reign of Ahaziah can
only be reduced by a few months, if indeed as much as that,
as it allows of a full year, and part of a second year (cf.
1 Kings xxii. 51, where it is said that Ahaziah ascended the
throne in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, and 2 Kings iii. 1,
where it states that Joram of Israel succeeded Ahaziah in
the 18th year of the same Jehoshaphat).; in placing these
two years between 853 and 851, there will remain for the
reign of Joram the period comprised between 851 and 843,
namely, eight years, instead of the twelve attributed to him
by biblical tradition.

Ahaziah survived his father two years, and was succeeded by his brother
Joram.* When Shalmaneser, in 849 B.C., reappeared in the valley of the
Orontes, Joram sent out against him his prescribed contingent, and the
conquered Israelites once more fought for their conqueror.

* The Hebrew documents merely make mention of Ahaziah's
accession, length of reign, and death (1 Kings xxii. 40, 51-
53, and 2 Kings i. 2-17). The Assyrian texts do not mention
his name, but they state that in 849 "the twelve kings"
fought against Shalmaneser, and, as we have already seen,
one of the twelve was King of Israel, here, therefore
necessarily Ahaziah, whose successor was Joram.

The Assyrians had, as usual, maltreated the Khati. After having pillaged
the towns of Carchemish and Agusi, they advanced on the Amanos, held
to ransom the territory of the Patina enclosed within the bend of the
Orontes, and descending upon Hamath by way of the districts of Iaraku
and Ashta-maku, they came into conflict with the army of the twelve
kings, though on this occasion the contest was so bloody that they were
forced to withdraw immediately after their success. They had to content
themselves with sacking Apparazu, one of the citadels of Arame, and
with collecting the tribute of Garparuda of the Patina; which done, they
skirted the Amanos and provided themselves with beams from its
cedars. The two following years were spent in harrying the people of
Paqarakhbuni, on the right bank of the Euphrates, in the dependencies
of the ancient kingdom of Adini (848 B.C.), and in plundering the
inhabitants of Ishtarate in the country of Iaiti, near the sources of
the Tigris (847 B.C.), till in 846 they returned to try their fortune
again in Syria. They transported 120,000 men across the Euphrates,
hoping perhaps, by