Overview
Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 BCE) turned Assyria from a kingdom exacting tribute into an empire of annexed provinces. His inscriptions come in two forms: annals carved in sequence across slabs of his palace at Kalḫu (Nimrud), and 'summary' inscriptions that list conquests geographically. Many slabs were shifted or broken in antiquity and in the 19th century, and several key texts survive only in fragments or in early copies. RINAP 1 (Tadmor and Yamada, 2011) is the current edition.
Four Israelite and Judahite kings appear. 'Menahem of the city Samaria' is on the tribute list of 738 (annals and the Iran stele). Summary Inscription 4 says of Bīt-Ḫumrî (Israel) that Peqah (Pekah) was killed and Hoshea set up as king, paying 10 talents of gold. The summary tablet K 3751 lists 'Jehoahaz of the land Judah', the full form of the biblical name Ahaz, among the western tributaries. The texts also record the annexation of Damascus and of Gilead and Abil-šiṭṭi 'on the border of Bīt-Ḫumrî'.
In its own words
816. The land of Bit-Humria ...... all of its people, together with their goods I carried off to Assyria. Pakaha, their king they deposed and I placed Ausi' (Hoshea) over them as king. 10 talents of gold, x talents of silver, as their tribute I received from them and to Assyria I carried them.D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia I (Chicago, 1926), §816, p. 293
What the evidence shows
- Annals (RINAP 1 no. 14 l. 10, slab BM 124961 (+) Detroit 50.32): ... mme-ni-ḫi-im-me URU.sa-me-ri-na-a-a, 'Menahem of the city Samaria', in a list of western rulers paying tribute alongside Rezin (Raḫiānu) of Damascus and Hiram of Tyre.
- Iran stele (RINAP 1 no. 35 iii 5, IMJ 74.049.0096a+b): the same tribute list, with 'Menahem of the land Samaria'.
- Summary Inscription 4 (RINAP 1 no. 42 ll. 15'b-19'a): 'As for the land Bīt-Ḫumrî (Israel), I brought to Assyria [...] (and) all of its people ... [I/they] killed Peqah, their king, and I placed Hoshea [as king o]ver them. I received from them ten talents of gold, ... talents of silver'.
- RINAP 1 note to no. 42 l. 17': the verb before Peqah is damaged: '[i]-du-ku-ma' ('they killed') or '[a]-du-uk-ma' ('I killed') are both possible restorations, and G. Smith's draft shows space for more signs than either. Luckenbill (1926) rendered 'they deposed'.
- Summary tablet ND 4301+4305 (RINAP 1 no. 49 rev. 9-11): '[I conquered the land Bīt-Ḫumr]î (Israel) in [its] entirety' (restored), '[I placed Hoshea as] king over them', and tribute brought to the city Sarrabānu.
- Summary tablet K 3751 (RINAP 1 no. 47 rev. 11'): mia-ú-ḫa-zi KUR.ia-ú-da-a-a, 'Jehoahaz of the land Judah', among the western tributaries (with Mitinti of Ashkelon, Qauš-malaka of Edom, Hanūnu of Gaza).
- No. 42 l. 5'b-6' and no. 49 rev. 3-4: annexation of '[...]nite, Gil[ead, and] Abil-šiṭṭi, which are (on) the border of the land Bīt-Ḫumrî', and of 'the extensive [land of Bīt-Ḫazā-i]l (Damascus)'. Where Luckenbill (1926, §815) printed 'the wide land of Naphtali', RINAP 1 restores 'the extensive land of Bīt-Ḫazā'il (Damascus)'.
- RINAP 1 campaign table: 738 (year 7), tribute of the western kings including Rezin and Menahem; 733-732, siege and conquest of Damascus, campaigns to Gilead and Galilee (with the editors' cross-references to 2 Kgs 15:29; 16:5-9; Isa 7:1).
Open questions
- Who killed Pekah? 2 Kings 15:30 says Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah and killed him. The Assyrian verb is broken and can be restored as 'they killed' or 'I killed' (RINAP 1 no. 42 n. 13); Luckenbill (1926) read 'they deposed'. The text is too damaged to say whether Tiglath-pileser claimed the killing himself.
- 'Naphtali' or 'Bīt-Ḫazā'ili'? The older reading (Luckenbill 1926) had Tiglath-pileser annexing 'the wide land of Naphtali', which matches 2 Kgs 15:29 ('all the land of Naphtali'). RINAP 1 restores the damaged passage as the land of Damascus (Bīt-Ḫazā'ili). The 2 Kgs 15:29 parallel for Galilee now rests on the Gilead/Abil-šiṭṭi and Galilee entries, not on the word 'Naphtali'.
- Is 'Pul' (2 Kgs 15:19) Tiglath-pileser? 2 Kgs 15:19-20 has Menahem pay 1,000 talents of silver to 'Pul king of Assyria'; 1 Chr 5:26 names 'Pul king of Assyria' and 'Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria' together. The Assyrian texts call the king only Tiglath-pileser and give no amount for Menahem's payment. Identifying Pul with Tiglath-pileser is our reading here; no Assyrian royal inscription cited here uses the name Pul.
Sources
- Hayim Tadmor and Shigeo Yamada, The Royal Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 BC) and Shalmaneser V (726-722 BC), Kings of Assyria, RINAP 1 (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2011); online at Oracc, texts nos. 14, 35, 42, 47, 49 link editio princeps
- Hayim Tadmor and Shigeo Yamada, RINAP 1 Introduction: 'Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III' and 'Historical Overview: Tiglath-pileser III' (Oracc, 2019) link study
- D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. I (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926), §§772, 801, 815-816 link translation
- R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1912), section on Tiglath-pileser link translation
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- Old entry cites '2 Kings 15:29 (Menahem's tribute)'. Menahem's tribute is 2 Kgs 15:19-20 (paid to 'Pul'); 15:29 is Tiglath-pileser's conquest of Galilee and Gilead in Pekah's reign.
- Old entry says Menahem paid 'to secure a degree of autonomy for the region'. The Assyrian texts list Menahem only as a tribute-payer; the motive given in 2 Kgs 15:19 is 'that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand'. Neither says 'autonomy'.
- Old entry dates the records 'c. 745 BCE'. 745 is the accession; Menahem's payment is dated 738 and the Israel/Damascus annexations 733-732. The inscriptions span 744-727.
- Old entry says Tiglath-pileser's conquest 'led to the eventual fall of the Northern Kingdom' as if the texts say so. His texts record annexing Israel's northern and Transjordanian territory and installing Hoshea; Samaria itself fell under his successors (see Fall of Samaria entry).
- Old entry's '2 Kings 15:30 (Pekah's rebellion)' is wrong: 15:30 is Hoshea's conspiracy against Pekah. That is the verse matched by the Assyrian 'Peqah killed ... I placed Hoshea as king'.
- Old entry: 'Material: Stone inscriptions; Dimensions: Various tablets'. The corpus is on stone wall slabs, a stele and clay tablets. Some key passages survive only in fragments or 19th-century copies (e.g. no. 42 depends partly on G. Smith's draft).
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