Assyr'ia. Assyria was a great and powerful country lying on the Tigris, Gen_2:14, the capital of which was Nineveh. Gen_10:11, etc. It derived its name apparently
from Asshur, the son of Shem, Gen_10:22,
who in later times was worshipped by the Assyrians as their chief god.
Extent. -- The boundaries of Assyria differed greatly at different periods,
Probably, in the earliest times, it was confined to a small tract of low
country lying chiefly on the left bank of the Tigris. Gradually its limits were
extended, until it came to be regarded as comprising the whole region between
the Armenian mountains (lat. 37 30') upon the north, and upon the south the
country about Baghdad (lat. 33 30'). Eastward its boundary was the high range
of Zagros, or mountains of Kurdistan; westward it was, according to the views
of some, bounded by the Mesopotamian desert, while according to others it
reached the Euphrates.
General character of the country. -- On the north and east, the high mountain-chains
of Armenia and Kurdistan are succeeded by low ranges of limestone hills of a
somewhat arid aspect. To these ridges, there succeeds at first an undulating
zone of country, well watered and fairly productive, which extends in length
for 250 miles, and is interrupted only by a single limestone range. Above and
below this barrier is an immense level tract, now for the most part a
wilderness, which bears marks of having been in early times well cultivated and
thickly peopled throughout.
Original peopling. -- Scripture informs us that Assyria was peopled from Babylon, Gen_10:11, and both classical tradition and the
monuments of the country agree in this representation.
Date of the foundation of the kingdom. -- As a country, Assyria was evidently
known to Moses. Gen_2:14; Gen_25:18; Num_24:22;
Num_24:24. The foundation of the
Assyrian empire was probably not very greatly anterior to B.C. 1228.
History. -- The Mesopotamian researches have rendered it apparent that the
original seat of government was not at Nineveh, but at Kileh-Sherghat, on the
right bank of the Tigris. The most remarkable monarch of the earlier kings was
called Tiglath-pileser. He appears to have been king towards the close of the
twelfth century, and thus to have been contemporary with Samuel.
Afterwards, followed Pul, who invaded Israel in the reign of Menahem, 2Ki_15:29, about B.C. 770, and Shalmaneser who
besieged Samaria three years, and destroyed the kingdom of Israel B.C. 721,
himself or by his successor Sargon, who usurped the throne at that time. Under
Sargon, the empire was as great as at any former era, and Nineveh became a most
beautiful city. Sargon's son Sennacherib became the most famous of the Assyrian
kings. He began to reign 704 B.C. He invaded the kingdom of Judea in the reign
of Hezekiah.
He was followed by Esarhaddon, and he by a noted warrior and builder,
Sardanapalus. In Scripture, it is remarkable that we hear nothing of Assyria
after the reign of Esarhaddon, and profane history is equally silent until the
attacks began which brought about her downfall.
The fall of Assyria, long previously prophesied by Isaiah, Isa_10:5-19, was effected by the growing
strength and boldness of the Medes, about 625 B.C. The prophecies of Nahum and
Zephaniah Zep_2:13-15 against Assyria
were probably delivered shortly before the catastrophe.
General character of the empire. -- The Assyrian monarchs bore sway over a number
of petty kings through the entire extent of their dominions. These native princes
were feudatories of the great monarch, of whom they held their crown by the
double tenure of homage and tribute. It is not quite certain how far Assyria
required a religious conformity from the subject people. Her religion was a
gross and complex polytheism, comprising the worship of thirteen principal and
numerous minor divinities, at the head of all of whom stood the chief god,
Asshur, who seems to be the deified patriarch of the nation. Gen_10:22.
Civilization of the Assyrians. -- The civilization of the Assyrians was derived
originally from the Babylonians. They were a Shemitic race originally resident
in Babylonia (which at that time was Cushite) and thus acquainted with the
Babylonian inventions and discoveries, who ascended the valley of the Tigris
and established in the tract immediately below the Armenian mountains a
separate and distinct nationality. Still, as their civilization developed it
became in many respects peculiar. Their art is of home growth. But they were
still in the most important points barbarians. Their government was rude and
inartificial, their religion coarse and sensual, and their conduct of war
cruel.
Modern discoveries in Assyria. -- (Much interest has been excited in reference to
Assyria by the discoveries lately made there, which confirm and illustrate the
Bible. The most important of them is the finding of the stone tablets or books
which formed the great library at Nineveh, founded by Shalmaneser B.C. 860, but
embodying tablets written 2000 years B.C. This library was more than doubled by
Sardanapalus. These tablets were broken into fragments, but many of them have
been put together and deciphered by the late Mr. George Smith, of the British
Museum. All these discoveries of things hidden for ages, but now come to light,
confirm the Bible. -- Editor).
Source:
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Assyria
a-sir´i-a:
I. Geography
II. Early History
III. Climate and Productions
IV. Population
V. Trade and Law
VI. Art
VII. Mechanics
VIII. Furniture, Pottery and Embroidery
IX. Language, Literature and Science
X. Government and Army
XI. Religion
XII. Excavations
XIII. Chronology
XIV. History
1. Early Period
2. The Older Empire
3. The Second Empire
4. Last Period and Fall of Empire
Literature
Assyria, a Greek name formed from Asshur (אשׁוּר, 'ashshūr; Ἀσσούρ, Assoúr;
Assyrian Assur): The primitive capital of the country.
I. Geography
The origin of the city (now Kala'at Shergat),
which was built on the western bank of the Tigris between the Upper and Lower
Zab, went back to pre-Sem times, and the meaning of the name was forgotten (see
Gen_2:14, where the Hiddekel or
Tigris is said to flow on the eastern side of Asshur). To the North of the
junction of the Tigris and Upper Zab, and opposite the modern Mossul,
was a shrine of the goddess Ishtar, around which grew up the town of Nina, Ninua
or Nineveh (now Kouyunjik and Nebi Yunus). Another early
sanctuary of Ishtar was at Urbillu, Arbailu or Arbela, East of the Upper Zab.
North of Nineveh was Dur-Sargina (now Khorsabad) where Sargon built his
palace (720 bc). All this district was embraced in the kingdom of Assyria which
extended from Babylonia northward to the Kurdish mountains and at times
included the country westward to the Euphrates and the Khabur.
II. Early History
The whole region was known to the early Babylonians
as Subartu. Its possession was disputed between Semitic Amurrû or
AMORITES (which see) and a non-Semitic people from the North called Mitannians.
The earlier high priests of Assur known to us bear Mitannian names. About 2500
bc the country was occupied by Babylonian Semites, who brought with them the
religion, law, customs, script and Semitic language of Babylonia (Gen_10:11, Gen_10:12,
where we should read “He went forth to Asshur”; see Mic_5:6).
The foundation of Nineveh, Rehoboth-'Ir (Assyrian Rebît-Ali,
“the suburbs of the city”), Calah and Resen (Assyrian Res-eni,
“head of the spring”) is ascribed to them. The triangle formed by the Tigris
and Zab, which enclosed these cities, was in later times included within the
fortifications of the “great city” (Gen_10:12;
Jon_3:3). Assyria is always
distinguished from Babylonia in the Old Testament, and not confounded with it
as by Herodotus and other classical writers.
III. Climate and
Productions
Assyria, speaking generally, was a limestone
plateau with a temperate climate, cold and wet in winter, but warm during the
summer months. On the banks of the rivers there was abundant cultivation,
besides pasture-land. The apple of the North grew by the side of the palm-tree
of the South. Figs, olives, pomegranates, almonds, mulberries and vines were
also cultivated as well as all kinds of grain. Cotton is mentioned by
Sennacherib (King, PSBA, December, 1909). The forests were tenanted by
lions, and the plains by wild bulls (rimi, Hebrew re'ēmīm),
wild asses, wild goats and gazelles. Horses were imported from Cappadocia;
ducks were kept, and mastiffs were employed in hunting.
IV. Population
The dominant type was Semitic, with full lips,
somewhat hooked nose, high forehead, black hair and eyes, fresh complexion and
abundance of beard. In character the Assyrians were cruel and ferocious in war,
keen traders, stern disciplinarians, and where religion was concerned, intense
and intolerant. Like the Ottoman Turks they formed a military state, at the
head of which was the king, who was both leader in war and chief priest, and
which offered a striking contrast to theocratic state of theBabylonians. It
seems probable that every male was liable to conscription, and under the Second
Empire, if not earlier, there was a large standing army, part of which
consisted of mercenaries and recruits from the subject races. One result of
this was the necessity for constant war in order to occupy the soldiery and
satisfy their demands with captured booty; and the result, as in the Northern
Kingdom of Israel, was military revolution, with the seizure of the throne by
the successful general. As might be expected, education was confined to the
upper classes, more especially to the priests and scribes.
V. Trade and Law
As far back as the age of Abraham, when Assyria was
still a dependency of Babylonia, trade was carried on with Cappadocia and an
Assyrian colony of merchants settled at Kara Eyuk near Kaisariyeh. Down the
Euphrates came the silver, copper and bronze of Asia Minor, together with
horses. Cedar wood was brought from Mount Amanus, and there was already trade,
through Syria, with the Mediterranean. Nineveh itself was probably founded in
the interests of the trade with the North. In later days commercial reasons had
much to do with the efforts of the Assyrian kings to conquer eastern Asia Minor
and the Mediterranean coast of Syria and Pal: under the Second Empire no pains
were spared to obtain possession of the Phoenician cities and divert their
commerce into Assyrian hands. Hence the importance of the capture of the
Hittite stronghold, Carchemish, by Sargon in 717 bc, as it commanded the road
to Syria and the passage across the Euphrates. Nineveh had at that time already
become a great resort of merchants, among whom the Semitic Arameans were the
most numerous. Aramaic, accordingly, became the language of trade, and then of
diplomacy (compare 2Ki_18:26), and
commercial documents written in cuneiform were provided with Aramaic dockets.
As in Babylonia, land and houses were leased knd sold, money was lent at
interest, and the leading firms employed numerous damgari or commercial
agents.
Assyrian law was, in general, derived from
Babylonia and much of it was connected with trade. The code of Khammu-rabi (Code
of H̬ammurabi) or AMRAPHEL (which see) underlay it, and the
same system of judicial procedure, with pleading before judges, the hearing of
witnesses, and an appeal to the king, prevailed in both countries.
VI. Art
Unlike Babylonia, Assyria abounded in stone; the
brick buildings of Babylonia, accordingly, were replaced by stone, and the
painted or tiled walls by sculptured slabs. In the bas-reliefs discovered at
Nineveh three periods of artistic progress may be traced. Under Assur-nazir-pal
the sculpture is bold and vigorous, but the work is immature and the
perspective faulty. From the beginning of the Second Empire to the reign of
Esar-haddon the bas-reliefs often remind us of embroidery in stone. Attempts
are made to imitate the rich detail and delicate finish of the ivory carvings;
the background is filled in with a profusion of subjects, and there is a marked
realism in the delineation of them. The third period is that of Assur-bani-pal,
when the overcrowding is avoided by once more leaving the background bare,
while the animal and vegetable forms are distinguished by a certain softness,
if not effeminacy of tone. Sculpture in the round, however, lagged far behind
that in relief, and the statuary of Assyria is very inferior to that of
Babylonia. It is only the human-headed bulls and winged lions that can be
called successful: they were set on either side of a gate to prevent the
entrance of evil spirits, and their majestic proportions were calculated to
strike the observer with awe (compare the description of the four cherubim in
Ezek 1).
In bronze work the Assyrians excelled, much of the
work being cast. But in general it was hammered, and the scenes hammered in
relief on the bronze gates discovered by Mr. Rassam at Balawât near Nineveh are
among the best examples of ancient oriental metallurgy at present known. Gold
and silver were also worked into artistic forms; iron was reserved for more
utilitarian purposes. The beautiful ivory carvings found at Nineveh were probably
the work of foreign artificers, but gems and seal cylinders were engraved by
native artists in imitation of those of Babylonia, and the Babylonian art of
painting and glazing tiles was also practiced. The terra-cotta figures which
can be assigned to the Assyrian period are poor. Glass was also manufactured.
VII. Mechanics
The Assyrians were skilled in the transport of
large blocks of stone, whether sculptured or otherwise. They understood the use
of the lever, the pulley and the roller, and they had invented various engines
of war for demolishing or undermining the walls of a city or for protecting the
assailants. A crystal lens, turned on the lathe, has been found at Kouyunjik:
it must have been useful to the scribes, the cuneiform characters inscribed on
the tablets being frequently very minute. Water was raised from the river by
means of a shaduf.
VIII. Furniture, Pottery
and Embroidery
The furniture even of the palace was scanty,
consisting mainly of couches, chairs, stools, tables, rugs and curtains. The
chairs and couches were frequently of an artistic shape, and were provided with
feet in the form of the legs of an ox. All kinds of vases, bowls and dishes
were made of earthenware, but they were rarely decorated. Clothes, curtains and
rugs, on the other hand, were richly dyed and embroidered, and were
manufactured from wool and flax, and (in the age of the Second Empire) from
cotton. The rug, of which the Persian rug is the modern representative, was a
Babylonian invention.
IX. Language, Literature and
Science
The Assyrian language was Semitic, and differed
only dialectically from Semitic Babylonian. In course of time, however,
differences grew up between the spoken language and the language of literature,
which had incorporated many Summerian words, and retained grammatical
terminations that the vernacular had lost, though these differences were never
very great. Assyrian literature, moreover, was mainly derived from Babylonia.
Assur-bani-pal employed agents to ransack the libraries of Babylonia and send
their contents to Nineveh, where his library was filled with scribes who busied
themselves in copying and editing ancient texts. Commentaries were often
written upon these, and grammars, vocabularies and interlinear translations
were compiled to enable the student to understand the extinct Sumerian, which
had long been the Latin of Semitic Babylonia. The writing material was clay,
upon which the cuneiform characters were impressed with a stylus while it was
still moist: the tablet was afterward baked in the sun or (in Assyria) in a
kiln. The contents of the library of Nineveh were very various; religion,
mythology, law, history, geography, zoology, philology, mathematics, astronomy,
astrology and the pseudo-science of omens were all represented in it, as well
as poetry and legendary romance. See NINEVEH, LIBRARY OF.
X. Government and Army
Assyria was a military kingdom which, like the
Northern Kingdom of Israel, had established itself by a successful revolt from
Babylonia. In contradistinction to Babylonia, which was a theocratic state, the
king being subordinate to the priest, the Assyrian king was supreme. Whereas in
Babylonia the temple was the chief public building, in Assyria the royal palace
dominated everything, the temple being merely a royal chapel attached to the
palace. The king, in fact, was the commander of an army, and this army was the
Assyrian people. How far the whole male population was liable to conscription
is still uncertain; but the fact that the wars of Assur-bani-pal so exhausted the
fighting strength of the nation as to render it unable to resist the invaders
from the North shows that the majority of the males must have been soldiers.
Hence the constant wars partly to occupy the army and prevent revolts, partly
for the sake of booty with which to pay it. Hence too, the military
revolutions, which, as in the kingdom of Israel, resulted in changes of dynasty
and the seizure of the throne by successful generals. The turtannu or
commander-in-chief, who took the place of the king when the latter was unable
or unwilling to lead his forces, ranked next to the sovereign. From the reign
of Tiglath-pileser IV onward, however, the autocracy was tempered by a
centralized bureaucracy, and in the provinces a civil governor was appointed by
the side of the military commander. Among the high officials at court were the rab-saki
or “vizier,” and the rab-sa-risi or “controller,” the rabhṣārīṣ
(RAB-SARIS (which see)) of the Old Testament.
The army consisted of cavalry, infantry, bowmen and
slingers, as well as of a corps of charioteers. After the rise of the Second
Empire the cavalry were increased at the expense of the chariotry, and were
provided with saddles and boots, while the unarmed groom who had run by the
side of the horse became a mounted archer. Sennacherib further clothed the
horseman in a coat of mail. The infantry were about ten times as numerous as
the calvary, and under Sargon were divided into bowmen and spearmen, the bowmen
again being subdivided into heavy-armed and light-armed, the latter being
apparently of foreign origin. Sennacherib introduced a corps of slingers, clad
in helmet and cuirass, leather drawers and boots. He also deprived the
heavy-armed bowmen of the long robes they used to wear, and established a body
of pioneers with double-headed axes, helmets and buskins. Shields were also
worn by all classes of soldiers, and the army carried with it standards, tents,
battering-rams and baggage-carts. The royal sleeping-tent was accompanied by
tents for cooking and dining. No pains, in fact, were spared to make the army
both in equipment and discipline an irresistible engine of war. The terror it
excited in western Asia is therefore easily intelligible (Isa_10:5-14; Nah_2:11-13;
Nah_3:1-4).
XI. Religion
The state religion of Assyria was derived from
BABYLONIA (which see) and in its main outlines is Babylonian. But it differed
from the religion of Babylonia in two important respects: (1) The king, and not
the high priest, was supreme, and (2) at the head of it was the national god Asur
or Assur, whose high priest and representative was the king. Asur was
originally Asir, “the leader” in war, who is accordingly depicted as a
warrior-god armed with a bow and who in the age when solar worship became
general in Babylonia was identified with the sun-god. But the similarity of the
name caused him to be also identified with the city of Asur, where he was
worshipped, at a time when the cities of northern Babylonia came to be deified,
probably under Hittite influence. Later still, the scribes explained his name
as a corruption of that of the primeval cosmogonic deity An-sar,
the upper firmament, which in the neo-Babylonian age was pronounced Assōr.
The combination of the attributes of the warrior-god, who was the peculiar god
of the commander of the army, with the deified city to which the army belonged,
caused Assur to become the national deity of a military nation in a way of
which no Babylonian divinity was capable. The army were “the troops of Assur,”
the enemies were “the enemies of Assur” who required that they should
acknowledge his supremacy or be destroyed. Assur was not only supreme over the
other gods, he was also, in fact, unlike them, without father or wife.
Originally, it is true, his feminine counterpart, Asirtu, the ASHERAH (which
see) of the Old Testament, had stood at his side, and later literary pedants
endeavored to find a wife for him in Belit, “the Lady,” or Ishtar, or some
other Babylonian goddess, but the attempts remained purely literary. When
Nineveh took the place of Assur as the capital of the kingdom, Ishtar, around
whose sanctuary Nineveh had grown up, began to share with him some of the honor
of worship, though her position continued to be secondary to the end. This was
also the case with the war-god Nin-ip, called Mas in Assyria, whose cult was
specially patronized by the Assyrian kings. See BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, RELIGION
OF.
XII. Excavations
Rich, who had first visited Mossul in 1811,
examined the mounds opposite in 1820 and concluded that they represented the
site of Nineveh. The few antiquities he discovered were contained in a single
case in the British Museum, but the results of his researches were not
published until 1836. In 1843-45 the Frenchman Botta disinterred the palace of
Sargon at Khorsabad, 15 miles North of Nineveh, while at Nimrud (Calah)
and Kouyunjik (Nineveh) Layard (1845-51) brought to light the ruins of
the great Assyrian palaces and the library of Assur-bani-pal. His work was
continued by Rassam (1851-54). Nothing more was done until 1873-75 when George
Smith resumed excavations on the site of Assur-bani-pal's library; this was
followed in 1877-79 by the excavations of Rassam, who discovered among other
things the bronze gates of Balawât. At present a German expedition under Andrae
is working at Kala'at Shergat (Assur) where the English excavators had already
found the cylinder-inscription of Tiglath-pileser I (see SHERGHAT).
XIII. Chronology
The Assyrians reckoned time by means of limmi,
certain officials appointed every New Year's day, after whom their year of
office was named. The lists of limmi or “Eponyms” which have come down
to us form the basis of Assyrian chronology. Portions of a “synchronous”
history of Assyria and Babylonia have also been discovered, as well as
fragments of two “Babylonian Chronicles” written from a Babylonian point of
view. The “Eponym” lists carry back an exact dating of time to the beginning of
the 10th century bc. Before that period Sennacherib states that Tiglath-pileser
I reigned 418 years before himself. Tiglath-pileser, moreover, tells us that Šamaš-Ramman
son of Isme-Dagon had built a temple at Assur 641 years earlier, while
Shalmaneser I places Šamaš-Ramman 580 years before his own
reign and Erisu 159 years before Šamaš-Ramman, though
Esar-haddon gives the dates differently. Apart from the native documents, the
only trustworthy sources for the chronology (as for the history) of Assyria are
the Old Testament records. In return the “Eponym” lists have enabled us to
correct the chronology of the BOOKS OF KINGS (which see).
XIV. History
1. Early Period
Assyrian history begins
with the high priests (patesis) of Assur. The earliest known to us are
Auspia and Kikia, who bear Mitannian names. The early Semitic rulers, however,
were subject to Babylonia, and under KH̬ammurabi (AMRAPHEL) Assyria was
still a Babylonian province. According to Esar-haddon the kingdom was founded
by Bel-bani son of Adasi, who first made himself independent; Hadad-nirari,
however, ascribes its foundation to Zulili. Assyrian merchants and soldiers had
already made their way as far as Cappadocia, from whence copper and silver were
brought to Assyria, and an Assyrian colony was established at Kara Eyuk near
Kaisariyeh, where the Assyrian mode of reckoning time by means of limmi
was in use. In the age of Tell el-Amarna Letters (1400 bc) Assur-uballid
was king of Assyria. He corresponded with the Egyptian Pharaoh and married his
daughter to the Bah king, thereby providing for himself a pretext for
interfering in the affairs of Babylonia. The result was that his son-in-law was
murdered, and Assur-uballid sent troops to Babylonia who put the murderers to
death and placed the grandson of the Assyrian king on the Babylonian throne.
Babylonia had fallen into decay and been forced to protect herself from the
rising power of Assyria by forming an alliance with Mitanni (Mesopotamia) and
Egypt, and subsequently, when Mitanni had been absorbed by the Hittites, by
practically becoming dependent on the Hittite king. Shalmaneser I (1300 bc),
accordingly, devoted himself to crippling the Hittite power and cutting it off
from communication with Babylonia. Campaign after campaign was undertaken
against the Syrian and more eastern provinces of the Hittite empire, Malatiyeh
was destroyed, and Carehemish threatened. Shalmaneser's son and successor
Tukulti-Mas entered into the fruits of his father's labors. The Hittites had
been rendered powerless by an invasion of the northern barbarians, and the
Assyrian king was thus left free to crush Babylonia. Babylon was taken by storm,
and for seven years Tukulti-Mas was master of all the lands watered by the
Tigris and Euphrates. The image of Merodach was carried to Assur as a sign that
the scepter had passed from Babylon to the parvenu Assyria. A successful
revolt, however, finally drove the Assyrian conqueror back to his own country,
and when he was murdered soon afterward by his own son, the Babylonians saw in
the deed a punishment inflicted by the god of Babylon.
2. The Older Empire
A few years later the
Assyrian king Bel-kudur-uzur lost his life in battle against the Babylonians,
and a new dynasty appears to have mounted the Assyrian throne. About 1120 bc
the Assyrian king was Tiglath-pileser I, whose successful wars extended the
Assyrian empire as far westward as Cappadocia. In one of his campaigns he made
his way to the Mediterranean, and received presents from the king of Egypt,
which included a crocodile. At Assur he planted a botanical garden stocked with
trees from the conquered provinces. After his death the Assyrian power
declined; Pitru (Pethor, Num_22:5) fell
into the hands of the Arameans and the road to the Mediterranean was blocked. A
revival came under Assur-nazir-pal III (884-860 bc) who rebuilt CALAH (which
see) and established the seat of the government at Nineveh, where he erected a
palace. Various campaigns were carried on in the direction of Armenia and
Comagene, the brutalities executed upon the enemy being described in detail by
their conqueror. He then turned westward, and after receiving homage from the Hittite
king of Carchemish, laid the Phoenicians under tribute. The road to the West
was thus again secured for the merchants of Assyria. Assur-nazir-pal was
succeeded by his son Shalmaneser II (859-825 bc), who, instead of contenting
himself, like his father, with mere raids for the sake of booty, endeavored to
organize and administer the countries which his armies had subdued. The famous
bronze gates of Balawât were erected by him in commemoration of his victories.
In his reign the Israelites and Syrians of Damascus first came into direct
relation with the Assyrians. In 854 bc he attacked Hamath and at Qarqar
defeated an army which included 1,200 chariots, 1,200 cavalry and 20,000
infantry from Ben-hadad of Damascus, 2,000 chariots, and 10,000 infantry from. “Ahab
of Israel,” besides considerable contingents from Ammon, Arvad, Arabia and
elsewhere. In 842 bc Shalmaneser penetrated to Damascus where Hazael, the
successor of Ben-hadad, who had already been defeated in the open field, was
closely besieged. The surrounding country was ravaged, and “Jehu son of Omri”
hastened to offer tribute to the conqueror. The scene is represented on the
Black Obelisk found at Nimrud and now in the British Museum. Shalmaneser's
campaigns were not confined to the West. He overran Armenia, where the kingdom
of Van had just been established, made his way to Tarsus in Cilicia, took
possession of the mines of silver, salt and alabaster in the Taurus mountains
among the Tabal or Tubal, and obliged the Babylonian king to acknowledge his
supremacy. In his later days, when too old to take the field himself, his
armies were led by the turtannu or commander-in-chief, and a rebellion,
headed by his son Assur-danin-pal (Sardanapalus) broke out at home, where
Nineveh and Assur were jealous of the preference shown for Calah. Nineveh,
however, was captured and the revolt suppressed after two years' duration by
another son, Šamaš-Ramman IV, who shortly afterward, on his
father's death, succeeded to the throne (824-812 bc). His chief campaigns were
directed against Media. His son Hadad-nirari III (811-783 bc) was the next
king, whose mother was Sammu-ramat (Semiramis). He claims to have reduced to
subjection the whole of Syria, including Phoenicia, Edom and Philistia, and to
have taken Mari'a, king of Damascus, prisoner in his capital city. After this,
however, Assyria once more fell into a state of decay, from which it was
delivered by the successful revolt of a military officer Pulu (Pul), who put an
end to the old line of kings and took the name of Tiglath-pileser IV (745-727
bc).
3. The Second Empire
Tiglath-pileser founded the
second Assyrian empire, and made Assyria the dominant power in western Asia.
The army was reorganized and made irresistible, and a new administrative system
was introduced, the empire being centralized at Nineveh and governed by a
bureaucracy at the head of which was the king. Tiglath-pileser's policy was
twofold: to weld western Asia into a single empire, held together by military
force and fiscal laws, and to secure the trade of the world for the merchants
of Nineveh. These objects were steadily kept in view throughout the reigns of
Tiglath-pileser and his successors. For the history of his reign, see
TIGLATH-PILESER. In 738 bc Tiglath-pileser put an end to the independent
existence of the kingdom of Hamath, Menahem of Samaria becoming his tributary,
and in 733 bc he commenced a campaign against Rezin of Damascus which ended in
the fall of Damascus, the city being placed under an Assyrian governor. At the
same time the land of Naphtali was annexed to Assyria, and Yahu-khazi (Ahaz) of
Judah became an Assyrian vassal, while in 731 bc, after the murder of Pekah,
Hoshea was appointed king of Israel (compare 2 Ki 15 through 17). In 728 bc
Tiglath-pileser was solemnly crowned at Babylon and the following year he died.
His successor was another military adventurer, Shalmaneser IV (727-722 bc),
whose original name was Ululā. While engaged in the siege of
Samaria Shalmaneser died or was murdered, and the throne was seized by another general
who took the name of Sargon (722-705 bc). Sargon, for whose history see SARGON,
captured Samaria in 722 bc, carrying 27,290 of its inhabitants into captivity.
A large part of his reign was spent in combating a great confederation of the
northern nations (Armenia, Mannâ, etc.) against Assyria. Carchemish, the
Hittite capital, was captured in 717 bc, a revolt of the states in southern
Palestine was suppressed in 711 bc and Merodach-Baladan, the Chaldean, who had
possessed himself of Babylonia in 722 bc, was driven back to the marshlands at
the head of the Persian Gulf. In 705 bc Sargon was murdered, and succeeded by
his son SENNACHERIB (which see). Sennacherib (705-681 bc) had neither the
military skill nor the administrative abilities of his father. His campaign
against Hezekiah of Judah in 701 bc was a failure; so, also, was his policy in
Babylonia which was in a constant state of revolt against his rule, and which
ended in his razing the sacred city of Babylon to the ground in 689 bc. Nine
years previously his troops had been called upon to suppress a revolt in
Cilicia, where a battle was fought with the Greeks.
4. Last Period and Fall of the Empire
His son Esar-haddon, who
succeeded him (681-669 bc) after his murder by two other sons on the 20th Tebet
(compare 2Ki_19:37), was as
distinguished a general and administrator as his father had been the reverse.
For his history see ESARHADDON. Under him the Second Empire reached the acme of
its power and prosperity. Babylon was rebuilt and made the second capital of
the empire, Palestine became an obedient province, and Egypt was conquered (674
and 671 bc), while an invasion of the Cimmerians (Gomer) was repelled, and
campaigns were made into the heart of both Media and Arabia. Esar-haddon died
while on his way to repress a revolt in Egypt, and his son Assur-bani-pal
succeeded him in the empire (669-626 bc), while another son Šamaš-šum-ukîn
was appointed viceroy of Babylonia. Assur-bani-pal was a munificent patron of
learning, and the library of Nineveh owed most of its treasures to him, but
extravagant luxury had now invaded the court, and the king conducted his wars
through his' generals, while he himself remained at home. The great palace at
Kouyunjik (Nineveh) was built by him. Egypt demanded his first attention.
Tirhakah the Ethiopian who had headed its revolt was driven back to his own
country, and for a time there was peace. Then under Tandamane, Tirhakah's
successor, Egypt revolted again. This time the Assyrian punishment was
merciless. Thebes - “No-amon” (Nah_3:8)
- was destroyed, its booty carried away and two obelisks transported to Nineveh
as trophies of victory. Meanwhile Tyre, which had rebelled, was forced to sue
for peace, and ambassadors arrived from Gyges of Lydia asking for help against
the Cimmerians. Elam still remained independent and endeavored to stir up
disaffection in Babylonia. Against his will, therefore, Assur-bani-pal was
obliged to interfere in the internal affairs of that country, with the result
that the Elamites were finally overthrown in a battle on the Eulaeus beneath
the walls of Susa, and the conquered land divided between two vassal kings.
Then suddenly a revolt broke out throughout the greater part of the Assyrian
empire, headed by Assur-bani-pal's brother, the viceroy of Babylonia. For a
time the issue was doubtful. Egypt recovered its independence under
Psammetichus, the founder of the 26th Dynasty (660 bc) who had received help
from Lydia, but Babylonia was reconquered and Babylon after a long siege was
starved out, Šamaš-šum-ukîn
burning himself in the ruins of his palace. Elam remained to be dealt with, and
an Assyrian army made its way to Susa, which was leveled to the ground, the
shrines of its gods profaned and the bones of its ancient kings torn from their
graves. Then came the turn of northern Arabia, where the rebel sheikhs were
compelled to submit. But the struggle had exhausted Assyria; its exchequer was
empty, and its fighting population killed. When the Cimmerians descended upon
the empire shortly afterward, it was no longer in a condition to resist them.
Under Assur-etil-ilāni, the son and successor of
Assur-bani-pal, Calah was taken and sacked, and two reigns later,
Sin-sar-iskun, the last king of Assyria, fell fighting against the Scythians
(606 bc). Nineveh was utterly destroyed, never again to be inhabited, and
northern Babylonia passed into the hands of Nabopolassar, the viceroy of
Babylon, who had joined the northern invaders. Assur, the old capital of the
country, was still standing in the age of Cyrus, but it had become a small
provincial town; as for Nineveh and Calah, their very sites were forgotten.
Literature
See G. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies of the
Eastern World, 1862-67; Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire de l'art dans
l'antiquité, II, 1884; Maspero, Struggle of the Nations, and Passing
of the Empires, 3 volumes, 1894-1900; Rogers, A History of Babylonia and
Assyria, 1900; Johns, Assyrian Deeds and Documents, 1898; Schrader, KAT,
English translation by Whitehouse, 1885; Pinches, The Old Testament in the
Light of the Historical Records of Assyria and Babylonia, 1902.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Assyria
The name derived from the city Asshur on the Tigris, the original
capital of the country, was originally a colony from Babylonia, and was ruled
by viceroys from that kingdom. It was a mountainous region lying to the north
of Babylonia, extending along the Tigris as far as to the high mountain range
of Armenia, the Gordiaean or Carduchian mountains. It was founded in 1700 B.C.
under Bel-kap-kapu, and became an independent and a conquering power, and shook
off the yoke of its Babylonian masters. It subdued the whole of Northern Asia.
The Assyrians were Semites (Gen_10:22),
but in process of time non-Semite tribes mingled with the inhabitants. They
were a military people, the “Romans of the East.”
See map, of Assyria
Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria little is positively
known. In 1120 B.C. Tiglath-pileser I., the greatest of the Assyrian kings,
“crossed the Euphrates, defeated the kings of the Hittites, captured the city
of Carchemish, and advanced as far as the shores of the Mediterranean.” He may
be regarded as the founder of the first Assyrian empire. After this the
Assyrians gradually extended their power, subjugating the states of Northern
Syria. In the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, Shalmaneser II. marched an army
against the Syrian states, whose allied army he encountered and vanquished at
Karkar. This led to Ahab's casting off the yoke of Damascus and allying himself
with Judah. Some years after this the Assyrian king marched an army against
Hazael, king of Damascus. He besieged and took that city. He also brought under
tribute Jehu, and the cities of Tyre and Sidon.
About a hundred years after this (745 B.C. the crown was seized by a
military adventurer called Pul, who assumed the name of Tiglath-pileser III. He
directed his armies into Syria, which had by this time regained its
independence, and took (740 B.C.) Arpad, near Aleppo, after a siege of three
years, and reduced Hamath. Azariah (Uzziah) was an ally of the king of Hamath,
and thus was compelled by Tiglath-pileser to do him homage and pay a yearly
tribute.
In 738 B.C., in the reign of Menahem, king of Israel, Pul invaded
Israel, and imposed on it a heavy tribute (2Ki_15:19).
Ahaz, the king of Judah, when engaged in a war against Israel and Syria,
appealed for help to this Assyrian king by means of a present of gold and
silver (2Ki_16:8); who accordingly
“marched against Damascus, defeated and put Rezin to death, and besieged the
city itself.” Leaving a portion of his army to continue the siege, “he advanced
through the province east of Jordan, spreading fire and sword,” and became
master of Philistia, and took Samaria and Damascus. He died 727 B.C., and was
succeeded by Shalmanezer IV., who ruled till 722 B.C.. He also invaded Syria (2Ki_17:5), but was deposed in favour of Sargon
(q.v.) the Tartan, or commander-in-chief of the army, who took Samaria (q.v.)
after a siege of three years, and so put an end to the kingdom of Israel,
carrying the people away into captivity, 722 B.C. (2Ki_17:1-6,
2Ki_17:24; 2Ki_18:7,
2Ki_18:9). He also overran the land of
Judah, and took the city of Jerusalem (Isa_10:6,
Isa_10:12, Isa_10:22,
Isa_10:24, Isa_10:34).
Mention is next made of Sennacherib (705 B.C.), the son and successor of Sargon
(2Ki_18:13; 2Ki_19:37;
Isa_7:17, Isa_7:18);
and then of Esar-haddon, his son and successor, who took Manasseh, king of
Judah, captive, and kept him for some time a prisoner at Babylon, which he
alone of all the Assyrian kings made the seat of his government (2Ki_19:37; Isa_37:38).
Assur-bani-pal, the son of Esarhaddon, became king, and in Ezr_4:10 is referred to as Asnapper. From an
early period Assyria had entered on a conquering career, and having absorbed
Babylon, the kingdoms of Hamath, Damascus, and Samaria, it conquered Phoenicia,
and made Judea feudatory, and subjected Philistia and Idumea. At length,
however, its power declined. In 727 B.C. the Babylonians threw off the rule of
the Assyrians, under the leadership of the powerful Chaldean prince
Merodach-baladan (2Ki_20:12), who,
after twelve years, was subdued by Sargon, who now reunited the kingdom, and
ruled over a vast empire. But on his death the smouldering flames of rebellion
again burst forth, and the Babylonians and Medes successfully asserted their
independence (625 B.C.), and Assyria fell according to the prophecies of Isaiah
(Isa_10:5-19), Nahum (Nah_3:19), and Zephaniah (Zep_3:13), and the many separate kingdoms of
which it was composed ceased to recognize the “great king” (2Ki_18:19; Isa_36:4).
Ezekiel (Ezek. 31) attests (about 586 B.C.) how completely Assyria was
overthrown. NINEVEH, BABYLON.)
Source:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary