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slash the ancient world. Thanks

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again for listening.

1:33

In the late tenth

1:36

century BC, and he hopes

1:38

her plans for a reunified Israel

1:41

met their end on the battlefield.

1:43

At the Battle

1:44

of Mount Zemaraim, King Jeremiah

1:47

of Israel squared off against Rehavam's

1:50

son, King Abayja of Judah.

1:53

Abaija dealt Jiriboa a staggering

1:55

defeat and could have proceeded

1:58

to march up north and claim all

1:59

of Israelite territory.

2:02

Instead, the victorious Judeian

2:05

king only annexed a few border

2:07

cities. whatever

2:09

fault lines it formed between the two

2:11

kingdoms, religious, political,

2:14

tribal, or otherwise, had

2:16

already grown into chasms. Around

2:20

nine hundred BC, an Israelite

2:22

general named Basha, usurp

2:24

the throne, by assassinating Jiribones

2:27

son, King Naddab, then

2:30

slaughtering all of his line. Conflict

2:33

soon flared up between Bausch and

2:35

the latest Judeian king Azer,

2:38

the son of Elijah. If

2:40

you look at the hypothetical frontiers of

2:43

early ninth century Israel in

2:45

Judah, And again, I'll point

2:47

you to the maps I've posted. A

2:49

few things are quickly apparent. While

2:52

Israel had access to Mediterranean

2:55

and close relations materially

2:58

and culturally. With the Kenanite

3:00

cities of Phoenicia, Judah

3:03

was significantly more isolated. surrounded

3:06

by Philistines, Moabites, speedamites,

3:09

and Israel itself. A

3:12

need to generate well through trade

3:15

made Judah vulnerable to blockades.

3:18

Consequently, Basha reinforced key

3:20

sites in Southern Israel and

3:23

built a new fort at Rama, a

3:25

few miles north of Jerusalem, for

3:27

that very purpose. He

3:29

also enlisted the support of a neighbor

3:32

King Barhadad of Aramchus.

3:37

By the early ninth century BC,

3:39

Aramchus had stepped from the shadow

3:42

of Soba to become the premier

3:44

Iranian state of Southern Syria.

3:47

As I mentioned back in episode c

3:49

twelve, bar Haddad was

3:52

likely responsible for the city's

3:54

massive temple to the storm god,

3:56

Haddad Raman. A

3:59

separate monument recovered near Aleppo

4:01

records the king's genealogy stating

4:05

this daily was set up by Bar

4:07

Hadad the son of Tab

4:09

Rimon, the son of H covenant,

4:12

king of Aram for his lord

4:14

Melkart. It's

4:16

tempting to associate Hazyon with

4:19

Rezon, the Soviet warrior

4:21

who'd supposedly founded the kingdom.

4:25

Looking at the map, it's not really

4:27

clear why damaging help was

4:29

needed. My guess

4:31

is that Judah had access to trade

4:33

routes east across the Jordan, possibly

4:36

through northern ammonite territory, and

4:39

Basha wanted to plug that potential hole.

4:43

Bribes were apparently the name of the

4:45

game. And after King Bausch

4:47

had bribed Bar Hadad to gain his

4:49

support, King Asa of

4:51

Judah sent his own bribe for

4:53

Baradad to break the agreement,

4:56

which Baradad did. The

4:59

Aramian king then attacked and captured

5:02

several northern Israelite towns,

5:05

forcing Basha to withdraw from

5:07

his new Southern Outposts in March's

5:09

army up north. The

5:11

scenario apparently ended in a stalemate.

5:15

And for those keeping score, that's

5:17

a transfer of gold from Asa

5:19

and Basha right into the pockets

5:21

of Bar Hadad. who also

5:24

gain more territory. You

5:27

guys know how much I love Buzzkill profits.

5:30

and I've got a few new entries for the

5:32

Hall of Fame. After

5:34

ACE's bribe had ended the threat,

5:37

local prophet named Hanani the

5:39

Sier ripped into the king for

5:41

relying on help from Bar Haddad

5:44

instead of relying on Yahweh. And

5:47

since he was a seer, I assume he

5:49

foresaw being thrown into jail

5:52

for the remainder of ACE's reign.

5:55

Sometime later, Hanani's son,

5:58

Jehu, ripped into King Bausch

6:00

of Israel for practicing idolatry.

6:03

and foretold the end of his line,

6:06

which came to pass when Basha's

6:09

son, Eyalab, who'd succeeded him,

6:11

was assassinated by a military commander

6:14

named Omri, who then

6:16

you guessed it, slaughtered all

6:18

of King Bausch's line. So

6:22

by eight eighty four BC, Israel

6:25

was on its second clean slate dynastic

6:28

reset. while Judah kept

6:30

right on chugging along with the unbroken

6:32

line of King David. At

6:35

least according to the Bible, There's

6:38

a lot of scholarly kerfuffle about

6:40

which Israelite tribe Omri

6:43

and his successor's Tiffany and

6:45

may have hailed from. Since

6:48

both Omri and Omry are

6:50

old amorite names, it still

6:52

seems a very open question. Regardless,

6:56

after Omri death, Civil

6:58

War raged for four long years

7:01

between the military commander's Tiffany

7:03

and Omri. a conflict

7:05

eventually won by the latter,

7:08

which is how the Israelites got their

7:10

very first king, mentioned an

7:12

extra biblical source So

7:16

let's take a few minutes to learn about Omri.

7:20

And the Bible Omry barely merits

7:22

a few passages. He

7:24

supposedly reigned for six years in

7:26

Tirzah, where Bausch had moved

7:29

the Israelite capital from Shekem.

7:31

then six more years in the new

7:34

capital of Samaria. Oh,

7:36

and apparently Omri brought

7:39

evil in the eyes of the Lord.

7:41

and did worse than all that were before

7:43

him. Which, even

7:46

if they're just talking about the past few

7:48

kings, that's a pretty incredible claim.

7:51

Luckily, for the very first time,

7:54

we have complementary sources. The

7:57

most important of which is a famous

7:59

stalemate erected by King Meshing

8:01

a moab. The

8:03

mesothelin or moabite stay

8:06

lay is incredibly significant for

8:08

many, many reasons. to

8:10

rattle off a short list. It's

8:13

the longest iron age encryption ever

8:15

found in the region. It provides

8:18

a unique record of military campaigns

8:21

that are otherwise unattested. The

8:24

script is written in Moabite,

8:26

has been determined to be a variant of the

8:28

Phoenician alphabet and is

8:30

also closely related to the Paleo

8:33

Hebrew script. It

8:35

relates a story that parallels with

8:38

some differences, an episode in

8:40

the biblical book of kings. it

8:43

refers to the Kingdom of Israel as

8:45

Omri or the House of

8:48

Omry. It may

8:50

double underline. refer to the

8:52

Kingdom of Judah as Bit

8:54

David or the House of David.

8:58

And last but not least,

9:00

It bears the earliest confirmed, extra

9:03

biblical reference to the Israelite

9:05

God, Yahoo! While

9:09

you guys are marinating and all that,

9:11

I'll read a few lines from the missions

9:13

daily that are relevant to our story.

9:17

It begins Ayomesha, the

9:20

son of Kamash Yati, the

9:22

king of Moab from Deban.

9:25

My father was king over Moab

9:27

for thirty years, and I

9:29

was king after my father. And

9:33

in Karchaw, I made this high

9:35

place for Kymosh. Because

9:37

he has delivered me from all kings,

9:39

and because he has made me look down

9:42

on all my enemies. Omri

9:45

was the king of Israel. and

9:47

he oppressed Moab for many

9:49

days. For Kymosh was

9:51

angry with his land. Kemosh,

9:55

as you may have guessed, was the patron

9:57

deity of the Moabites,

10:00

and may be depicted on the

10:02

late bronze age, all balloons. stay

10:04

lay. The general

10:06

takeaway is that during his reign,

10:09

king Omri of Israel expanded

10:11

his holdings to include northern

10:13

Moabite territories east of the

10:15

Jordan River. I

10:18

also mentioned that it was Omry who

10:20

moved the Israelite capital from

10:22

Tirza to Sumarria, which

10:25

I should note is only thirty

10:27

miles from Telrajalv. You

10:30

guys all remember Tel Rehav. Right?

10:33

The fun little town with a million

10:35

b's swarming around a massive

10:37

aperi in the city center. generating

10:40

a small fortune in wax and

10:42

honey. I mean, how could

10:44

you forget? So

10:46

it's time to bring these two stories

10:48

together. As

10:51

you may recall, archaeologist and

10:53

historian Amihai Mazar suggested

10:56

that it must have taken a strong

10:58

authority. either royal,

11:00

municipal, or a powerful local

11:03

family to compel the

11:05

intrusive beehive insertion. And

11:09

somewhat surprisingly, we actually

11:11

have a hint of who it may have been.

11:14

A jar recovered from inside the

11:16

apiary was inscribed with the

11:18

text belonging to Nimshi.

11:22

The name Nimshi was also inscribed

11:24

elsewhere in the city. as

11:26

well as at another site six kilometers

11:29

northwest, which

11:31

suggests that a figure family

11:33

or clan named NIM Chi

11:35

may have been the builder, owner,

11:38

and or operator of the massive

11:40

Tel Aviv API area. This

11:43

would have made them one of the main elite

11:45

families at Tel Aviv, one

11:48

figuratively dripping with B money.

11:52

As we also discussed, the period

11:54

was destroyed in the early ninth century

11:57

BC. Celebrated for

11:59

decades afterward as the day

12:01

the buzzing stopped. I'm

12:04

just joking, probably. From

12:07

what we can tell the loss didn't

12:09

have a major effect on Tel

12:11

Aviv's general prosperity. And

12:13

the city retained strong trade relations

12:16

with the Venetian coast and

12:18

indirectly with Egypt, Cyprus,

12:21

and Greece. In

12:23

fact, at the time, Tel Aviv

12:25

was one of the largest cities in the southern

12:27

Levant, despite the

12:29

fact that it's rarely mentioned in contemporary

12:32

texts. According

12:34

to Masar, during the early ninth

12:37

century BC, the local

12:39

Ancient population of TelraHAVE

12:42

integrated into and adapted

12:44

to the political religious

12:46

cultural Israelite entity. possibly

12:50

even integrating an actual Israelite

12:52

population into their community, which

12:55

again makes sense. since

12:57

the new Israelite capital of Samaria

13:00

was only thirty miles away. And

13:04

interestingly, there may be a close

13:06

connection between King Omri

13:08

of Israel and the NIMCI

13:10

clan of Telrahov. Those

13:14

familiar with the bible may know that

13:16

the future Israelite King Jahoo

13:18

supposedly came from the House

13:21

of NIM Xi. In

13:23

the biblical texts, Jay who's hailed

13:25

as the founder of a new dynasty, who

13:28

supplants the evil and idolatrous home

13:31

rides and slaughters the rest of

13:33

their line. which

13:35

by now was pretty established Israelite

13:37

tradition. But

13:40

and it's a pretty big butt. Aesirian

13:43

records clearly referred to Jehu

13:45

as the son of Omri,

13:48

i e part of the same dynasty. And

13:51

again, the Assyrians were pretty meticulous

13:53

with that stuff. Historian

13:56

Philip Chapic proposes an interesting

13:59

theory. that Jehu

14:01

was textually severed from the

14:03

own rides to better contrast

14:05

his piety to their blasphemy. but

14:08

that he was actually, as the

14:10

Assyrians recorded, a member

14:13

of King Omry's family. Chatepec

14:16

proposes that nimchi was literally

14:18

Omry's son, likely

14:20

a step brother of the crown prince,

14:23

ahab. But that doesn't

14:25

really line up well with the Tel RahaVE

14:27

archaeology. If

14:30

Jahoo's NIMCI was Tel RahaVE's

14:32

NIMCI, It's more likely that

14:34

new she was OMRI's brother, uncle,

14:37

or comparably aged male relative.

14:40

Though sun is a remote possibility. It

14:44

depends on how old Omri was when

14:46

he came to power and how many

14:48

wives and children he had. Traffic

14:51

highlights their similar names as

14:54

well as the prominent position of Jehu

14:56

in the later royal court of Omry's

14:59

grandson. King cohort in

15:02

arguing for a close family connection.

15:05

We'll touch on this more when we get to King

15:07

Jehu. For now,

15:09

just consider that the wax and honey

15:12

nimchi's of Tel Rehav may

15:14

have been related to King Omry.

15:18

It was during the parallel reigns

15:20

of Omri in Israel and

15:22

Asa in Judah, that word

15:24

arrived of Asher Omri Paul the second's

15:26

invasions of Northern Syria.

15:30

Though honestly, since the Syria

15:32

had never come that far south, the

15:34

kings of Canon were probably more

15:36

wary of the Libyan pharaohs of

15:38

Egypt. When

15:40

only died around eight seventy two

15:43

BC, he was succeeded by his

15:45

son, king Ahab. According

15:48

to the Meisha Stalay, Ahab

15:50

continued the oppression of Moab,

15:53

for most of his fairly long reign.

15:56

Much more famous or

15:58

infamous if you'd like, was

16:00

ahab's marriage to a Tyrion

16:02

princess named Jezebel. If

16:06

you want to catch up on developments in higher

16:09

between Hiram's reign and the time

16:11

of our story, you can go to the

16:13

Patreon page, where I recently

16:15

dropped a related mini episode. The

16:18

current king was Itho Bahal the

16:21

first, who'd begun his career

16:23

as a priest of Asante before

16:25

killing his predecessor Failies. and

16:28

usurping the Tyrion throne. During

16:31

his reign, Tyre expanded its

16:33

influence across the length and breadth

16:36

of Phoenicia. and even beyond.

16:39

Into coastal Syria, the echo

16:41

plane, and the nearby island

16:43

of Cyprus. Tire

16:46

inside and apparently functioned as

16:48

a joint polity. And there

16:50

may have been no separate cydonian king.

16:54

Economically, cedar wood,

16:56

prestige crafts, and purple dye

16:58

all played significant roles. But

17:01

the most noteworthy aspect of

17:03

Ithobah Al's tire was

17:06

expanding Mediterranean trade.

17:09

According to historian Carolina Lopez

17:11

Ruiz, contemporary Tyrion

17:14

Materials have been found as

17:16

far afield ascrete, urea,

17:19

and even southern Spain. The

17:22

kingdom also tapped into

17:24

entirely new gold and silver

17:26

sources flowing from Sardinia

17:28

and Solisia. Lopez

17:31

Ruiz also notes that Assyrian

17:34

texts from the reigns of both Asher

17:36

Nosser Paul the second and Jalmanesir

17:39

the third suggest that Tyrion

17:42

agents were also active on the

17:44

euphrates as mediators in

17:46

the trade between the Mediterranean coast

17:49

and Assyria. Based

17:51

on all the above, it's reasonable

17:54

to assume that a Tyrion princess

17:56

was a pretty desirable catch.

17:59

unless you

17:59

hailed from a kingdom blessed with

18:02

the surplus of Buzzkill prophets.

18:05

Full disclosure Jezebel wasn't

18:07

exactly one to hide her light under

18:10

a bushel. And she rolled

18:12

into Samaria with a large

18:14

entourage of priests and prophets

18:16

of Kainanite Bal and Ashera.

18:20

Her new husband, Ahab, added

18:22

fuel to the fire by raising a

18:24

new altar to Bal. The

18:28

couple's PR didn't really improve

18:31

when Jezebel objected Yahoo!

18:33

profits from court. then

18:36

started having them killed. The

18:38

trend culminated in an epic god

18:41

of held at Mount Carmel. where

18:44

the prophet Elijah challenged the

18:46

prophets of Bahal and assurance to

18:48

invoke their gods with the sacrifice.

18:52

While the Kenanite gods were apparently

18:54

a no show, Yahoo! actually

18:56

appeared. The impromptu

18:59

visit really spun up the Israel who

19:02

took Elijah's lead and killed

19:04

all the prophets of Bahal and Deshara

19:07

down by the Kishan River. On

19:10

hearing the news, Queen Jezebel fired

19:12

off a note to Elijah, hinting

19:15

that the rivers had plenty of

19:17

room for one particularly troublesome

19:19

prophet, at which

19:22

Elijah did what prophets do

19:24

and headed off into the wilderness. In

19:28

eight sixty five BC, King

19:31

Barha died of Erim Damascus

19:33

died. and was succeeded by his

19:35

son, Haddad Azer. In

19:38

the biblical account, the king soon

19:40

mustered a substantial army and

19:42

besieged the capital of Samaria. The

19:46

resulting conflict is described in

19:48

detail in first kings twenty.

19:50

But the upshot is that after winning

19:53

a victory with Yahoo! help,

19:55

Ahab made peace with the Araman

19:57

king, reclaimed the northern

19:59

towns that Boshed lost to his

20:02

father and established reciprocal

20:04

trade. A

20:06

few years later, in eight fifty

20:08

eight, the kings of southern Syria

20:11

and Ancient started hearing disturbing

20:13

reports. Of a Syrian

20:16

invasions of northern Syria

20:18

under their new king, Chamunaysar the

20:20

third. They also

20:22

learned of ad hoc coalitions who'd

20:25

fought to resist the invader. with

20:28

less than sanctuary results. A

20:31

big unknown in this whole affair is

20:33

what kind of diplomatic relations if

20:36

any, existed between kingdoms

20:38

of north and south. To

20:41

the extent they did, they were likely

20:43

either conducted through word-of-mouth or

20:46

written on perishable materials. Over

20:50

the next few years, word came

20:52

south of Northern Syria's effective

20:55

conquest. and the

20:57

annexation of Till Barship slash

20:59

Kharshalman Azer as an Assyrian

21:02

FOB. none

21:04

of which sounded particularly reassuring.

21:08

And though we don't know which party

21:10

made the first move, diplomatic

21:13

ties were established or

21:15

strengthened between southern

21:17

Syria's most powerful rulers. The

21:20

Aramian king, Haddad Azer

21:22

of Aramchus, and

21:24

the Neo Hittite king, Ura Hellina

21:27

of Hemarth. And

21:29

since we've already touched on Aramchos, let's

21:32

talk a bit about Hemoth. Hammoth

21:36

was a bronze age city along the

21:38

Orantes that had been thoroughly

21:40

ravaged by the sea peoples. As

21:43

Bryce notes, it almost certainly

21:45

began the iron age phase of its

21:48

history as a kingdom ruled

21:50

by a succession of Neo Hittite.

21:52

kings. Ura

21:54

Hellina's father, King Paretoz,

21:57

may have paid tribute to Asher Nosser

21:59

Paul II, to preempt an

22:01

Assyrian invasion. Bryce

22:04

also notes that it's entirely possible

22:07

that Hamath was intentionally avoided.

22:10

being recognized even at the time

22:12

as a formidable military power.

22:16

It's certainly true that when Asher

22:18

Nosser Paul had devastated neighboring

22:20

Luusch, King Peritos of

22:22

Hamath had taken no action.

22:25

But it's also true that sometime

22:27

after the Assyrians had left, Paritos

22:30

invaded a weakened Lukas and

22:33

annexed the territory to Hemant.

22:36

In inscriptions written in Louis and hieroglyphs,

22:39

king Ura Hellina records his construction

22:42

of buildings dedicated to the goddess

22:44

Balat, including a

22:46

temple and granary. Another

22:49

inscription refers to an entire

22:51

city that Uralina built in

22:53

her honor. Archaeology

22:56

confirms Hamas Balat temple

22:59

as well as a complex of

23:01

large buildings surrounding a

23:03

courtyard and accessed via

23:05

a fortified monumental Gateway.

23:08

Lion sculptures of the Hittite type

23:11

flank various entrances and staircases.

23:15

Long story short, since Haimoth

23:17

had annexed the territory of Lukas,

23:20

it now shared a border with Ancient.

23:23

the same pattern that was now an

23:25

Assyrian vassal. So

23:28

the big flashing warning signs

23:30

saying your neck was pretty

23:32

darn hard to ignore. Hence,

23:35

Ora Kalina's intensified engagement

23:38

with Haidan Azer of Aramchos. Like

23:42

with a huni in Northern Syria,

23:44

the talks were focused on forming

23:46

some kind of defensive coalition.

23:49

though hopefully with better results. With

23:53

that in mind, both kings leverage

23:55

their military strength and diplomatic

23:58

contacts to increase their

23:59

chance of success.

24:02

The strongest polity between

24:04

Hemoth and Damascus was

24:07

probably if a ball's tire.

24:10

While the king apparently had no interest

24:12

in contributing Tyrion troops to

24:14

the effort, the initiative got

24:17

a more sympathetic hearing in other

24:19

Phoenician territories. Another

24:22

target for diplomatic outreach was

24:24

one of the few northern kingdoms who'd

24:27

fought Xiamenaza and managed to

24:29

remain unbowed. The

24:31

Cellistian Kingdom of Quay. Last

24:35

but certainly not least, Haddad

24:37

Azer approached his newfound ally

24:40

and trading partner, King Ahab

24:42

of Israel. The

24:45

Arabian King was likely aware

24:47

that ahab was keyed to the south.

24:50

First off, the Israelite king had

24:52

surprisingly good relations with

24:55

the latest Judean king, ACE's

24:57

son, Jehosaphat. As

25:00

evidenced by AHAP's daughter, Athaliah,

25:03

marrying Jehosaphat's son Jehora.

25:06

So one Jewish ally might easily

25:09

become two. Second,

25:12

Ahab's Israel still dominated

25:14

Moab. and may have been able

25:16

to conscript mobile soldiers to

25:18

fight in Israelite campaigns. Third,

25:22

both Israel and Arab Damascus

25:25

bordered on the Kingdom of Aman, whose

25:27

current king Basha, no

25:30

relation, might also be

25:32

persuaded to join the alliance or

25:35

at least fear the outcome of

25:37

trying to keep his neutrality. Again,

25:40

we're envisioning months, even

25:42

years of communications, some

25:45

bilateral, some more broad,

25:48

to lay the groundwork to prepare

25:50

for what might be coming. And

25:53

in eight fifty three BC, the

25:55

time for waiting was over. Work

25:58

came south that after a few

26:01

quick stopovers for pillage and plunder,

26:03

the Assyrian king had recross the

26:06

ephrases to launch yet another

26:08

campaign. As

26:10

night follows day, words soon

26:12

arrived of Xiamenaser accepting

26:14

the tribute to his northern Syrian

26:17

vassals, Cengara of

26:19

Karchemish, Kounashbu of

26:21

Kuma, Lalli of Malachi,

26:24

Haal Parounthay the second of Gergam,

26:27

Hayanu of Samal, haadrim

26:29

of Bit Agusi, and Haal

26:31

Parounthay the second no relation

26:34

of patent. Chaminase

26:37

records that he next approached Aleppo

26:41

They were afraid to fight with me,

26:43

so they prostrated themselves at my

26:45

feet. I accepted silver

26:47

and gold as their tribute. I

26:50

offered sacrifices before the

26:52

god a god of Aleppo. He

26:55

then left Aleppo moving

26:58

on to the cities of Urojalina, the

27:00

Hemothite. Distending

27:03

along the Orantes River, Xiaumenzer

27:06

burned Uralina's royal cities

27:09

one by one, a Daegu,

27:12

Barga, Argona. and

27:15

about sixty miles to the north of

27:17

Hamath, a fortified city

27:19

of little previous node named

27:22

Carcar.

27:39

The ancient world podcast is part

27:41

of the Airwave Media podcast network.

27:43

Along with my history can beat up your

27:46

politics, the explorers pod

27:48

cast and other great shows.