The Might of Assyria

The Might of Assyria

One day in 674 BC Esarhaddon, a powerful and capable ruler of Assyria, abdicated his responsibilities as King. He cast off his regal attire, travelled in secret far out into the countryside, and hid in fear for his life on an obscure plot of farmland, tilling the soil like a common labourer.

Only a select few from the King's inner circle of advisors and priests knew of his whereabouts, and if they dared write to him, they addressed their letters simply to "The Farmer." Like Esarhaddon himself, they too were afraid for the King's life, for only a few days before one of the most ominous events imaginable had occurred--a total eclipse of the moon. To the Assyrians, this meant nothing less than the certain death of their King.

Expansion of the Assyrian Empire

From their origins in a few major cities on the Tigris river in Northern Iraq--Nineveh, Ashur, and Kalakh--the Assyrians grew by the 9th century BC to control most of the Middle East, from Egypt to the Persian Gulf. Almost uniformly illiterate (not that unusual for the time) the Assyrians regarded warfare as their most important activity, and considered it a divinely-inspired goal to impose their gods upon conquered territories. They were the first major power to equip soldiers with iron weapons and to master the tactics of the light horse-drawn chariot, and this, combined with their superb military organization, turned them into the most successful fighting power the ancient world had yet seen. At its height the Assyrian army numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and the thunder of its chariotry inspired fear in all who heard it.

The Assyrian strategy for conquest depended heavily on psychological warfare. They would first send their "cup-bearers"--the representatives of the king--to try and persuade a city to surrender without a fight. If this failed, the Assyrian army would then surround the city and shout at the defenders, trying to convince them that resistance was useless. Woe to the people who still refused to capitulate, for if forced to fight, the Assyrians would then bring out their giant wheeled siege towers and enormous armored battering rams to breach the city walls.

Deeply superstitious, Assyrian kings would not take any major military actions without first consulting their diviners. In addition to submitting detailed reports of their military campaigns to a statue of their supreme god, Assur, they also had many strange taboos that applied to them. Sometimes they had to fast until a new moon appeared, sit inside a reed hut being treated as if they were ill, or even wear the clothes of a commoner.

Fate of the Assyrians

After dominating their neighbours for centuries, the Assyrians were finally overcome by a coalition of the Babylonians and Medes, who laid waste to the Assyrian cities in 609 BC. The many magnificent colossal statues of protective genies that guarded the mighty Assyrian royal palaces, such as the human-headed bull pictured here, did nothing to interfere. Carved out of the rock by slaves taken during Assyria's many military campaigns, they looked silently out upon the burning cities with enigmatic smiles...

http://www.amazeingart.com/seven-wonders/assyria.html the assyrian empire august 26

THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

The Assyrian Empire was based near the Tigris River and was a dominant force throughout the Near East for three hundred years - from 900 through 600 BCE. The capital city was Nineveh, the same city Jonah was commanded to go to by God. They had taken over for the Sumerians, but nevertheless attempted to preserve much of that civilization's learning and culture.

The Assyrian Empire regularly plays the role of the villain in the Bible. Israel became a vassal state of the Assyrians under Tiglath-pileser III. Later, Shalmaneser V conquered Israel and Sargon II made Israel one of Assyria's western provinces, deporting nearly thirty thousand Israelites back to the Tigris-Euphrates region. This was the end of Israel and the Divided Kingdom, leaving just Judah.

Under Sargon II Israel was renamed Samaria and new settlers were introduced. Although he had them educated in the ways of the Jews, they did not completely convert - this, then, was the origin of the Samaritans.

One of the imporatant ideas which the Assyrians developed was that of a universal empire. They did not originate it, however, - they took it from Sargon and the Akkadian kings who conqured the Sumerian empire. Not only the idea of a universal empire, but also the idea of a univeral deity, which was a fundamental component to such an empire, was later adopted by other religions and cultures.

Assyrian Rulers

Ashur-dan II 934-912

Adad-nirari II 912-891

Tukulti-Ninurta II 891-884

Ashurnasirpal II 884-859

Shalmaneser III 859-824

Shamshi-Adad IV 824-811

Adad-nirari III 811-783

Shalmaneser IV 783-773

Ashur-dan III 773-755

Ashur-nirari V 755-745

Tiglath-pileser III 745-727

Shalmaneser V 727-722

Sargon II 722-705

Sennacherib 705-681

Esarhaddon 681-669

Ashurbanipal 669-627

Ashur-etel-ilani 627-624

Sin-shumu-lishir 624-623

Sin-shara-ishkun 623-612

Ashur-uballit II 612-609

Assyrian empire. http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/general/bldef_assyria.html

History of Israel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Israel

The State of Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948 after almost two millennia of Jewish dispersal and persecution around the Mediterranean. From the late 19th century theZionist movement worked towards the goal of recreating a homeland for the Jewish people. Israeli independence has been marked by massive immigration of Jews, by conflict with thePalestinians and by wars with neighbouring Arab states.