579-570 BCE
The Defiant King of the Medes
In 579 Ainyava, the king of the Medes, defeated Haritāśva the noble in command of the army of Kamboja dispatched in 579 BCE to regain tribute from the Medes. At the current, the Medes are residing in the southern sector of the Arius River, whilst the Kamboja reside on the north section, up to the Hindu Kush and the border of the Kashmiri mountains. To the northeast, a semi-sedentary people of Iranic stock reside in Bactria, called likewise. In the Kwarezm to the straight northwest, is the Dahae confederates, nomadic folk who traverse the steppe. Abounding the Dahae, is collections of semi-sedentary peoples called Kwarezmi or Chorasmi, who live in walled settlements and resemble their southern neighbors in Hyrcania/Parthia, sedentary folk who have levels of relations to the nomadic folk such as the Scythians, Dahae and so forth. The Kamboja by contrast are a settled folk of Aryans, whose cultural and linguistic affiliation, as well as their form of government orient more closely to the Aryan states of the Gangetic Plain, than they do to its neighbors in Bactria or Chorasmia. Despite this, to be sure, the Kamboja possess the greatest cavalry amongst the Aryan folk and have innovate past extensive usage of the chariot.
In the later section of 579 BCE, the Medes turned the tide in their relationship with Kamboja, throwing forth tributary relations and defeating their armies. Ainyava then, a defiant and brave king, took to gaining an ally from his kindred, Cambyses I. This aid was technically illegal for Cambyses I to provide, despite this, Cambyses I and his court devised a series of plans in Anshan with which to host the Medes. This included a secret protocol upon arrival of a Median envoy and following this, a dispatching of the king of Parsa into a small tunnel in the palace of Anshan (created during the Bronze Age Idelhalkid dynasty of Elam) which led into a discrete hostel near the palace built during the reign of his predecessor, Cyrus I which acted as a front for which the Parsa kings could interact with foreign envoys without the prying eyes of the Assyrian qepu. Thus, without Assyrian knowledge, the Persians were providing secret military aid in weapons, grain, supplies, camels and so forth. In exchange, the Medes would grant the Persians a tribute of horses, which Persia lacked in excess and required to pay tribute to Assyria, which valued horses above any other commodity that Persia could provide.
With the increase in supplies, the Medes under Ainyava possessed a force that permitted them to make a significant campaign into the north, where prior the Medes held only the faint ability to protect themselves. With greater stores of grain and camels for luggage trains, the Medes set about building a campaign force worthy of their predecessors prior to Sinsharishkun’s disastrous invasion in 607 BCE. An unprecedented recovery, but one that was patched together.
The new Median army commanded by Ainyava possessed less military attire, supply and diversity as the army under Cyaxares (Huxšaθra in Avestan format and Umanishkar in Akkadian). However, it made up for it in homogeneity and hunger. The army was composed of a core of veterans from past wars, often members of the upper crust in Mede society. There too, was new recruits and ascending warriors from all classes, who due to recent circumstances, were obliged to do war where prior such combats would be the privilege of the upper classes. Local Drangians and other folk residing in the areas wherein the Medes were now in residence, were also conscripted or hired into the army with the promise of loot and pillage of the northern farms, pastures, and cities.
In Kamboja, feared crept in whence the news of the defeat arrived. However, the warrior elites, rallied around the Rajan and leader of the state Aoziṣṭhačitra. Aoziṣṭhačitra made great oration as to the greatness of their ancestors, who had yet not lost in wars, whose fearsome physique was known from the world over. He resounded with a great war call, that surely, the armies of Kamboja, never in lack, would defeat the Medes and drive them back southward. Yet the situation was more complex than simply engaging the Medes in war, for to the east, the Gandhara state under Abjít, eyed the Kamboja as a hungry predator. As such, Aoziṣṭhačitra dispatched some warriors to the border zones along the Ghandhara so as to watch the frontier, ensure that should the Aryan state attack westward, the Kamboja would be able to return east and deal them a decisive blow, before returning march to dislodge the Medes from their gains. The plan assumed Kambojan military superiority and ability to range their lands with exceptional speed. This is something, at least the later, was certainly true. Knowledge of their surroundings was supreme for Kamboja, and their famed mobility was enough to cross distances in their homeland with which to inflict consecutive blows on their enemies.
In Ghandhara, king Abjít had agreed to at least not assist the Kamboja against the Medes and betray any sort of comradery they might hold with the Kamboja. However, the king had not agreed to not attack the Medes or also attack the Kamboja and grasp whatever he could from the situation of chaos that was soon to descend upon the Arian River Valley. The situation was sure to be quite tense as the month of March approached in 578 BCE and the Median army marched north with a host and a supply train to sustain and series of sieges expected to occur. Ainyava gave command of the army in general to an old associate of Gaudama I, a certain Hvare-chaeshman, whose expertise revolved around sieges and operating in campaigns across wide distances. During the reign of Gaudama I and Gaudama II, he had been instrumental in the victories at Ectbatana over rival Mede factions and had progressed the war in Mazandran and Gilan against surviving Assyrian pockets with great precision and skill. This was an auspicious choice as the Kamboja possessed several fortifications sets along its territorial limits. The Kamboja had been used to waging war with steppe nomads, who had no been skilled in sieges and whose campaigns often could be dissuaded by high walls and temporary tribute. Now however, the Kamboja face a more substantial foe whose goal is long term survival.
The Medes set forth in late March of 578 BCE and reached Kamboja lands in the first day of April, wherein battles immediately began. The Kamboja warriors expected a more concentrated horse-based assault, that intended upon mass looting. Instead, under Hvare-chaeshman, the Medes focused their movements to striking points and protecting their supply lines. The Medes only sent forth soldiers to perform raids at set times when it was beneficial. Aoziṣṭhačitra apparently expected to have more time thus to gather a sufficient battle host to engage in a pitched battle, however the ferocious Median maneuver and its rare discipline forced him into quick action.
Aoziṣṭhačitra was able to gather rapidly an army of 39,000 warriors upon short notice and traveled south to stop the Median advance on the 9th of April. The movement of his soldiers from Kamboja southward, was not unnoticed and on the 13th of April, Abjít and his Ghandaran army proceeded northwest with 47,000 warriors to capture several locations on the border zone with Kamboja. According to later texts, Ghandhara sought to acquire total control over Kamboja. Yet, despite this assertion, the Ghandharan forces approach only a small distance into Kamboja lands at first. These attacks from the east were strikes upon varied walled sites and after a week on campaign, the army under Abjít had captured the entire border area it held with Kamboja, icnreasi9ng confidence of his army, which pushed further north, attempting to make haste to Kapisi, the capitol of the Kamboja state.
Aoziṣṭhačitra, nevertheless pressed southward to engage the Medes before they were able to link with the Ghandhara state to the east. He was able to make it south wherein the two armies battled inconclusively in a major pitched battle along the Arius river. The Medes according to the later historians got the better of the situation and were able to maintain their position and besieged several towns and forts, capturing most before the end of May. In the meanwhile, not badly bloodied, Aoziṣṭhačitra short forth northward once more to reinforce Kapissi which was set on siege by the Ghandharans. Commanding the city at the time was Haritāśva, who already a great enemy of the Ghandharans refused to submit to the enemy and held the city with ferocity. His guards numbered 10,000 warriors. They held high walls, strong towers, catapults, and an incensed population. Abjít had made early signs of victory over the city when his army initially set siege. Archer fire from his bows torched with flames seemed to frighten the enemy. Likewise, in his army existed extensive supplies of food and resources, while his army was already combing the land in raids to loot new resources to sustain the siege.
However, the siege dragged on without change and this permitted the return of the Kambojan army into the field, which forced the Ghandhara to likewise make haste back east, unwilling to be caught in such a situation. Yet, the Ghandharan army had occupied most of eastern Kamboja and was actively maintaining its position therein. Furthermore, the Medes remained in the south stalled, yet also a strong force. The situation was quite difficult for the Kamboja and their issues were multiplied by the day. Yet still, their armies had done well to survive to this moment. Abjít and his force-maintained rule in their areas, his army dispersed and many returned to their homeland, while he remained on the frontline with his hardened regulars. Thus, a lull began on the eastern front, as Kamboja defended its eastern flank with a force of some 13,000 warriors spread across the area and 9,000 stationed in Kapisi. To the south, Aoziṣṭhačitra marched south to reinforce the the areas north of the Median army, which had methodically annexed much of the southern Arius riverway. Aoziṣṭhačitra was however able to defeat the Medes at the city of Arghandashi directly south of Kapisi-Kamboja in the north.
The lull thus set in between the three aggressors for the next few months. Ainyava attempted to acquire a favorable peace, unwilling to continue the conquest northward. Kamboja rejected these peace offers and the Kamboja and Gandhara remained staunchly opposed to one another, ceasing diplomatic envoys for the time being. Kamboja was not denying peace though without a sure plan. In June of 578 BCE, the Kamboja distributed some of their highest nobles on horse back to travel to the northwest to the lands of the Chorasmi and into Bactria. There the Kamboja sought the aid of the Dahae and the sedentary peoples of the region. They warned the Dahae and others of the surely disastrous situation it would create should either of the Kamboja foes attain power in the region. Several war hosts of Dahae set forth south with ready made goals to gain favor and power with the Kamboja and use this as a springboard for which to make movements southwest into the Gandhara state and beyond.
These Dahae or Dasha in Akkadian, set upon the region supposedly allied to the Kamboja, led by a warlord named Xeshmi (Wrathful one). Xeshmi led a fearsome band of Scytho-Dahsha, a formidable nomadic warrior folk who were arrivals into the Kwarezm at some point in the 700s BCE. In prior centuries, it is the opinion that the Dahsa were originally more southern oriented and held a life more akin to the Vedic folk. That is, charioteer folk, who practiced a level of semi-sedentary relations alongside a charioteer elite caste. This however ended when for reasons likely related to the Dahsa-Vedic wars in the Late Bronze Age, the Dasha were expelled northwards. There, they likely migrated along pathways around the region of modern Sogdia among more sedentary folk who had existed in these locales prior. When the beginning of steppe nomadism took shape in the true sense with the invention of the composite bow, these Dasha took on the characteristics of the Scythians of the east and west, becoming predatory nomads who practiced a light form of agriculture periodically in accordance with seasonal conditions. This began a movement of the Dasha back southwest into the Kwarezm, inhabiting the area as semi-transient folk, who perhaps periodically raided southward and engaged in long distance trade ventures with the blossoming Gara (Yuezhi) empire in the Tarim and the Scythian realms, some of whom may have been massive in the region of modern Mongolia in the Altai mountain ranges.
Regardless, the Dasha moved southward under Xeshmi and though technically aligned to the Kamboja, did not actively move to assist the Kamboja overtly. Instead, the Dasha pushed eastward, grimacing Kapisi and attacking the Gandhara in November of 578 BCE. These attacks were in conjugation with a resumption of conflict in the south, wherein the Medes managed to campaign northward again with a smaller force but were dislodged by a fully renewed Kamboja counter offensive in late November of 578 BCE. In total, the Medes and Kamboja remained at small scale war with each other, whilst the Gandhara and the Kamboja-Dasha waged overt war with one another.
This movement of the war east, provided relief for the Medes, but angered the Persians, who lost their main goals. Without an enormous Median victory, their vaunted tribute would be lost, as would their considerable expense. This led to a rising tension between the Persians and Medes in Drangiana and Cambyses I began to dissuade his court from further attempts at assisting the Medes in their ventures in the east.
On the Gandharan front of war, the Dasha;s sudden arrival led to a widespread attack on the Gandharan forces stationed in the area, most of whom had been garrisoned in towns, forts and villages captured in the prior months. Most of the army had already marched east back to the Gandhari heartland. Hence, the Dasha managed to overrun the Gandhara and sent king Abjít into flight to the city of Pushkalavati and other defensible locations beyond the Hindu Kush. Xeshmi, reveled in the victory, his army looted Kambojan villages recently liberated and decimated the lands, before breaching the Hindu Kush in December of 578 BCE and shooting forth into Gandhara.
The Dasha’s force was able to raid through many areas, however, the rapid recovery of Abjít and his army, forced their flight in February of 577 BCE, after a month of attacks, sieges, and raiding. The Dasha under Xeshmi returned to Kamboja and moving north bypassed Kapisi and migrated to Bactria where Xeshmi settled himself as a warlord near the city of Drapaska, just outside of Kamboja rule. There, a Bactrian urban and rural population submitted to Xeshmi, who collected tribute from them for the remainder of 577 BCE.
Kamboja nevertheless remained at war with the Medes to their south but were unable to gain conclusive victories beyond their initial victories in the prior year. The Medes agreed later in 577 to a peace agreement between he two spoken of by an Assyrian court document in Sinsharruderi, which had recently become aware of the warfare transpiring in the east.
‘The Madai had attacked the Kamboja in respect of the dislike of tribute, they invaded the Kamudu (Kamboja) and gained some victories before them. Yet, the Kamudu were like attacked by a foe from the east, whom the Kamudu call the Gandhura, that defeated the Kamudu in the field. These Gandhuru yet were then set upon by the Kamudu who had invited a host of Dasha, leading to a return of favor for the Kamudu, who reasserted their positions. Kamudu thus free for further attacks upon the Madai, struck south, but unable to make headway, they agreed to an armistice between the two. Their correspondence is known to us through the breach of merchant Shamash-basi-anshu (Shamash, led me away from illness) who hath lived amongst the Kamudu since year 4170 (581 BCE) in the work of the state.’ -Registry of Sinsharruderi, scribe Ishtar-eleepu-elish (Ishtar grew upwards).
War without cease and conclusion would remain however between Gandhara and the Kamboja from 577-574 BCE and then flaring up once again 571-569 BCE, mostly low scale conflict between the two states, who dropped any pretense of common ground between each other.
The war had the following effects, that may be estimated well:
-The creation of a militarized area between the Medes, Kamboja, the Xeshmi led Dasha and the Gandhara state. All of which competed with one another. Increasingly, this conflict ebbed into another major conflagration between the states involved akin to the conflict of 578 BCE.
-The warfare forced the Assyrian Eastern Protectorate to begin taking interests in the affairs of the east. Dagalu-kinutu-Assur, the Protector General of the East, began stationing soldiers further east. Previous Assyrian policy held that the lands east of Marhashi were desolate and empty, aside for a rumored port of wealth beyond the desert from ancient times. However, the recent reconquest of Dilmun in 588-586 BCE brought to mind to notion that the lands beyond the immediate Assyrian sphere were possibly littered with powerful realms. The wars in the east of the Kamboja and their foes only affirmed this reality for the Assyrians. Word of the war in the east arrived to the court in Kalhu in the year 576 BCE in a series of tablets composed in shorthand Akkadian composed by scribe Ishtar-eleepu-elish, a scribe under Dagalu-kinutu-Assur, they would throw the court once more into discussion.
The Year 577 BCE in Karduniash
Dagon-zakir-shumi, only age 26 had sired his first son in the year 577 BCE, who was thus the second in line for the throne, he was named Ariba-Adad. Dagon-zakir-shumi’s first child rose the hopes of the Karduniash nobility surely. Sinbanipal had yet to produce an heir and should he fail in this mission, the new king of Assyria would be Dagon-zakir-shumi and his new son, Ariba-Adad would be the prince.
Babylon erupted into celebration upon the prince’s birth, which was heralded as a victory for Karduniash prosperity. The Great Gods were adorned with great treasures from the palace and the idols were made visible in the public squares. Men from across the region travelled by boat to the great holy city to make an offering to the first born of the king of Karduniash,the most splendid king in the universe from their perspective. A praise was let out in writing as well:
‘Lord, Champion among the Ages, Marduk, whose name is pronounced by the people of your homeland, we sing to you a praise and to the Holy Family. It is to you that we give the glad praises, for you have delivered unto the world an heir fit for Duranki and bestowed your preference; made it alight in relation to the lands beyond. O’ Lord Marduk, make it known for the ignorant that the Great gods favor the land wherein the Duranki rises further and whose name is preeminent amongst the Lands of Piety.’ -A Praise of the Babe, by priest Marduk-rasmu (Marduk’s voice is assertive)
The region was likewise encompassed in a fever of literary developments and texts composed in honor of the king, who, despite his youth, was ruling as a man who respect the ancient customs. Dagon-zakir-shumi presented massive benefits to scribes, to soldiers, to the temples and enacted legal reform across the country. Endeared to him in peace was much of the population. Furthermore, his association with Sinbanipal, led to a curious development wherein the common people believed the Dagon-zakir-shumi himself had achieved such victories in war that were, victories of Sinbanipal. This may have been an intentional development, as the Karduniash nobles were wishing ever more to ascend their realm to the foremost in the dual monarchy.
Religious thinkers and scholars were the foremost beneficiaries of the reign of Dagon-zakir-shumi, for despite his great friendship to the nobility, who dominated his government, the young king held an admiration for astrology, the rites of religion and new ideas regarding the religion. He sponsored scholars to the court who, would propound new ideas, ideas that in Assyria would be seen as perverse, but in Karduniash, were much conservative instinct was locked into attaining dominance over the dual-monarchy, new ideas were more accepted as a means of affirmation of Karduniash independence.
Some of these works would become particularly important for later eras, these were as follows:
Itu-Laluu (The extent of luxury) by Bel-resh-ishie: A work made and presented to Dagon-zakir-shumi which presented a story of a man who devoted to Dagon acted in accordance with righteousness. Due to this, the man, named Dagon-asharedu, was blessed by Dagon with great success in this life. The man proceeded to live a life filled with pleasure and claimed that his luxury and grandeur was a form of worship to Dagon. He forgot to make the correct cultic practices and no longer made offerings to Dagon or even prayed to him. Then, in a phrase, Dagon comes to the man in a dream and curses him and removes his success and casts the man into the depths of torment and suffering. The moral of the story is given that though we may in one moment gain success in righteousness, the cultic practices and the continuation of duties is important for a realm. Presented year 580 BCE.
Shalummatu-Kittimu by Marduk-shakanu (Marduk set in place): A religious work pertaining to the praise set forth to the Great God Naboo, who is described as the Radiant Jeweler. The work acts as a lengthy praise of Naboo and his unique aspects as a designer of all matter and as the planner of Duranki. It would seem the author claims in some way, that Naboo is the greatest of Duranki, but that is not necessarily the full-intention. Otherwise, the work is held in great esteem by Dagon-zakir-shumi as a wonderful series of praises. Presented year 577 BCE.
Saaru-ushumgallu (the dance of the serpent) by Ka’anshish-dagalu-Ishtar (He stares submissively upon Ishtar): One of the most controversial works of literature brought to Dagon-zakir-shumi, it comes from a particular devotee from Uruk, the city of Ishtar who had served in the army in Arabia during the reign of Sinsharishkun. His work claims that Ishtar and Gula are entities who form a binary composite deity. Furthermore, it explains through praise that this binary deity is the so-called ‘expectation of Duranki’ that it is the preeminent reality, the greatest of the Great Gods by extrapolation.
Ishtar is the Goddess of war, dance, sex, reproduction. She is the left head of the binary deity. Gula is the Goddess of mercy, protection, healing, and motherhood. She is the right head of the binary deity. These two as the ultimate deity, called Qitu-Gamru (the ultimate cause) is postulated as a dancing Great God, who transcends the Family and is all encompassing in all aspects, nullifying the other Great Gods as mother and destroyer, protection and destruction, dancer and caretaker, source of illness and the healer. An all-encompassing deity that is greater than the others.
The work was highly inflammatory, but it was nevertheless permitted to exist, and the work was discussed widely in Karduniash for its points, while otherwise held to be excessive for its assertions. It did however gain a certain following and found especially fertile ground in the Karduniash influenced area of the Southern Protectorate, particularly in Tima, where Ka’anshish-dangalu-Ishtar was residing generally. Presented year 579 BCE.
Sillu-Nasaahu (the removed veil) by Hadiu-Abshanu-Nurgle (Free is the chain [of slavery] of Nurgle): This is a work regarding the opinions of the writer on the necessity of canal construction, infrastructure building and of certain economic points. The author held to the notion that generally, kings who were great in Mesopotamia, were those who sponsored great canal works and he presents a generalized overview of history with highlights of certain great kings who were great builders and maintainers of infrastructure. Then he contains a lengthy discussion into the importance of gardening and how irrigation and canal building is the most sublime role of the king, secondary only to war prowess.
A second part to his work, is one pertaining to benign neglect. Affirming traditional political view of the time, he claims that the king has a duty to uphold the right of property and right of business to the people of the land. He claims that the Great Gods bestowed the right of slavery, trade, freedom from hard currency, low taxes and so forth. That the greatest kings were those that upheld the laws of the Great Gods in war and also in civil matters. Presented year 580 BCE.
Ahu Ummudu-Nurgle (to touch Nurgle) by Ishar-Ramu (the tempest is handsome): A work composed as a praise to the deeds of Nurgle. The work acts as an attestation of Nurgle’s prowess in war and in the victories of recent years. Nurgle is presented as a warrior who may shapeshift, and he battles various foes and receives voices and conversations with other Great Gods in his quest to subdue and enslave demons, who are recalcitrant to Duranki. The work is interesting in that it identifies Nurgle as a chief god in the recent successes of the Akkadians. It ties into an ongoing belief that while Assur leads, Marduk is the champion, Ninurta is the hunter/explorer, Ishtar the anger, Gula the protector, Dagon the wealth, Naboo the knowledge, Adad the destroyer, etc… Nurgle is the God who assures continued Akkadian hegemony by way of his role as the God of slavery (slave-masters) and of roles of supremacy and domination. Hence, the work might be termed a praise of the current predominance of Akkadian imperial power and attributing this to Nurgle, rather than Assur, an intelligent propaganda goal as it forces once more the dominance of Karduniash over Assyria (the cult center of Nurgle is in Karduniash). Presented year 579 BCE
Other works were also composed, mainly astrological works presented to Dagon-zakir-shumi who praised these works greatly. Otherwise, Dagon-zakir-shumi spent the entirety of 577 BCE building new canals and sponsoring riverine transit systems. Improvements to existing canals were a priority of his reign and these were strengthened with new boundaries frequently. Likewise, a compensation system existed for farmers to leave their lands fallow to permit the depositing of salt.
The compensation included a what was called a Gimillu, a favour, whereby those who had a certain amount of land placed fallow or abandonment for transit based or flood control canals, they would be compensated by a grant of land from royal holdings equal to ¾ of their prior land in hectares. Furthermore, land of greater sizes was offered to those willing to leave Karduniash and migrate to Elam or Arabia and confer their expertise there as oasis farmers or in Elam as new landlords. Elam in particular was becoming attractive. Large numbers of peasants and slaves were made royal property and were needed to be distributed to owners. Hence, many struggling farmers in Mesopotamia sold their lands to be made fallow by the royal government and be granted an estate and slaves in Elam. Such actions were only possible due to the rapid expansion of the wider dual-monarchy and promoted an improvement in the economic situation in Karduniash.
Camel diplomacy was also very much still in swing. Karduniash permitted its taxes to be made in Arabia through camels and the acquisition of certain commodities that were then distributed into Karduniash at cheap or lower prices by the royalty, endearing the population. While in Arabia, regional tribes were gifted in trinkets and industrial goods created in urban areas, as well as grain shipments.
Of any region, Karduniash was benefitting immensely from the rise in Assyrian fortunes as it existed as a shadow kingdom in the midst of Assyria, focusing itself upon economic rejuvenation and legal reform. Meanwhile, Assyria fixated upon waging military campaigns and upon military reform and counter reform. Assyria for instance in 576 BCE, was preparing an invasion of the Odryssian kingdom in central Anatolia across the Halys, to be led by Makillu-Assur, the commander of the Wing of Dagon.
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Hope that this is a good update.
@LostInNewDelhi I would ask if you would be willing to update the map once more, if you have time that is. You may message me privately if you have worries.