Qarqar
Sign in to saveQarqar or Karkar () is the name of an ancient town in northwestern Syria, known from Neo-Assyrian sources. It was the site of one of the most important battles of the ancient world, the battle of Qarqar, fought in 853 BC when the army of Assyria, led by king Shalmaneser III, encountered an allied force comprising military units from 11 local kingdoms. The leaders of this ad hoc alliance were Hadadezer (Ben Hadad) of Damascus, Gindibu the Arab and King Ahab of Israel. Shalmaneser's Assyrian forces had been victorious over Iruleni, the King of Hamath. However, a coalition of Phoenicians and Syri
Key facts
- Ancient site.name
- Qarqar
- Ancient site.image
- Qarquruppertell.jpg
- Ancient site.alt
- Photograph of a double, overgrown mound
- Ancient site.caption
- The upper mound of Tell Qarqur, the modern archaeological site associated with Qarqar, as seen from the northern, lower mound
- Ancient site.map_type
- Syria
- Ancient site.location
- Syria
- Ancient site.region
- Hama Governorate
- Ancient site.type
- Settlement
- Ancient site.epochs
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Mamluk
- Ancient site.event
- Battle of Qarqar (853 BC)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- archaeological site
- Country
- Syria
- Located in
- Hama Governorate
Show 1 more fact
- different from
- Daldere
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Site
- Destruction of the site
- See also
- Notes
Qarqar or Karkar () is the name of an ancient town in northwestern Syria, known from Neo-Assyrian sources. It was the site of one of the most important battles of the ancient world, the battle of Qarqar, fought in 853 BC when the army of Assyria, led by king Shalmaneser III, encountered an allied force comprising military units from 11 local kingdoms. The leaders of this ad hoc alliance were Hadadezer (Ben Hadad) of Damascus, Gindibu the Arab and King Ahab of Israel. Shalmaneser's Assyrian forces had been victorious over Iruleni, the King of Hamath. However, a coalition of Phoenicians and Syrians with Israel and the Kedarite Arabs was waiting for Shalmaneser when he advanced south, leading to a second battle at Qarqar itself.
The best historical source regarding the battle and the town of Qarqar is The Kurkh Monolith, erected by Shalmaneser. The text lists the kings he fought, the number of soldiers and chariots each of these kings supplied, and describes the battle itself. The monolith states that Shalmaneser fought an alliance of 12 kings, but lists only 11. Numerous other scribal errors have been noted on the monolith.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Qarqar” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
On the map
6 mapped locations