User:Ariobarza/Battle of the Tigris

The Battle of the Tigris, fought in February 539 BC, was the first battle that occured between the armies of Persia under Cyrus the Great and the Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabonidus during the Persian invasion of Mesopotamia. At the time, Babylonia was one the last major powers in western Asia that was not yet under Persian control. When Cyrus invaded Babylon in the winter of 540 BC, the battle was fought south of the river branch of the Diyala (Gyndes), in the Gutium region. It resulted in the likely defeat for the Babylonian army, and caused Nabonidus to retreat south to deport the gods from their temples as protection from Cyrus. Which ended with an unrest among the population.

Eventhough he went to Babylon in 543 BC, it took Nabonidus until 539 BC to officially prepare for Cyrus when he organized an army for Opis. There he would suffer the same fate he had in this battle. At the time, the Babylonians lacked manpower and determination, which Cyrus took advantage of. Seeing no allies aiding Babylon, he and an advance force, when being once delayed at the Gyndes crossing, made quick work of the border troops on the Tigris. Which as a result, led to the decisive victory in the Battle of Opis, and to the eventual Babylonian conquest.

The Battle
For the detials of the battle, our main source is the Nabonidus Chronicle. In a fragmentary section of the chronicle which is presumed to cover 540/39 BC, there is a possible reference to fighting, a mention of Ishtar and Uruk, and a possible reference to Persia. However, nearly all the historians who studied the inscription have come to the conclusion that Persia was involved. The main source that is also the main evidence for the supposed battle, is contained on tablet. The tablet dates from the begining of 544 BC towards the end of 540 BC. The only inscription readable dates from end of 540 BC, which is also the end of the sixteenth year of Nabonidus. It is this inscription that records the event, and the only clue to its month is Adar or February in 539 BC (its possible this could be describing another event other than the battle). Based on how the inscription was translated, none of the translators (who are also historians) are divided on whether the Persians had a military engagement, or possibly a battle. Only Sidney Smith, who is known to have made the oldest and most outdated translation has mistakenly confused "Sea Country" with "Persia". However, they are divided on whether it involved the Babylonian king or another king by the Tigris, because of the year the tablet dates from, that year is known to historians as the year Cyrus invaded Babylon. At the time, there was (other than the Babylonian king) no other king by the Tigris, so that theory contradicts the known history of Babylon. The historians who translated the event are as follows (similar words boldened);


 * {| width="90%" border="1" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" class="wikitable"


 * Date
 * Translator/ Historian
 * Text
 * Source
 * valign="top" | 1925
 * valign="top" | Sidney Smith
 * valign="top" | "... fought. The river Tigris ... In Adar Ishtar of Erech{or Uruk} ... of the sea-land(?) ..."
 * valign="top" | Babylonian Historical Texts
 * valign="top" | 1950
 * valign="top" | A. Leo Oppenheim
 * valign="top" | "... Tigris. In the month of Addaru the image of Ištar of Uruk [lacuna] The army of the Persians made an attack..."
 * valign="top" | Ancient Near Eastern Texts
 * valign="top" | 1975
 * valign="top" | Albert K. Grayson
 * valign="top" | "... Tigris. [In the month of] Addaru the (image of the) Ishtar of Uruk ... the ... [the ...]s of the Sea Country ... [arm]y [made an] at[tack] ..."
 * valign="top" | Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles
 * valign="top" | 2004
 * valign="top" | Jean Jacques Glassner
 * valign="top" | "[...] was killed. The Tig[ris ... (?). In the month of] Adar (?) Ištar of Uruk [...] the [troops] of Per[sia{ns}... the troop]s [...]."
 * valign="top" | Mesopotamian Chronicles
 * valign="top" | 2007
 * valign="top" | Amelie Kuhrt
 * valign="top" | "[...] killed(?)/defeated(?). The river ... [...] Ishtar of Uruk [...] of Per[sia{ns} (?) ...]"
 * valign="top" | The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources of the Achaemenid Period
 * }
 * valign="top" | 2007
 * valign="top" | Amelie Kuhrt
 * valign="top" | "[...] killed(?)/defeated(?). The river ... [...] Ishtar of Uruk [...] of Per[sia{ns} (?) ...]"
 * valign="top" | The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources of the Achaemenid Period
 * }

Furthermore, a passage from Olmsteads book (History of the Persian Empire) reveals that upon Oppenheim's translation, he agrees with him in coming to the following conclusion;

"The way thus paved by the dissaffected elements of the population, Cyrus made ready to invade the alluvium as soon as he had returned from his eastern campaigns. Before the snows of the winter of 540-539 could fill the passes, he (Cyrus) was on the border. Nabu-naid brought the gods of Eshnunak, Zamban, Me Turnu, and Der to the capital before their capture. He suffered a defeat on the Tigris, but the only defense he could think of was to bring to his aid Ishtar of Uruk in March. Nabu-naid might try to explain the deportation as protection of the capital against the foreigner; the citizens complained loudly of temples abandoned by their divinities and lying in ruins."

Since Graysons translation of "Sea Country," Grayson has taken back the translation and changed it to "Persia{ns}." It also appears that Xenophon mentions Cyrus fighting a battle or two with Babylon before he crossed the Tigris to Opis. George Rawlinson recounts that possibly an earlier battle occured before Cyrus came to Opis. Historians are in generally agreement that the Babylonians would only record events in relation to them.

Ancient Sources

 * The Nabonidus Chronicle of the Babylonian Chronicles


 * Xenophon (Cyropaedia)
 * Fragments of Nicolas of Damascus?
 * Strabo (History)?

Modern Sources

 * Ilya Gershevitch, ed., The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 2: The Median and Achaemenian Periods.  Cambridge University Press (1985) ISBN 0521200911