Tiglath-Pileser I

Tiglath-Pileser I (1115 BCE - 1077 BCE) was one of the Kings of Assyria. In 1120 BC, Tiglath-Pileser I, the greatest of the Assyrian kings, "crossed the Euphrates, defeated the kings of the Hittites, captured the city of Carchemish, and advanced as far as the shores of the Mediterranean." He may be regarded as the founder of the first Assyrian empire.

He seems to have carefully cultivated fear of himself in his subjects and in his enemies.

There also is a myth that, when he reached the Mediterranean, he sailed briefly upon the Sea, sailing being quite a new thing at the time, and was given the gift of some large cetacean.

The son of Assur~ris-isi, ascended the throne c. 1120 B.C., and was one of the greatest of Assyrian conquerors. His first campaign was against the Moschi who had occupied certain Assyrian districts on the Upper Euphrates; then he overran Commagene and eastern Cappadocia, and drOve the Hittites from the Assyrian province of Subarti north-east Of Malatia. In a subsequent campaign the Assyrian forces penetrated into the Kurdish mountains south of Lake Van and then turned westward, Malatia submitting to the invader. In his fifth year Tiglath-Pileser attacked Comana in Cappadocia, and placed a record of his victories engraved on copper plates in a fortress he built to secure his Cilician conquests. The Aramaeans of north Syria were~the next to~be attacked, and he thrice made his way as far as the sources of the Tigris. The command of the high road to the Mediterranean was secured by the possession of the Hittite town of Pethor at the Junction of the Euphrates and Sajur, and at Arvad he received presents, including a crocodile, from the Egyptian king, and, embarking in a ship,killed a dolphin in the sea. He was passionately fond of the chase and was also a great builder the restoration of the temple of Assur and Hadad at Assur (g.v.) being one of his works.

See also: Tiglath-Pileser

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.