Page 416 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

[1160-1090 B.C.] The Wolf on the Fold 353

not be achieved without fighting, but fighting was what they had
trained for all their lives. And they inspected with extra thorough­
ness the arms and equipment of the men under their command.
They would soon be needed.
Before they had been on the march three weeks, reports
came back from the screen of chariots ahead of the main force
that they were in contact with the enemy. And Intelligence, in­
terrogating prisoners and digesting reports from its agents, gave
news that a coalition of five kings of the mountain tribes had
assembled an army to oppose their advance. They were outlying
tribes of the Moski, who now ruled at Hattusas and claimed all
former Hittite territory.
There was no attempt on either side to avoid battle. The
mighty Assyrian army turned north into the rugged mountain
country, formed line, and enveloped and overwhelmed the
enemy. Clearly the Moski had no idea what they were up against.
Tiglathpileser’s official communique claimed the defeat of an
army of twenty thousand men, and certainly the heaps of severed
heads which the Assyrians piled on the battlefield as a trophy and
a warning might well suggest that this number was not exag­
gerated. And the long fines of prisoners might well have num­
bered the six thousand that was claimed.
There was no need for further demonstration. The cities of
the trade route, even great Carchemish itself, hurriedly sent en­
voys to express their appreciation of being liberated and to prom­
ise payment of whatever tribute their Assyrian overlord consid­
ered fitting. Tiglathpileser left adequate garrisons in the newly
won territory and turned for home.
That winter the slave markets of Assyria were busy, as the
returned troops disposed of their share of the prisoners to the
farmers and manufacturers, who were already experiencing a
shortage of manpower as a result of the almost universal con­
scription of men of fighting age. And the following spring the
army again marched out.
They followed the same route, for the conquest of the pre­
vious year had proved by no means so decisive as it first appeared.
The mountain cantons and the cities along the trade route had,
it seemed, no intention of paying Assyrian tribute except in the