Hadadezer

This article is about the 9th Century BCE king of Aram-Damascus. For Hadadezer in the Hebrew Bible, see Hadadezer bar Rehob.

Hadadezer (/ˌhædəˈdiːzər/; "Hadad is my help"); also known as Adad-Idri (Assyr.), and possibly the same as Bar-Hadad II (Aram.) or Ben-Hadad II (Heb.), was the king of Aram Damascus at the time of the battle of Qarqar against the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in 853 BCE. He and Irhuleni of Hamath led a coalition of eleven kings (listed as twelve) at Qarqar (including Ahab of Israel and Gindibu the Arab). He fought Shalmaneser six other times, twice more with the aid of Irhuleni and possibly the rest of the coalition that fought at Qarqar.

He is mentioned in the inscriptions on the Tel Dan Stele; he seems most likely to be the unknown author's father. He may also be the king mentioned in the Stele of Zakkur, but this is uncertain. He was succeeded by Hazael after he was suffocated in the night by him. Some accounts claim that Hazael was in fact his son.

According to some scholars, Bar-Hadad II was the son of Hazael.