Battle of Diyala River

Last updated
Battle of Diyala River
Date693 BC
Location
Result Assyrian victory
Belligerents
Elamites
Babylonia
Ellipi
Assyria
Commanders and leaders
Mushezib-Marduk Sennacherib

The Battle of Diyala River took place in 693 BC between the forces of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the Elamites of southern Iran.

Contents

Assyrian expansion

From the 9th century BC onwards, the Assyrians had been expanding their domain from northern Mesopotamia into Judea and Babylon. After defeating the Babylonians in 689 BC, King Sennacherib sought to punish the Kingdom of Elam for its support towards Babylonia.

Battle

Prior to the battle, Sennacherib had sacked a number of Elamite settlements in 694 BC in an attempt to assert his authority over the region. Despite this, the Elamites, with their Chaldean allies from Babylon, managed to raise an army and met the Assyrian forces of Sennacherib in 693 BC at the Diyala River. According to the Assyrian account of the battle, the Elamites were heavily defeated. However, many historians believe that the Assyrians suffered heavy casualties since they failed to launch any invasions in 692 BC. In 647 BC, the Assyrians returned and this time destroyed the Kingdom of Elam.

References and further reading

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Chaldea Small Semitic nation

Chaldea was a small country that existed between the late 10th or early 9th and mid-6th centuries BC, after which the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into the indigenous population Babylonia. Semitic-speaking, it was located in the marshy land of the far southeastern corner of Mesopotamia and briefly came to rule Babylon. The Hebrew Bible uses the term כשדים (Kaśdim) and this is translated as Chaldaeans in the Greek Old Testament, although there is some dispute as to whether Kasdim in fact means Chaldean or refers to the south Mesopotamian Kaldu.

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Elam was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of southern Iraq. The modern name Elam stems from the Sumerian transliteration elam(a), along with the later Akkadian elamtu, and the Elamite haltamti. Elamite states were among the leading political forces of the Ancient Near East. In classical literature, Elam was also known as Susiana, a name derived from its capital Susa.

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The Siege of Babylon in 689 BC took place after Assyrian king Sennacherib's victory over the Elamites at the Battle of River Diyala. Although the Assyrians had suffered heavy casualties at the river, they had beaten the Elamites such that the Babylonians now stood alone.

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