Baliḫu also known as Ba-li-ih and Balaṭ-šarrani is an ancient,

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

town on the Euphrates in northern Syria. According to the

Harran Census The Haran Census is a group of clay tablets from Iron Age Syria, listing rural estates and their dependent peoples dated to the reign of Sargon II. Found in Nineveh Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; sy ...

tablets (SAA XI 122–45), the city was located in the

Balikh River The Balikh River ( ar, نهر البليخ) is a perennial river that originates in the spring of Ain al-Arous near Tell Abyad in the Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests ecoregion. It flows due south and joins the Euph ...

Basin. The

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

of the town are believed by some to be at

Tell Abyad Tell Abyad; ku, گرێ سپی, Girê Spî; hy, Թել Աբյադ; syr, ܬܠ ܐܒܝܕ. is a town in northern Syria. It is the administrative center of the Tell Abyad District within the Raqqa Governorate. Located along the Balikh River, it con ...

(Arabic: تل أبيض,) on the Syria–Turkey border.

History

The town is mentioned in a chronicle of Aššur-uballit II, known as Chronicle 3, which states that the Battle of Nineveh between Babylonian and

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the As ...

n armies ''in the month Âbu the king of Akkad and his army went upstream to

Mane Mane may refer to: * Mane (horse), the line of hair along the spine of the neck * Mane (lion), the hair found around the male mammal's neck In arts and entertainment * ''Mane'' (film) is a 1990 Kannada language film directed by Girish Kasaravall ...

, Sahiri and Bali-hu. He plundered them, sacked them extensively and abducted their gods.'' It may have been a semi independent kingdom, though this is controversial and a governor of the city is known for 814 BC.

Shalmaneser III Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Ashurnasirpal II in 859 BC to his own death in 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campaign ...

claims that in 853, he advanced on the city and that the inhabitants fearful of his approach assassinated their ''overlord'' Giammu and surrendered. At some time latter in the rule of Shalamaneser, a general ''Belu-lu-balat'', claimed to be gorvenor of the town.Trevor Bryce, The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia (Taylor & Francis, 2009) p. 785.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baliḫu Populated places in Tell Abyad District Tells (archaeology) 7th century BC Ancient cities of the Middle East