Qarqar

Probably Tell Qarqur, on the Orontes in north-western SyriaLevant and ArabiaAlso: Karkar, Tell Qarqur

A royal city of the kingdom of Hamath on the Orontes, where Shalmaneser III of Assyria fought a coalition that included Ahab of Israel in 853 BC.

Shalmaneser III calls Qarqar a royal city of Irhuleni of Hamath. He says that he burned it, fought the allied kings from Qarqar as far as a place called Gilzau, and dammed the Orontes with their dead (Kurkh Monolith ii 89–102); see Ahab at the Battle of Qarqar. The Bible does not mention the town. It is usually identified with Tell Qarqur, a large mound beside the Orontes, and the marker is placed there.

What happened here

853 BC, firm date
Ahab at the Battle of Qarqar
Shalmaneser III of Assyria meets a coalition of Syrian and Palestinian kings at Qarqar on the Orontes. His stela lists Ahab the Israelite among them. The Bible does not mention the battle, which gives the first fixed date in the history of Israel’s kings.

Primary sources

The Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III

Issued in the name of Shalmaneser III · 853 or 852 BC · Akkadian · British Museum, London (BM 118884)

Kurkh Monolith ii 89–102oracc.museum.upenn.edu