Ancient History - Part 33: New Direction, Same Directive

[THE COMMAGENE KINGDOM WITHIN THE LANDS OF ARZANENE]

Despite his hungry nibbling at the disorganized former Hittite lands, king Tiglath-pileser's victories on the west were soon plagued by a distraction back home. The Commagene people had risen once again in open-rebellion causing the Assyrian king to return with a vengeful aim at retribution. But once he did return to the northern outskirts of Assyria, he'd found that the majority of the uprising voices had absconded to their mountain fortresses.

Irked at his inability to reach the dissenting voices amongst the Commagene, as they each lay hidden safely within dangerously steep holdfasts, Tiglath-pileser and his advisors knew it would be a lengthy wait to starve the rebels out. And yet, wait they did, but not for so long, as the local inhabitants of the mountain lands, beginning with the Kurti people then others to follow, took umbrage with Assyrian soldiers upon their soil.

Quickly forgetting the rabble who'd withdrawn to the mountaintops, king Tiglath-pileser found himself filling the shoes of a conqueror once again, and it was said that upon finalizing his excursions, the Assyrian army had overtaken twenty five cities and countless villages. The lands of Arzanene (modern Armenia) and lands that extended to the great river now known as Amu Darya were all captured.

Many of these places surrendered to the much greater Assyrian forces without resistance. Fight or no fight, the result was the same, their lands became Tiglath-pileser's land, and a greater part of Assyria's borders had expanded once again.

The irony in the Commagene's uprising is that no matter which direction the Assyrian king would have chosen to expand, expansion would've occurred. His original intent decided upon the west, but with the Commagene drawing his attention back north, his military simply shifted geographical objectives and the mountain villages suffered a great wroth by proxy on behalf of their well-hidden and troublesome neighbors.

Rather than be gored by Assyria's might on the field, the people within the Arzanene region submitted whilst withholding any desire to grumble, but as the years beyond will tell they'd opt to fight another day. 

Another day and against another king.

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Typical mountain village during this period (as rendered by archaeologists by the 1800s):

Ancient History - Part 31: Keep Your Friends Close

By the late 1100s B.C., people eventually began to understand that Assyria was the true last remaining superpower of the Near East. Despite any losses on the battlefield and the occasional rulership of a petty king, Assyrian population was on a boom, the military only increasing in strength, and the culture possessed a resilient spirit that made them a menacing enemy for any in her path.

And so Assyria's military units struck Commagene, whose defenders were no match for the greater forces of king Tiglath-pileser. Homes were set ablaze, citizenry executed, and the lands pillaged. This assault was a moment of great importance securing Tiglath-pileser's reputation as a ruthless king and Assyria's reputation as no-nonsense political entity.

Commagene, ruled by king Kili-Tesrub, sealed the fate of his kingdom upon the refusal to pay new taxes levied by Tiglath-pileser and the surviving populace fled across the Tigris River. This diaspora of Commagene people intermingled with the Kurti tribesmen and formed an alliance, well away from their abandoned homeland.

Only one stronghold remained manned within Commagene, a mountain fortress that refused to surrender, and was held by Kili-Tesrub's brethen, Shadi-Tesrub.

King Kili-Tesrub of the exiled Commagene gathered his new allies and recrossed the Tigris in an attempt to regain the lands Assyria had taken. A massive battle took place in a fight for the Commagene kingdom, but in the end, Kili-Tesrub was captured, along with his treasury, and when news spread Shadi-Tesrub surrendered the Commagene people's last redoubt, his fortress, to the Assyrian army.

While many leaders during this era preferred to secure the unity of their people and tout this as some great success, now there was an external threat which stole their attention. The display of power that Assyria enacted upon its own ally, the Commagene, after defeating their enemies for them (the Moschi), created a heavy contemplation for Assyria's future moves. Assyria held all of the cards. And now the world was watching.

[RECORD OF TIGLATH-PILESER I'S MILITARY ACHIEVEMENTS]

Ancient History - Part 30: Always Pay Your Debts

Nebuchadrezzar died shortly after his defeat at the hands of Assyria signaling the beginning of a period of decadence in the Near East. Egypt was approaching its collapse. The Hittites along with their neighbors had been engulfed by the barbarian hordes of the west. And the once mighty Babylonia, now weakened, reverted back to a period of petty kingships.

Without opposition, Assyria's opportunity to once again expand her borders rose to fruition with the ascendency of Tiglath-pileser (1115-1102) to the throne. The Moschi people had sometime earlier (est. 1170-1160) captured historic Assyrian lands on the kingdom's north-east region. Their fifty year rule of the Alzi and Purukuzzi provinces would culminate in a violent confrontation.

In Tiglath-pileser's first year as monarch (1115), the five kings of the Moschi mustered an army of twenty thousand strong and set forth to further invade Assyria and her surrounding allies, particularly the small kingdom of Commagene, a vessel state subservient to Assyria. In this battle, the young king of Assyria slew many enemies himself, and upon the defeat of the Moschi, the corpses were decapitated, collected and piled into bundles, and transported back to Ashur along with six thousand newly acquired slave-prisoners.

Upon his return, Tiglath-pileser declared that with the aid of Ashur he'd gathered his war-chariots and crossed into the Commagene to defeat same the false-kings who defied them for half a century.

Despite their rescue at the warrior-king's hands, Commagene was not particularly appreciative. Perhaps there was a disagreement between the two nation-states upon who bore the fiscal responsibility for the war effort, as the smaller kingdom refused to pay Assyria its newfound levied taxes. King Tiglath-pileser was faced with a difficult decision. If he'd allowed such liberties to be taken at his throne's expense, then other disloyalties would certainly follow.

In the end, king Tiglath-pileser came to a decision. For her refusal to pay recompense, Commagene must be put to the torch and her people to the sword.

[TIGLATH-PILESER I]