A Persian Perspective: In the chart below, use information from yesterday s reading on Persia to determine Darius s position on each issue listed. Then, use the documents provided to summarize each aspect of either Assyria or Phoenicia. After comparing Darius s position with what you have observed in your assigned civilization, you will determine the letter grade (A-F) that Darius would give to your civilization in each area. My civilization: Darius s Position Characteristics of Your Civilization Grade Explanation Economy/ Trade Military Expansion Social Organization Political Leadership/ Law Reflect: Which civilization do you think was most effective in meeting the needs of a diverse population? WHY?
Assyrian Documents (for folder) WARFARE This picture illustrates some of the techniques the Assyrians used to capture a city. On the left hand side some men scale the wall with a ladder. On the right hand side a wheeled battering ram is used to destroy the city walls. The three figures at the top next to the city have been impaled on spikes. The tall figure on the far right with the long clothes is King Tiglath Pileser III, who is referred to in the Bible by his Babylonian name, Pul. Assyrian siege warfare. The Assyrian military genius was most apparent when the Assyrians laid siege to a fortified place. Their armies excelled in the art of siege warfare, and they put their specialized knowledge into practice with ruthless efficiency. This relief of a siege depicts Assyrians crossing a moat or river using inflated animal skins as flotation devices. The Assyrians also used ladders to storm battlements, and excavations to undermine walls. They built earthen ramps to put their soldiers over a city s walls, and they used battering rams to splinter gates. ASK YOURSELF: What are some of the military strategies being employed by the Assyrians? What does that reveal about Assyrian culture?
A reconstruction of the palace of Sargon II at the new Assyrian capital, Khorsabad. Sargon II ruled Assyria from 722 to 705 B.C. Under him, Assyrian rule extended from Palestine to Anatolia and to Iran in the east. Like all Assyrian rulers, Sargon II built a new palace for himself, at Khorsabad. The palace, covering 25 acres, took ten years (717 to 707 B.C.) to build. Besides the king's residence, there were temples, apartments for the royal family, and offices for state officials. At the command of the god Ashur, the great Lord, I rushed upon the enemy like the approach of a hurricane...i put them to rout and turned them back. I transfixed the troops of the enemy with javelins and arrows. Humban-undasha, the commander in chief of the king of Elam, together with his nobles...i cut their throats like sheep...my prancing steeds, trained to harness, plunged into their welling blood as into a river; the wheels of my battle chariot were bespattered with blood and filth. I filled the plain with corpses of their warriors like herbage Sennacherib (ruler 704-681BCE) ASK YOURSELF: Why do the Assyrians go to battle with other peoples?
Tiglathpileser I ruled the Assyrian Empire from 1115-1077 BC. In this inscription he describes his conquests. Ashur (Assyrian God) and the great gods who have enlarged my kingdom, who have given me strength and power as my portion, commanded me to extend the territory of their (the gods') country, putting into my hand their powerful weapons, the cyclone of battle. I subjugated lands and mountains, cities and their rulers, enemies of Ashur, and conquered their territories. With sixty kings I fought, spreading terror (among them), and achieved a glorious victory over them. A rival in combat, or an adversary in battle, I did not have. To Assyria I added more land, to its people I added more people, enlarging the boundaries of my land and conquering all (neighboring?) territories. In the beginning of my government, five kings... with an army of twenty thousand men...-- and whose power no king had ever broken and overcome in battle--trusting to their strength rushed down and conquered the land of Qummuh (Commagene). Like the Thunderer (the storm god Adad) I crushed the corpses of their warriors in the battle that caused their overthrow. I made their blood to flow over all the ravines and high places of mountains. I cut off their heads and piled them up at the walls of their cities like heaps of grain. I carried off their booty, their goods, and their property beyond reckoning. Six thousand, the rest of their troops, who had fled before my weapons and had thrown themselves at my feet, I took away as prisoners and added to the people of my country. ASK YOURSELF: How does Tiglath-Pileser treat those who fought against him and those who surrendered differently? What does that reveal about Assyrian leadership, conquest, and culture? Tiglath-Pilesar III in his processional chariot. He ruled Assyria from 745 to 727 B.C. In 733-732 B.C. Tiglath- Pilesar III conquered Philistia, took Galilee and the Transjordan away from Israel, and destroyed Damascus. He then exacted tribute from the neighboring kingdoms of Judah, Ammon, Moab, and Edom. Tiglath-Pilesar III instituted the Assyrian policy of moving large sections of the peoples of conquered areas to another part of the empire to destroy any remaining national fervor (allegiance to another nation or culture). From a relief originally in the Palace of Tiglath-Pilesar III at Nimrud.
Phoenician Documents (for folders) But the tree which is the glory of Phoenicia, and which was by far the most valuable of all its vegetable productions, is, of course, the cedar. Growing to an immense height, and attaining an enormous girth, it spreads abroad its huge flat branches hither and thither, covering a vast space of ground with its "shadowing shroud," and presenting a most majestic and magnificent appearance. Cedar was used for the masts of ships by the Phoenicians, so as building material it was beyond a doubt most highly prized, answering sufficiently for all the purposes required by architectural art, and at the same time delighting the sense of smell by its aromatic odor. Cedar ships allowed Phoenicia to dominate trade in the Mediterranean region from as early as 1200BC ASK YOURSELF: What was the basis of the Phoenician economy? How is the Phoenician economy different from River Valley economies?
Among the most successful traders of 1200BCE were the Phoenicians. They became the chief merchandisers of the region. During the eighth century BCE, the Greek poet, Homer, describes the Phoenicians, or the Phaiákians, as the Greeks called them, as those renowned seafaring men, seadogs [who] came ashore with bags of gauds for trading (The Odyssey). In the Old Testament, Ezekiel describes Tyre, one of the Phoenician cities, as that city that dwelt at the entry of the sea, as being the mart of the people for many lands (Ezekiel). The name Phoenician came from the Greek language. It means blood red, which may have referred to the purple dye that the Phoenicians extracted from a tiny sea snail, a member of the Murex genus. It took 10,000 of the tiny mollusks to produce a single gram of the dye. (The dye works produced mountains of smelly sea shells, which must have been a severe local nuisance.) The dye was so expensive that only the very rich could afford it, which is why purple became the color choice of kings. MARITIME COMMERCIAL ECONOMY (exchanging manufactured or built goods by sea) The Phoenicians lived in prosperous, walled city states, including Byblos, Tyre, and Sidon. These cities, many located at the water s edge in what is now Lebanon, were cut off from the interior to the east by mountains and deserts. Their livelihoods depended on their merchant seamen who sailed large, fast ships of local cedar equipped with both sails and banks of oars so that they were manageable in the wind. While most sailors hugged the coasts because of fear of losing sight of land, the Phoenicians learned to guide themselves by the North Star (called the Phoenician Star by the Greeks). They sailed mostly in the dry summer months when the seas were calm and the stars were visible for navigation. They generally sailed in vast fleets of cargo ships paired with fighting vessels to discourage pirates. The Phoenicians established outposts along the North African coast about a day s sail apart. In these ports, they could stockpile supplies, refit their ships, and find safe havens during storms. They also established colonies at places along the coasts where inland trade routes terminated. Here they traded with locals and in some places, such as Carthage, they developed permanent settlements. Towards the end of the seventh century BCE, some of these colonial cities grew into independent city-states.
ISOLATION In addition to being traders, the Phoenicians were also expert builders and engineers. Their cities were defended by thick walls and usually only accessible by sea. Buildings could be six stories tall, and many had roof gardens. Water was supplied by wells and springs inside the cities so that they could easily withstand sieges. Tyre even piped in fresh water from an undersea spring by means of a leather hose. During the reign of the Hebrew King Solomon, his friend the Tyrian King Hiram sent wood and craftsmen to build Solomon a great temple to God. The prosperity of Phoenician cities depended on their avoidance of war. Through the centuries, they did so and maintained their independence by paying tribute to their enemies. In the mid-seventh century, however, the Assyrians seized the Phoenician cities of the Levant and forced them to pay tribute. The Assyrian empire collapsed in 612, but other conquerors followed. In North Africa, Phoenician colonies like Carthage in modern Tunisia and Cadiz in modern Spain and became independent cities, pursuing their own interests and destinies. ASK YOURSELF: What can we learn about the Phoenicians military strength from their strategies for defense?