Battle of Nihriya

Battle of Niḫriya
Date13th Century BC
Location
Niḫriya
Result Assyrian victory
Belligerents
Hittites Assyria
Commanders and leaders
Tudḫaliya IV Šulmānu-ašarēd I or Tukultī-Ninurta I

The Battle of Niḫriya was the culminating point of the hostilities between the Hittites and the Assyrians for control over the remnants of the former empire of Mitanni in Upper Mesopotamia, in the second half of the 13th Century BC.

When Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I (r. c. 1344–1322 BC) conquered Mitanni, he created two provinces (Aleppo and Carchemish), and distributed the large part of territories of this kingdom among his allies. The rest of what had been the empire of Mitanni retained its independence as a Hittite vassal state called Ḫanigalbat. During the reign of the Hittite king Muršili III (better known as Urḫi-Teššub), Ḫanigalbat was subjugated by the Assyrians, who now advanced to the East bank of the Euphrates.[1] When Ḫattusili III (r. c. 1267–1237 BC) ousted his nephew Muršili III and seized the Hittite throne, he had to be content with the permanent loss of Ḫanigalbat to the Assyrians despite its former status as a Hittite vassal state. Nevertheless, the Assyrians encountered repeated opposition by their new vassals, the kings of Ḫanigalbat, who naturally looked upon the Hittites as their allies.[2]

The Assyrian involvement in northwestern Mesopotamia continued under King Šulmānu-ašarēd I and precipitated a crisis with Ḫatti. The Hittites considered Assyrian involvement to be a clear attack on the frontiers of their empire and took to arms under King Tudḫaliya IV (r. c. 1237–1209 BC), Ḫattusili's son and successor. This led to a major battle which is known today as the Battle of Niḫriya, ostensibly fought between Tudḫaliya (named in KUB XXIII 99 and RS 34.165) and Šulmānu-ašarēd (named in KUB XXIII 99 and KBo XVIII 24).[3] The Ugarit letter RS 34.265, giving details of the campaign and its outcome, was sent by Šulmānu-ašarēd to the Hittite vassal king of Ugarit.[4]

Information relating to the conflict contained in the Hittite tablet KBo IV 14 has been interpreted by Nemirovsky to show that the battle must have occurred some ten years before the end of Šulmānu-ašarēd's reign (which he dates to 1264–1234 BC), and that this might necessitate picking the Egyptian "Middle Chronology" for the accession of Ramesses II, placing it in 1290 BC, rather than 1279 BC (as per the "Low Chronology"), to allow a more comfortable overlap with Tudḫaliya IV.[5]

Nevertheless, a number of scholars have interpreted the Battle of Niḫriya as a conflict between Tudḫaliya IV and Šulmānu-ašarēd's son and successor Tukultī-Ninurta I, whose inscriptions boast of his attack on the Hittites, the Assyrian having crossed the Euphrates, resulting in his deportation of supposedly 28800 Hittite subjects to Assyria. These interpretations assume that the broken text of KBo XVIII 99 made reference to "[Tukultī-Ninurta, son of] Šulmānu-ašarēd" when intact.[6]

  1. ^ Bryce 2005: 256-259; The "Eternal Treaty" from the Hittite perspective pp.3-4 by Trevor Bryce
  2. ^ Bryce 2005: 313-314.
  3. ^ Harrak 1987: 138-142; Dietrich 2003.
  4. ^ Dietrich 2003.
  5. ^ Nemirovsky 2003: 14-15; compare Harrak 1987: 188, who placed the battle even earlier in Šulmānu-ašarēd's reign, but worked with a "Higher Chronology" throughout.
  6. ^ E.g., Singer 1985; Bryce 2005: 314-318; Freu & Mazoyer 2010: 82, 86. This interpretation was already opposed by Harrak 1987: 138-139.