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3. Chronology According to the Assyrian Inscriptions.
The following dates, as given by Sayce from the Assyrian Inscriptions, may be compared with
those in Ussher's Chronology: —
B.C.
858-823..Shalman-eser II., king of Assyria, succeeded his father assur-natsir- pal. His long reign was one continuous history of campaigns against his neighbors, his chief object of attack being the growing power of Damascus.
853..Ahab, son of Omri, as ally of Damascus against Shalmaneser (1 Kings 20:34). In the time of Ahab the Assyrians first became acquainted with the kingdom of Israel. Samaria was ever afterwards called by them Beth-Omri."
851..Death of Ahab 850..Shalmaneser's second campaign
against Hadadezer.
843..Hadadezer murdered by Hazael, king of Syria (2 Kings 13:22).
841..Jehu pays tribute to Assyria. 840..Shalmaneser's campaign against
Hazael proved disastrous to the Syrians.
840..Shalmaneser's campaign against Hazael proved disastrous to the Syrians.
843..Shalmaneser's campaign against "Hazael of the country of Damascus," and
captured four of his cities, after which he made no further incursions into the west.
823..Samas-Rimmon II. on the Assyrian throne.
810-781..rimmon-nirarl, grandson of Shalmaneser, ascended the throne.
804..Damascus taken by the Assyrians and reduced to a condition of vassalage.
781..Shalmaneser III. ascends the throne of Assyria.
773..Assyrian campaign against Damascus.
771..Assur-dab III, becomes king of Assyria
756..Jotham made regent with his father Uzziah.
753..Assur-nirari king of Assyria
B.C.
745..The first Assyrian empire came to an end "partly through the attacks of its Armenian neighbors. The last representative (Assurnirari) of the old dynasty died or was slain in the same year. Pulu (Pul), a military captain of obscure origin, seized the vacant throne." He founded the second Assyrian empire, taking the name of Tiglath-pileser (III.), after the name of one of the most famous monarchs of the older dynasty some four centuries before.
743-40..Tiglath-pileser II. wars against Hamath, Submission of Uzziah.
742..Uzziah sends help to Hamath. 741..Death of Jotham and accession of
Ahaz.
738..Azariah (= Uzziah) defeated by Tiglath-pileser, who exacts tribute from Menahem of Samaria and Rezin of Damascus.
734..Damascus besieged by the Assyrians.
The tribes beyond Jordan are carried away captive. Jehoahaz of Judah becomes a vassal of Tiglath- pileser.
732..Damascus taken and Rezin slain. 729..Pekah put to death. Hoshea ascends
the throne.
728..Ulula of Tinu, a usurper, takes the name of Shalman-eser (IV.) (2 Kings 17:3), and ascends the Assyrian throne.
723..Samaria besieged by Shalmaneser V. The siege lasted three years.
722..On the death of Shalmaneser one of his captains, a soldier of fortune, seized the vacant throne, and took the name of Sargon.
721..Merodach-baladan of Chaldea conquers Babylon.
B.C.
712-11..Embassy sent by Merodach- baladan to Hezekiah with the view of exciting trouble in the west, so as to divide the forces of Sargon, who was now threatening an invasion of Babylonia. The illness of Hezekiah was only the pretext for this embassy.
711..Capture of Jerusalem and Ashdod by Sargon.
705..Sennacherib, Sargon's son, king of Assyria.
701..Sennacherib's disastrous campaign against Judah.
697..Death of Hezekiah, and accession of his son Manasseh. The name of "Manasseh king of Judah" twice occurs on the Assyrian monuments.
691..Babylon razed to the ground by Sennacherib.
681..Sennacherib murdered, and was succeeded by his son Esarhaddon, who rebuilt Babylon, and sought to win over the Babylonians by residing in it during half the year.
B.C.
676..Manasseh appears among the Assyrian tributaries.
668..Esarhaddon dies, and is succeeded by his son Assur-bani-pal (Sardanapalos).
665..Destruction of Thebes (= "No Amon"
= Ni of the inscriptions) by the Assyrians. This city was "swept like a deluge" because Egypt, under Urduman, son of Tirhakah, had revolted from Assyria (Nahum 3:8, 10).
609..Josiah of Judah, in the name of his suzerain, "The king of Assyria," opposed the march of Pharaoh. He was slain in battle (2 Kings 23:29).
606 (?)..Fall of Nineveh, Esarhad-don II. (Sarakos) being the last king. "The bloody city" became a heap of ruins. "The Assyrian empire vanished from the earth, and its very existence soon became little more than a name. The Oriental ground over which it had tyrannized became the fighting ground of three rival powers the Babylonians, the Egyptians, and the so called Medes" (Sayce).