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, later
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, later
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Ashur-dan IIAshur-Dan II was a King of Assyria .-Biography:Ashur-Dan II succeeded his father, Tiglath-Pileser II. He was succeeded by his son Adad-nirari II.He reigned from 935 BC until his death in 912 BC....
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Ashur-uballit IIAshur-uballit II , was the last king of the Assyrian empire. He reigned in the last capital city of Harran from 612 BC to 609 BC, having escaped Nineveh during the siege and capture of that city by the Babylonian-Mede army in 612 BC....
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, later
NinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
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Ashur-uballit IIAshur-uballit II , was the last king of the Assyrian empire. He reigned in the last capital city of Harran from 612 BC to 609 BC, having escaped Nineveh during the siege and capture of that city by the Babylonian-Mede army in 612 BC....
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, later
NinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
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Ashur-dan IIAshur-Dan II was a King of Assyria .-Biography:Ashur-Dan II succeeded his father, Tiglath-Pileser II. He was succeeded by his son Adad-nirari II.He reigned from 935 BC until his death in 912 BC....
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Ashur-uballit IIAshur-uballit II , was the last king of the Assyrian empire. He reigned in the last capital city of Harran from 612 BC to 609 BC, having escaped Nineveh during the siege and capture of that city by the Babylonian-Mede army in 612 BC....
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Battle of MegiddoThis Battle of Megiddo is recorded as having taken place in 609 BC with Necho II of Egypt leading his army to Carchemish to fight with his allies the Assyrians against the Babylonians at Carchemish in northern Syria. This required passing through territory controlled by the Kingdom of Judah and...
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, later
NinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
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Ashur-uballit IIAshur-uballit II , was the last king of the Assyrian empire. He reigned in the last capital city of Harran from 612 BC to 609 BC, having escaped Nineveh during the siege and capture of that city by the Babylonian-Mede army in 612 BC....
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AssurAssur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District .Assur is also...
, later
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|religion = Henotheism
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|leader1 =
Ashur-dan IIAshur-Dan II was a King of Assyria .-Biography:Ashur-Dan II succeeded his father, Tiglath-Pileser II. He was succeeded by his son Adad-nirari II.He reigned from 935 BC until his death in 912 BC....
(first)
|leader2 =
Ashur-uballit IIAshur-uballit II , was the last king of the Assyrian empire. He reigned in the last capital city of Harran from 612 BC to 609 BC, having escaped Nineveh during the siege and capture of that city by the Babylonian-Mede army in 612 BC....
(last)
|year_leader1 = 934–912 BC
|year_leader2 = 612–609 BC
|title_leader =
KingThe list of Assyrian kings is compiled from the Assyrian King List, an ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia with information added from recent archaeological findings. The Assyrian King List includes regnal lengths that appear to have been based on now lost limmu lists...
|representative1 =
|representative2 =
|representative3 =
|representative4 =
|year_representative1 =
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|year_representative4 =
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{{Infobox Former Country
|native_name =
|conventional_long_name = Neo-Assyrian Empire
|common_name = Assyria
|continent = moved from Category:Asia to the Middle East
|region = the Middle East
|country =
|era = Iron Age
|status_text =
|empire =
|government_type = Monarchy
|year_start = 934 BC
|year_end = 609 BC
|year_exile_start =
|year_exile_end =
|event_start = Ashur-dan II
|date_start =
|event_end =
Battle of MegiddoThis Battle of Megiddo is recorded as having taken place in 609 BC with Necho II of Egypt leading his army to Carchemish to fight with his allies the Assyrians against the Babylonians at Carchemish in northern Syria. This required passing through territory controlled by the Kingdom of Judah and...
|date_end =
|event1 =
Battle of NinevehThe Battle of Nineveh was fought in 612 BC. It witnessed the Assyrian capital of Nineveh being besieged, conquered, and sacked by allied forces of Medes, Scythians, Babylonians and Susianians. King Sin-shar-ishkun of Assyria was killed in the sack.From then on, the Neo-Babylonian Empire ruled the...
|date_event1 = 612 BC
|event2 =
|date_event2 =
|event3 =
|date_event3 =
|today_part_of =
|event4 =
|date_event4 =
|event_pre =
|date_pre =
|event_post =
|date_post =
|p1 = Middle Assyrian period
|flag_p1 =
|image_p1 =
|p2 = Elam
|flag_p2 =
|p3 = Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt|flag_p3 =
|p4 = Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)
|flag_p4 = Kingdoms of Israel and Judah map 830.svg
|p5 =
|flag_p5 =
|s1 = Median Empire
|flag_s1 = Median Empire.svg
|image_s1 =
|s2 = Neo-Babylonian_Empire
|flag_s2 = Neo babylonia empire 540 bc.svg
|s3 = Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt
|flag_s3 =
|s4 =
|flag_s4 =
|s5 =
|flag_s5 =
|image_flag =
|flag =
|flag_type =
|image_coat =
|symbol =
|symbol_type =
|image_map = Map of Assyria.png
|image_map_caption = Map of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and its expansions.
|capital =
AssurAssur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District .Assur is also...
, later
NinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
|capital_exile =
|latd= |latm= |latNS= |longd= |longm= |longEW=
|national_motto =
|national_anthem =
|common_languages =
Aramaic languageAramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
|religion = Henotheism
|currency =
|leader1 =
Ashur-dan IIAshur-Dan II was a King of Assyria .-Biography:Ashur-Dan II succeeded his father, Tiglath-Pileser II. He was succeeded by his son Adad-nirari II.He reigned from 935 BC until his death in 912 BC....
(first)
|leader2 =
Ashur-uballit IIAshur-uballit II , was the last king of the Assyrian empire. He reigned in the last capital city of Harran from 612 BC to 609 BC, having escaped Nineveh during the siege and capture of that city by the Babylonian-Mede army in 612 BC....
(last)
|year_leader1 = 934–912 BC
|year_leader2 = 612–609 BC
|title_leader =
KingThe list of Assyrian kings is compiled from the Assyrian King List, an ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia with information added from recent archaeological findings. The Assyrian King List includes regnal lengths that appear to have been based on now lost limmu lists...
|representative1 =
|representative2 =
|representative3 =
|representative4 =
|year_representative1 =
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|deputy4 =
|year_deputy1 =
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|year_deputy3 =
|year_deputy4 =
|title_deputy =
|legislature =
|house1 =
|type_house1 =
|house2 =
|type_house2 =
|
|stat_year2 =
|stat_area2 =
|stat_pop2 =
|stat_year3 =
|stat_area3 =
|stat_pop3 =
|stat_year4 =
|stat_area4 =
|stat_pop4 =
|stat_year5 =
|stat_area5 =
|stat_pop5 =
|footnotes =
}}
{{Iron Age}}
{{Battles involving Assyria}}
The
Neo-Assyrian Empire was an empire in
MesopotamiaMesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
n history which began in 911 BC and ended in 612 BC. During this period,
AssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
assumed a position as the most powerful nation on earth, and successfully vying with
BabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
,
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
/
ArmeniaArmenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
and
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
for dominance of the
Near EastThe Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
,
Asia MinorAsia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
,
CaucasusThe Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
,
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and east Mediterranean, though not until the reforms of
Tiglath-Pileser IIITiglath-Pileser III was a prominent king of Assyria in the eighth century BC and is widely regarded as the founder of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Tiglath-Pileser III seized the Assyrian throne during a civil war and killed the royal family...
in the 8th century BC did it become a vast empire. Assyria was originally an Akkadian kingdom which evolved in the 23rd to 21st Centuries BC. Originally, the early Assyrian kings such as
TudiyaTudiya is the earliest recorded Assyrian king. According to Georges Roux and the Assyrian King List he would have lived in the 23rd century BC. Tudiya concluded a treaty with king Ibrium of Ebla for the use of a trading post officially controlled by Ebla. He was suceeded by Adamu....
would certainly have been regional leaders only, and subject to
Sargon of AkkadSargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great "the Great King" , was an Akkadian emperor famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 23rd and 22nd centuries BC. The founder of the Dynasty of Akkad, Sargon reigned in the last quarter of the third millennium BC...
who united all the Akkadian speaking peoples of Mesopotamia under the Akkadian Empire which lasted from 2270 BC to 2080 BC. The Akkadian nation of Assyria (and later also Babylonia) evolved from the dissolution of the Akkadian Empire. In the Old Assyrian period of the Early Bronze Age, Assyria had been a kingdom of northern Mesopotamia (modern-day northern
IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
), competing for dominance with its fellow Akkadian speaking southern Mesopotamian rival,
BabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
which was founded by Amorites and often under
KassiteKassite is a rare mineral with formula CaTi2O42. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system and forms radiating rosettes and pseudo-hexagonal tabular crystals which are commonly twinned. Crystals are brownish pink to pale yellow and are translucent with an adamantine luster...
rule. During this period it established colonies in
Asia MinorAsia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
. It had experienced fluctuating fortunes in the Middle Assyrian period. Assyria had a period of empire under
Shamshi-Adad IShamshi-Adad I Shamshi-Adad I Shamshi-Adad I (fl. late 18th century BC (short chronology) was an Assyrian king. He rose to prominence when he carved out an empire encompassing much of Mesopotamia, Syria and Asia Minor...
in the 18th and 17th Centuries BC, following this it found itself under short periods of Babylonian and
MitanniMitanni or Hanigalbat was a loosely organized Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and south-east Anatolia from ca. 1500 BC–1300 BC...
-Hurrian domination in the 17th and 15th Centuries BC respectively, followed by another period of great power and empire from 1365 BC to 1076 BC, that included the reigns of great kings such as
Ashur-uballit IAshur-uballit I , was king of the Assyrian empire . His reign marks Assyria's independence from the kingdom of Mitanni, by defeating Shuttarna II; and the beginning of Assyria's emergence as a powerful empire...
,
Tukulti-Ninurta ITukulti-Ninurta I was a king of Assyria.He succeeded Shalmaneser I, his father, as king and won a major victory against the Hittites at the Battle of Nihriya in the first half of his reign...
and
Tiglath-Pileser ITiglath-Pileser I was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian period . According to Georges Roux, Tiglath-Pileser was "one of the two or three great Assyrian monarchs since the days of Shamshi-Adad I"...
. During the ancient 'Dark Ages' Assyria remained a strong and stable nation, unlike its rivals. Beginning with the campaigns of
Adad-nirari IIAdad-nirari II is generally considered to be the first King of Assyria in the Neo-Assyrian period. He firmly subjugated the areas previously under only nominal Assyrian vassalage, conquering and deporting troublesome Aramean, Neo-Hittite and Hurrian populations in the north to far-off places...
, it again became a great power, overthrowing the
Twenty-fifth dynasty of EgyptThe twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, known as the Nubian Dynasty or the Kushite Empire, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt....
and conquering
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
,
BabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
,
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
,
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
, Media, Persia, Mannea,
GutiumThe Gutians were a tribe that overran southern Mesopotamia when the Akkadian empire collapsed in approximately 2154 BC....
,
PhoeniciaPhoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
/
CanaanCanaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
, Aramea (
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
), Arabia, Israel,
JudahThe Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
,
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
,
EdomEdom or Idumea was a historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom, and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region...
,
MoabMoab is the historical name for a mountainous strip of land in Jordan. The land lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by numerous archeological findings, most notably the Mesha Stele, which describes the Moabite victory over...
,
SamarraSāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700....
,
CiliciaIn antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
,
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
,
ChaldeaChaldea or Chaldaea , from Greek , Chaldaia; Akkadian ; Hebrew כשדים, Kaśdim; Aramaic: ܟܐܠܕܘ, Kaldo) was a marshy land located in modern-day southern Iraq which came to briefly rule Babylon...
, Nabatea, Commagene,
DilmunDilmun or Telmun is a land mentioned by Mesopotamian civilizations as a trade partner, a source of the metal copper, and an entrepôt of the Mesopotamia-to-Indus Valley Civilization trade route...
and the
HurriansThe Hurrians were a people of the Ancient Near East who lived in Northern Mesopotamia and adjacent regions during the Bronze Age.The largest and most influential Hurrian nation was the kingdom of Mitanni. The population of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia to a large part consisted of Hurrians, and...
,
ShutuShutu or Sutu is the name given in ancient Akkadian language sources to certain nomadic groups of the Trans-Jordanian highlands, extending deep into Mesopotamia and Southern Iraq...
and neo
HittitesThe Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
; driving the
NubiansThe Nubians are an ethnic group originally from northern Sudan, and southern Egypt now inhabiting North Africa and some parts of East Africa....
, Kushites and Ethiopians from Egypt; defeating the
CimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
and Scythians; and exacting tribute from
PhrygiaIn antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
,
MaganMajan was an ancient region which was referred to in Sumerian cuneiform texts of around 2300 BC as a source of copper and diorite for Mesopotamia....
and
PuntThe Land of Punt, also called Pwenet, or Pwene by the ancient Egyptians, was a trading partner known for producing and exporting gold, aromatic resins, African blackwood, ebony, ivory, slaves and wild animals...
among others.
The Neo-Assyrian Empire succeeded the Middle Assyrian period (14th to 10th century BC). Some scholars, such as
Richard Nelson FryeRichard Nelson Frye is an American scholar of Iranic and Central Asian Studies, and Aga Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Harvard University...
, regard the Neo-Assyrian Empire to be the first real empire in human history. During this period,
AramaicAramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
was also made an official language of the empire, alongside the
Akkadian languageAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
.
Assyria finally succumbed to a coalition of Babylonians,
Medes
, Scythians, and others at the
Fall of NinevehThe Battle of Nineveh was fought in 612 BC. It witnessed the Assyrian capital of Nineveh being besieged, conquered, and sacked by allied forces of Medes, Scythians, Babylonians and Susianians. King Sin-shar-ishkun of Assyria was killed in the sack.From then on, the Neo-Babylonian Empire ruled the...
in 612 BC, and the sacking of its last capital
HarranHarran was a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia whose site is near the modern village of Altınbaşak, Turkey, 24 miles southeast of Şanlıurfa...
in 608 BC. More than half a century later, Babylonia and Assyria
became provincesAthura was a geographical area within the Persian Achaemenid Empire during the period of 539 BC to 330 BC. Although sometimes regarded as a satrapy, Achaemenid royal inscriptions list it as a dahyu, a concept generally interpreted as meaning either a group of people or both a country and its...
of the Persian Empire. Though the Assyrians during the reign of
AshurbanipalAshurbanipal |Ashur]] is creator of an heir"; 685 BC – c. 627 BC), also spelled Assurbanipal or Ashshurbanipal, was an Assyrian king, the son of Esarhaddon and the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire...
destroyed the
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
ite civilization, the Assyrians' culture did influence the succeeding empires of the
Medes
and the Persians,
Indo-IranianIndo-Iranian peoples are a linguistic group consisting of the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family....
peoples who had been dominated by Assyria.
Pre-reform Assyrian Empire 911-745 BC
After the death of
Tiglath-Pileser ITiglath-Pileser I was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian period . According to Georges Roux, Tiglath-Pileser was "one of the two or three great Assyrian monarchs since the days of Shamshi-Adad I"...
in 1076 BC, Assyria was in
comparative decline for the next 150 years. The period from 1200 BC to 900 BC was a
dark ageThe Greek Dark Age or Ages also known as Geometric or Homeric Age are terms which have regularly been used to refer to the period of Greek history from the presumed Dorian invasion and end of the Mycenaean Palatial civilization around 1200 BC, to the first signs of the Greek city-states in the 9th...
for the entire
Near EastThe Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
,
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
,
CaucasusThe Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, Mediterranean and Balkan regions, with great upheavals and mass movements of people. Despite the apparent weakness of Assyria, at heart it in fact remained a solid, well defended nation whose warriors were the best in the world. Assyria was in a stronger position during this time than potential rivals such as
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
,
BabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
,
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
,
PhrygiaIn antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
,
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
, Persia and Media Kings such as
Ashur-bel-kalaAshur-bel-kala was King of Assyria from 1074 to 1056 BC. He was the son of Tiglath-Pileser I and succeeded after the brief reign of his brother, Asharid-apal-Ekur. After a 18 years reign, he prematurely died and was buried in the city of Ashur.He was succeeded by his son, Eriba-Adad...
,
Asharid-apal-EkurAsharid-apal-Ekur was King of Assyria from 1076 to 1074 BC. He succeeded his father, Tiglath-Pileser I, and was succeeded by a brother, Ashur-bel-kala.-References:...
,
Ashur-rabi IIAshur-rabi II was one of the longest-reigning kings of Assyria, reigning for 41 years. Little is known about his reign, of which few records survive. He was apparently a younger son of Ashurnasirpal I. Following the reigns of his elder brother, Shalmaneser II, and his nephew Ashur-nirari IV, he...
,
Tiglath-Pileser IITiglath-Pileser II was King of Assyria from 967 BCE, when he succeeded his father Ashur-resh-ishi II until his death in 935 BCE, when he was succeeded by his son Ashur-dan II. Little is known about his reign.-References:...
and
Ashur-Dan IIAshur-Dan II was a King of Assyria .-Biography:Ashur-Dan II succeeded his father, Tiglath-Pileser II. He was succeeded by his son Adad-nirari II.He reigned from 935 BC until his death in 912 BC....
successfully defended Assyria's borders and upheld stability during this tumultuous time. This long period of isolation ended with the accession in 911 BC of
Adad-nirari IIAdad-nirari II is generally considered to be the first King of Assyria in the Neo-Assyrian period. He firmly subjugated the areas previously under only nominal Assyrian vassalage, conquering and deporting troublesome Aramean, Neo-Hittite and Hurrian populations in the north to far-off places...
. He firmly subjugated the areas previously under only nominal Assyrian vassalage, conquering and deporting troublesome
ArameanThe Aramaeans, also Arameans , were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in what is now modern Syria during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age...
and Hurrian populations in the north to far-off places. Adadinirari II then twice attacked and defeated Shamash-mudammiq of
BabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
, annexing a large area of land north of the
DiyalaThe Diyala River after Darban-e Khan Dam:Kurdish: Sirwan, سيروان, , Persian: سیروان دیاله, is a river and tributary of the Tigris that runs mainly through Eastern Iraq but also Western Iran. It covers a total distance of ....
river and the towns of
HitHīt is an Iraqi city in Al-Anbar province. Hīt lies northwest of Ramadi, the provincial capital.On the Euphrates River, Hīt is a small walled town built on two mounds on the site of the ancient city of Is; bitumen wells in the vicinity have been utilized for at least 3,000 years and were used in...
and Zanqu in mid Mesopotamia. He made further gains over Babylonia under Nabu-shuma-ukin later in his reign. He was succeeded by
Tukulti-Ninurta IITukulti-Ninurta II was King of Assyria from 891 BC to 884 BC. He was the second king of the Neo Assyrian Empire.-Family:His father was Adad-nirari II, the second king of the Neo-Assyrian period. His son succeeded him and was named Ashurnasirpal II...
in 891 BC, who further consolidated Assyria's position and expanded northwards into
Asia MinorAsia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
and the
Zagros MountainsThe Zagros Mountains are the largest mountain range in Iran and Iraq. With a total length of 1,500 km , from northwestern Iran, and roughly correlating with Iran's western border, the Zagros range spans the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau and ends at the Strait of...
during his short reign.
The next king, Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC), embarked on a vast program of expansion, first conquering the peoples to the north as far as
NairiNairi is an Armenian given name, it may also refer to:*Nairi, Armenian tribe.*Nairi , an informal synonym for Armenia, which in turn gave rise to a number of modern usages:*The town of Hatsik, Armavir was called Nairi from 1963 till 1991...
near
Lake VanLake Van is the largest lake in Turkey, located in the far east of the country in Van district. It is a saline and soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes . The original outlet from...
, then conquering the Aramaeans and Neo
HittitesThe Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
between the Khabur and the
EuphratesThe Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
. His harshness prompted a revolt that was crushed decisively in a pitched, two-day battle. Following this victory, he advanced without opposition through
AramAram-Naharaim is a region that is mentioned five times in the Hebrew Bible. It is commonly identified with Nahrima mentioned in three tablets of the Amarna correspondence as a geographical description of the kingdom of Mitanni...
(modern
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
) and
Asia MinorAsia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
as far as the Mediterranean and exacted tribute from
PhrygiaIn antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
and
PhoeniciaPhoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
. Ashurnasirpal II also campaigned in the
Zagros MountainsThe Zagros Mountains are the largest mountain range in Iran and Iraq. With a total length of 1,500 km , from northwestern Iran, and roughly correlating with Iran's western border, the Zagros range spans the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau and ends at the Strait of...
in modern
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, repressing a revolt against Assyrian rule by the
LullubiThe Lullubi or Lulubi were a group of tribes during the 3rd millennium BC, from a region known as Lulubum, now the Sharazor plain of in the Zagros Mountains of modern Iran...
and Gutians. Unlike any before, the Assyrians began boasting in their ruthlessness around this time. Ashurnasirpal II also moved his capital to the city of Kalhu (Calah/
NimrudNimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris in modern Ninawa Governorate Iraq. In ancient times the city was called Kalḫu. The Arabs called the city Nimrud after the Biblical Nimrod, a legendary hunting hero .The city covered an area of around . Ruins of the city...
). The palaces, temples and other buildings raised by him bear witness to a considerable development of wealth and art. Ashurnasirpal II also built a number of citadels and fortresses such as Kar Ashurnasirpal.
Ashurnasirpal's son,
Shalmaneser IIIShalmaneser III was king of Assyria , and son of the previous ruler, Ashurnasirpal II....
(858–823 BC), had a long reign of 34 years, when the capital was converted into an armed camp. Each year the Assyrian armies marched out to campaign.
BabylonBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
was occupied, and Babylonia reduced to vassalage. He fought against
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
and marched an army against an alliance of
ArameanThe Aramaeans, also Arameans , were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in what is now modern Syria during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age...
states headed by
HadadezerHadadezer ; also known as Adad-Idri and possibly the same as Bar-Hadad II ; Ben-Hadad II , 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 at Qarqar...
of
DamascusDamascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
and including
AhabAhab or Ach'av or Achab in Douay-Rheims was king of Israel and the son and successor of Omri according to the Hebrew Bible. His wife was Jezebel....
, king of Israel, at the
Battle of QarqarThe Battle of Qarqar was fought in 853 BC when the army of Assyria led by king Shalmaneser III encountered an allied army of 12 kings at Qarqar led by Hadadezer of Damascus and King Ahab of Israel...
in 853 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 took the neo
HittiteThe states that are called Neo-Hittite, or more recently Syro-Hittite, were Luwian, Aramaic and Phoenician-speaking political entities of the Iron Age northern Syria and southern Anatolia that arose following the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC and lasted until roughly 700 BC...
state of
CarchemishCarchemish or Kargamış was an important ancient city of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo Assyrian Empires, now on the frontier between Turkey and Syria. It was the location of an important battle between the Babylonians and Egyptians, mentioned in the Bible...
in 849 BC, and in 841 BC marched an army against
HazaelHazael was a court official and later an Aramean king who is mentioned in the Bible. Under his reign, Aram-Damascus became an empire that ruled over large parts of Syria and Palestine....
, King of
DamascusDamascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, besieging the city and forcing tribute, but not taking it. He also brought under tribute
JehuJehu was a king of Israel. He was the son of Jehoshaphat, and grandson of Nimshi.William F. Albright has dated his reign to 842-815 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 841-814 BC...
of Israel, and the
PhoeniciaPhoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n states of Tyre, and
SidonSidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
. His black
obeliskAn obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
, discovered at Kalhu, records many military exploits of his reign. The last four years of his life were disturbed by the rebellion of his eldest son Ashur-nadin-aplu that nearly proved fatal to Assyria. Twenty seven cities, including
AssurAssur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District .Assur is also...
,
ArbelaArbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
, Arrapkha (
KirkukKirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
) and other places joined the pretender. The rebellion was not directed primarily against the king, but rather against the provisional governors such as Dayan-Ashur who had assumed disproportionate power. The revolt was quashed with difficulty by
Shamshi-Adad VShamshi-Adad V was the King of Assyria from 824 to 811 BC.-Biography:He was the son and successor of Shalmaneser III, the husband of Shammuramat , and the father of Adad-nirari III, who succeeded him as king....
, Shalmaneser's second son, who succeeded him upon his death in 824 BC.
The long and bitter civil war had allowed the Babylonians to the south, the
Medes
, Manneans and Persians to the north and east and the Arameans and neo
HittitesThe Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
in the west to largely shake off Assyrian rule, and
Shamshi-Adad VShamshi-Adad V was the King of Assyria from 824 to 811 BC.-Biography:He was the son and successor of Shalmaneser III, the husband of Shammuramat , and the father of Adad-nirari III, who succeeded him as king....
took the remainder of his reign to reassert control over these peoples. During this period
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
took the opportunity to reassert its influence on the region. As a result of all these events, Assyria did not expand further during the reign of Shamshi-Adad V.
Adad-nirari IIIAdad-nirari III was King of Assyria from 811 to 783 BC. He was the son and successor of Shamshi-Adad V, and was apparently quite young at the time of his accession, because for the first five years of his reign his mother Shammuramat acted as regent, which may have given rise to the legend of...
was a boy when succeeding his father in 810 BC, and for four years until 806 BC, his mother, Queen
SemiramisThe real and historical Shammuramat , was the Assyrian queen of Shamshi-Adad V , King of Assyria and ruler of the Neo Assyrian Empire, and its regent for four years until her son Adad-nirari III came of age....
(Sammuramat) ruled as regent in his stead. Many legends abound regarding this queen, however she is mentioned little in Assyrian records of the time. In 806 BC
Adad-nirari IIIAdad-nirari III was King of Assyria from 811 to 783 BC. He was the son and successor of Shamshi-Adad V, and was apparently quite young at the time of his accession, because for the first five years of his reign his mother Shammuramat acted as regent, which may have given rise to the legend of...
took the reins of power. He invaded the
LevantThe Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
and subjugated the Arameans, Phoenicians,
PhilistinesPhilistines , Pleshet or Peleset, were a people who occupied the southern coast of Canaan at the beginning of the Iron Age . According to the Bible, they ruled the five city-states of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath, from the Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with...
, Israelites, neo
HittitesThe Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
and Edomites. He entered
DamascusDamascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
and forced tribute upon its king
Ben-Hadad IIIBar-Hadad III or Ben-Hadad III was the son of Hazael, and succeeded him after his death as king of Aram Damascus. His succession is mentioned in II Kings 13:3, 24...
. He next turned to
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, and subjugated the Persians,
Medes
and Manneans, and penetrating as far as the
Caspian SeaThe Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
. His next targets were the
ChaldeaChaldea or Chaldaea , from Greek , Chaldaia; Akkadian ; Hebrew כשדים, Kaśdim; Aramaic: ܟܐܠܕܘ, Kaldo) was a marshy land located in modern-day southern Iraq which came to briefly rule Babylon...
n and
SutuSutu is a village in Pihtla Parish, Saare County, on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia....
tribes of south eastern Mesopotamia whom he conquered and reduced to vassalage.
Period of stagnation, 782–745 BC
Adad-nirari III died prematurely in 782 BC and this led to a period of true stagnation.
Shalmaneser IVShalmaneser IV was king of Assyria . He succeeded his father Adad-nirari III, and was succeeded by his brother Ashur-dan III. Very little information about his reign has survived....
(782 - 773 BC) seems to have wielded little authority, and a victory over Argishti I, king of
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
at
Til BarsipTil Barsip or Til Barsib is an ancient site situated by the Euphrates river about 20 kilometers south of ancient Carchemish.-History:...
is accredited to a general ('Turtanu') named
Shamshi-iluShamshi-ilu was an influential court dignitary and commander in chief of the Assyrian army who rose in high prominence-Origins:Shamshi-ilu was probably not born in Assyria though he was from noble linage of the Bit-Adini tribe and was more than likely educated at the Assyrian court...
who does not even bother to mention his king. Shamshi-ilu also scored victories over the Arameans and neo
HittitesThe Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
, and again, takes personal credit at the expense of his king.
Ashur-dan IIIAshur-dan III was King of Assyria from 773 to 755 BC.Ashur-dan III was the son of Adad-nirari III, and succeeded his brother Shalmaneser IV in 773 BC. Ashur-dan's reign was a difficult age for the Assyrian monarchy. The rulership was severely limited by the influence of court dignitaries,...
ascended the throne in 772 BC. He proved to be a largely ineffectual ruler who was beset by internal rebellions in the cities
AshurAshur |Shin]]) in the Masoretic text, which doubles the 'ש'), was the second son of Shem, the son of Noah. Ashur's brothers were Elam, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram....
, Arrapkha and Guzana. He failed to make further gains in Babylonia and
AramAram-Naharaim is a region that is mentioned five times in the Hebrew Bible. It is commonly identified with Nahrima mentioned in three tablets of the Amarna correspondence as a geographical description of the kingdom of Mitanni...
(Syria). His reign was also marred by Plague and an ominous
Solar EclipseAs seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
.
Ashur-nirari VAshur-nirari V was King of Assyria from 755 to 745 BC. He was succeeded by Tiglath-Pileser III.Ashur-nirari V was a son of Adad-nirari III, and succeeded his brother, Ashur-dan III. He inherited a difficult situation from his predecessor...
became king in 754 BC, his reign seems to have been one of permanent revolution, and he apprears to have barely left his palace in Nineveh until he was deposed by
Tiglath-pileser IIITiglath-Pileser III was a prominent king of Assyria in the eighth century BC and is widely regarded as the founder of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Tiglath-Pileser III seized the Assyrian throne during a civil war and killed the royal family...
in 745 BC bringing a resurgence to Assyria.
Tiglath-Pileser III, 744-727 BC
{{main|Tiglath-Pileser III}}
When
Tiglath-Pileser IIITiglath-Pileser III was a prominent king of Assyria in the eighth century BC and is widely regarded as the founder of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Tiglath-Pileser III seized the Assyrian throne during a civil war and killed the royal family...
ascended the throne Assyria was in the throes of a revolution.
Civil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
and
pestilenceInfectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
were devastating the country, and many of its most northerly colonies in Asia Minor had been wrested from it by Urartu. In 746 BC the city of Kalhu joined the rebels, and on the 13th of
Iyyar in the following year, an Assyrian general (Turtanu) named
PuluPulu is a silky material obtained from the fibers of the hapuu pulu , a tree fern of Hawaii. It is made of the brown hairs that cover the young fiddlehead as it uncoils.-Ancient Hawaii:...
, took the name of
Tiglath-pileser IIITiglath-Pileser III was a prominent king of Assyria in the eighth century BC and is widely regarded as the founder of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Tiglath-Pileser III seized the Assyrian throne during a civil war and killed the royal family...
, seized the crown, and made sweeping changes to the Assyrian government, considerably improving its efficiency and security.
The conquered provinces were organized under an elaborate bureaucracy, with the king at the head — each district paying a fixed tribute and providing a military contingent. The Assyrian forces at this time became a professional standing army, that by successive improvements became an irresistible fighting machine; and Assyrian policy was henceforth directed toward reducing the whole civilized world into a single empire, throwing its trade and wealth into Assyrian hands. These changes are often identified as the beginning of the "Second Assyrian Empire".
When Tiglath-Pileser III had ascended the throne of Assyria, he invaded Babylonia, defeated its king
NabonassarNabonassar founded a kingdom in Babylon in 747 BC. This is now considered as the start of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty. At the time the Assyrian Empire was in disarray through civil war and the ascendancy of other kingdoms such as Urartu...
, and abducted the gods of Šapazza; the
Assyrian-Babylonian ChronicleThe Babylonian Chronicles are many series of tablets recording major events in Babylonian history. They are thus one of the first steps in the development of ancient historiography...
informs us (ABC 1 Col.1:5).
After subjecting Babylon to tribute, defeating Urartu and conquering the Medes, Persians and
Neo-HittiteThe states that are called Neo-Hittite, or more recently Syro-Hittite, were Luwian, Aramaic and Phoenician-speaking political entities of the Iron Age northern Syria and southern Anatolia that arose following the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC and lasted until roughly 700 BC...
s, Tiglath-Pileser III directed his armies into Aramea, of which large swathes had regained independence, and the commercially successful Mediterranean seaports of Phoenicia. He took
ArpadArpad was an ancient Aramaean city located in north-western Syria, north of Aleppo. In 743 BC, the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III led a military expedition to Syria, defeating there the Uraratian army. But the city of Arpad, which had formed an alliance with Urartu, did not surrender easily...
near
AleppoAleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
in 740 BC after a siege of three years, and razed Hamath.
AzariahUzziah , also known as Azariah , was the king of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, and one of Amaziah's sons, whom the people appointed to replace his father...
, king of
JudahThe Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
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
MenahemMenahem, was a king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Gadi, and the founder of the dynasty known as the House of Gadi or House of Menahem....
, king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser III occupied Philistia (
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
) and invaded Israel, imposing on it a heavy tribute (2 Kings 15:19).
AhazAhaz was king of Judah, and the son and successor of Jotham. He is one of the kings mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew....
, king of
JudahThe Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
, engaged in a war against Israel and Aramea, appealed for help to the Assyrian king by means of presents of gold and silver (2 Kings 16:8); Tiglath-Pileser III accordingly "marched against Damascus, defeated and put king
RezinKing Rezin of Aram or Rasin of Syria in DRB ruled from Damascus during the 8th century BC. During his reign he was a tributary of King Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria....
to death, and besieged the city itself". Leaving part of his army to continue the siege, he advanced, ravaging with fire and sword the provinces east of the
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
(Nabatea,
MoabMoab is the historical name for a mountainous strip of land in Jordan. The land lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by numerous archeological findings, most notably the Mesha Stele, which describes the Moabite victory over...
and
EdomEdom or Idumea was a historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom, and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region...
), Philistia, and
SamariaSamaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...
; and in 732 BC he took the chief Aramean state of
DamascusDamascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, deporting many of its inhabitants and the Jewish inhabitants of Samaria to Assyria. He also forced tribute from the Arabs of the deserts in the
Arabian peninsulaThe Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
. In 729 BC, Tiglath-Pileser III went to Babylonia and captured
Nabu-mukin-zeriNabu-mukin-zeri was the King of Babylon 732-729 BC. He was an Aramean chief who seized the throne. The Assyrians tried to bring the people to rebel against him, but they were unsuccessful. He was killed during the Assyrian siege of Babylon. .- Sources :*...
, the king of Babylon (ABC 1 Col.1:21). He had himself crowned as King Pulu of Babylon. Tiglath-Pileser III died in 727 BC, and was succeeded by
Shalmaneser VShalmaneser V was king of Assyria from 727 to 722 BC. He first appears as governor of Zimirra in Phoenicia in the reign of his father, Tiglath-Pileser III....
. However, King
HosheaSee also Hosea, who has the same name in Biblical Hebrew.Hoshea was the last king of the Israelite Kingdom of Israel and son of Elah . William F. Albright dated reign to 732 – 721 BC, while E. R. Thiele offered the dates 732 – 723 BC.Assyrian records basically confirm the Biblical...
of Israel suspended paying tribute, and allied himself with
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
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 (ABC 1 Col.1:27).
Sargon II, 721-705 BC
Shalmaneser V died suddenly in 722 BC while laying siege to Samaria, and the throne was seized by
Sargon IISargon II was an Assyrian king. Sargon II became co-regent with Shalmaneser V in 722 BC, and became the sole ruler of the kingdom of Assyria in 722 BC after the death of Shalmaneser V. It is not clear whether he was the son of Tiglath-Pileser III or a usurper unrelated to the royal family...
, the
Turtanu (commander-in-chief of the army, which the Old Testament refers to as
Tartan), who then quickly took Samaria, effectively ending the northern Kingdom of Israel and carrying 27,000 people away into captivity into the
Israelite DiasporaBegun in or around the year 720 BC, a rebellion against the Assyrian Empire broke out, participated in by ancient Syria and the Philistines from Mycenaean Greece, and also with Egyptian encouragement...
. (2 Kings 17:1–6, 24; 18:7, 9). Sargon II waged war in his second year (721 BC) against the king of
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
, Humban-Nikash I, and his ally
Marduk-apal-iddina IIMarduk-apla-iddina II was a Chaldean prince who usurped the Babylonian throne in 721 BC...
(the biblical Merodach-Baladan), the
ChaldeaChaldea or Chaldaea , from Greek , Chaldaia; Akkadian ; Hebrew כשדים, Kaśdim; Aramaic: ܟܐܠܕܘ, Kaldo) was a marshy land located in modern-day southern Iraq which came to briefly rule Babylon...
n ruler of Babylon, who had thrown off Assyrian rule (2 Kings 20:12), but Sargon was unable to dislodge him on this occasion, as told in ABC 1 Col.1:31-37. Sargon, able to contain the revolt but not actually retake Babylon on this occasion, turned his attention again to
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
and Aramea, taking
CarchemishCarchemish or Kargamış was an important ancient city of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo Assyrian Empires, now on the frontier between Turkey and Syria. It was the location of an important battle between the Babylonians and Egyptians, mentioned in the Bible...
in 717, as well as re conquering the
Medes
, Persians and Manneans, penetrating the
Iranian PlateauThe Iranian plateau, or Iranic plateau, is a geological formation in Southwest Asia. It is the part of the Eurasian Plate wedged between the Arabian and Indian plates, situated between the Zagros mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Kopet Dag to the north, the Hormuz Strait and Persian...
as far as Mount Bikni and building several fortresses. Urartu suffered a crushing defeat, its capital city was sacked and its king Rusas committed suicide in shame. The neo
HittiteThe states that are called Neo-Hittite, or more recently Syro-Hittite, were Luwian, Aramaic and Phoenician-speaking political entities of the Iron Age northern Syria and southern Anatolia that arose following the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC and lasted until roughly 700 BC...
states of northern Syria were conquered, as was
CiliciaIn antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
and Commagene. Assyria was belligerent towards
BabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
for ten years while Marduk-apla-iddina ruled Babylon (ABC 1 Col.1:41-42). In 710 BC, Sargon attacked Babylonia and defeated Marduk-apla-iddina, who fled to his protectors in Elam (ABC 1 Col.2:1-3). As a result of this victory the
GreekThe Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
rulers of
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
gave allegiance to Assyria and king
MidasFor the legend of Gordias, a person who was taken by the people and made King, in obedience to the command of the oracle, see Gordias.Midas or King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. This was called the Golden touch, or the...
of
PhrygiaIn antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
, fearful of Assyrian power, offered his hand in friendship. Sargon also built a new capital at Dur Sharrukin ("Sargon's City") near Nineveh, with all the
tributeA tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
Assyria had collected from various nations.
Sennacherib, 705–681 BC
In 705 BC, Sargon was sometimes actually not sometimes killed/sometimes killed in battle while driving out the
CimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
, who had come down from their homland on the shores of The Black Sea and attacked the Assyrian ruled colonies and peoples in
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, forcing its Persian subjects southwards from their original lands around
Urmia- Demographics :According to official census of 2006, the population of Urmia is about 871,204.- Language :The population of Urmia is mainly Azerbaijani people, with Kurdish, Assyrian Christian, and Armenian minorities...
. He was succeeded by his son
SennacheribSennacherib |Sîn]] has replaced brothers for me"; Aramaic: ) was the son of Sargon II, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria .-Rise to power:...
(2 Kings 18:13; 19:37; Isa. 7:17, 18), who moved the capital to
NinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
and made the deported peoples work on improving Nineveh's system of irrigation canals. His first task was to affirm his control over
CiliciaIn antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
which was attempting to rebel with Greek help. Sennacherib marched into Cilicia, defeating the rebels and their
GreekGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
allies. He also reasserted Assyria's mastery of
CordueneCorduene was an ancient region located in northern Mesopotamia and modern day Kurdish inhabited south east Turkey. It was a province of the Greater Armenia. It was referred to by the Greeks as Karduchia and by both the Greeks and Romans as Corduene...
in Asia Minor. The
EgyptiansEgyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
had began agitating peoples within the Assyrian empire in an attempt to gain a foothold in the region. As a result, in 701 BC,
HezekiahHezekiah was the son of Ahaz and the 14th king of Judah. Edwin Thiele has concluded that his reign was between c. 715 and 686 BC. He is also one of the most prominent kings of Judah mentioned in the Hebrew Bible....
of
JudahThe Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
, Lule king of
SidonSidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
, Sidka, king of
AscalonAshkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...
and the king of
EkronThe city of Ekron , was one of the five cities of the famed Philistine pentapolis, located in southwestern Canaan. Ekron lies 35 kilometers west of Jerusalem, and 18 kilometers north of ancient Gath, on the eastern edge of Israel's coastal plain.-History:...
formed an alliance with
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
against Assyria. Sennacherib attacked the rebels, conquering Ascalon,
SidonSidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
and
EkronThe city of Ekron , was one of the five cities of the famed Philistine pentapolis, located in southwestern Canaan. Ekron lies 35 kilometers west of Jerusalem, and 18 kilometers north of ancient Gath, on the eastern edge of Israel's coastal plain.-History:...
and defeating the
EgyptiansEgyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
and driving them from the region. He marched toward
Jerusalem, destroying 46 towns and villages (including the heavily defended city of
LachishLachish was an ancient Near East town located at the site of modern Tell ed-Duweir in the Shephelah, a region between Mount Hebron and the maritime plain of Philistia . The town was first mentioned in the Amarna letters as Lakisha-Lakiša...
) in his path. This is graphically described in
IsaiahIsaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus...
10; exactly what happened next is unclear (the Bible says an Angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers at Jerusalem after Hezekiah prayed in the temple; Sennacherib's account says Judah paid him tribute and he left. The Hebrew Bible states that Hezekiah did pay tribute once, and the Assyrians left, but returned a second time when the soldiers were then killed); however what is certain is that Sennacherib failed to actually capture Jerusalem. Marduk-apla-iddina had returned to Babylonia during the reign of Sennacherib. The Assyrian king attacked him in 703 BC outside
KishKish is modern Tell al-Uhaymir , and was an ancient city of Sumer. Kish is located some 12 km east of Babylon, and 80 km south of Baghdad ....
and defeated him. Sennacherib plundered Babylonia and pursued Marduk-apla-iddina through the land. At his return to Assyria, Sennacherib installed a puppet ruler,
Bel-ibniBel-ibni was a Babylonian nobleman who served as King of Babylon for several years as the nominee of the Assyrian king Sennacherib.Sennacherib, believing that direct Assyrian rule was too costly, appointed Bel-ibni, a young Babylonian nobleman raised at the Assyrian court, King of Babylon in 703...
as king of Babylon (ABC 1 Col.2:12-23). Bel-ibni however committed hostilities, so Sennacherib returned to Babylon in 700 BC and captured him and his officers. Sennacherib instead installed his own son
Ashur-nadin-shumiAshur-nadin-shumi was an ancient King of Babylon. The son of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, Ashur-nadin-shumi was installed by his father as King of Babylon in 700 BC. He reigned for six years, until he was murdered by the Elamites following their capture of the city in 694 BC....
on the throne of Babylon (ABC 1 Col.2:26-31).
Sennacherib launched a campaign against
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
in 694 BC and ravaged the land. In retaliation the king of Elam attacked Babylonia. Ashur-nadin-shumi was captured and brought back to Elam and a new king called
Nergal-ushezibNergal-ushezib, originally Shuzub, was a Babylonian nobleman who was installed as King of Babylon by the Elamites in 694 BC, after their capture of Babylon and deposition and murder of the previous king Ashur-nadin-shumi, son of King Sennacherib of Assyria.Nergal-ushezib reigned as King for little...
was installed as ruler of Babylon (ABC 1 Col.2:36–45). The Assyrians returned the next year to Babylonia and plundered the gods of
UrukUruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River, some 30 km east of modern As-Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Uruk gave its name to the Uruk...
. Nergal-ušezib and his Elamite allies were defeated by Assyria, and he was taken prisoner and transported to Assyria (ABC 1 Col.2:46 – Col.3:6). Another native ruler, called
Mushezib-MardukMushezib-Marduk , Chaldean prince chosen as King of Babylon after Nergal-ushezib.He led the Babylonian populace in revolt against Assyria and King Sennacherib in 689 BC, with the support of Elam and King Humban-nimena , at the Battle of Halule...
, soon seized the throne of Babylon. He held on to it with help of his Elamite allies for four years until 689 BC, when the Assyrians retook the city (ABC 1 Col.3:13–24). Sennacherib responded swiftly by opening the canals around Babylon and flooding the outside of the city until it became a
swampA swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
, resulting in its destruction, and its inhabitants were scattered. In 681 BC, Sennacherib was murdered while praying to the god
NisrochNisroch is the Assyrian god of agriculture, in whose temple Sennacherib was worshipping when he was assassinated . Josephus calls him Dagon....
by one or more of his own sons (allegedly named Adremelech, Abimlech and Sharezer), perhaps as retribution for his destruction of Babylon.
Esarhaddon, 681–669 BC
Sennacherib was succeeded by his son
EsarhaddonEsarhaddon , was a king of Assyria who reigned 681 – 669 BC. He was the youngest son of Sennacherib and the Aramean queen Naqi'a , Sennacherib's second wife....
(
Ashur-ahhe-iddina), who had been governor of Babylonia, and was campaigning in the
Caucasus MountainsThe Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region .The Caucasus Mountains includes:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and* the Lesser Caucasus Mountains....
against
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
at the time of his father's murder, where he won a victory at Malatia (
MilidMelid was an ancient city on the Tohma River, a tributary of the upper Euphrates rising in the Taurus Mountains...
). During the first year of Esarhaddon's rule, a rebellion broke out in the south of Babylonia. Nabu-zer-kitti-lišir, an ethnic Elamite governor of the
mat Tamti, with the help of the
ChaldeaChaldea or Chaldaea , from Greek , Chaldaia; Akkadian ; Hebrew כשדים, Kaśdim; Aramaic: ܟܐܠܕܘ, Kaldo) was a marshy land located in modern-day southern Iraq which came to briefly rule Babylon...
ns laid siege to
UrUr was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate...
. The Elamite and his Chaldean allies were defeated and he fled to his kinsmen in Elam (
Hal-Tamti); however, "the king of Elam took him prisoner and put him to the sword" (ABC 1 Col.3:39–42); also in (ABC 14:1–4).
In 679 BC the
CimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
and Scythians (a horseborne hoarde from what is now southern
RussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
) crossed the
Taurus MountainsTaurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...
and harassed Assyrian colonies in
CiliciaIn antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
. Esarhaddon swiftly attacked and drove these marauders away where they instead fell on
PhrygiaIn antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
.
As king of Assyria, Esarhaddon immediately had Babylon rebuilt, and made it one of his capitals. Defeating the Scythians,
CimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
and
Medes
(again penetrating to Mt. Bikni), he then turned his attention westward to
PhoeniciaPhoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
—now allying itself with the Nubian/Kushite rulers of
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
against him—and sacked
SidonSidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
in 677 BC. He also captured
King ManassehManasseh was a king of the Kingdom of Judah. He was the only son of Hezekiah with Hephzi-bah. He became king at an age 12 years and reigned for 55 years. Edwin Thiele has concluded that he commenced his reign as co-regent with his father Hezekiah in 697/696 BC, with his sole reign beginning in...
of
JudahThe Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
and kept him prisoner for some time in Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:11). Having had enough of Egyptian meddling, Esarhaddon raided Egypt in 673 BC. Two years later he launched a full invasion and conquered Egypt, chasing the Pharaoh
TaharqaTaharqa was a pharaoh of the Ancient Egyptian 25th dynasty and king of the Kingdom of Kush, which was located in Northern Sudan.Taharqa was the son of Piye, the Nubian king of Napata who had first conquered Egypt. Taharqa was also the cousin and successor of Shebitku. The successful campaigns of...
back to
NubiaNubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
, thus bringing to an end Nubian-Kushite rule in Egypt, and destroying the Kushite Empire which had begun in 760 BC. The Babylonian Chronicle retells how Egypt "was sacked and its gods were abducted" (ABC 1 Col.4:25); also in ABC 14:28–29. The
pharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
Tirhakah fled Egypt, and a
steleA stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
commemorating the victory, was set up at Sinjerli in Asia Minor, north of the Gulf of
AntiochAntioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
, and is now in the
Pergamon MuseumThe Pergamon Museum is situated on the Museum Island in Berlin. The site was designed by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann and was constructed in twenty years, from 1910 to 1930. The Pergamon houses original-sized, reconstructed monumental buildings such as the Pergamon Altar and the Market Gate...
, Berlin. The Bible graphically recounts Egypt's demise in Isaiah 20:4 "So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners,and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even withtheir buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.5 And they shall be afraid and ashamed of
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
their expectation, andof Egypt their glory."
Assyria defeated
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
, annexed much of its territory and reduced it to vassalage, and expanded souhwards as far as
DilmunDilmun or Telmun is a land mentioned by Mesopotamian civilizations as a trade partner, a source of the metal copper, and an entrepôt of the Mesopotamia-to-Indus Valley Civilization trade route...
(Bahrain) and into Arabia at this time. This was perhaps Assyria's greatest territorial extent. However, the Assyrian governors and local puppet rulers Esarhaddon had appointed over Egypt were obliged to flee the restive native populace who yearned for independence now that the Kushites and Nubians had been ejected. A new campaign was launched by Esarhaddon in 669 BC, However he became ill on the way and died. His elder son
Shamash-shum-ukinShamash-shum-ukin was the Assyrian king of Babylon from 668-648 BC.He was the second son of the Assyrian King Esarhaddon. His elder brother, crown prince Sin-iddina-apla had died in 672, and in his stead the third son Ashurbanipal was invested as crown prince and later king of Assyria, while...
became king of Babylon and his son
AshurbanipalAshurbanipal |Ashur]] is creator of an heir"; 685 BC – c. 627 BC), also spelled Assurbanipal or Ashshurbanipal, was an Assyrian king, the son of Esarhaddon and the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire...
became king of Assyria, with Ashurbanipal holding the senior position and Babylon subject to Nineveh; see ABC 1 Col.4:30–33 and ABC 14:31–32, 37. Bel and the gods of Babylonia returned from their exile in Assur to Babylon in the first year of Shamash-shum-ukin, and the
akituAkitu was a spring festival in ancient Mesopotamia....
festival could be celebrated for the first time in twenty years; ABC 1 14:34–39 and ABC 1 Col.4:34–36.
Ashurbanipal, 669–627 BC
AshurbanipalAshurbanipal |Ashur]] is creator of an heir"; 685 BC – c. 627 BC), also spelled Assurbanipal or Ashshurbanipal, was an Assyrian king, the son of Esarhaddon and the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire...
, or "Ashur-bani-apli" (
Ashurbanapli, Asnapper), succeeded his father
EsarhaddonEsarhaddon , was a king of Assyria who reigned 681 – 669 BC. He was the youngest son of Sennacherib and the Aramean queen Naqi'a , Sennacherib's second wife....
to the throne. He continued to campaign in and dominate Egypt, when not distracted by having to deal with pressures from the Medes to the east, and
CimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
and Scythians to the north of Assyria. He installed a native Egyptian Pharaoh,
PsammetichusPsamtik I , was the first of three kings of that name of the Saite, or Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt. His prenomen, Wah-Ib-Re, means "Constant [is the] Heart [of] Re." The story in Herodotus of the Dodecarchy and the rise of Psamtik is fanciful...
as a vassal king in 664 BC. However, after
Gyges of LydiaGyges was the founder of the third or Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and reigned from 716 BC to 678 BC . He was succeeded by his son Ardys II.-Allegorical accounts of Gyges' rise to power:...
's appeal for Assyrian help against the Cimmerians was rejected,
LydiaLydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
n mercenaries were sent to Psammetichus. By 652 BC, this vassal king was able to declare outright independence from Assyria with impunity, particularly as Ashurbanipal's older brother,
Shamash-shum-ukinShamash-shum-ukin was the Assyrian king of Babylon from 668-648 BC.He was the second son of the Assyrian King Esarhaddon. His elder brother, crown prince Sin-iddina-apla had died in 672, and in his stead the third son Ashurbanipal was invested as crown prince and later king of Assyria, while...
, king of Babylon became infused with Babylonian nationalism, and tired of being subject to his brother began a major civil war in that year. However, the new dynasty in Egypt wisely maintained friendly relations with Assyria. Shamash-shum-ukin attempted to raise a huge rebellion encompassing many vassal peoples against Ashurbanipal, however this largely failed. This rebellion lasted until 648 BC, when Babylon was sacked, and Shamash-shum-ukin set fire to the palace, killing himself. Ashurbanipal then set about punishing the
ChaldeaChaldea or Chaldaea , from Greek , Chaldaia; Akkadian ; Hebrew כשדים, Kaśdim; Aramaic: ܟܐܠܕܘ, Kaldo) was a marshy land located in modern-day southern Iraq which came to briefly rule Babylon...
ns, Arabs and Nabateans who had supported the Babylonian revolt. He invaded the
Arabian PeninsulaThe Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
and routed and subjugated the Arabs, including the powerful Qedar tribe, taking much booty back to
NinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
and killing the Arab kings, Abiate and Uate. The Nabateans who dwelt south of the
Dead SeaThe Dead Sea , also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface. The Dead Sea is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world...
and in northern Arabia, and the Chaldeans in the far south east of Mesopotamia were also defeated and subjugated.
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
was targeted next, it was completely devastated in 646 BC and 640 BC, and its capital
SusaSusa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers....
completely levelled, finally bringing to a conclusion the age old rivalry between
MesopotamiaMesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
and
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
.
Legacy of Ashurbanipal
Ashurbanipal had promoted art and culture, and had built a vast library of cuneiform tablets at Nineveh. After the crushing of the Babylonian revolt Ashurbanipal appeared master of all he survayed. To the east,
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
was devastated and prostrate before Assyria, the Manneans and the Iranic Persians and
Medes
were vassals. To the south,
BabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
was occupied, the Chaldeans, Arabs,
SutuSutu is a village in Pihtla Parish, Saare County, on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia....
and Nabateans subjugated, the
NubiaNubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
n empire destroyed, and
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
paid tribute. To the north, the Scythians and
CimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
had been vanquished and driven from Assyrian territory,
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
(
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
),
PhrygiaIn antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
,
CordueneCorduene was an ancient region located in northern Mesopotamia and modern day Kurdish inhabited south east Turkey. It was a province of the Greater Armenia. It was referred to by the Greeks as Karduchia and by both the Greeks and Romans as Corduene...
and the neo
HittitesThe Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
were in vassalage, and
LydiaLydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
pleading for Assyrian protection. To the west, Aramea (
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
), the Phoenicians,
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
,
JudahThe Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
,
SamarraSāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700....
and
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
were subjugated, and the Hellenised inhabitants of
CariaCaria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...
,
CiliciaIn antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
,
CappadociaCappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
and Commagene paid tribute to Assyria. Assyria now appeared stronger thn ever. However, his long struggle with Babylonia and Elam and their allies, and the constant campaigning to control and expand its vast empire in all directions, left Assyria exhausted. It had been drained of wealth and manpower; the devastated provinces could yield nothing to supply the needs of the imperial exchequer, and it was difficult to find sufficient troops to garrison the huge empire. Assyria, therefore, was ill-prepared to face the renewed hordes of Scythians who now began to harass the frontiers to the north and north east. After the Assyrians destroyed Elam, the
Medes
had begun to grow powerful, becoming the dominant force among the Iranic peoples who had begun to settle the regions to the east of Mesopotamia circa 1000 BC. at the expense of the Persians and the pre Iranic Elamites and Manneans, and they were by the end of Ashurbanipal's reign only nominally under Assyrian vassalage.
Asia MinorAsia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
too was full of hostile Scythians and
CimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
who had overrun
UrartuUrartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
,
LydiaLydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
and
PhrygiaIn antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
, before being driven back by the Assyrians. However, while Ashurbanipal lived, he was able to contain these potential threats.
The fall of Assyria, 627–605 BC
Upon Ashurbanipal's death in 627 BC, the empire began to disintegrate rapidly after a series of bitter civil wars broke out involving a number of claimants to the throne.
Ashur-etil-ilaniAshur-etil-ilani was a king of Assyria . He succeeded his father Ashurbanipal.- Problems with source material :The reconstruction of the events occurring during Ashur-etil-ilani's rule has proven to be very difficult...
succeeded Ashurbanipal, but was immediately embroiled in a civil war with one of his own generals
Sin-shumu-lishirSin-shumu-lishir , was a usurper king of a part of the Assyrian empire during 626 BC. Little is known about this king due to the lack of sources covering this time.-Reign :...
who seized control of
BabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
and then briefly took the throne of Assyria itself. He in turn was deposed by
SinsharishkunSinsharishkun , who seems to have been the Saràkos of Berossus, was one of the last kings of the Assyrian empire.-Early years:...
. After finally defeating his rivals, Sinsharishkun faced a much larger threat. His Babylonian vassal state had taken advantage of the uphevals in Assyria and rebelled under the previously unknown
NabopolassarNabopolassar was the king of the Babylonia and played a key role in the demise of the Assyrian Empire following the death of the last powerful Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal...
, a member of the
ChaldeaChaldea or Chaldaea , from Greek , Chaldaia; Akkadian ; Hebrew כשדים, Kaśdim; Aramaic: ܟܐܠܕܘ, Kaldo) was a marshy land located in modern-day southern Iraq which came to briefly rule Babylon...
n tribe, in 625 BC. What followed was a long war fought in the Babylonian heartland. Nabopolassar tried to capture
NippurNippur was one of the most ancient of all the Sumerian cities. It was the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god Enlil, the "Lord Wind," ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone...
, the main Assyrian center of power in Babylonia, but was defeated by Sinsharishkun . However Nabopolassar did take the actual city of Babylon after a popular uprising there, and was crowned king of the city in 625 BC. Sinsharishkun then lost more ground, before succeeded in recapturing
UrukUruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River, some 30 km east of modern As-Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Uruk gave its name to the Uruk...
in about 624 BC only to quickly lose it again. When Sinsharishkun led a large army to Babylonia in 623 BC in an attempt to finally crush the rebellion yet another war broke out in the Assyrian homeland. A relief army was sent back from the Babylonian campaign but changed sides so that the usurper could reach the capital Nineveh without interference, and claim the throne. Sinsharishkun was able to quell the homeland rebellion but precious time was lost to solve the Babylonian problem, and Nabopolassar was able to consolidate his position. In 620 BC Nabopolassar finally captured Nippur, finally making him master of Babylonia. While these events were unfolding, the
Medes
had also freed themselves from Assyrian domination and consolidated power in what was to become Persia. In 616 BC
CyaxaresCyaxares, Cyaxares the Great or Hvakhshathra , the son of King Phraortes, was the first king of Media. According to Herodotus, Cyaxares, grandson of Deioces, had a far greater military reputation than his father or grandfather, therefore he is often being described as the first official Median...
the Median king, made an alliance with Nabopolassar and with the help of the Scythians and
CimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
attacked Assyria. Assyria now faced overwhelming odds, and after four years of bitter fighting, the coalition finally destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC after a long siege followed by house to house fighting. Thus the Assyrian empire fell, Sinsharishkun being killed in the process. A general called
Ashur-uballit IIAshur-uballit II , was the last king of the Assyrian empire. He reigned in the last capital city of Harran from 612 BC to 609 BC, having escaped Nineveh during the siege and capture of that city by the Babylonian-Mede army in 612 BC....
was declared king of Assyria, and with belated military support from the Egyptian Pharaoh
Necho IINecho II was a king of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt .Necho II is most likely the pharaoh mentioned in several books of the Bible . The Book of Kings states that Necho met King Josiah of the Kingdom of Judah at Megiddo and killed him...
whose dynasty had been installed by the Assyrians, held out at
HarranHarran was a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia whose site is near the modern village of Altınbaşak, Turkey, 24 miles southeast of Şanlıurfa...
until 608 BC. Egyptian aid continued to the Assyrians, who desperately attempted to curb the increasing power of the Babylonians and Medes. In 609 BC at the
Battle of MegiddoThis Battle of Megiddo is recorded as having taken place in 609 BC with Necho II of Egypt leading his army to Carchemish to fight with his allies the Assyrians against the Babylonians at Carchemish in northern Syria. This required passing through territory controlled by the Kingdom of Judah and...
, an Egyptian force defeated a Judean force under king
JosiahJosiah or Yoshiyahu or Joshua was a king of Judah who instituted major reforms. Josiah is credited by most historians with having established or compiled important Jewish scriptures during the Deuteronomic reform that occurred during his rule.Josiah became king of Judah at the age of eight, after...
and managed to reach the last remnants of the Assyrian army. In a final battle at Harran in 608 BC the Babylonians and Medes defeated the
AssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n-
EgyptianAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
alliance, after which Assyria ceased to exist as an independent nation. Another Egyptian force was sent in 605 BC, indicating Assyrian resistance was still ongoing, but this too met with failure, with the defeat of the Assyrians and Egyptians at
CarchemishCarchemish or Kargamış was an important ancient city of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo Assyrian Empires, now on the frontier between Turkey and Syria. It was the location of an important battle between the Babylonians and Egyptians, mentioned in the Bible...
in 605 BC. It is not known if Ashur-uballit II was killed at Harran or Carchemish, or if he survived, however he disappeared from the pages of history. One hundred and seventeen years later, Assyria made a final attempt to regain independence with a large scale rebellion against the
Achaemenid EmpireThe Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
in 482 BC which was suppressed by king
Darius IIDarius II , was king of the Persian Empire from 423 BC to 405 BC.Artaxerxes I, who died on December 25, 424 BC, was followed by his son Xerxes II. After a month and a half Xerxes II was murdered by his brother Secydianus or Sogdianus...
.
From the 8th century, the
Aramaic languageAramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
had gradually established itself as a
lingua francaA lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of the Empire. By the 6th century, it had marginalized the
Akkadian languageAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
so much that Aramaic came to be the imperial language of
Achaemenid AssyriaAthura was a geographical area within the Persian Achaemenid Empire during the period of 539 BC to 330 BC. Although sometimes regarded as a satrapy, Achaemenid royal inscriptions list it as a dahyu, a concept generally interpreted as meaning either a group of people or both a country and its...
. One of key factors contributing to the use of Aramaic was the rise and fall of Assyria; during her rule, deportations, colonizations and interbreeding increased contact between Aramean and Assyrians. In effect the populations of both Assyria and Babylonia had become an ethnic mix of native Akkadians and Arameans. As the Empire fell, only the elite knew how to read and write the Akkadian script. The savage sacking of Ninevah and Assur, as well as numerous other Assyrian cities ensured that few of these elite survived to pass the language on. It is known however that some cities such as Arrapkha were spared the destruction.
Assyria after the fall
However the language did survive, the last recorded writings in Akkadian cuneiform date from the 1st century AD, and writings in the Akkadian language (but in Aramaic/Syriac script) date as late as the 3rd Century AD.
Assyria came to be ruled by Babylon for a short period. Ironically
NabonidusNabonidus was the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, reigning from 556-539 BCE.-Historiography on Nabonidus:...
, the last king of Babylon was
AssyrianThe list of Assyrian kings is compiled from the Assyrian King List, an ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia with information added from recent archaeological findings. The Assyrian King List includes regnal lengths that appear to have been based on now lost limmu lists...
, originating from
HarranHarran was a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia whose site is near the modern village of Altınbaşak, Turkey, 24 miles southeast of Şanlıurfa...
, as was his son
BelshazzarBelshazzar, or Balthazar , was a 6th century BC prince of Babylon, the son of Nabonidus and the last king of Babylon according to the Book of Daniel . Like his father, it is believed by many scholars that he was an Assyrian. In Daniel Belshazzar, or Balthazar , was a 6th century BC prince of...
.
After this it was ruled by Achaemenid Persia (Assyria revolted against Persia in 520 BC), Seleucid Greece, then again by various Persian dynasties, Sassanids, Parthians etc. For a brief period under
TrajanTrajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
, it was ruled by
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Assyria survived as an entity, a subject province. The name survived also in various forms (
Athura,
AsuristanAsuristan was the province of Assyria under the Sassanid Empire . It corresponds to the Babylonia province under the Parthian Empire.The province for the most part stretched from Mosul to Adiabene....
,
Roman Province of AssyriaAssyria or Assyria Provincia was a roman province that lasted only two years .-History:Assyria was one of three provinces created by the Roman emperor Trajan in 116 AD following a successful military campaign against Parthia, in present-day Iraq.Despite Rome's military victory, Trajan's province...
Seleucid
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
etc.) and the land was recognised as such by the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Armenians, Georgians and Byzantines. After the
ArabArab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
conquest of the late 7th Century AD the province of Assyria was finally dissolved.
Assyrian culture survived, Assyrio-Babylonian gods were worshipped well into Christian times, as late as the 4th Century AD
http://www.nineveh.com/Assyrians%20after%20Assyria.html, and temples were still being dedicated to the god
AshurAshur |Shin]]) in the Masoretic text, which doubles the 'ש'), was the second son of Shem, the son of Noah. Ashur's brothers were Elam, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram....
in his home city in the late 3rd century AD. A number of kingdoms that were at least in part Neo Assyrian such as
HatraHatra is an ancient city in the Ninawa Governorate and al-Jazira region of Iraq. It is currently known as al-Hadr, a name which appears once in ancient inscriptions, and it was in the ancient Iranian province of Khvarvaran. The city lies northwest of Baghdad and southwest of Mosul.-History:Hatra...
,
OsroeneOsroene, also spelled Osrohene and Osrhoene and sometimes known by the name of its capital city, Edessa , was a historic Syriac kingdom located in Mesopotamia, which enjoyed semi-autonomy to complete independence from the years of 132 BC to AD 244.It was a Syriac-speaking kingdom.Osroene, or...
and
AdiabeneAdiabene was an ancient Assyrian independent kingdom in Mesopotamia, with its capital at Arbela...
sprung up in Assyria.
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
took hold between the 1st and 3rd Centuries AD, and Parthian and Sassanid Assyria (
AsuristanAsuristan was the province of Assyria under the Sassanid Empire . It corresponds to the Babylonia province under the Parthian Empire.The province for the most part stretched from Mosul to Adiabene....
) became the center of the
Church of the EastThe Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...
,
Syriac ChristianitySyriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
and
Syriac LiteratureSyriac literature is literature written in the Syriac language, the classical Middle Aramaic language of Syriac Christianity. The majority of classical Syriac literature is of a Christian religious nature....
, (the term "Syria" and "syriac" being early
Indo-EuropeanIndo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan race, a 19th century and early 20th century term for those peoples who are the native speakers of Indo-European languages...
and
GreekGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
corruptions of "Assyria".) where it still survives.
The
Assyrian peopleThe Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
survive to this day (sometimes known as Chaldo-Assyrian), they began to convert to Christianity as early as the 1st Century AD
The Might That Was AssyriaThe Might That Was Assyria is written by Assyriologist H. W. F. Saggs. It illustrates the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Saggs spent half of his life, studying the ancient Assyrians, before he wrote this book....
http://www.nineveh.com/Assyrians%20after%20Assyria.html, and remain so today
http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v19n1/Biggs-Biography-final.pdf. Assyrian personal names are still given, and the Assyrians still speak dialects of eastern Aramaic, modern evolutions of the Aramaic that replaced Akkadian. An
Assyrian CalendarThe Assyrian calendar is a lunar-based calendar that begins in the year 4750 BC, inspired by an estimate of the date of the first temple at Ashur, notably based on a series of articles published in the Assyrian magazine Gilgamesh, edited by the brothers Addi and Jean Alkhas and Nimrod Simono. The...
is still used, dating to the founding of the city of Ashur.
Some historians dispute the continued existence of Assyrians to the present day, but this view has now been discounted by Assyriologists such as H.W.F. Saggs,
Robert D. BiggsRobert D. Biggs is an Assyriology professor. He received his PhD at Johns Hopkins University. He is an editor of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies.-External links:*...
,
Giorgi TsereteliGiorgi V. Tsereteli was a distinguished Georgian scientist and public benefactor, founder of the well-known Georgian scientific school of Oriental Studies and Arabist of world renown, founder of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the Tbilisi State University , founder and first Director of the...
and
Simo ParpolaSimo Parpola is a Finnish archaeologist, currently professor of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki. He specialized in epigraphy of the Akkadian language, and has been working on the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project since 1987...
,and Iranologists like
Richard Nelson FryeRichard Nelson Frye is an American scholar of Iranic and Central Asian Studies, and Aga Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Harvard University...
, not to mention the Assyrian (AKA Chaldo-Assyrian) people themselves.
Culture
{{see|Art and architecture of Assyria|Ancient Assyrian religion}}
Several of the most ancient works of Mesopotamian
literatureLiterature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
are best preserved in Neo-Assyrian copies. Thus, there are 7th century copies of both the
Epic of GilgameshEpic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literature. Scholars believe that it originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the protagonist of the story, Gilgamesh king of Uruk, which were fashioned into a longer Akkadian epic much...
and the Enûma Eliš from
AshurbanipalAshurbanipal |Ashur]] is creator of an heir"; 685 BC – c. 627 BC), also spelled Assurbanipal or Ashshurbanipal, was an Assyrian king, the son of Esarhaddon and the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire...
's library in
NinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
, as well as Neo-Assyrian versions of the
Atra-HasisThe 18th century BCE Akkadian epic of Atra-Hasis is named after its protagonist. An "Atra-Hasis" appears on one of the Sumerian king lists as king of Shuruppak in the times before the flood. The Atra-Hasis tablets include both a creation myth and a flood account, which is one of three surviving...
.
Neo-Assyrian cuneiform is the final stage of the long evolution of the
cuneiform scriptCuneiform script )) is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Emerging in Sumer around the 30th century BC, with predecessors reaching into the late 4th millennium , cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs...
. The number of glyphs was reduced, and the glyph shapes were standardized and simplified, so that modern
cuneiform sign inventories are usually based on the Neo-Assyrian glyph shapes. Neo-Assyrian cuneiform remained in use alongside the
Aramaic alphabetThe Aramaic alphabet is adapted from the Phoenician alphabet and became distinctive from it by the 8th century BC. The letters all represent consonants, some of which are matres lectionis, which also indicate long vowels....
well into
ParthianThe Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
times. The
Aramaic languageAramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
from the 8th century BC was adopted as the Lingua Franca of the Assyrian Empire and continued by the
Achaemenid EmpireThe Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
, and Assyrian scribes are often depicted in pairs. One writing in Akkadian on the cuneiform tablet, the other writing in Aramaic on the parchment or papyrus.
The main cities that existed in Assyria itself were;
NinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
,
AshurAshur |Shin]]) in the Masoretic text, which doubles the 'ש'), was the second son of Shem, the son of Noah. Ashur's brothers were Elam, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram....
, Kalhu (Calah,
NimrudNimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris in modern Ninawa Governorate Iraq. In ancient times the city was called Kalḫu. The Arabs called the city Nimrud after the Biblical Nimrod, a legendary hunting hero .The city covered an area of around . Ruins of the city...
),
SipparSippar was an ancient Near Eastern city on the east bank of the Euphrates river, located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah in Iraq's Babil Governorate, some 60 km north of Babylon and 30 km southeast of Baghdad....
,
OpisOpis was an ancient Babylonian city on the Tigris, not far from modern Baghdad. The precise location of Opis has not been established, but from the Akkadian and Greek texts, it was located on the east bank of the Tigris, near the Diyala River.-History:Opis is mentioned for the first time at the...
, Arrapkha (
KirkukKirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
),
HarranHarran was a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia whose site is near the modern village of Altınbaşak, Turkey, 24 miles southeast of Şanlıurfa...
,
ArbelaIrbid , known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela , is the capital and largest city of the Irbid Governorate. It also has the second largest metropolitan population in Jordan after Amman, with a population of around 660,000, and is located about 70 km north of Amman on the northern ridge of...
(
ErbilArbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
) and
EkallatumEkallatum was an ancient Assyrian city of upper Mesopotamia. The exact location of it has not yet been identified, but it was located somewhere along the left bank of the Tigris, south of Assur....
. Outside of Assyria proper, major cities at various times under Assyrian domination were;
BabylonBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
,
DamascusDamascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
(Dimashq),
ThebesThebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...
, Memphis Tyre,
SidonSidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
,
EcbatanaEcbatana is supposed to be the capital of Astyages , which was taken by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great in the sixth year of Nabonidus...
,
HattusaHattusa was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. It was located near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of the Kızıl River ....
,
Jerusalem,
SusaSusa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers....
,
PersepolisPerspolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire . Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid...
,
CarchemishCarchemish or Kargamış was an important ancient city of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo Assyrian Empires, now on the frontier between Turkey and Syria. It was the location of an important battle between the Babylonians and Egyptians, mentioned in the Bible...
,
SardisSardis or Sardes was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart in Turkey's Manisa Province...
,
UrUr was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate...
,
UrukUruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River, some 30 km east of modern As-Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Uruk gave its name to the Uruk...
,
NippurNippur was one of the most ancient of all the Sumerian cities. It was the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god Enlil, the "Lord Wind," ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone...
and
AntiochAntioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
.
At the end of the Bronze Age, Nineveh was much smaller than
BabylonBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
, but still one of the world's major cities (population ca. 33,000). By the end of the Neo-Assyrian period, it had grown to a population of some 120,000, and was possibly the largest city of that time.[2] All free male citizens were obliged to serve in the army for a time, a system which was called the
ilku-service. The Assyrian law code, notable for its repressive attitude towards women in their society, was compiled during this period.
See also
{{Portal|Assyrians}}
- Neo-Hittite
The states that are called Neo-Hittite, or more recently Syro-Hittite, were Luwian, Aramaic and Phoenician-speaking political entities of the Iron Age northern Syria and southern Anatolia that arose following the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC and lasted until roughly 700 BC...
- Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
- Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia...
- Assyrian law
Assyrian law was very similar to Sumerian and Babylonian law, however, notably more brutal than its predecessors. The first copy of the code to come to light, dated to the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I, was discovered in the course of excavations by the German Oriental Society . Three Assyrian law...
- Military history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
Assyria originated in the 23rd century BC, its earliest king Tudiya being a contemporary of Ibrium of Ebla. It evolved from the Akkadian Empire of the late 3rd millennium BC. Assyria was a strong nation under the rule of Ilushuma , who founded colonies in Asia Minor and raided Isin and other...
- Assyrian People
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
External links
{{Ancient Mesopotamia}}
{{Ancient Near East}}
{{Assyrian provinces}}
{{Empires}}