arms that he carried out in the spring of nearly every three years. The famous battle of Qarqar (853 B.C.) was probably an enemy victory: S.'s "monolith" gives of it a "war communiqué," which insists on the "enormous losses" of the enemy and on the immediate return from the spectacular "victory"; the battle is of the utmost importance for biblical chronology: even to Ahabbu mat Sa'ilojā, to be identified with the king of Israel Ahab (v.), S. would have annihilated 2,000 chariots and 10,000 foot soldiers. The invasions of 848 and 845 also failed. The situation, however, changed in 841, after Hazael (v.) had slaughtered Hadadezer and Jehu (v.), having abandoned the coalition: Hazael was defeated despite having fortified himself on Mount Senir (Hermon) and had to retreat to Damascus, whose walls, however, S. was unable to force; then S. devastated the country, especially the orchards around
Damascus, as far as the mountains of Hawrān. He nevertheless gathered political advantages: not only did Jehu (scene of the black obelisk) pay tribute, but also Tyre and Sidon; and Assyria thereafter had uncontested control of the Mediterranean coast from Byblos to the Taurus.
In the east S. is perhaps the first Assyrian king who invaded Media (v.); to the southeast of Lake Urmia and in Parsuā his successes were ephemeral. The same must be said of the expeditions to the sources of the Euphrates and the Tigris, to Lake Van, on whose shores in the capital at Turuipaš reigned Sarduris I, king of Urartu (v.): there he exerted strong pressure, but had no decisive success.
S.'s political skill, however, shines in his relations with Babylonia, in which he affirmed 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. to his aid when the rebellion of his brother Marduk-bēl-usāte arose, who, aided by a great part of the Babylonian people, had established himself east of the Tigris. In two campaigns S. reduced the rebel and further punished the Chaldean tribes south of Babylon. The liberator then returned, visiting as a pious king the most notable sanctuaries of ancient Sumer and offering, especially at Babylon, spectacular sacrifices (and banquets), with rich gifts to the citizens.
S. was a prudent administrator of his own lands and of those conquered. He knew how to choose excellent collaborators and counselors. Therefore, during the rebellion of his son Aššur-dan-apal (827), who was aided by 27 cities, and the civil war between him and Samši-Adad V (823-831), the Empire did not collapse: this is explained, it seems, by the well-established garrisons and colonies and by the whole rigid administration of the Assyrian provinces.
Of S. V (727-722), because of the brevity of his reign (and perhaps through the work 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 besieged Tyre once. The Babylonian Chronicle attributes to him a sack of Šabara'in, quite identifiable with Sib-ibrajim (Ezek. 46:16). On that occasion he must have begun the war against the king of Israel Hoshea (v.) and the siege of Samaria (v.). He reigned in Babylon under the name Ululai.
Bibliography8 works
Pietro Nober