Editing Tiglath-Pileser III (section)

==== Early campaigns ====
[[File:Tiglath-Pileser III before the citadel of Turushpa.png|upright=1.35|thumb|20th-century illustration of Tiglath-Pileser in 743 BC outside [[Tushpa]], the capital of Urartu]]
In addition to his reforms, Tiglath-Pileser's reign is marked by a series of large-scale military campaigns in all directions.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017|p=177}} Though Tiglath-Pileser recorded his military exploits in great detail in his "annals", written on sculpted stone slabs decorating his palace in Nimrud, these are poorly preserved,{{Sfn|Frahm|2017|p=176}} meaning that for several of his campaigns it is only possible to produce a broad outline.{{Sfn|Oded|1974|p=42}} Tiglath-Pileser's first campaign was conducted already in 744, when he assaulted Babylonian lands on the east side of the [[Tigris]] river.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017|p=177}} This conflict was resolved swiftly, with the Assyro-Babylonian border shifted in Tiglath-Pileser's favor.{{Sfn|Radner|2012}} In 743, Tiglath-Pileser campaigned in the region around the Zagros Mountains, where he created the two new provinces Bit‐Ḫamban and Parsua.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017|p=177}} The new Zagros provinces were founded along a highly important trade route, the predecessor of the later [[Silk Road]].{{Sfn|Radner|2012}}

The Assyrian successes in 744 and 743 demonstrated to the empire's neighbors that the time of Assyrian stagnation was over.{{Sfn|Radner|2012}} Tiglath-Pileser's success inspired [[Iranzu]], king of the [[Mannaeans]], a people who lived in northwestern Iran, to personally meet with Tiglath-Pileser in 744 and forge an alliance. Iranzu's predecessors had usually maintained their kingdom's independence through changing allegiance between Urartu and Assyria, but Iranzu made a firm choice to side with Assyria and Tiglath-Pileser eagerly accepted the alliance since Iranzu's realm was ideally placed to protect Assyria from Urartian raids.{{Sfn|Fuchs|2017b|p=262}}

These developments worried Sarduri II of Urartu, who intensified his efforts to oppose and overtake Assyrian hegemony. Later in 743, Sarduri arrived at the [[Euphrates]] river border of Assyria with his army,{{Sfn|Radner|2012}} his forces bolstered by troops sent by various kingdoms and states in Syria.{{Sfn|Bagg|2017|p=270}} In the same year, Tiglath-Pileser engaged Sarduri in battle near Arpad. Unlike the Assyrian defeat by Arpad eleven years earlier, Tiglath-Pileser won the battle,{{Sfn|Radner|2012}}{{Sfn|Frahm|2017|p=177}} one of the greatest triumphs of his reign.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017|p=177}} Sarduri was forced to flee the battle and was pursued back to the Urartian capital of [[Tushpa]].{{Sfn|Radner|2012}}