Salmanasar IV

During the reign of Salmanasar IV, the son of Adad-nirari III , the further weakening of the power of Assyria continued.

Salmanasar IV waged wars with the kings of Urartu Minoah and Argishti I and almost every year went campaigns against Urartu ( 781 , 780 , 779 , 778 , 776 and 774 BC ), but was not successful. In 777 BC e. Argishti captured Melid in the upper Euphrates and went to the flank of Assyria from the west, cutting its communications to the most important sources of raw materials, in particular to iron ore reserves. The regions of Kommanu (Melid) and Tsupani ( Sophena of the ancient authors) became part of Urartu . Gradually, other kingdoms of Northern Syria also sided with Urartu: , Sam'al, Unki ( Hattina ), Arpad , Karkemish , and Que. In 775 BC e. Salmanasar IV made a trip west, to the "cedar mountains" ( Lebanon or Aman), but he could not eliminate the Urartian threat from this side.

After that, Argishti I devoted many years to circumvent Assyria, also from the east. In 775 BC e., apparently in response to the Assyrian invasion in the previous (776 BC), Argishti invaded through the Mannean country , in Namar, which the Urartian sources call Babila (i.e. Babylonia). The region of Arsita was captured here (these are Kharshu, Kharshi, Kharsi of Sumerian, and later Assyrian sources, located on the border of Manna and Parsua). In his inscription, Argishti says that he was collecting warriors in the settlements of Assyria, as in his country (apparently, this refers to the Assyrian province of Zamua).

Apparently, this campaign provoked a response - the Assyrian expedition to Namar in 774 BC. e. The Turin ilyu, who headed the Assyrian army (literally “God is the sun”), the governor of Till-Barsip, called himself the winner of the Gutievs (apparently Urartians) and Namara and tells in his inscription on the lion statues in Till-Barsip of the Urartian king Argishti I, "whose name is scary, like a heavy storm . " Judging by the tone of the inscription, the Assyrians did not actually succeed in this battle. Argishti, for his part, reported that he "expelled Assyria from his country and defeated it . " In the same year, the Urartu captured the important, rivaling in importance to the capital of Manna, Isirta, Bustu fortress, located on the border of Manna and Parsua.

In 772 BC e. , in connection with his campaign on Baruatta (located next to the Bit Hamban and Ellippi, that is, probably somewhere in the upper reaches of Diyala ; Assyrian Bit-Barrois), Argishti I again reported that he reached the Assyrian border. However, since the initiative belonged to Argishti, it is natural that the List of Eponyms does not mention the Assyrian campaign in this area this year. The successes of Argishti were facilitated by the devastation that prevailed in Assyria, as a result of which he often dealt not with the royal troops, but with the troops of semi-independent governors.

In 773 BC e. Salmanasar IV undertook a campaign that ended in vain against the newly out of control of Damascus . Salmanasar’s last campaign was the invasion of .

Salmanasar IV ruled for 10 years. After him, Ashur-dan III ascended the Assyrian throne.

• Turaev B.A. Salmanassar // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Ancient East and antiquity . // Rulers of the World. Chronological and genealogical tables on world history in 4 vols. / Compiled by V.V. Erlikhman . - T. 1.
• Georges Roux . Ancient Iraq, Penguin Books, London 1992, ISBN 0-14-012523-X , p. 302