Battle of Qarqar

Twelve Kings is an Akkadian term meant to symbolize any kind of alliance. The most famous example is in the Kurkh Monoliths, where an alliance of 11 kings are listed as 12 in the Assyrian document as fighting against Assyrian King Shalmaneser III in the battle of Qarqar. Shalmaneser's inscription describes the forces of his opponent Hadadezer in considerable detail as follows:[4]

1. King Hadadezer himself commanded 1,200 chariots, 1,200 horsemen and 20,000 soldiers;
2. King Irhuleni of Hamath commanded 700 chariots, 700 horsemen and 10,000 soldiers;
3. King Ahab of Israel sent 2,000 chariots and 10,000 soldiers;
4. The Kingdom of KUR Gu-a-a identified as Quwê-Cilicia sent 500 soldiers;
5. The land of KUR Mu-us-ra-^[a] identified as Masura, which is the outlet of the Düden River, sent 1,000 soldiers;
6. The land of Irqanata (Tell Arqa) sent 10 chariots and 10,000 soldiers;
7. King Matinu Baal of Arwad sent 200 soldiers;
8. The land of Usannata^[b] (in the Mount Lebanon region) sent 200 soldiers;
9. King Adunu Baal of Ušnatu (in the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range)[5] – figures lost;
10. King Gindibu of Arabia sent 1000 Camel cavalry;
11. King Ba'asa, son of Ruhubi, of the land of Ammon sent 100 soldiers.

Shalmaneser boasts that his troops inflicted 14,000 casualties upon the allied army, capturing countless chariots and horses, and describes the damage he inflicted on his opponents in savage detail. However, the royal inscriptions from this period are notoriously unreliable. They never directly acknowledge defeats and sometimes claim victories that were actually won by ancestors or predecessors. If Shalmaneser had won a clear victory at Qarqar, it did not immediately lead to further Assyrian conquests in Syria. Assyrian records make it clear that he campaigned in the region several more times in the following decade, engaging Hadadezer six times, who was supported by Irhuleni of Hama at least twice. Shalmaneser's opponents held on to their thrones after this battle: though Ahab of Israel died shortly afterwards in an unrelated battle, Hadadezer was king of Damascus until at least 841 BCE.

^ a: Mu-us-ra- is sometimes identified with Egypt, but lay possibly somewhere near Quwê. Another thesis identifies Mu-us-ra- with Phoenician Sumur, in Syria.[6]
^ b: Also spelled as "Usanta".