Neo-Assyrian Empire

Neo-Assyrian Empire
911 BCE–609 BCE
The Neo-Assyrian Empire at its maximum extent, around 671 BCE.[1][2][3][4]
Capital	Assur (911–879 BCE) Nimrud (879–706 BCE) Dur-Sharrukin (706–705 BCE) Nineveh (705–612 BCE) Harran (612–609 BCE)
Official languages	Akkadian Imperial Aramaic
Religion	Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Government	Monarchy
Notable kings
• 911–891 BCE	Adad-nirari II (first)
• 883–859 BCE	Ashurnasirpal II
• 859–824 BCE	Shalmaneser III
• 745–727 BCE	Tiglath-Pileser III
• 722–705 BCE	Sargon II
• 705–681 BCE	Sennacherib
• 681–669 BCE	Esarhaddon
• 669–631 BCE	Ashurbanipal
• 612–609 BCE	Ashur-uballit II (last)
Historical era	Iron Age
• Accession of Adad-nirari II	911 BCE
• Nimrud made capital	879 BCE
• Age of the magnates	823–745 BCE
• Conquest of Babylonia	729 BCE
• Nineveh made capital	705 BCE
• Conquest of Egypt	671 BCE
• Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire	626–609 BCE
• Fall of Assur	614 BCE
• Fall of Nineveh	612 BCE
• Fall of Harran	609 BCE
Area
670 BCE	1,400,000 km2 (540,000 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Middle Assyrian Empire Middle Babylonian period Aram-Damascus Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) Mannaea Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt Neo-Hittite states Neo-Babylonian Empire Median Empire Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt

The Neo-Assyrian Empire^{[lower-alpha 1]} was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BCE,^{[7][lower-alpha 2]} the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of the South Caucasus, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean throughout much of the 9th to 7th centuries BCE, becoming the largest empire in history up to that point.^[9][10][11] Because of its geopolitical dominance and ideology based in world domination, the Neo-Assyrian Empire has been described as the first world empire in history.^{[10][12][11][13][lower-alpha 3]} It influenced other empires of the ancient world culturally, administratively, and militarily, including the Neo-Babylonians, the Achaemenids, and the Seleucids. At its height, the empire was the strongest military power in the world^[9] and ruled over all of Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt, as well as parts of Anatolia, Arabia and what is now Iran and Armenia.

The early Neo-Assyrian kings were chiefly concerned with restoring Assyrian control over much of northern Mesopotamia, eastern Anatolia and Levant, since significant portions of the preceding Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BCE) had been lost during the late 11th century BCE. Under Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 BCE), Assyria once more became the dominant power of the Near East, ruling the north undisputed. Ashurnasirpal's campaigns reached as far as the Mediterranean, and he oversaw the transfer of the imperial capital from the traditional city of Assur to the more centrally-located Kalḫu (later known as Calah in the Hebrew Bible, and Nimrud to the Arabs) The empire grew even more under Ashurnasirpal's successor Shalmaneser III (r. 859–824 BCE), though it entered a period of stagnation after his death, referred to as the "age of the magnates". During this time, the chief wielders of political power were prominent generals and officials, and central control was unusually weak. This age came to an end with the rule of Tiglath-Pileser III (r. 745–727 BCE), who reasserted Assyrian royal power and more than doubled the size of the empire through wide-ranging conquests. His most notable conquests were Babylonia in the south and large parts of the Levant. Under the Sargonid dynasty, which ruled from 722 BCE to the fall of the empire, Assyria reached its apex. Under Sennacherib (r. 705–681 BCE), the capital was transferred to Nineveh, and under Esarhaddon (r. 681–669 BCE) the empire reached its largest extent through the conquest of Egypt. Despite being at the peak of its power, the empire experienced a swift and violent fall in the late 7th century BCE, destroyed by a Babylonian uprising and an invasion by the Medes. The causes behind how Assyria could be destroyed so quickly continue to be debated among scholars.

The unprecedented success of the Neo-Assyrian Empire was not only due to its ability to expand but also, and perhaps more importantly, its ability to efficiently incorporate conquered lands into its administrative system. As the first of its scale, the empire saw various military, civic and administrative innovations. In the military, important innovations included a large-scale use of cavalry and new siege warfare techniques. Techniques first adopted by the Neo-Assyrian army would be used in later warfare for millennia.^[9] To solve the issue of communicating over vast distances, the empire developed a sophisticated state communication system, using relay stations and well-maintained roads. The communication speed of official messages in the empire was not surpassed in the Middle East until the 19th century.^[14][15] The empire also made use of a resettlement policy, wherein some portions of the populations from conquered lands were resettled in the Assyrian heartland and in underdeveloped provinces. This policy served to both disintegrate local identities and to introduce Assyrian-developed agricultural techniques to all parts of the empire. A consequence was the dilution of the cultural diversity of the Near East, forever changing the ethnolinguistic composition of the region and facilitating the rise of Aramaic as the regional lingua franca,^[16] a position the language retained until the 14th century.^[17]

The Neo-Assyrian Empire left a legacy of great cultural significance. The political structures established by the empire became the model for the later empires, and the ideology of universal rule promulgated by the Neo-Assyrian kings inspired—through the concept of translatio imperii—similar ideas of rights to world domination as late as the early modern period. The empire became an important part of later folklore and literary traditions in northern Mesopotamia through the subsequent post-imperial period and beyond. Judaism—and in turn Christianity and Islam—was profoundly affected by the period of Neo-Assyrian rule; numerous Biblical stories appear to draw on earlier Assyrian mythology and history,^[9][18] and the Assyrian impact on early Jewish theology was immense.^{[lower-alpha 4]} Although the empire is prominently remembered today for the supposed excessive brutality of its army, the Assyrians were not excessively brutal when compared to other civilizations throughout history.^[20]

The political structures established by the Neo-Assyrian Empire became the model for the later empires that succeeded it.^[18] Key components of the Neo-Babylonian Empire were based on the Neo-Assyrian Empire.^[21] Though the administrative structure of the Neo-Babylonian Empire is not known due to the scant surviving sources, and it is thus unclear to what degree the old provincial divisions and administration of the Neo-Assyrian Empire continued to be in use,^[22] the organization of the central palace bureaucracy under the Neo-Babylonian kings was based on that of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, not any established earlier Babylonian models. Additionally, Neo-Babylonian construction projects, such as Nebuchadnezzar II's massive expansion of Babylon, followed Assyrian traditions; as the Neo-Assyrian kings had done in their new capitals, Nebuchadnezzar placed his palace on a raised terrace across the city wall and followed a rectangular plan for the inner city.^[23] The sophisticated Assyrian road system, first created during the Middle Assyrian period, also continued to be in use and served as a model for sophisticated road systems of the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid empires.^[24]

I built a pillar over against the city gate and I flayed all the chiefs who had revolted and I covered the pillar with their skins. Some I impaled upon the pillar on stakes and others I bound to stakes round the pillar. I cut the limbs off the officers who had rebelled. Many captives I burned with fire and many I took as living captives. From some I cut off their noses, their ears, and their fingers, of many I put out their eyes. I made one pillar of the living and another of heads and I bound their heads to tree trunks round about the city. Their young men and maidens I consumed with fire. The rest of their warriors I consumed with thirst in the desert of the Euphrates.

The empire is perhaps most prominently remembered for the ferocity and brutality of its army.^[26][27] Neo-Assyrian inscriptions and artwork are unusually explicit in description and depiction of various atrocities, often describing them with "terrifying realism".^[27] It is chiefly from the Neo-Assyrian period that royal inscriptions describe atrocities in detail,^[27] though various atrocities were enacted against enemy states and peoples by certain Middle Assyrian kings as well.^[28] This may be attributable to the Neo-Assyrian kings using fear to keep their conquered territories in-line after declines in power during the Middle Assyrian Empire.^[29]

Biblical and other historical references to Assyrian brutality were reinforced by the 19th-century discoveries of ancient art and inscriptions, as well as by unflattering comparisons drawn between Assyria and the Ottoman Empire by the historians and archaeologists who found them.^[26] Today, despite the diversity of ancient Assyrian culture, military and atrocity scenes dominate museum exhibitions on Assyria because of their distinct character.^[27]

Though there is no modern scholarly denial that the Neo-Assyrian government was brutal, the extent to which the inscriptions and artwork reflect actual atrocities is debated. Some believe that the Assyrians were more brutal than depicted because inscriptions and art do not include all the gruesome details or record every instance,^[27] whereas others believe Assyrian kings used exaggerated descriptions of brutal acts as tools for propaganda and psychological warfare.^[30]

Although Neo-Assyrian art is particularly graphic, actual practice in war was likely similar in character to their cultural neighbors, if more effective and broader in impact because of a higher level of bureaucratic organization. Detailed analysis of palace friezes suggests that brutality was typically targeted to intimidate and dissuade foreigners and vassals from fighting against Assyrian dominion. The vast majority of depicted brutal acts were directed against the soldiers and nobility of Assyria's enemies, with civilians only rarely being brutalized, suggesting cultural limits and restraints for most of neo-Assyrian rule.^[31][32]

• Assyrian nationalism
• History of Mesopotamia
• List of Mesopotamian dynasties
• Superpower

0.00 (0 votes)