cheenc03a.pdf

apparently to understand that under the protection of
this embankment. occupied probably by archers or
cllgixree or war. rome of the lsraeiite troops were occupied
in ~~~dern~ining (so Ewald) or battering rlown
the walls.' The passage shows that tire Hebreivr under
Jonb'~ energetic military guidance were beginning to
make same progress in siege operations, not in~proh.bly
under Phccnicinn influence. See FonmEss, S 2, and
cp 2 5.511.
When \ve turn to another important passage, in
I K. ao, drrcripiire of the siege of samaria by d en had ad
(=Hndacleler, the 1)acTidri of Shalmaneser's inscr. read
hy \Vinckler Bir'idri)= we find several elements that are
obacurc [rce Cri/ Bib.]. The account, moreover, is
from two distinct sources (see Kittel). In v. a word
srcrnr to have dropped out between mwv and the
folloning ~ ~ n - i 6 ~ read . ai~adop$sarr xdpax 'build
.i mrnpart ' or perhaps 'palisaded camp.' The former
seems here to be the meaning of xdpo:, which is also
employed in a collective sense by Polybiur (in the aenre
of ,entrenched camp '). The omitted word, corresponding
to this Greek ward for 'rampart,'was in the original
Hebrew text ured by the 6 ~ ix? (cp Dt. 2019 Heb.
and 6 ) 'siege-works' or 'lines of circumvallation.'
There is an alternative view, that the word to be supplied
here is D.? ' baltering-rams' : but this has no basis of
support in the 6, and is only plausibly sustained by the
use of the phrase 5) np in hek. 4% in connection with
the word n)?. Over these lines of entrenchment, within
which Benhadad and his Syrian troops thought themrelvcr
secure. Ahab made a desperate sally with 7000
men and utterly routed the enemy.
The importance of the military embankment (njib) for
siege operations may be clearly discerned in the monu-
FIG. 3.-rnecled
Turret with Ram
mental reliefs. The aj>n was constructed of earth and
stones and might even reach almost to the level of the
confronting fortress-wall. Sometimes a path paved
with bricks or tiles was formed on this rampart and
upon this lofty six-wheeled movable turrets, carrying
bowmen on the summit, and provided with a powerful
1 Heb. .pi"? i.??l, c?."*p Ewald regard5 C?"G ar
denom. verb from ng@ 'hole,' and is followed by Rdrtcher md
Thenius. C6, howevcr, render, 6vooioav(Ltucudouu). which lerdr
Wellhauwn and Klostermann to restore c'+?? (cp Prov 24s
Jon. I,), .were meditating to overthrow, etc.'-aweak meaning.
2 [To reference in BENHADAD, D I, =id now KATPI l2jo.l
45w
battering-ram, were driven down the paved slope agaiurt
the hostile wall or tower. Some of these movable rams
(fig. 31, "7ounted on wheeled conveynnce5, were of much
smaller size. These possessed a powrrful head or spur.
shaped like a ram's head, and the body of the conveyance
was framed of thick planks which afforded protection
f" the ,mrriors inside agvinst the arr"IIS and
stones discharged 1,)- the defenders of the besieged city.
The more simple mid primitive contiirnncei. consisting
of long beams or poles with metal heads (such as the
ancient Egyptians ured, see above), which were drivcn
bv hand onlv , acninst - the lower oortionz of the walls.
were empioyed even as late as in the days of Shsl~
maneser 11. (middle of 9th cent. nc.), and even in
the davs of Nebuchadrezzar. if we can tmst the detnilsof
Ezeki2.r portrayal of his operations against Tyre, 269
(see beiow). The larger movable towers with powerful
rams may be found depicted on the monuments of Aiurnasir-abai.
Billerbeck thinks that they must have been
employed at a much earlier period to reduce the
enormous walls of strongholds that were erected in
Babylonia as far back as jow B.c.'
As we approach the close of the regal period in
Hebrew history the nlethodr adopted by the Assyrians
3, later pre- became familiar to Iarnrl. 'Thus