by H A CULLEY
The Hittite cavalry opened the battle by charging the light chariots whilst the Eshnunnan chariots circled round to outflank the Babylonian left wing. Hammurabi noted with grim amusement that his enemies had at last learned something about the vulnerability of onager drawn heavy chariots. The slingers managed to bring down a few of the onagers but most were out of range and, if the stones did hit, they had lost power to do any damage against the thick hide of the animals. The camel archers moved round from the rear and met the chariots, doing much more damage until the chariots were forced to withdraw.
Meanwhile the Hittites were having much more success on the other flank. The archers in the Babylonian chariots were having trouble hitting the fast moving horsemen from the jolting platform of the chariot and about half of them had been put out of action by the cavalrymen’s expertly aimed spear thrusts. The three hundred chariots were also heavily outnumbered by the two thousand horsemen and were eventually forced to flee.
The Hittites then swept round the vulnerable right flank to attack the spearmen from the rear. However, Hammurabi had expected this and he had turned his rear three ranks about to meet their charge. As the charge foundered against their spears the camel archers rained arrows down on them. The horsemen broke off and charged the hundred camel archers instead. The latter fled pursued by the whooping Hittites but they ran straight into the other nine hundred camel archers. Although the Hittites still had superior numbers, despite their losses, they needed to get close to use their spears or to throw them. However, the camel archers could hit them from a distance of a hundred yards or more.
Gradually the cavalry numbers were whittled down until they had had enough and they fled, heading north back to their homeland. This left the Eshnunnans outnumbered and with only poorly trained spearmen and perhaps a thousand archers facing the vastly superior Babylonians. Sulu-Sin realised that he had gambled and lost.
As his commander guided his chariot forward to negotiate the surrender, the King of Eshnunna turned his own chariot around and headed north towards Assyria. Watching him go, Hammurabi had a sense of deja vu as he thought of the times that his brother, Zuthussu, had done exactly the same thing. Then it had taken Arishaka weeks to track him down and kill him. Leaving Mutu-Namaha to deal with the surrender. Hammurabi mounted one of the Hittites’ horses left munching grass as its rider lay dead beside it. Signalling for his fifty scouts to follow him, he set off after Sulu-Sin.
The man had a good fifteen minute start on him but a heavy onager drawn chariot, even when whipped to reach its maximum speed, could be overtaken by horsemen quite rapidly. Half an hour later Hammurabi and his men rode past the chariot, then wheeled to stand in line barring its further progress. Sulu-Sin slowly dismounted and then knelt in front of Hammurabi’s horse with his head on the ground in submission.
However, Hammurabi had had enough of the man’s perfidious behaviour and, as he dismounted and strode towards him, he drew his sword and brought it down as hard as he could. Although sharp, bronze couldn’t cut through the thickness of a man’s neck, especially one as thick as Sulu-Sin’s. It did cut halfway through it though, killing him. The scouts’ farrier rode forward and handed the king his bronze axe so he could finish the job.
The miserable Eshnunnan captives hardly bothered to look up as Hammurabi returned with Sulu-Sin’s head on one of his men’s spear. The body was left where it lay in the desert to feed the carrion birds and animals. His charioteer was brought back to join the other captives until Hammurabi found out that he was Sulu-Sin’s son. He was then executed together with a second son who was turned over to the Babylonians by the Eshnunnans. They had had enough of Sulu-Sin and his family and, in a ceremony held as the remainder of the Babylonian army was ferried over the Tigris, they swore allegiance to Queen Adiar as their rightful ruler and to Mutu-Namaha as her son.
One in ten of the former Eshnunnan army was chosen by lot to be sold into slavery but the rest were released to return to their homes. When the Babylonians arrived at the city of Eshnunna they found the gates open and the city elders gathered to welcome them. Hammurabi had sent for Adiar to join him and he had delayed approaching the city until she arrived. There were tears in her eyes as she rode through the gates into the city of her birth, partly due to sentiment but more because of the reduced state of the once proud city after decades of warfare.
He left Adiar to establish her rule and, apart from a thousand spearmen and archers left as her bodyguard, he set off with the rest towards Mari. He had helped to place Zimri-Lim on the throne yet the man had repeatedly failed to honour the treaty between them. Then he had accepted bribes from Assyria to remain neutral during the last siege of Hiritum. Hammurabi had captured the city of Mari twice before and decided that he would never have to do it again, once he had secured it this time.
He regrouped at Sippar before marching north and this time Abi-Maras joined him with his dismantled siege towers loaded onto carts. The city had changed since the last time he had seen it. Because the wells in the city had dried up and the Euphrates had changed course to the east, the city no longer sat on the banks of the river. Zimri-Lim had therefore dug a canal through the centre of the city from one end of the curve in the river to the other. Mari had also expanded in size and so he had built a new circular wall around the original walls to enclose the new dwellings and other buildings.
Mutu-Namaha suggested sending boats packed with troops along the canal and into the city.
‘I cannot imagine anyone as astute as Zimri-Lim allowing us to do that, my son,’ his father smiled at him. ‘What would you do to prevent that?’
His son thought for a moment. ‘I would construct copper or bronze chains and lay them across both entrances to the canal. These would allow boats to enter at times of peace but they could be raised to seal the entrances in time of war.’
His father nodded. ‘Better than gates or sluices as they allow water to flow through the city when in place. However, Zimri-Lim has not bothered to dig a ditch around the outside wall so we will attack tomorrow using the siege towers.’
The new outer wall enclosed a vast area and it was difficult for the defenders to man its whole length to the west of the central canal. Hammurabi left the attack to his son and Mutu-Namaha concentrated three of his siege towers at the centre of the wall. The defenders massed their men there and the fight was fierce with neither side gaining the upper hand. Whilst the Marians’ attention was thus occupied, Mutu-Namaha rolled the fourth tower forward to the wall near where the canal passed through it from the south. This was hidden from the centre of the wall by its curvature.
There were still a hundred or more Marians on the wall at this point but they ran for cover when the archers started shooting from the top of the siege tower. Mutu-Namaha leapt down onto the parapet. This was potentially hazardous as the walls of Mari were two feet lower than the siege towers were designed for. His men therefore hurled bundles of reeds onto the parapet to break their fall from seven feet above.
The Marians came running back as soon as they realised that there were several Babylonians on the wall. Mutu-Namaha stood shoulder to shoulder fighting against the militia spearmen as more and more of his men jumped down on the wall. At first it was difficult to maintain their bridgehead on the wall but, as more and more men piled in behind them, they were able to push the Marians back.
Then someone realised that the Babylonians were inside the outer defences. Mutu-Namaha expected reinforcements to come pounding along the wall to dislodge him but, instead, the Marians abandoned the outer town and fled inside the original walls surrounding the old town.
It was impossible to roll the towers against the old walls as houses had been built up against them. Some of these were two storeys high and their flat roofs were only a few feet lower than the top of the wall. It was a simple matter to construct steps to place against the wall so that the Babylonians could step over the top and onto the parapet. Mutu-Namaha was amazed that Zimri-Lin hadn’t had the common sens
e to destroy the houses as soon as the siege started.
He led a thousand spearmen through the deserted streets inside the old city until he reached one of the gates and, after a brief fight, threw them wide open. The Babylonian army rushed through them and by nightfall all fighting in the city had ceased. Hammurabi had promised his men plunder but had forbidden them to harm the civilian population. Of course, there were the inevitable instances of rape and murder but, after Mutu-Namaha had hung two soldiers he had caught raping a small girl, the message got through.
Three days later, Narem-Suen arrived at Mari in response to Hammurabi’s request. He was amazed to see a column of thirty thousand people wending their way south through the lush pasture land surrounding the city, escorted by ten thousand soldiers.
‘I’m sending them south to your brother. They are the new inhabitants of the fortress city he is building on the Tigris north of Lagash to keep the Elamites in check. ‘
‘What will happen to Mari?’
‘After I have moved its treasures to Babylon I will tear down its walls and destroy its houses. I have had to capture this place almost as many times as I have had to conquer Eshnunna and I am determined that I won’t have to do either again.’
‘Yes, I heard that Queen Adiar is now ruling in Eshnunna. But surely you don’t plan to live apart; one of you there and the other in Babylon?’
The king laughed. ‘No, certainly not; we have spent too much of our lives away from each other as it is. No, Mutu-Namaha will be installed as king just as soon as I have finished here.’
‘Where do I fit into all this? You haven’t sent for me just because you have missed my company.’ The young man grinned and Hammurabi smiled back.
‘No, though it is true that I have. You and Uktannu have served me faithfully as if you were my own sons and in many ways I regard you as if you were.’
‘I can scarcely remember my father and, in all the ways that matter, you have taken his place.’
Hammurabi gazed at him fondly then he became serious again.
‘Although I am destroying Mari as a city for strategic reasons, it is the centre of a vast territory which acts as a bulwark against Yamhad, Assyria and, increasingly, the Hittites. There are other Marian cities and towns and numerous villages which need governing. I have therefore decided to give this territory to Hiritum and, therefore, to you.’
Narem-Suen was stunned. He had been a little jealous when he heard that his brother was to be king of five cities in eastern Sumeria whilst he remained as the ruler of one but this exceeded his wildest dreams. He would be king over a land that stretched from the Tigris to the Euphrates and was larger than Babylon had ruled over before the conquest of Sumeria. It was true that much of it was desert or barren hills, but canal construction could change that.
‘And you, Hammurabi, what will you call yourself now that you are the supreme ruler over five large kingdoms?’
‘Adiar has suggested that I adopt the title king of kings and that seems appropriate in the circumstances.’
Chapter Fourteen – The Last Battle – 1750 BCE
After his lucky escape from Mutu-Namaha’s sword during the fight for the main gates of Hiritum thirteen years before, Balshazzar had fled back to Assur with the remains of the Assyrian army. Ishme-Dagan had struggled to re-build his army and, in his efforts to do so, had been glad to accept help from anyone prepared to provide it. Balshazzar had stood out as a capable soldier who showed a natural flair for tactics and organisation and it wasn’t long before he came to the Assyrian king’s notice.
Over the next decade Balshazzar had learned some vital lessons from the Hittites and had drawn on his experience whilst in the Babylonian army. During fighting against the tribes in the east of Assyria, he had realised the advantages of the composite bow. This had been developed by the nomadic tribesmen who lived on the steppes to the east of Assyria, mainly for use on horseback, but Balshazzar had realised that it would give both the foot and chariot borne archers an advantage in terms of power and range, compared to the recurve bow used by the Babylonians. He also advocated abandoning the old heavy Assyrian chariots with their solid wooden wheels in favour of light horse-drawn ones.
Ishme-Daggan had come to rely on his advice more and more, but he had been too timid to adopt most of Balshazzar’s recommendations. The latter had therefore started to cultivate the king’s grandson, Mut-Askur, who was widely seen as the old king’s heir. Balshazzar had learned to curb his sexual appetites rather better than had been the case in the past in Babylon, but in the young prince he had found a boy who was susceptible to his charm. He was careful not to allow their relationship to develop along physical lines, but it could easily have done so had Balshazzar allowed it. As time went on, the prince became increasingly infatuated with the former Babylonian and so, when his grandfather died, Mut-Askur made Balshazzar his army commander.
The heavy chariots were replaced with the lighter, horse drawn version and the composite bow was introduced. However, the one thing he hadn’t manage to convince Mut-Askur about was paying for a large standing army, so Balshazzar still had to rely on the militia.
His object in life had remained revenge on Hammurabi, his family and the Babylonians in general, and he quietly worked behind the scenes to make Mut-Askur see his bête noir as a threat. The new king had already invaded Yamhad and had only been prevented from conquering the country by the Hittites, who had driven the Assyrians back and taken it over themselves. The Hittites had also besieged Nineveh, but Mut-Askur had defeated them and relieved the city. Having given the Hittites a bloody nose he then, at Balshazzar’s urging, had turned his attention to Hiritum and the former kingdom of Mari. Balshazzar knew that, once threatened, Hammurabi would be forced to come to Narem-Suen’s aid.
~#~
Hammurabi dismounted from his horse feeling every one of his fifty-eight years. He gently stretched his stiffened muscles as he walked slowly to greet Narem-Suen and Mutu-Namaha in their camp near the ruined city of Mari.
The King of Kings of Greater Babylonia had enjoyed the last nine years right up to the moment a year ago when Adiar had suddenly died in her sleep. One minute she was asleep beside him and the next minute he awoke to find her cold and lifeless. He was devastated. From the moment he had first met her driving a chariot herself outside the gates of Eshnunna when she was sixteen, she had been his rock, his confidante, his advisor and his lover. He had mourned her for five long months and even now he seemed listless compared to his previous vibrant self.
During those nine years he had strived to improve the government of his empire, executing corrupt officials and sacking the inept. He had continued with his agricultural reforms and had even constructed a canal linking Nippur and Uruk, thus improving the water supply to Isin and Shurruppak on the way. Trade had flourished now that the petty wars between minor city-states were a thing of the past, but that didn’t mean that his army had been idle.
Elam in the east had continued to be a problem and raids by the desert tribes to the east of the Euphrates had increased significantly. There had been minor revolts in some of the cities but these had been quickly supressed and the ringleaders beheaded. His code of law was now universally applied throughout his empire and was even used as a model code beyond, if travellers’ tales were to be believed.
Now, he had been forced to make the uncomfortable journey north to deal with the Assyrians. Mut-Askur was three times the man his grandfather had been and this was not lost on Hammurabi. He was even more concerned when he found out the identity of the Assyrian army commander. He had forgotten all about Balshazzar but, once reminded, he was well aware what a strong motivating force hatred could be.
Hammurabi had brought twelve thousand men with him to join the fifteen thousand Eshnunnans and nine thousand from Hiritum. Against this Mut-Askur had only managed to gather thirty thousand, so the Assyrians were at a slight numerical disadvantage. Balshazzar’s opposite number was an experienced soldier called Nikanuur who had o
riginally come from Kish. His aide was a twelve year old boy called Rimush, the son of Arishaka, who had been brought up by Uktannu.
Nikanuur had been the green crest in charge of the archers before his promotion and, at fifty five, he was now approaching the day when he would have to hand over. Rimush was being trained to succeed him and would probably do so as soon as the boy reached seventeen. Hammurabi thought that the boy showed some promise, but he didn’t think that he would ever be in the same category as his father.
The ground for the battle had been of Hammurabi’s choosing. He was well aware that the one advantage the Assyrians had was the range and power of their archers, so he sought to negate this by holding the col that linked two high hills. The Assyrians would have to attack from below which, in addition to making it more difficult for Mut-Askur’s archers, would mean that the horses drawing the chariots would be tired after charging uphill.
Hammurabi positioned his slingers on the sides of the two hills and then strung his infantry, with the archers in front, as usual, across the col. His chariots took the right flank and he held his camel archers on the left. The other five hundred, together with the two hundred horsemen he had brought this time, were positioned out of sight behind the left hand hill. He had also placed a small detachment of spearmen on top of each of the hills with a copper mirror each so that they could signal him if the Assyrians tried to surprise him.
As soon as the battle started Hammurabi realised that he had miscalculated. The Assyrian archers had misjudged the effect of the slope so most of their first volley went over the heads of the Babylonian ranks. However, the distance that their arrows carried surprised Hammurabi as their archers weren’t even in range of their Babylonian counterparts as yet. The volley caused few casualties but one of these was Nikanuur. An arrow struck him in the neck and he dropped to the floor of his chariot gurgling his life away. He had been standing with Rimush beside him and it was a sad fact that it was the presence of the boy that indirectly proved fatal. Hammurabi had a spearman with a large shield in his chariot to protect him, but the boy – the third person in Nikanuur’s chariot - was too small to hold a large shield.