Introduction to the Assyrian Conquests (853 BCE 612 BCE)

Gale Encyclopedia of World History: War, Volume1 Finals/ 1/21/2008 06:33 Page 1 Introduction to the Assyrian Conquests (853 BCE 612 BCE) The Assyrian Empire was the world s first great empire and the first nation to make warfare and militarism a central facet of its foreign and domestic policies. A force to be reckoned with for over seven centuries, the Assyrian Empire experienced many ups and downs, attaining its greatest heights of power and dominance during the ninth through the seventh centuries BCE before imploding spectacularly, perishing under the booted heel of vengeful conquerors in 612 BCE. The traditional heartland of Assyria was centered on the Tigris River in what is now northern Iraq. Bordered by the expansionist Hittite Empire to the west and the Babylonians to the south, and constantly harried by nomadic tribes to the north and east, Assyria developed a militaristic culture early on. The Assyrians took a unique approach to warfare. While other armies of the day traditionally gave preeminence to the swift chariot, the Assyrians deployed heavily armored infantry and ingenious siege engines. Off the battlefield, they relied on a combination of doggedness and intimidation, becoming masters of psychological warfare. Assyria enjoyed two distinct periods of regional dominance. The first period, often referred to as the Middle Assyrian period, lasted from roughly 1350 to 1200 BCE During this time, Assyria conquered its neighbors, clashed with the Hittites, and annexed the ancient kingdom of Babylon. In the wake of the collapse of the Hittite Empire, Assyrian ruler Tiglath-Pileser I (1115 1077 BCE) inaugurated a new period of expansionism that saw the Assyrians extend their empire to the Mediterranean coast. A succession of weak rulers temporarily stalled the Assyrian war machine, but by the reign of Ashurnasirpal II (883 859 BCE), the Assyrians were aggressively expanding their empire in every direction. They would continue to do so as a matter of policy for the next two centuries during a period commonly called the Neo-Assyrian Empire. That period also marks the full flowering of two vastly different aspects of the Assyrian culture. On the one hand, the infamous tools of Assyrian psychological warfare were perfected: the deportations, mass beheadings, and gruesome atrocities, all meant to send a message to those who would oppose the empire s will. On the other hand, Assyrian art, architecture, and learning all reached new heights during the Neo-Assyrian period. Although known for their warlike society, Assyrians put great emphasis on piety and record keeping. Much of our understanding of Babylonian mythology comes from Assyrian records. Additionally, Assyrians were well known for their grand palaces and feats of engineering: aqueducts and canals watered the capital at Nineveh and the Assyrians were the first to lay a system of paved roads across the Near East to facilitate travel and administration (as well as warfare), a system that served later empires well. Despite all these triumphs, Babylon remained a thorn in the Assyrians side; the Babylonians had never accepted foreign rule. After trying a variety of solutions, in 689 BCE the Assyrians finally razed the ancient city of Babylon. It was an extreme measure, even in those extreme times, and Babylon was soon allowed to rebuild. It was a resurgent Babylon that would lead an allied army against Assyria, sacking the capital of Nineveh (across the river from modern-day Mosul, Iraq) in 612 BCE and bringing a sudden end to what was once the most powerful empire on Earth. The Assyrians built their power on a foundation of terror and retribution, and that is what led directly to their downfall. 1

Gale Encyclopedia of World History: War, Volume1 Finals/ 1/21/2008 06:33 Page 2 The Assyrian Conquests (853 BCE 612 BCE) i Major Figures King Ahab of Israel Ahab (birth and death dates unknown), king of Israel in the middle of the ninth century BCE, is perhaps best remembered for the Biblical account of his marriage to the Phoenician princess Jezebel and the bloody revolution that eventually resulted from that union. But in his own time, the people of the Near East primarily knew him as one of the twelve allied generals who checked, albeit briefly, the relentless advance of the Assyrian war machine at the Battle of Qarqar. The Political Climate in Ahab s Time At the time of Ahab s rule, the ancient Hebrew tribes were split into two kingdoms. Ahab ruled Israel, the Northern Kingdom, which was centered on Samaria, a hilltop city chosen by Ahab s father Omri as the new capital. Throughout its turbulent history, the Northern Kingdom saw the passage of many dynasties, many of which only lasted as long as the kingship of one or two kings in the case of the House of Zimri, all of seven days! Ahab had the fortune to be the son of the founder of one of Israel s more successful dynasties. During Ahab s life, Israel became a player on the international scene, garnering mention in contemporary Assyrian documents. With its increased recognition came wealth, particularly after Ahab cemented an alliance through marriage with the rich Phoenician city-state of Tyre on the Mediterranean coast. The economic connection to Phoenicia s vast mercantile empire brought fabulous wealth to Samaria. It also brought a religious influence that would eventually spell the doom of the House of Omri. While Ahab was honoring his wife by constructing a temple to the Ba al ( lord ) of Tyre, most likely the god Melkart, he was also busy shoring up good relations with his many neighbors. The region known as the Levant that today encompasses Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan was in Ahab s day a patch2 work of small kingdoms and city-states. These states had arisen after the fall of the Hittite Empire had left a power vacuum in the region, and they spent most of their time warring with each other. The most powerful city-state in the region was Damascus, and it was with Damascus that Israel had the most strained relations. Nevertheless, the bickering states had enough of a sense of self-preservation to band together in the face of the approaching Assyrians, whose empire was swiftly overshadowing the region. Assyria on the Move The Assyrian heartland is in modernday northern Iraq and was in ancient times surrounded by more powerful nations. Initially as a method of selfpreservation, the Assyrians developed the most warlike culture yet seen and began conquering their neighbors. Soon self-preservation turned to greed, and conquest, no longer defensively motivated, became a state policy. By the middle of the ninth century, the Assyrians, who were just entering into their last and greatest phase (the so-called Neo-Assyrian Empire) under Shalmaneser III, had turned their gaze to the fractured Levant. In one of the earliest examples of psychological warfare and propaganda, Assyria had consciously built a reputation for brutality and cruelty, knowing that a fearsome reputation would more often than not compel potential resisters to surrender without a fight. Of course, this approach can backfire and inspire one s enemies to band together and put up a fierce fight rather than submit and this is precisely what happened as Shalmaneser marched his armies into Syria. Ahab and the Battle of Qarqar Strangely, the Old Testament is silent on Israel s participation in the alliance and ensuing battle. Our chief source is an Assyrian stele (carved stone monument) that provides detailed lists of the twelve allied armies that stood against the Assyrians at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE It would appear that Damascus was the leader of the alliance, but Ahab provided a sizeable contribution of

Gale Encyclopedia of World History: War, Volume1 Finals/ 1/21/2008 06:33 Page 3 The Assyrian Conquests (853 BCE 612 BCE ) Detail from an Assyrian stele depicting Jehu of Israel paying tribute to King Shalmaneser III. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY troops, about half as many as Damascus. The battle took place near the town of Qarqar on the Orontes River in modern-day Syria. Although the stele makes a claim that the Assyrians emerged victorious, their advance was apparently checked. It would be another decade before Assyria was able to lay siege to Damascus and begin raiding Israel proper. By that time the alliance of Qarqar had long since disintegrated and the Assyrians soon added the divided city-states of Syria to their growing empire. Israel was next in the line of conquest. Ahab s Legacy Ahab was long gone by the time Assyria took Israel. He probably died only a few years after Qarqar and was succeeded by his son Ahaziah. The House of Omri disintegrated as the foreign influence, both religious and political, of Ahab s widow Jezebel inspired a bloody revolution led by Jehu, a captain in the Israelite army. Ahab s children were beheaded, Jezebel murdered. Ahab s line was extinguished. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD HISTORY: WAR Tiglath-Pileser III Tiglath-Pileser III (ruled 745 727 BCE) is widely regarded as one of the greatest kings in the centurieslong history of the Assyrian empire. His reign marks a high point for the so-called Neo-Assyrian Empire, both militarily and culturally. Under his leadership Assyria finally defeated the Kingdom of Urartu, their longtime enemy. More importantly, Tiglath-Pileser III reformed Assyria s imperial administration and is the king most likely responsible for creating a network of paved roads and messengers, a network that would outlive the Assyrian Empire by many centuries. Rise to Power Historians are unsure of Tiglath-Pileser s exact birth date. He came to power in 745 BCE, apparently as a result of a palace coup that overthrew the previous king, Ashur-Nirari V. It is also likely that he took the name Tiglath-Pileser when he ascended to the throne, a common practice in the Assyrian monarchy. 3

The Assyrian Conquests (853 BCE 612 BCE) He is also referred to in the Old Testament as Pul, which might have been the name he took when he assumed personal kingship over Babylonia in 729 BCE. Babylonia Although the Assyrians numbered the ancient state of Babylonia as one of their first conquests, their southern cousins were never comfortable with Assyrian rule. Because of close linguistic and cultural ties, as well as the capital city Babylon s status as a holy place, Assyrian kings were reluctant to deal with the periodic Babylonian revolts in their customarily harsh manner. When Tiglath-Pileser III assumed the Assyrian crown, Babylonia had been operating in a state of near anarchy for some fifty years. One of the new king s first acts was to take an army south, restore order, and install a new governor. Babylonia was pacified for the time being. War with Urartu Urartu, also known as the Kingdom of Van, was centered in modern-day Armenia. It had been steadily expanding, taking advantage of a series of weak Assyrian kings and annexing the city-states of Syria. This southern expansion had cut off Assyria s access to the iron mines of Anatolia (modern Turkey). Tiglath-Pileser III prepared an expedition to win back the lost Assyrian territories and finally put an end to his troublesome northern neighbor. The Assyrians defeated Sarduris, King of Urartu, and his Syrian allies in 742 BCE and the flow of iron from the west was restored. Tiglath-Pileser extracted tribute from the Phoenician city-states of Tyre and Byblos, rich mercantile cities on the Mediterranean coast, and from Israel. Military Intervention in Judah It was to the Hebrew kingdoms that Tiglath-Pileser next turned his attention. Ever since the death of Solomon in the middle of the tenth century, there had been two kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Israel was by far the dominant one of the pair, enjoying sea access, a lucrative trade relationship with the Phoenicians, and strategic placement on north-south and east-west trade routes. Judah, landlocked and with a smaller population and less arable land, was poor and often turned to its more powerful neighbors for protection. In 734 BCE, King Ahaz of Judah was feeling sufficiently put-upon by both Israel and the great Syrian city-state of Damascus to appeal to Tiglath-Pileser III for help. The Assyrian king was only too happy to oblige and marched his armies, fresh from their victory over Sarduris, south. King Pekah of Israel, knowing he could not stand up to the might of Assyria, submitted quickly, but Damascus shut its gates and prepared for a siege. Despite their mastery of siegecraft, it took the Assyrians two years to take the city. When they did, in 732 BCE, they subjected the city to the usual round of atrocities that lay in store for any town that dared oppose Assyria. Damascus was ruined, its independence lost for centuries to come. Invasion of Urartu With his campaigns in the west wrapped up, Tiglath-Pileser III turned his attention back to Urartu. Although it had lost its southern possessions, the Kingdom of Van still posed a real threat to Assyrian interests. The king led his army into the mountainous north, looting and ravaging the countryside. Some Assyrians may have marched as far north as the Caspian Sea, bringing ruin in their wake as the main force besieged the capital-fortress at Van. Van never did fall to the Assyrians, but the damage was done. The depredations of the invaders caused a major disruption from which Urartu would never recover. Assyria s northern border was finally secure. Innovations in the Infrastructure After so many years of campaigning, Tiglath-Pileser III apparently felt it necessary to turn his attention to the upkeep of his vast empire, and he did this ably. Ancient roads were often little better than footpaths, making overland travel slow and difficult. Tiglath-Pileser saw that a speedy and reliable system of roads would make administration much easier and ordered the construction of a network of royal roads, wide lanes paved with limestone. To this network Tiglath-Pileser added a system of messengers who operated in relays, much like the Pony Express of the Old West. Travel time throughout the empire improved dramatically, and messages could be conveyed to their destinations in days instead of weeks. This system worked so well that it actually outlived the Assyrian Empire itself, which fell in 612 BCE The later empires of the Near East the Neo-Babylonians, the Persians, the Macedonian successor states would continue to use, expand, and improve upon the system developed by Tiglath-Pileser III. Babylonia Revisited The reign of Tiglath-Pileser III began with trouble in Babylonia and ended the same way. In the 730s BCE, a local usurper named Ukin-zer seized the Babylonian throne and incited an uprising against Assyria. Tiglath-Pileser led his army south one more time and put down the revolt with great severity. At this point, the Assyrians had tried a variety of solutions to placate the restive Babylonians, such as installing local governors and puppet kings, using government-appointed eunuch viceroys, and so forth. Tiglath-Pileser decided on a new strategy: he had himself crowned King of Babylonia and Assyria, uniting the two thrones for the first time in history. Ultimately this solution would not work any better than any of the others and Babylonia would continue to be a thorn in Assyria s side, but Tiglath-Pileser III would not be around to see the failure of his last innovation. He died in 727 BCE, two years after taking the Babylonian crown. Sargon II The reign of Sargon II (? 705 BCE), king of Assyria from 722 BCE to his death in 705 BCE, marked a continuation 4 GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD HISTORY: WAR

The Assyrian Conquests (853 BCE 612 BCE) A winged bull from from Nimrud, Assyria. Public Domain of the growing power of the resurgent Neo-Assyrian Empire. Sargon II s reign looms large in Biblical history, as it marks the end of the ancient Kingdom of Israel and the origin of the tale of the Ten Lost Tribes. Sargon the Usurper All indications point to Sargon II coming to power through a coup, usurping the power of King Shalmanassar V in 722 BCE A close examination of the evidence further indicates that Sargon was most likely not of royal blood, or even a palace insider. Sargon II, lacking the proper royal pedigree, tried to establish his legitimacy in other ways, starting with the name Sargon, which literally means legitimate king and was the name of the first great Mesopotamian empire builder, a Sumerian who conquered vast swaths of land sixteen hundred years before. About a decade into his reign, Sargon II even went so far as to build his own capital city, most likely to get away from the entrenched political factions in the traditional capital of Ashur. Dur-Sharrukin (or Fort Sargon ), also called Khorsabad, not only became Sargon s refuge but a source of national prestige as well. Dur-Sharrukin was dominated by the royal palace, a magnificent structure of brick, wood, precious stones and metals, and ivory. The city also featured a magnificent park filled with exotic trees and a variety of temples dedicated to different Assyrian gods. To populate the city, Sargon relocated subjects from around the empire, particularly from recently conquered lands, a common practice in ancient Assyria. The Destruction of Israel It was this practice of deportation and resettlement that sealed the fate of the northern Kingdom of Israel and the ten Hebrew tribes who lived within its borders. Although the Old Testament attributes the destruction of Israel to Sargon s GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD HISTORY: WAR 5