Battle of Halule

Year: 691 BC

Place: South of Babylon [ 32°29'20.62"N and  44°31'6.49"E]

Participants: Assyria ¤ Babylonia, Elam, Iranian Tribes & Chaldeans

Result: Pyrrhic victory for the allied forces

Consequence: A war against Elam that leads to the rising power of the Medes

Sennacherib, the King of Assyria had to deal with dangerous threats. The Chaldeans were historically friends with the Elamites, and they were usually allied. In 721 BC Merodach-Baladan sat on the Babylonian throne, and in 693 BC he allied with the Elamites against Assyria, but the Babylonian-Elamite army was defeated by Sennecherib at Nippur. Two years later, in 691 BC, a large coalition of forces led by Shuzubu (Mushezib-Marduk), a Chaldean, with a career of rebelling against Sennacherib. A couple of years prior to the battle, he had fled to Elam and later returned to Babylon, where the people of Babylon installed him as a king. This obviously made Sennacherib furious, because he saw him as a "robber" and a "runaway", and now he was sitting on a throne "for which he was not suited". 

(Sennacherib fighting against the Babylonians in his chariot, wikipedia)

The Assyrians eventually meet the coalition, in what was to become, a very bloody and grim battle. The nucleus of the allied forces consisted of strong Iranian and Elamite charioteers, infantry and cavalry. Sennacherib entered the battle in his chariot wearing a mail shirt. According to Sennaherib the fierce battle was full of confusion with hors

es galloping everywhere, and the coalition forces seemed to be as strong as the Assyrians, until Sennacherib entered the battle in his chariot. When the Elamites and Babylonians saw Sennacherib, they started to rout. Consequently he created order out of chaos. There were many casualties on both sides. However the "heroic deeds" of Sennacherib and the victory of the Assyrians are disputed, due to the strong resemblance to the Assyrian Creation Epic.

Both sides claimed victory due to the fact that the battle was indecisive. However, the coalition forces won a Pyrrhic victory, and consequently could not take advantage of their success against the mighty Assyrian superpower.

Assyria and Elam, 650 BC

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