Aram-Damascus (Syria), Kingdom of

The identity of the Sea Peoples, who appear to be based in the Aegean, has remained enigmatic to modern scholars, who have only the scattered records of ancient civilizations and archaeological analysis to inform them.

Evidence shows that the Egyptians knew of the identities and motives of these peoples.

Many had been subordinate to the Egyptians or in a diplomatic relationship with them for at least as long as the few centuries covered by the records.

Some groups are not included in the Egyptian list of Sea Peoples, as they operate primarily on land.

Among them are the ‘prw (Habiru) of Egyptian inscriptions, or 'apiru of cuneiform (“bandits").

Some people, such as the Lukka, are included in both categories.

The Egyptians employ select groups, or members of groups, as mercenaries.

Pharaoh Ramesses III, the second king of the Twentieth Dynasty, who reigns for most of the first half of the twelfth century BCE, is forced to deal with a later wave of invasions of the Sea Peoples—the best recorded in his eighth year.

The pharaoh records the Sea People's activities in several long inscriptions from his Medinet Habu mortuary temple.

The ends of several civilizations around 1175 BCE have instigated a theory that the Sea Peoples may have caused the collapse of the Hittite, Mycenaean and Mitanni kingdoms.

Ramesses' comments about the scale of the Sea Peoples' onslaught in the eastern Mediterranean are confirmed by the destruction of the states of Hatti, Ugarit, Ashkelon and Hazor around this time.

The region known today as Syria-Palestine, which stretches eastward from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates River and the Syrian Desert, comes to be divided around 1200 into three main parts.

The Philistines, one of the marauding groups of Sea Peoples that abruptly bring down the empire of the Hittites and seriously challenge that of the Egyptians, colonize the coastal plain of southern Cannan, giving the name Philistia to the southern coast.

The Hebrew tribes, traditionally twelve in number, emerge in the low-hill country of central Palestine; they may be poor relations of the Canaanites long established in the cities.

The remainder of Canaan, the long narrow strip of coast to the north, will come to be known to the Greeks as Phoenicia, where the Phoenicians develop a maritime trading empire, establishing colonies throughout the Mediterranean.

Between these coastal areas to the west and Mesopotamia to the east lie the city-states of the Aramaeans.

Phoenicia and Aram will eventually come to be called Syria; Philistia and the hill-country of the Hebrews will come to be called Palestine.

Damascus has been only the peripheral part of the picture that has mostly affected the larger population centers of ancient Syria.

However, these events have contributed to the development of Damascus as a new influential center that emerges with the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.

However, Damascus is not documented as an important city until the coming of the Aramaeans, Semitic semi-nomadic pastoralists who arrive in the region, perhaps from the Arabian Peninsula, and first establish the water distribution system of Damascus by constructing canals and tunnels that maximize the efficiency of the Barada River.

(The same network will later be improved by the Romans and the Umayyads, and still forms the basis of the water system of the old part of Damascus today.)

The Aramaeans of north Syria are the next to be attacked by Tiglath-Pileser, and he thrice makes his way as far as the sources of the Tigris.

The city of Damascus becomes the center of a powerful Aramaean state called Aram Damascus in the late twelfth century BCE.

The sources for the early history of Aram-Damascus are almost nonexistent.

A collection of annals dating to Tiglath-Pileser I (1114-1076 BCE) states that Aramaean people have begun settling in the southern half of Syria.

The ruins of the Aramean town most probably lie under the eastern part of the old walled city.

The latter part of the reign of Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser seems to have been a period of retrenchment, as Aramaean tribesmen put pressure on his realm.

Georges Roux, writing in his book Ancient Iraq (London: Penguin, 1992), considers Tiglath-Pileser "one of the two or three great Assyrian monarchs since the days of Shamshi-Adad".

From his surviving inscriptions, he seems to have carefully cultivated a fear of himself in his subjects and in his enemies.

He dies in 1076 BCE and is succeeded by his son Asharid-apal-Ekur.

The later kings Ashur-bel-kala and Shamshi-Adad IV are also his sons.

The Aramaeans during the eleventh and the tenth centuries conquer Sam’al (Zenjirli), also known as Yaudi, the region from Arpad to Aleppo, which they rename Bît-Agushi, and Til Barsip, which becomes the chief town of Bît-Adini, also known as Beth Eden.

At the same time, Aramaeans move to the east of the Euphrates, where they settle in such numbers that the whole region becomes known as Aram-Naharaim or "Aram of the two rivers".

One of their earliest kingdoms in Mesopotamia is Bît-bahiâni (Tell Halaf).

North of Sam'al is the Aramaean state of Bit-Gabbari, sandwiched between the Neo-Hittite states of Carchemish, Gurgum, Tabal, Khattina and Unqi.

While these later states maintain a Neo-Hittite hieroglyphic for official communication, it would seem that the population of these small states is progressively aramaeanized; hence, the term Syro-Hittite states.

The Aramaic kingdoms around Damascus, as well as those in Palestinian border areas, interact after 1000 with the Hebrews, sometimes as opponents, other times as expedient allies.

The Bible relates that Saul, David, and Solomon (supposed to have flourished in the late eleventh to tenth centuries) fought against the Aramaean kingdoms across the northern frontier of Israel: Aram-Sôvah in the Beq’a, Aram-Bêt-Rehob, and Aram-Ma’akah around Mount Hermon, Geshur in the Hauran, and Damascus.

An Aramaean king's account dating at least two centuries later, the Tel Dan Stele, was discovered in northern Israel, and is famous for being perhaps the earliest non-Israelite extra-biblical historical reference to the Israelite royal dynasty, the House of David.

Farther north, the Aramaeans, in possession of Hamath on the Orontes, are soon to become strong enough to dissociate with the Neo-Hittite block.

Assyria, following the end of the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BCE, has entered a comparative decline that is to last one hundred and fifty years.

Despite its apparent weakness, Assyria remains a solid, well-defended nation whose warriors are the best in the world.

With its stable monarchy and secure borders, Assyria is in a stronger position during this time than potential rivals such as Egypt, Babylonia, and Elam.

Kings such as Ashur-rabi II, Ashurnasirpal I, Tiglath-Pileser II, and Ashur-Dan II successfully defend Assyria's borders and uphold stability during this tumultuous time.

This long period of isolation ends with the accession in 911 BCE of Adad-nirari II.

Complete eponym lists exist from his reign through the middle of the reign of Ashurbanipal in the seventh century BCE; therefore, year one of his reign in 911 BCE is perhaps the first event in ancient Near Eastern history that can be dated to an exact year.

Moreover, the Assyrian King List is generally considered quite accurate for several centuries before Adad-nirari's reign, and scholars generally agree on a single set of dates back to Ashur-resh-ishi I in the late twelfth century BCE.

Rehoboam, Solomon's son, is forty-one years old when he ascends the throne, according to 1 Kings.

Under his father, the people had been taxed heavily to pay for all the building projects undertaken during his reign.

Solomon's act of building a place over the Millo, formerly an open area providing convenient access to the Temple for those coming from the north, may have been perceived as apathy for the tribes of the north.

Therefore, there was great unease immediately after the death of Solomon, people being afraid that he would pursue a high-taxation, (supposedly) pro-southern policy like his father.

Solomon had also accumulated several prominent enemies during his later reign, notably Hadad, the Egyptian-backed heir to the Edomite throne; Rezon, the son of an Aramaean army captain, now the de facto ruler of Damascus; and Jeroboam, a rising young Ephraimite who, encouraged by the prophet Ahijah, was increasingly outspoken against Solomonic policy.

The nation demands that the coronation ceremony be held at Shechem, a decidedly pro-northern stronghold, to crown Rehoboam.

The weak Rehoboam complies, and the people immediately demands relief from heavy tax burdens.

Rehoboam asks and is granted three days to receive counsel before announcing his decision to the masses.

The elder counselors formerly of Solomon's kingship advise that he lower taxes to gain favor among the people, while the younger counselors, cronies of the new king, exhort that he raise taxes to express his authority.

Rehoboam sides with the young counselors and says to the people, "my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

As a result, the northerners retract their recognition of the legitimacy of the rule of the House of David and declare independence.

Jeroboam is appointed as king over them, and their breakaway state becomes known as the Kingdom of Israel.

Only the tribe of Judah had at first followed the house of David when the disruption had taken place at Shechem, but the tribe of Benjamin joins the tribe of Judah very soon after, and Jerusalem becomes the capital of the new, poorer, sparsely populated southern kingdom (Joshua 18:28), which is called the kingdom of Judah.

Politically, the state of Israel seems much less politically stable than Judah, maintaining a form of charismatic leadership by merit and competition between ruling families seem to have depended much more on links with outside powers, Tyre, Aram and Assyria, to maintain their authority.

This need to placate powerful neighbors is demonstrated from early in the reign of Jeroboam, when, despite reputedly establishing fortifications at Tirzah, Shechem and Penuel, Israel is invaded by the Biblical Pharaoh Shishak.