Neo-Assyrian Empire

Neo-Assyrian Empire
𒆳𒀭𒊹𒆠[a]
māt Aššur
911 BC–609 BC
The Neo-Assyrian Empire at its maximum extent.[9][10][11][12]
The Neo-Assyrian Empire at its maximum extent.[9][10][11][12]
Capital
Official languages
Religion
Ancient Mesopotamian religion
GovernmentMonarchy
Notable kings 
• 911–891 BC
Adad-nirari II (first)
• 883–859 BC
Ashurnasirpal II
• 859–824 BC
Shalmaneser III
• 745–727 BC
Tiglath-Pileser III
• 722–705 BC
Sargon II
• 705–681 BC
Sennacherib
• 681–669 BC
Esarhaddon
• 669–631 BC
Ashurbanipal
• 612–609 BC
Ashur-uballit II (last)
Historical eraIron Age
• Accession of Adad-nirari II
911 BC
• Nimrud made capital
879 BC
• Age of the magnates
823–745 BC
• Conquest of Babylonia
729 BC
• Nineveh made capital
705 BC
671 BC
626–609 BC
614 BC
612 BC
609 BC
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Middle Assyrian Empire
Middle Babylonian period
Neo-Babylonian Empire
Median Empire
Periodization of ancient Assyria
Early Assyrian period c. 2600–2025 BC
Old Assyrian period c. 2025–1364 BC
Middle Assyrian period c. 1363–912 BC
Neo-Assyrian period 911–609 BC
Post-imperial period 609 BC – c. AD 240
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The Neo-Assyrian Empire[b] was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC,[15][c] the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of South Caucasus, North Africa and East Mediterranean throughout much of the 9th to 7th centuries BC, becoming the largest empire in history up to that point.[17][18][19] Because of its geopolitical dominance and ideology based in world domination, the Neo-Assyrian Empire is by many researchers regarded to have been the first world empire in history.[18][20][19][21][d] 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[17] and ruled over all of Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt, as well as parts of Anatolia, Arabia and modern-day Iran and Armenia.

The early Neo-Assyrian kings were chiefly concerned with restoring Assyrian control over much of northern Mesopotamia, East Anatolia and Levant, since significant portions of the preceding Middle Assyrian Empire (1365 - 1050 BC) had been lost during the late 11th century BC. Under Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 BC), 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 also oversaw the transfer of the imperial capital from the traditional city of Assur to the more centrally located Kalhu (later known as Calah in the Bible and Nimrud to the Medieval Arabs) The empire grew even more under Ashurnasirpal II's successor Shalmaneser III (r. 859–824 BC), 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 BC), who re-asserted Assyrian royal power once again 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 BC to the fall of the empire, Assyria reached its apex. Under the Sargonid king Sennacherib (r. 705–681 BC), the capital was transferred to Nineveh and under Esarhaddon (r. 681–669 BC) 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 BC, 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.[17] 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.[22][23] 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,[24] a position the language retained until the 14th century.[25]

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 that succeeded it 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 in later empires as late as the early modern period. The Neo-Assyrian Empire became an important part of later folklore and literary traditions in northern Mesopotamia through the subsequent post-imperial period and beyond. Judaism, and thus in turn also 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[17][26] and the Assyrian impact on early Jewish theology was immense.[e] Although the Neo-Assyrian Empire is prominently remembered today for the supposed excessive brutality of the army, the Assyrians were not excessively brutal when compared to other civilizations throughout history.[28]

  1. ^ Name used in Neo-Babylonian inscriptions, such as the Rassam cylinder of Ashurbanipal
  2. ^ Rassam cylinder transcription in "CDLI-Archival View". cdli.ucla.edu. Archived from the original on 2020-06-13. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  3. ^ "The country of Assyria, which in the Assyro-Babylonian literature is known as mat Aššur (ki), "land of Assur," took its name from the ancient city of Aššur" in Sayce, Archibald Henry (1911). "Assur (city)" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 788.
  4. ^ "rinap/rinap4". oracc.museum.upenn.edu. Archived from the original on 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  5. ^ "The name Anshar, softened into Aushar, and subsequently into Ashshur, was first applied to the town and then to the whole country" in Sayce, A. H. (2005). History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 6 (of 12). Library of Alexandria. p. 223. ISBN 978-1-4655-4330-1.
  6. ^ Pongratz-Leisten, Beate (2015). Religion and Ideology in Assyria. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-61451-426-8.
  7. ^ Quentin, A. (1895). "Inscription Inédite du Roi Assurbanipal: Copiée Au Musée Britannique le 24 Avril 1886". Revue Biblique (1892–1940). 4 (4): 554. ISSN 1240-3032. JSTOR 44100170.
  8. ^ "Sumerian dictionary entry: Aššur [ASSYRIA] (GN)". oracc.iaas.upenn.edu. Archived from the original on 2020-07-25. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  9. ^ O'Brien, Patrick Karl (2002). Atlas of World History. Oxford University Press. p. 39. ISBN 9780195219210.
  10. ^ The Times Atlas of World History, p.57 (1989): Barraclough, Geoffrey (1997). The Times Atlas of World History. Times Books. ISBN 978-0-7230-0906-1.
  11. ^ Bryce, Trevor; Birkett-Rees, Jessie (2016). Atlas of the Ancient Near East: From Prehistoric Times to the Roman Imperial Period. Routledge. p. 167. ISBN 9781317562108.
  12. ^ A. Cetrez, Onver; G. Donabed, Sargon; Makko, Aryo (2012). The Assyrian Heritage. Threads of Continuity and Influence. Uppsala Universitet. p. 132. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Düring 2020, p. 148.
  14. ^ Taagepera 1978, p. 187.
  15. ^ a b Merrill, Rooker & Grisanti 2011, p. 30.
  16. ^ Frahm 2017, p. 165.
  17. ^ a b c d Aberbach 2003, p. 4.
  18. ^ a b Düring 2020, p. 133.
  19. ^ a b Frahm 2017, p. 161.
  20. ^ Liverani 2017, p. 536.
  21. ^ Elayi 2017, p. 2.
  22. ^ Radner 2012, Making speed.
  23. ^ Radner 2015b, p. 64.
  24. ^ Frahm 2017, pp. 177–178.
  25. ^ Filoni 2017, p. 37.
  26. ^ Frahm 2017, p. 196.
  27. ^ Frahm 2017b, p. 565.
  28. ^ Bagg 2016, pp. 58, 71.


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