585-580 BCE
The Second Greco-Lydian war
Alyattes had succeeded his father Sadyattes by murdering him and capturing the throne with the assistance of the nobility alongside affirming many of the more popular reform movements by his father. Alyattes secured much of the borders that his father had lost in the years of 589-588 BCE in the resumption of war with the Skudra. Approximately, ½ of the kingdom had fallen, most importantly, the north and eastern parts of the realm. Only the south and the west remained firmly in the hands of Sardis.
Alyattes securing the realm came with a short respite in the year of 587 BCE. There, Alyattes saw to tending to his name and the legacy of Sadyattes. His inscriptions obfuscated the truth of his father, which remained in only foreign records. That is, Alyattes claimed Sadyattes disappeared, that he rose into the clouds and became a god.
“Whence upon the day of the summer warmth greatest and most near the breast, my father, the grand Sadyattes, reformer of the kingdom, flew into the clouds. Kingship was bestowed upon I, a young brave, whose favor was in the gods, both for the Mother Kubaba, the lord of the storm Teshub and for the ancestors whose numeration is untold.” -Inscription in Sardis, 587 BCE
The memory of Sadyattes was reformed and maintained fully by Alyattes who took the title as follows:
“I am Alyattes, the avenger of Lydia, King of the Expanse, Popular King, Lord of the farmlands, Master of the shepherds, He who chastises the Merchants, Friend of those High and Low and the Son of God” -Full title of Alyattes
Alyattes thus maintained most of the reforms of Sadyattes. Mercantile operations remained government monopolies and the king maintained anti-Hellenic and anti-foreigner rhetoric. Yet, the prominence of the nobility returned. Nobles were appointed to all the highest military posts and commoners demoted. This increased the importance once more of cavalry formations, yet with a continued standing and conscript-based army. Garrisons were strengthened across the kingdom and the affirmation of Sadyattes’ fear of a resumption of Greek aggression was headed as the standing army in Ionia was given ready supplies from Sardis to maintain its watch.
Such fears were not without cause. In Greece, the alliance between Sparta and Egypt, caused stirrings in the Hellenic world. Never before had a blatant alliance with Egypt been made by a Hellenic country, especially not the ancient Sparta. Leon I and Archidamus I of Sparta, the brother kings made their alliance with Psamtik II and planned to make use of the alliance.
Leon I sought especially to revenge losses made in the prior Greco-Lydian war, by gaining revenge upon Lydia in war and freeing Ionia from Lydian bondage. Ultimately, as scholars of the day suggest, this was an attempt by Sparta to display power and diminish the rising Athenian fame in the region. As such, Leon I gained a large force and procured an agreement with Psamtik II. Leon I who had in the prior year of 587 BCE, took on an Egyptian scribe from Sais, ordered a letter of request to be drawn up for the Egyptian Pharaoh, Psamtik II:
“Dear friend and lord of the Nile River, the king of the Two Horizons. Do look kindly upon thy friend in Sparta, whose honor is great and whose lordship is friendly to thine own. Beseech you, doth we, saying thus: ‘come to the aid of thy kindred and make a war upon the Lydians who hath done wrong unto all man.’ Send us, O kindred, the supplies and aid for which we may reach the foreign land and trounce the enemy.” -Letter between Leon I and Psamtik II.
The letter implied a request of aid in the form of supplies and potentially warriors and ships. Psamtik II received the letter in the spring of 585 BCE and his scribes immediately translated it to Akkadian and sent a copy to the Palace Herald of Assyria, Kanisratu-Balutu-Assur stationed in Ashkelon, to ensure due submission to Assyria. Psamtik II responded in true force; as Sparta had assisted Psamtik II in dispatching Aspelta, so too must Psamtik II assist Leon I and Archidamus I of Sparta. Psamtik II sent his Mediterranean fleet, constructed by Necho II and manned by Greek, Egyptian and Phoenician seamen. It was to carry a fair bit of supplies kept in the treasury, especially weapons. Psamtik II went over even Spartan expectations when he sent a small force as well of 750 Egyptian archers to be assigned to Leon I and assist him in combat.
Why Psamtik II went so far in this, is a major question. Most important most likely, is that this displays a greater interest of Egypt in the north and Greece in particular and a display of power there, would warrant Egypt a vehicle for which to eventually protect itself more efficiently against Assyria. Likewise, the display was also intended perhaps to project Egyptian might into the Greek region by projecting dominance over Athens. An alliance of a naval oriented Egypt and a land-based Greek federation under Sparta, would be an extremely dangerous foe indeed.
Once Egyptian naval enforcements arrived, Leon I sent his envoys to Sardis, heralding war between the two kingdoms. Leon I cited as his reasonings, the oppression of the Greeks within the Lydian realm and then expounded upon the true majesty of the spartan king and the pretense of the Lydian king, claiming divinity in his recent 587 title expansion.
Leon I gathered a host of warriors from his city, his vassals and the token force from Egypt. While his army led by him made haste to Anatolia, the Egyptian navy set ship at Corinth where they interacted with the locals. Of whom the fame was increasing, ultimately reaching the city of Athens and all the country abound the Hellenes, that Old Egypt had assisted Sparta and that soon perhaps a Spartan-Egyptian hegemony was upon the land….
Nevertheless, the Second Greco-Lydian war began in late summer of 585 BCE as Leon I arrived at Ephesus and there the local populace hailed him as a savior and pledged fealty to him should he gain victory in battle. However, Leon I rejected their offerings of assistance in supplies. Instead the Ephesian populace was to be provided for by the Egyptian navy which was carrying goods from Corinth to Ephesus regularly. The Spartan army numbered 35,000 warriors approximately and were more prepared to battle the Lydians than in their prior campaign. Especially the cavalry contingents that the Lydians possessed. For that matter, Leon I had hired a contingent of 1,000 horsemen from Dacia for which to maintain a level of mobility on the offensive and provide cover for his infantry and forward positions.
Leon I took a very determined movement, attempting to take the initiative, he marched north toward Sardis, instead of south toward Miletus. According to Herodotus, Leon I felt a distinct ambition to defeat Alyattes in battle and thus inspire Ionian revolt in the south. If Leon I relied upon making gains in the south at the expense of a decisive victory against Alyattes, the Lydians would eb able to eventually overwhelm him. Likewise, the usage of Ionian soldiers was to be used at best as last resort. Leon I marched in an unexpected and terrible curve. Lydian defenses around Sardis were not to be trifled with. Leon I maintained guards on the Cayster River and otherwise pushed into the Sardis defensive lines.
Alyattes responded by sending his noble lord assigned to guard Ionia, Azuwiyaya with the standing army prepared by Sadyattes to engage from the south the Spartan army and crush it in the field. The army under Azuwiyaya was a divided force, it was the most recent army to have its commanders changed to nobles and the common soldiers used to Sadyattes and his ferocity and anti-noble and merchant mentalities, did not care for the change in the guard. Ultimately, the army too was divided by the infantry of common origin feeling dishonored by the symbols of the force being shifted to being held only by the cavalry of noble levies.
This army marched north from Tralleis toward the Cayster river, attempting to cut off the supply lines of the Spartan army. Leon I, turned back as the enemy was crossing the river and exposed the poor commandership and frank idiocy of Azuwiyaya, who was caught crossing the river as Leon I struck his army with a detachment of elites. The spartan detachment was made up of new and innovative phalanx medium infantry. They caught the Lydian army at surprise and defeated the Lydian field army in the field, scattering the enemy army which fell back to Tralleis. This caused an almost immediate response from Miletus, which declared war upon Lydia the following week, sending an army to besiege Priene and to harry the Lydian force under Azuwiyaya.
The Great Mutiny of 585 BCE and the Path of Alyattes
The defeat of Azuwiyaya in the field caused a general chaos and anger within the field army. The army had not lost a significant number of soldiers but were ultimately bested in the field due to surprise and by the skillful use of frontlines by the spartan infantry. The noble cavalry had attempted to break ranks and break the enemy formation, but were sorely decimated and the rank infantry were unable to make gains and were forced to make a foothold a km from the river to permit the nobles to escape the battle.
Anger and resentment grew. Making matters worse, Greek spies had made their way into the army. Mass conscription as intended by Sadyattes included the conscription near indiscriminately and especially of volunteers. Greek spies were able to enter thus easily, assuming they could speak Arzawa-Lydian. These spies spread rumors amongst the soldiers that the nobles had slain Sadyattes and have currently trapped Alyattes in the temple of Kubaba in Sardis. Thus the spies described, was why Alyattes, a man of standing, did not march to battle himself, as he was trapped by the nobles, unable to make contact with his devotees in the rank army.
These talks, led to fury and in the night, which came to be known as the great mutiny, the rank and file infantry betrayed their noble commanders and slaughtered the host of cavalry men as they slept in camp, some 11 km from Tralleis. A certain commoner took control of the army, naming himself Kuripzizi (He who enters the field of war) and declared a new army. Using captured bureaucrat envoys whom the warriors had captured and impressed he ordered to be written in Anatolian hieroglyphs, a message card to be held aloft in battle:
“For the King of the Lands, Friend of the People, We present thee an army! Victory is due to He who stands among the fields tended by the folk of the Lands.”
Renaming their army, ‘Burning Justice: Rescued King’ they organized themselves and sent word unto the garrisons around them, to betray the nobles and rescue the popular king in Sardis, and; destroy the Spartan army. Thus, by the month of July, the mutiny was complete and a large series of revolts seemed to be spreading across Lydia. Leon I for his part raided and pillaged the lands north of Sardis. Attempting to draw his enemy out of the city, Leon I took Smryna, before setting siege to Kymi, the port of Sardis along the Aegean coastline. However, more pressing to the Lydian king Alyattes was how to deal with the eruption of the mutinies across the garrisons in the south. In late July, these mutineers proved their merits by defeating the Miletans in battle near the Caystor river and launching raids upon Ephesus. In the country about southern Lydia, a general movement of war readiness had surged through the population. Many who were weary of war in prior years, regained their vigour at the war drum that the son of Sadyattes had been chained to the pillar in the temple of Kubaba and that the nobles were conspiring to permit the Greeks to conquer Sardis so as to regain their lands and estates fully. Alyattes could see the unfolding mayhem reached even the great city of Sardis, a truly immense city. According to the Greek political philosopher Xenophanes:
“Alyattes provides for us the clear example of how kingship in crisis is to operate. That when disaster comes, when faced with alternative directions; one acts as to what is most practical, not to what is right prior. For all reasoned actions have merit, the judgement of that which is better among acts, is that act that corresponds to the current situation most precise. Alyattes was faced with a revolt of the common soldiers and rapidly the entire populace was driven into a panic on behalf of their king…. Alyattes had choice to calm the crowds and risk their rage or affirm their fears and take hold of their madness for the harnessing of greater power and a greater sustenance of the Lydian nation.”
Alyattes according to the court records and opinion of the Ankuwa scribes (the eventual Ankuwan Recollection) would make his decision based upon the seemingly phenomenal success of the commoner armies against the Greeks in the south. Likewise, the commoner mutiny had spread to Halicarnassus wherein the army had ousted the nobles and also reined in the local Greek subjects efficiently.
Alyattes betrayed his noble benefactors in the month of August, as the Spartan army had recently broken the siege of Kymi, to attack Kuripizi at Priene. Alyattes alongside a single noble house, referred to as the House of Sardis, or the Sardians, prepared an escape. The king was to be snuck into the temple of Kubaba and then the noble lord of the Sardians, named Mashhiuluwa (I stood behind him in support) was to appear to a crowd of the public seeking their aid to save the king. This plan occurred on the 6th of August. Mashhiuiluwa appeared to give a grand oration to the public and persuaded the populace of the need to act and save the king. A city guard and hasty force formed and assailed the temple and soon after, with Alyattes enthroned upon a matt, carried him to the palace and the city guard dispatched guards to arrest certain nobles accused by Alyattes of crimes, who were then thrown into prison.
Alyattes thus took his army, made up of mostly commoners and left Sardis and chased after Leon I. Before he could catch him, on the 13th of August, Leon I had engaged in a series of clashes with Kuripazizi, leading to a stalemate in the field near Smryna where the tow forces were launching repeated clashes. Alayattes arrived on the 16th and the two armies combined with Lydian strength were able to drive the Spartans into a retreat which corresponded with a resumption of conflict around Ephesus between the two armies around the Caystor river, which the Greeks held strongly. Athenian assistance also arrived in early September, forcing the fall of Mylasa, despite heavy Lydian resistance.
Alyattes had even bigger issues in September however, for word had reached the Lydian king while on campaign that a rebellion had erupted in Lycia, led by local landlords, who had appointed a certain noble named Arnyanuli (Man from Arnyana) who proclaimed himself King of the Trmyamis. This rebellion was coupled with an alliance between this king and the Ionian factions. To make matters worse, war had erupted once more between the Skudran states to the north and east. Seemingly, the Odyrssians had formed an alliance with the Bithynians, coordinating into a horizontal alliance against the Thyni, whose realm constituted the smallest and weakest of the major Skudra peoples within Anatolia.
The recent successes in the field did not deter Alyattes from the fear of being overrun by the Skudra from the north, and then the Greco-Trmyamis to the south and west. Fearing more the threat from the north, Alyattes decided to make peace with one and attack the other. In the month of November 585 BCE, Alyattes concluded a peace with Leon I and the Ionian League. The treaty stipulated:
-Samos would be ceded to the Ionian League
-Priene would be ceded to the Ionian League
-Miletos would receive all of its surrounding countryside
-Mylasa would be ceded to the Ionian League and the League would extend to the end of the Cyster River.
-The Ionian border would be set in the north at the Cayster River and in the south the city of Mylasa. The Eastern border is set at Tralleis, which would remain a Lydian possession.
-Halicarnassus would remain a Lydian holding
-The kingdom of Lycia/Trmyamis would be released from Lydian rule. The borders of Trmyamis would be beginning at the sea, extending to Kibrya in the north along Indus in Asia Minor and to the east, ending at Attaleia.
-The treaty shall last 7 years, from 584-577 BCE.
At the conclusion, Sparta formed what became known as the Quintople Alliance. Sparta, Egypt, the Ionian League, Trmyamis and Corinth.
The Skudran realms 585-584 BCE
As Alyattes made peace with the Quintuple Alliance in December of 585 BCE, the three kings of the Skudra of Anatolia began warring once more. Pirûkamon the great king of the Bithynians had caused enormous turbulence in the region by conquering 1/3 of the former lands occupied by Skudra and forming a hyper-aggressive state in the northwest. This Bithynian kingdom was centered in the city of Nikaia and was by the year 585 BCE, still an overwhelmingly Skudran state in terms of appearance. The majority of the populace was rapidly becoming Skudran, as Anatolian peoples throughout the population were rapidly subsumed or fled southward. Yet, the replacement, itself was causing a level of osmosis of customs to the Skudra who inhabited cities and or settled to farm near Anatolian villages. Namely, this was occurring in the sense of gods, as somewhat similar Inod-European religious deities mixed together. Already in the year 586 BCE, Pirûkamon was claiming himself to be ‘the warrior of Tarhuna, the Thunder God.’
Yet, the Bithynian realm was also the least heavily invested in the Anatolian language and ruling customs. Pirûkamon ruled his realm by distributing lands to those tribes which provided merit in battle. Those tribes that did not, or bands that were of less skill, were made subordinates of those primate clans and tribes with whom Pirûkamon made lords. Pirûkamon ruled likewise, through these clans, whom he made lords and at times, giving them the title kings. These were called by the Assyrian chronicles as ‘petty kings’ or ‘assistant adjunct kings.’ In Thracian, these were called Periruvus or the ‘River Sons’ implying that they were rivers that flowed from the ‘High King.’
Pirûkamon on the otherhand, took the title of Apasharizu or ‘Water King,’ implying that he is the water from which the lesser kings derive their existence. Greek sources, describe this as ‘High King of Bithynia,’ who held in his realm many ‘kings’ or ‘River Sons’ yet all were under the ‘High King’ who commanded kings. This formula was a derivative of the Thracian tribal customs within Thracia and Dacia, yet more formalized and stratified as a relation to the Anatolian highlands. These Bithynian lords also took very seriously their role as lords in the new lands. Settling intensely, importing Greek scribes to serve their state and attempting to attract trade and new military innovations, especially more heavier armor styles from Assyria.
At this time, the Skudra armies were in all of the realms, still quite northern European and steppe in appearance. Soldiers wore wool shirts, jackets and wide and short capes, tall pointed hats or iron helmets, pants of many different contrasting colors, boots with laces and wool gloves and bracelets. Their men wore jewelry when permitted, typically amber, bronze and golds. While when clothing was removed, tattoos were transcribed upon the men whose deeds in battle were of merit, typically blue, the sacred color of tattoos. Tattoos were typically of items of war, horses, chariots, axes, swords, bows, etc… In terms of weapons and equipment of war aside from armor, the Skudra utilized a combination of iron swords, axes, javelin and Scythian Eurasian steppe bows. Their cavalry was also famous, made up of horse archers, javelin throwers and cavalry who wore heavier iron armor and were able to swing axes from atop the horse. In general, the Skudra had skilled javelin men and cavalry and the rest of their forces were relatively ordinary for European armies. That is, they were lighter in armor, high in morale when momentum was good, undisciplined, skilled in duels, poor in formation and prolific in terms of pre-battle dance, song and pomp.
To the south of the Bithynian kingdom, was the Thyni, who are in a state of chaos. Having lost their capitol and primary region of power, the Thyni are in a difficult spot as of 586 BCE. Their king Thyni is reaching an advanced age and the Thyni forces are disorganized. Yet, the Thyni possess some strengths. Namely, their horde is large and their territory includes the largest amount of walled fortifications in Anatolia. Already, the Thyni are displaying themselves as a defensive state, seeking to hold forts across Phrygia and impose itself as a local Skudro-Anatolian state. Access to these fortifications, and from impressing Anatolian bureaucrats, has led to a greater adoption of iron armors by the armies of the Thyni than their northern neighbor. Yet, Thyni had not implemented any major series of state reforms. His realm is still very traditional in style, with tribal elites paying respects to their king through service in battle but taking no new names or terms to make themselves known. The Thyni capitol was set at the city of Dorylaion and Pessinus.
To the east was the Odyrssian kingdom under Puraykames of the Odrysssi. The largest and most populous of the Skudra states in the region by a fair margin, it seemed at least a contender for the strongest among them. It held its capitol at Gordion but the majority of its populace was residing in the region of Lukkawanda, which was becoming spoken of by the new Thracian speaking inhabitants as Lukshawandi. The king of the realm, Puraykames, was a prolific warrior in the field, his fame was renowned amongst the Thracian speakers of all the tribes and he titled himself ‘The Heroic King, Protector of the Odryssian.’ His skill in battle had permitted his carving out of a large realm covering a fair portion of Anatolia and sharing the border with the Assyrian empire to the east, the Bithynian kingdom to the northwest and the Thynia and Lydians to the north and south respectively.
The kingdom had the largest population of non-Thracian speakers and the most highly urban. Currently, the Skudran tribes residing therein, maintained their customs and lived rural lifestyles outside of the cities farming and herding. They collected by the year 584 BCE, a regular tax and tribute from the city and village dwelling Anatolian populace. In exchange for the tribute, unlike in the Thyni kingdom, the Anatolian peoples were not forced to fight in battles, they became economic bonuses, yet militarily unused by the Skudra, who asserted themselves as a military elite in the lands they ruled. This structure was highly positive to the ruled populace, who had already been unreceptive or the least receptive to the reforms of conscription in Lydia. The removal of military obligations gave a sense of relief throughout the Lukkawandan population, who still feared the Assyrian empire to the east.
In this milieu, the Skudran states had formed into two distinct power blocs. A horizontal alliance between the Odryssian kingdom and the Bithynian kingdom. Each of which seeking to divide the Thyni and Lydian kingdom between the two of them. The Thyni lacked little to no means by which to protect itself against these behemoths aside from defend themselves indefinitely. This issue had been averted by the dual defeats suffered by the Odryssians and the Bithynians in the years of 589-587 BCE. Puraykames had been denied in his southern and western expansion by a resurgent Lydian kingdom under Alyattes and Thynus himself had defeated the Bithynian king Pirûkamon in the field near Dorylaion, forcing the Bithynian expansionism to take a break for a full two years. However, this situation changed in November and December of 585 BCE, when the two major Skudran states began to raid the exterior areas of Phrygia. In December of 585 BCE, Pirûkamon with a force of 3,700 horseman pushed deep into Phrygia, pillaging and setting the countryside ablaze. Thynus reacted by raising an army to defeat the enemy, who quickly fled, after his flight, an Odryssian army of 17,200 entered the Thyni realm and sacked Pessinus, before retreating with loot to Gordion. Thyus countered the Odyrssians by launching his own raid into Lukkawanda, wherein his force raided several frontier villages and defeated a subordinate clan affiliate in the month of January 584 BCE.
The Great Phrygian War 585-583 BCE Part One
This untenable situation of raids is typically categorized as the beginning of wars in 585 BCE. An early beginning heralded a greater and wider war between many different states and powers over Anatolia in general. The raid by Thynus into Lukkawanda, saw the heating of the war into a conflagration.
Puryakames and Pirûkamon met near Gordion between their two realms in the month of February 584 BCE and agreed to formally engage and destroy the Thyni for good. Arriving in their respective realms, both rose large armies. The two formed large forces for which to siege, and invaded the Thyni realm after a month of preparation in the month of March 584 BCE.
The invasion from two sides was handled by the Thyni who focused upon defending their fortresses and engaging in large skirmishes across the fronts. In late March, Puryakames defeated a smaller Thyni army near Pessinus and by the 23rd of March, Pessinus had fallen to the Odyrssian king. Meanwhile, in the north, the Thyni attacked countered the Bithynian force in middle March, and stalled their advance, before holding the city of Dorylaion against the enemy in late March. In the month of April Thyni forces were unable to stop recurring raids south of Dorylaion by the Odyrssians, but were nevertheless able to hold most of their major forts throughout April and once again stopped as Bithynian attempt at taking the city, leading to the Bithynian host splitting into groups and raiding the region while lightly sieging Dorylaion.
The blockade of the city though was ineffective, as supplies flowed into the city and in the south, resources were readily transported by armed bands that resisted raids. Despite that truth, the Thyni were being quickly overwhelmed after the fall of Pessinus, it would only be a matter of time before the kingdom was to fall. In fact, Thynus had already fled to the south, where he was raising an army for which to make a counter, thus abandoning the area to defense for the moment.
In this critical moment, Alyattes of the Lydians, invaded from the south, with a large force. The Thyni army attempted to resist the advance near the Hermanus river and were defeated decisively. Lydian forces funneled north into the region with its large conscript infantry columns and small detachments of Lydian cavalry forces. Thynus refused to relent however as his situation deteriorated, yet his advancing age got the better of him and the elderly king passed died whilst on campaign to break the siege of Dorylaion in the north. His succession became somewhat inflamed by a short internal crisis, leading to a duel between two brothers, a certain Thynus and Arula. Arula slew his elder brother in combat and assumed authority. The beginning of his rule was an inauspicious date, as his ascension in the month of May corresponded with the fall of Dorylaion and the flight of the Thyni royal caste south in flight from the city.
The Submission of Arola
Upon the fall of the capitol to the Bithynians, the royal caste and the army of the Thyni, surrendered much assumptions of power. However, in the western sections of the kingdom, the Thyni resisted the Bithynian attacks, while in the central plains of Phrygia, the three foes were conquering the entire area. In the month of July, the Lydians engaged the Skudran horizontal alliance in the north. The conflicts were fearsome across the front, as the armies battled over constantly changing borders, as enemies fell back before the Lydian advance and fortresses fell under the weight of the Lydian sieges. However, in the field of pitched battles, the Lydian army was the lesser, as proven when Alyattes becoming overconfident, sent Kuripizi north to take Pessinus with a force of 30,000. The army was decisively defeated in a pitched battle to the south of Pessinus and forced to retreat in disgrace. Gaining a momentum, the Odyrssian forces surged southward attempting to make gains, whilst the Bithynians remained stalled against the Thyni in Myasia.
A confluence of events led to an unorthodox submission and alliance. Arola sent word seeking submission to Alyattes in the month of August 584 BCE. Alyattes lacking the zeal of his father, accepted a vassalage over the Thyni, who understandably were relieved at the lowering of heat in the war.
A reason for this decision is of a few parts. On one hand, the Thyni were in an unwinnable situation. Submission to someone was inevitable. Of the options to submit, there was only the Odryssians, Bithynians and the Lydians. The Odryssi and Bithynians had formed ablood pact to eradicate the Thyni royal caste and subsume their tribe in 585 BCE and such agreement with them was impossible. As such, the Thyni submitted to the Lydians, despite the great difficulty that came with this.
Arola was forced to travel in person with a collection of allies to the Lydian forward army position in southern Phrygia. There, Arola was forced to genuflect and prostate to Alyattes, who proclaimed:
“The God Teshub looked kindly upon the Skudra lord, Arola. He was submitted before me, King Alyattes, the Son of God. Let those whoa re recalcitrant learnt he ways of the humble Arola, for the King of the Lands is bountiful in mercy, shouldst thy heart burst with regret, return yet unto I and find safekeeping under the storage-house of Sardis.”
Gaining the submission of the Thyni came with a resumption of offensive manuevers against the Skudra to the north and a returning momentum. Lydian forces also launched a series of raids into Lukkawanda, attempting to inspire revolt. This raid however was defeated by a local Lukka militia, fearing the return of Lydian occupation and conscription. Lydian fortunes once more fell as Alyattes led a large campaign alongside the Thyni to retake Dorylaion. There, the Bithynians defeated the Lydo-Skudran army outside Dorylaion and drove them well south in the month of September 584 BCE.
After the major defeat of Alyattes, a lull in conflict occurred for the remainder of 584 BCE and into 583 BCE. Both forces lacked the resources to maintain such large and grandiose campaigns. However, the two sides maintained a series of raids, small battles and open hostility between the two and slightly changing series of fronts in Phrygia, which was rapidly becoming a wasteland of habitation. Thousands had already fled both south and north, fleeing any way that gave reprieve of the total wars in the central plains.
The Lull of 583 BCE and the Invasion of Arabia by Sinbanipal
The lull of 583 BCE, as it set in, sat firmly in the favor of the Lydians, as their larger soldier reserve began to show its benefits. Both skudra were forced to permit much of their armies to return to till the lands. Though, the royal caste of the Bithynians and Odryssians remained in open conflict along the borderlands between the two alliance spheres. The situation throughout 583 BCE, would remain a sort of smallscale war between the two spheres, who were previously unable to break each other.
In the south, Sinbanipal prepared his grand invasion of Arabia, specifically to conquer the Ahsa and the lands beyond. At the advice of his court, Sinbanipal took only an army of some 10,000 warriors for the campaign and permitting the Southern Protectorate to provide greater numbers as needed. The Assyrian army embarked upon ships being created and were taken a short distance to Dilmun where the majority of the army was on march too, from the city of Eridu south to Hagaru (Gerrha). Sinbanipal arrived with a force of 900 elites in Dilmun and performed a great sacrifice to the Great God Sin:
“The Great King made a solemn ceremony in the Lands of Sin in the state of Dilmun. The dignitaries of the city were in awe at his splendor, surely the Great Gods smiled upon our Executor for his glory was upon display for the world to view there in Dilmun.” -Kalhu Codex
Sinbanipal ordered and deliberated alongside Sin-Gishru, the High Priest of Dilmun, as to the nature of his campaign. The land of Ahsa to the south, referred to as Ahzaminu in the recent court documents. Likewise, Sinbanipal deliberated upon the situation in the famed land of Magan, even further south and east of Magan. Their discussion was recorded in a legend known as the ‘Epic of Dilmun,’ which in an epic tone, with heavy romance, depicted the arrival and journey to Dilmun of Sinbanipal;
“Sayeth thus, Sin-Gishru, Priest of Sin, the glorious illumination: ‘Great King, tell me thus, go forth and make battle, send the men for which to prosecute the nations and sayeth thus wilt I, yes sire for the journey unto Duranki is paved by the hands of those whose tongue utters YES!
Replieth thus, sayeth the Great King, Lord of the Governors, Sinbanipal: ‘Might thee, O Priest of Sin provide forth the information for which to engage the nations? Lands far fromst the eyes hath conspired upon the Lands of Assur, they are a most recalcitrant bunch. Their fortunes are in a bad way and we make war upon those whose conspiracy races forth. Troops less is my requirement, yet required of thee, is the intelligence for which to maintain an operation and successful conquest.’
Upon such message, the priest quivered… He took a great breath, for his speech was to of long note and he gathered himself. The Great King waited expectedly, for an oration of old was to eb made:
‘Great King, I, a priest of Sin am privy to a great many wonders, lessons of the history, with which the Great god Sin hath made be inclined to listen, hear and attest to. His Lordship, the Heavenly Illuminator madeth my eyes for the task of reading and he instructed me in the talents which were unknown to me prior. He ledeth me through the passages of time, a Bridge Eternal, for as the phases of Sin change upon the face of the Heavens, doth to the changes of man find their origin in He is of the Changing Ways. Whence a boy born to Shamash without talents of pen, doth he become changed by the Gods, so too am I changed and made appropriate, a tool of use, a vehicle of transportation. In the same motion that the Great God Sin made my eyes appropriate for the pen, so too hath He deemed my tongue worthy to speak.
The message for thee, is to behold that that the Great God Sin hath deemed you to be worthy, for the Changer of Ways can create and mold as he wishes, surely, He is the Bridge anew. A Great King is the instrument of His Divine will, for such, the Great God fashions him and repairs him for the task at hand. Surely, the Great King hath a memory, for those whose fame exceeds amongst the ancestors are those whose names resounds as Gods, made from what was formerly a man. Sin hath deemed ye, O Great King, to be the vehicle for which he may be known. Take heart in the battle amongst men, for thee are to be a God amongst them!
Question thyself, Great King, for which reason hath the images appeared to thee, the crescent of Sin? Great King, Sin hath empowered thee for a mission, a glorious journey, for the road taken by sea, is the bridge unto Divinity, for as Naram-Sin made a transit to Dilmun upon his travels to Divinity, so too hath ye, O Lord of the Universe. Praise the Great King, who hath Transformed, from man, to Divinity!’
In this short epic, that also possessed this discussion, we find the first example of overt a text attempting to display the divinity of a monarch and connecting it closely to the Greta God Sin in explicit terms. This Epic was composed around 578 BCE in the city of Ur and was deemed as a deep blasphemy by most of the traditional Akkadian scribal class. Yet, the epic remained a common series of terms. It too, was transformed by 575 BCE into a poetic version, that was spoken to crowds in the city of Ur. Thus, spreading a myth of the great travel to Dilmun by ship by Sinbanipal, with a culminating arrival and revealing by Sin-Gishru. In the main body of the Epic, Sinbanipal travels by boat to the city and there, he is assailed by sea monsters, by pirates, by enemies from the sky and so forth. Each time, a crescent moon appears before Sinbanipal and empowers him with a certain glow, that he uses to dispel the enemies and calm the waves. Upon his journey, the Great King displays his humility by seeking still conquest on behalf of the Great Gods, instead of bragging of his exploits at sea. Sin-Gishru, the priest of Sin, thus pleased, bestows upon him the truth as to the journey that he partook.
Regardless, of the truth of this discussion and the journey, this is the most important aspect gleamed from this journey to Dilmun. Seemingly, nothing of martial importance occurred in the discussion, for Sinbanipal exited Dilmun in the month of September 584 BCE with his army. For the matter of his campaign, there was three objectives according to the Nippur Correspondence. Firstly, the destruction of the Ahzamanu, which had resisted the lordship of Assyria. Secondly, the acquisition of information on Magan. Thirdly, the subjugation of the Tha’mud kingdom of the Hijaz and the acquisition of tribute from any they encounter.
The Kingdom of Tha’mud
South of the Southern Protectorate was the kingdom of Tha’mud. It was a large tribal confederation controlling most of the Hijaz. It was also a new entity in the region relatively, only existing in truth from the 8th century BCE onward. Its main staying power was the transit of the inland trade of goods northward and southward. Their capitol was theoretically the city of Yahtrib, some 100 km south of the Southern Protectorate. Since the founding of the Southern Protectorate and the rise of the Saba’ hegemony, the Tha’mud found themselves in a difficult predicament. Wedged between two powerful states, the kingdom became relatively submissive. In prior eras, the Tha’mud had played an important role in the empowerment of the Qedar state, its larger northern neighbor in waging war upon Assyria. This led to multiple campaigns by Assyrian kings against the Tha’mud and the Tha’mud allies, the Nabtu, the Qedar and the Lihyani of Dedanu.
However, after the Assyrian civil war during the reign of Assurbanipal, the Tha’mud had never been brought back under the fold. After the establishment of the Southern Protectorate, the Tha’mud moved their capitol city of primary habitation to the city of Tayf, near Makkah. This signaled a new fearful attitude towards Assyria, after a long period of staunch resistance.
Tha’mud had towed the line of appeasement, nevertheless, never provoking Assyria, sintead focusing upon southern political matters. Namely, supporting the Ma’in cities against the Saba’ and migrants from the Nejd, who were migrating as warrior bands and travelling nomads into the Ma’in lands.
In terms of their governance and cultural framework, traditional Tha’mud kings were elected by a tribal council of the elder clansmen. These kings took names resembling those of the Southern Arabian realms or the Qedari. Their lords were not exceptional in titles or authority. The king more than anything, however, was the provider of authority and safety to the trade routes and the protector of tribal harmony between the different often feuding clans. Adhering to taboos, of respecting grazing lands, enforcing the traditions on vendetta and guarding the urban wealth, was the main duties of Tha’mud kings.
Previously, it may be said geopolitically, that the Tha’mud were moving to a Saba’ sphere of influence. However, after the collapse of Karabil-Watar II’s hegemony and the rise of his son Samah’ali-Zarah and his failure, diminished this role. Saba in-fact was experiencing new leadership. Samah’ali-Zarah had a short reign of only 7 years (592-585 BCE. He perished in battle against the Banu Khayash, who though slaying the king of Saba, were defeated in battle.
As of 585-584 BCE, the region of Yemen was once more in chaos, after some 3 years of peace. The arrival of the Banu-Khayash and associate subordinate clans threw the Ma’in into chaos. The Ma’in cities of Kaminahu and Haramum were both subjugated and turned into vassals in the years 587 and 586 BCE. The Banu-Khayash themselves forming what the Yemeni states referred to as the state of Khayash, moved their residence to the region of Hajjah and Jashaan, to the west of the Ma’in cities. This Khayash state then engaged in wars with the Saba’ kingdom and the Western League along the southwest of Yemen. The Khayash were defeated near Saba’ but managed to slay the king of the Saba and gained a morale boost from their victory. The battle led to a renewed Kahayash expansion southwestward. In rapid succession, the Khayash under their king, named Abdu-l-Hubal ibn Kibal al-Khayash (servant of Hubal [god of war in northern Arabia], son of Kibal and of the Khayash), captured Zabir and Zulmum from the Saba’ and the Western alliance. The Khayash realm, resembled a vast series of tributaries, paying tribute to the lords of the north as the Khayash came to call themselves.
The new Sheban king, took the name Karabil-Watar III in 585 BCE. His first two years saw defeats against the Khayash from 585-583 BCE. In 582 BCE, Karabil-Watar III managed a defense of his realm against a 582 Khayash invasion and reaffirmed an alliance with the Hadrumat to the east and proceeded to maintain his rule over Mar’ib and Timma. Then in late 582 BCE, an unprecedented alliance formed between Sheba and the Western Alliance, a coalition of allied cities, Dhuban, Ma’far and Shargarab. Thus, forming in 581 BCE, was three distinct blocs of power in Yemen. The Khayash state and tributaries in the north, Sheba, the Western Coalition and Hadrahmut in the center and the feuding Awsan God-kings of the far south.
The campaign proceeds
Sinbanipal split his campaign into two distinct movements. With Head Eunuch Sin-Shi’eretu, Sinbanipal gave him a force of some 3,000 warriors, who were sent to attack the Ahzimanu and then Sinbanipal would march from behind with the main force.
The campaign saw initial successes, Sin-shi-eretu defeated a detachment of Ahzimanu warriors and proceeded to capture various periphery oasis. Once the first lines were cleared, the main force swept southward, conquering the oasis of Ahzimanu. The lords of the oasis, had already sensed the impending doom after defeating Adad-apal-Duranki, only due to his running out of supply. In due time, the fall of their oasis strongholds would occur. The main clans thus, submitted to Sinbanipal after only a short series of battles across the oasis in the region. Sinbanipal decreed thus in the oasis, a vassal in the oasis of Ahizamanu and appointed a qepu to the region, who was to report to the High Priest of Dilmun. Furthermore, Sinbanipal, ordered the secondary clan of the oasis, the Tamu clan to be the appointed King of Ahizamanu and he took the name Sin-Lahaashu (Sin Whispered to him). This was an interesting change in Assyrian vassal appointment in regard to Arabia. That is, appointed kings were enforced to take a formal Akkadian name, at least in Arabia. This all was completed by the year 583 BCE.
The immense success of Sinbanipal began in 584 BCE, and he remained in the oasis region and travelled to the nearby western deserts but running low on supplies, the Assyrian army called off the transit to discover Magan. However, orders were made in the return to Hagaru in late 583 BCE, for an explorer party to be sent east across the sea in discovery of new lands. Thus, in December of 583 BCE, Sinbanipal marched toward Tayma in the Southern Protectorate and from there, south into the Tha’mud lands.
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