Assyria: Encyclopedia - Assyria

Assyria

Assyria in earliest historical times referred to a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the ancient city of Ashur. Later, as a nation and Empire, it also came to include roughly the northern half of Mesopotamia (the southern half being Babylonia).

Assyria proper was located in a mountainous region, extending along the Tigris as far as the high Gordiaean or Carduchian mountain range of Armenia, sometimes called the "Mountains of Ashur".

Assyria - Early history

Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is positively known. According to some Judeo-Christian traditions, the city of Ashur (Aŝŝur) was founded by Ashur the son of Shem, who was deified by later generations as the city's patron god.

Besides Ashur, the other three royal Assyrian cities were Calah (Nimrud), Khorsabad, and Nineveh.

This region seems to have been ruled from Sumer, Akkad, and northern Babylonia in its earliest stages, being part of Sargon the Great's empire. Destroyed by barbarians in the Gutian period, it was rebuilt, and ended up being governed as part of the Empire of the 3rd dynasty of Ur. The foundation of the Assyrian monarchy was ascribed to Zulilu, who is described as living after Bel-kap-kapu (Bel-kapkapi or Belkabi, ca. 1900 BC), the ancestor of Shalmaneser I.

Assyria - Old Assyrian city-state

The city-state of Ashur had extensive contact with cities on the Anatolian plateau. The Assyrians established "merchant colonies" in Cappadocia, e.g., at Kanesh (modern Kültepe) circa 1920 BC–1840 BC and 1798 BC–1740 BC. These colonies, called karum, the Akkadian word for 'port', were attached to Anatolian cities, but physically separate, and had special tax status. They must have arisen from a long tradition of trade between Ashur and the Anatolian cities; but no archaeological or written records show this. The trade consisted of metal (perhaps lead or tin; the terminology here is not entirely clear) and textiles from Assyria, that were traded for precious metals in Anatolia.

The city of Ashur was conquered by Shamshi-Adad I (1813 BC–1791 BC) in the expansion of Amorite tribes from the Khabur delta. He put his son Ishme-Dagan on the throne of nearby Ekallatum, and allowed the former Anatolian trade to continue. Only after the death of Shamshi-Adad and the fall of his sons, did Hammurabi of Babylon conquer Ashur. With Hammurabi, the various karum in Anatolia ceased trade activity, probably because the goods of Assyria were now being traded with the Babylonians' partners.

In the 15th century BC, Saushtatar, king of "Hanilgalbat" (Hurrians of Mitanni), sacked Ashur and made Assyria a vassal. Assyria paid tribute to Hanilgalbat until Mitanni power collapsed from Hittite pressure, enabling Ashur-uballit I (1365 BC–1330 BC), to again make Assyria an independent and conquering power at the expense of Babylonia; and a time came when the Kassite king in Babylon was glad to marry the daughter of Ashur-uballit, whose letters to Akhenaten of Egypt form part of the Amarna letters. This marriage led to disastrous results, as the Kassite faction at court murdered the Babylonian king and placed a pretender on the throne. Assur-uballit promptly marched into Babylonia and avenged his son-in-law, making Burna-buryas of the royal line king there.

Hanilgalbat was finally conquered under Adad-nirari I, who described himself as a "Great-King" (Sharru rabû) in letters to the Hittite rulers. Adad-nirari I's successor, Shalmaneser I (c. 1300 BC), threw off the pretense of Babylonian suzerainty, made Calah his capital, and followed up on expansion to the northwest, mainly at the expense of the Hittites, reaching as far as Carchemish and beyond.

Shalmaneser's son and successor, Tukulti-Ninurta I, deposed Kadashman-Buriash of Babylon and ruled there himself as king for seven years, taking on the old title "king of Sumer and Akkad". Following this, Babylon revolted against Tukulti-Ninurta, and later even made Assyria tributary during the reigns of the Babylonian kings Melishipak II and Marduk-apal-iddin I, another weak period for Assyria.

Assyria - Assyrian Empire

Assyria - Assyrian empire-building

As the Hittite empire collapsed from onslaught of the Phrygians (called Mushki in Assyrian annals), Babylon and Assyria began to vie for Amorite regions, formerly under firm Hittite control. The Assyrian king Ashur-resh-ishi defeated Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylon in a battle, when their forces encountered one another in this region.

Ashur-resh-ishi's son, Tiglath-Pileser I, may be regarded as the founder of the first Assyrian empire. In 1120 BC, he crossed the Euphrates, capturing Carchemish, defeated the Mushki and the remnants of the Hittites—even claiming to reach the Black Sea—and advanced to the Mediterranean, subjecting Phoenicia, where he hunted wild bulls. He also marched into Babylon twice, assuming the old title "King of Sumer and Akkad", although he was unable to depose the actual king in Babylonia, where the old Kassite dynasty had now succumbed to an Elamite one.

After Tiglath-Pileser I, the Assyrians were in decline for nearly two centuries, a time of weak and ineffective rulers, wars with neighboring Urartu, and encroachments by Aramaean nomads. This long period of weakness ended with the accession in 911 BC of Adad-nirari II. He brought the areas still nominally under Assyrian vassalage firmly under subjection, deporting populations in the north to far-off places. Apart from pushing the boundary with Babylonia slightly southward, he did not engage in actual expansion, and the borders of the empire he consolidated reached only as far west as the Khabur. He was succeeded by Tukulti-Ninurta II, who made some gains in the north during his short reign.

The next king, Ashurnasirpal II (883 BC–858 BC), embarked on a vast program of merciless expansion, first terrorizing the peoples to the north as far as Nairi, then subjecting the Aramaeans between the Khabur and the Euphrates. His harshness prompted a revolt that was crushed decisively in a pitched, two-day battle. Following this victory, he advanced without opposition as far as the Mediterranean and exacted tribute from Phoenicia. Unlike any before, the Assyrians began boasting in their ruthlessness around this time. Ashurnasirpal II also moved his capital to the city of Kalhu (Nimrud). The palaces, temples and other buildings raised by him bear witness to a considerable development of wealth and art.

[There is ongoing discussion among academics over the nature of the Nimrud lens, a piece of rock crystal unearthed by John Layard in 1850, in the Nimrud palace complex in northern Iraq. A small minority believe that it is evidence for the existence of ancient Assyrian telescopes, which could explain the great accuracy of Assyrian astronomy.]

Ashurnasirpal's son, Shalmaneser III (858 BC–823 BC), had a long reign of 34 years, when the Assyrian capital was converted into an armed camp. Each year the Assyrian armies marched out of it to plunder and destroy. Babylon was occupied, and Babylonia reduced to vassalage. He fought against Urartu, and marched an army against an allied army of Syrian states headed by Benhadad of Damascus, and including Ahab, king of Israel, at the Battle of Karkar in (854 BC). Despite Shalmaneser's description of 'vanquishing the opposition', it seems that the battle ended in a deadlock, as the Assyrian forces were withdrawn soon afterwards.

Shalmaneser retook Carchemish in 849 BC, and in 841 BC marched an army against Hazael, King of Damascus, besieging and taking that city. He also brought under tribute Jehu of Israel, Tyre, and Sidon. His black obelisk, discovered at Kalhu, records many military exploits of his reign. [1] The last few years of his life were disturbed by the rebellion of his eldest son, that nearly proved fatal. Assur, Arbela and other places joined the pretender, and the revolt was quashed with difficulty by Shamshi-Adad V, Shalmaneser's second son, who soon afterwards succeeded him (824 BC).

In the following century, Assyria again experienced a relative decline, owing to weaker rulers (including the Queen Semiramis) and a resurgence in expansion by Urartu. The notable exception was Adad-nirari III (810 BC–782 BC), who captured Damascus in 804, bringing Syria under tribute as far south as Samaria and Edom, and who advanced against the Medes, perhaps even penetrating to the Caspian Sea.

When Nabonassar began the neo-Babylonian dynasty in 747 BC Assyria was in the throes of a revolution. Civil war and pestilence were devastating the country, and its northern provinces had been wrested from it by Urartu. In 746 BC Calah joined the rebels, and on the 13th of Iyyar in the following year, a general named Pulu, who took the name of Tiglath-pileser III, seized the crown and inaugurated a vigorous new policy, establishing the Second Assyrian Empire. After subjecting Babylon to tribute and severely punishing Urartu, he directed his armies into Syria, which had regained its independence. He took Arpad near Aleppo in 740 BC after a siege of three years, and reduced Hamath. Azariah (Uzziah) had been an ally of the king of Hamath, and thus was compelled by Tiglath-Pileser to do him homage and pay yearly tribute.

In 738 BC, in the reign of Menahem, king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser III occupied Philistia and invaded Israel, imposing on it a heavy tribute (2 Kings 15:19). Ahaz, king of Judah, engaged in a war against Israel and Syria, appealed for help to this Assyrian king by means of a present of gold and silver (2 Kings 16:8); he accordingly "marched against Damascus, defeated and put Rezin to death, and besieged the city itself." Leaving part of his army to continue the siege, he advanced, ravaging with fire and sword the province east of the Jordan, Philistia, and Samaria; and in 732 BC took Damascus, deporting its inhabitants to Assyria. In 729 BC, he had himself crowned as "King Pul of Babylon".

Tiglath-Pileser III died in 727 BC, and was succeeded by Shalmaneser V, who reorganized the Empire into provinces, replacing the troublesome vassal kings with Assyrian governors. However, King Hoshea of Israel suspended paying tribute, and allied himself with Egypt against Assyria in 725 BC. This led Shalmaneser to invade Syria (2 Kings 17:5) and besiege Samaria (capital city of Israel) for three years.

Assyria - Sargonid dynasty

Shalmaneser V was deposed in 722 BC in favour of Sargon, the Tartan (commander-in-chief of the army), who then quickly took Samaria, carrying 27,000 people away into captivity into the Israelite Diaspora, and effectively ending the northern Kingdom of Israel. (2 Kings 17:1–6, 24; 18:7, 9). He also overran Judah, and took Jerusalem (Isa. 10:6, 12, 22, 24, 34). In 721 BC, Babylon threw off the rule of the Assyrians, under the powerful Chaldean prince Merodach-baladan (2 Kings 20:12), and Sargon, unable to contain the revolt, turned his attention again to Syria, Urartu, and the Medes, penetrating the Iranian Plateau as far as Mt. Bikni and building several fortresses, before returning in 710 BC and retaking Babylon. Sargon also built a new capital at Dur Sharrukin ("Sargon's City") near Nineveh, with all the tribute Assyria had collected from various nations.

In 705 BC, Sargon was slain while fighting the Cimmerians, and was succeeded by his son Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:13; 19:37; Isa. 7:17, 18), who moved the capital to Nineveh and made the deported peoples work on improving Nineveh's system of irrigation canals. In 701 BC, Hezekiah of Judah formed an alliance with Egypt against Assyria, so Sennacherib accordingly marched toward Jerusalem, destroying 46 villages in his path. This is graphically described in Isaiah 10; exactly what happened next is unclear (the Bible says an Angel of the Lord smote the Assyrian army at Jerusalem; Herodotus says they were destroyed by a plague of field mice at Egypt; modern historians suspect Plague in both instances); however what is certain, is that the besieging army was somehow decimated, and Sennacherib failed to capture Jerusalem. In 689 BC, Babylonia again revolted, but Sennacherib responded swiftly by opening the canals around Babylon and flooding the outside of the city until it became a swamp, resulting in its destruction, and its inhabitants were scattered. In 681 BC, Sennacherib was murdered, most likely by one of his sons.

Sennacherib was succeeded by his son Esarhaddon (Ashur-aha-iddina), who had been governor of Babylonia under his father. As king, he immediately had Babylon rebuilt, and made it his capital. Defeating the Cimmerians and Medes (again penetrating to Mt. Bikni), but unable to maintain order in these areas, he turned his attention westward to Phoenicia—now allying itself with Egypt against him—and sacked Sidon in 677 BC. He also captured Manasseh of Judah and kept him prisoner for some time in Babylon (2 Kings 19:37; Isa. 37:38). Having had enough of Egyptian meddling, he next invaded that country in 674 BC, conquering it all by 670 BC. Assyria was also at war with Urartu and Dilmun (probably modern Qatar) at this time. This was Assyria's greatest territorial extent. However, the Assyrian governors Esarhaddon had appointed over Egypt were obliged to flee the restive populace, and while leading another army to pacify them, Esarhaddon died suddenly, in 669 BC.

Assur-bani-pal or Ashurbanipal (Ashurbanapli, Asnappar), the son of Esarhaddon, succeeded him. He continued to campaign in Egypt, when not distracted by pressures from the Medes to the east, and Cimmerians to the north of Assyria. Unable to contain Egypt, he installed Psammetichus as a vassal king in 663 BC, but by 652 BC, this vassal king was strong enough to declare outright independence from Assyria with impunity, especially as Ashurbanipal's brother, Shamash-shum-ukin, governor of Babylon, began a civil war in that year that lasted until 648 BC, when Babylon was sacked and the brother set fire to the palace, killing himself. Elam was completely devastated in 646 BC and 640 BC.

Assyria - Downfall and heritage

Ashurbanipal had promoted art and culture, and had a vast library of cuneiform tablets at Nineveh, but upon his death in 627 BC, the Assyrian Empire began to disintegrate rapidly. Babylonia became independent; their king Nabopolassar, along with Cyaxares of Media, destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC, and Assyria fell. A general called Ashur-uballit II, with military support from the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II, held out as a remnant of Assyrian power at Harran until 609 BC, after which Assyria ceased to exist as an independent nation. However, the Assyrian people have managed to keep their identity, and still exist as a distinct ethnic group, mainly in northern Iraq, where they are distinguished from their Arab, Kurdish, and Turkmen neighbors by their traditions, politics, Christian religion, and Aramaic dialect.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Assyria", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki