Esarhaddon's Mannean War

Esarhaddon's expedition against Mugallu may have followed the one against the Manneans, a people inhabiting the area south of Lake Urmia. The most informative source for conditions in the Mannean territory in the reign of Esarhaddon is the letters of Bel-ušezib, the Babylonian scholar with a keen interest in politics discussed above. The two letters pertinent to our discussion are ABL 1237 and CT 54 22, in this chronological order.[[251]] ABL 1237 describes the vacillations of Esarhaddon about undertaking a campaign against the Manneans, due mostly to his uncertainty about the intentions of the Cimmerians, who according to this letter were present on the scene and were claiming, it seems, neutrality in the conflict. The letter explicitly voices Esarhaddon's distrust of the Cimmerians, who are described (line 15f) as "vagabonds who recognize neither oaths nor treaties." The second letter, CT 54 22, was written later, when the Assyrian offensive was in full swing, and a good deal of Mannean territory was under Assyrian occupation. Bel-ušezib therefore urges the king not to slacken the momentum of the offensive, especially since the astrological omens are propitious. He further assures the king that the Mannean king will soon fall into his hands. But let the letter speak for itself:

"Now (that) the army of the king my lord has invaded Mannea, has captured fortresses, has plundered cities, looted the open country, it should go on and plunder the rest of the country. Should the army of the king my lord not proceed further against the enemy, the (situation) might become serious ... Now the Mannean cities will be plundered in the same manner (as Sidon in the previous year), its people will be taken captive, and he (the Mannean king) will be confined in his palace until he is delivered into the hands of the king my lord." (CT 54 22:8ff).

The author does not tell us the name of that king, but it may have been Ahšeri, known to us from an oracle query, no. 269, and from the annals of Assurbanipal who had to mount a campaign against him; in this campaign the city Šarru-iqbi, also the subject of a query (no. 29), was recovered from the Manneans together with other cities lost, according to Assurbanipal's account,[[252]] by his predecessors. Note in this context no. 267, from the reign of Assurbanipal, where an expedition to recover cities lost to the Manneans is described.

Esarhaddon's Mannean campaign can now be dated with reasonable certainty with the help of CT 54 22. In the course of his discourse, Bel-ušezib refers to the capture of Sidon by Esarhaddon as an event which occured the previous year: "Was not Sidon destroyed last year?" (line 13f). Since Sidon, according to the chronicles, fell in Esarhaddon's fourth year, the letter can be dated in 676/675. Dietrich actually dates it to March 21, 675.[[253]]

Some of the reasons for the necessity of a campaign against the Manneans can be found among the queries. Nos. 30 and 31 (the two appear to be duplicates, although the name of the city is not preserved in the latter) refer to the attempted recovery of the city Dur-Illil from the Manneans, and no. 29 refers to the threatened loss of the city Šarru-iqbi. In this case, the name of the enemy is not preserved, but as noted above, the annals of Assurbanipal claim to have recovered the city Šarru-iqbi from the Manneans, so it is very likely that they are the ones referred to in the query.[[254]]



251 A most recent edition of ABL 1237 is that of F.M. Fales and G.B. Lanfranchi, East and West 31 (1981). For a discussion of CT 54 22, see Dietrich, WO 4 (1968) 234ff and AOAT 7 (1970) 47f.

252 Piepkorn Asb p. 52:71.

253 See WO 4 (1978) 235.

254 It is uncertain where nos. 28 and 34, which mention the Manneans, fit into the chronological order of the queries. Of the two, only no. 28 is sufficiently preserved to offer a coherent context. It involves a Mannean threat to an Assyrian expedition on Siriš, a little attested locality, most likely NW of Lake Urmia (cf. Parpola Toponyms p. 313).

Ivan Starr

Ivan Starr, 'Esarhaddon's Mannean War', Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria, SAA 4. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1990; online contents: SAAo/SAA04 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa04/chronologyandhistoricalbackground/esarhaddonsmanneanwar/]

 
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