When King Hezekiah of Judah sees that Sennacherib of Assyria is coming in war, he has springs and a brook outside Jerusalem stopped to keep water from the Assyrians. (“So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water” 2 Chronicles 32:1″4).
Returning from the razing of Persepolis, Alexander proceeds to India. After the Indian campaigns, he heads back to Babylon via the Persian Gulf and the Tigris, where he tears down defensive weirs that the Persians had constructed along the river. The Greek historian Arrian describes Alexander’s disdain for the Persians’ attempt to block navigation, which he saw as “unbecoming to men who are victorious in battle.”
According to Herodotus, Cyrus invades Babylon by diverting the Euphrates above the city and marching troops along the dry riverbed. This popular account describes a midnight attack that coincided with a Babylonian feast.
On his way from Sardis to defeat Nabonidus at Babylon, Cyrus faces a powerful tributary of the Tigris, probably the Diyalah. According to Herodotus’ account, the river drowns his royal white horse and presents a formidable obstacle to his march. Cyrus, angered by the “insolence” of the river, halts his army and orders them to cut 360 canals to divert the river’s flow. Other historians argue that Cyrus needed the water to maintain his troops on their southward journey, while…
Nebuchadnezzar breaches the aqueduct that supplies the city of Tyre in order to end a long siege.
Assyrians poison the wells of their enemies with rye ergot.
Saladin is able to defeat the Crusaders at the Horns of Hattin in 1187 by denying them access to water. In some reports, Saladin fills all the wells along the way with sand and destroys the villages of the Maronite Christians who would supply the Christian army with water.
Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate uses sacred money to divert a stream to Jerusalem, Israel. The Jews are angered at the diversion and tens of thousands gather to protest. Pilate’s soldiers mingle among the crowd and with daggers hidden in their garments, attack the protesters. “A great number” are slain and wounded and the sedition ends.
Israel begins construction of its National Water Carrier to transfer water from the north of the Sea of Galilee out of the Jordan basin to the Negev Desert for irrigation. Syrian military actions along the border and international disapproval lead Israel to move its intake to the Sea of Galilee.
Jordan makes public its plans to irrigate the Jordan Valley by tapping the Yarmouk River; Israel responds by commencing drainage of the Huleh swamps located in the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria; border skirmishes ensue between Israel and Syria.