Chapter II: The Assyrian Empire

Assyria proper, as heretofore stated, was a table-land, bounded on the north by part of Armenia; on the east by that part of Media which lies towards Mt. Zagros; on the south by Elam or Susiana and part of Babylonia; and on the west by the river Tigris, or later by the Chaboras, a branch of the Euphrates. The greater part of the ancient kingdom of Assyria is now contained in the modern province of Kurdistan. In size it may be compared to Great Britain.

DIVISIONS AND CITIES OF ASSYRIA

It was divided into seven provinces, and contained many great cities, of which the chief after Nineveh, the capital, were Asshur, which alone stood on the west bank of the Tigris, Calah, Dur-Sargon, Arbela, Tarbisi. The ruins of many cities are grouped around Nineveh; while lower down the Tigris is exhibited an almost unbroken line of ruins from Tekrit to Bagdad.

=Nineveh= was situated on the eastern bank of the upper Tigris
opposite the modern Mosul, two hundred and thirty miles northwest of
Bagdad. The ruins of the original capital, Asshur, now called Kalah
Sherghat, are some sixty miles south. Nineveh, Calah (Nimrud), and
Dur-Sargon (Khorsabad), ultimately supplanted it in importance. When
Nineveh itself fell, the whole Assyrian empire--essentially a
military power--perished with it. It was not until the excavations
of Botta in 1842 and Layard in 1845 that the remains, first of
Dur-Sargon, then of Nineveh itself, were revealed to the world.

As a result of these excavations, the general outline of the city,
the remains of four palaces and numerous sculptures, and thousands
of tablets (principally from the so-called library of Ashurbanipal)
were discovered. The greater part of these is now in the British
museum. The city had a circumference of from seven to eight miles,
the ruins of the walls showing a height in some parts of fifty feet.
Shalmaneser I. built a palace at Nineveh and made it the city of his
residence. Samsi-ramman III. decorated and restored the temple of
Ishtar, famous for a special phase of the cult of the goddess. For a
time Nineveh was neglected, but Sennacherib (705-681 B. C.), was a
special patron of Nineveh. He surrounded it with a wall, replaced
the small palace at the northeast wall by a large one, built another
palace which he filled with cedar wood and adorned with colossal
bulls and lions, and beautified the city with a park. Esarhaddon
finished a temple, widened the streets, and beautified the city,
forcing the kings whom he conquered to furnish materials for
adorning the city and palaces. Nineveh succumbed to the combined
attack of the Medes under Cyaxares and the Babylonians under
Nabopolassar in 608 B. C.

In its times of prosperity, Assyria extended its borders on every side; and the Greeks and Romans often included the whole of Syria and of the regions watered by the Euphrates and the Tigris under the name.

Assyria and the neighboring provinces were celebrated for their great fertility; they were the original home of wheat and barley, and the date-palm grew there to perfection. The irrigation of the crops was ensured by the annual overflow of the Tigris.

EARLY ASSYRIAN HISTORY SHOWN BY THE INSCRIPTIONS

The Assyrian kingdom first began to be powerful about 1350. Shalmaneser I. had become so powerful that he invaded and captured Babylon about 1250 B. C. His descendant in the direct line of kings was Tiglath-Pileser I., about 1100 B. C., the real founder of the first Assyrian empire, whose reign forms the zenith of the early empire. He spread the dominion of Assyria over all western Asia, from the frontiers of Elam to the shores of the Mediterranean, and from the slopes of the mountains of Armenia to the shores of the Persian Gulf. He captured Babylon, Sippara, and reduced Babylonia to the position of a tributary state. On the west he advanced as far as Khilikhi (Cilicia), defeated the Hittites, captured their stronghold Carchemish, and received the homage of the people of Arvad and the cities of northern Phœnicia.

SECOND IMPORTANT DYNASTY ESTABLISHED

In 960 B. C. a new dynasty was founded by Assur-dân II., whose son Rimmon-nirari II., and great-grandson Asshur-nasirpal, by a long series of cruel wars once again extended the power of Assyria. The extensive trade carried on by Phœnician merchants in Assyria at this time is largely illustrated by the Phœnician bronzes and ivories disinterred in the palace of Asshur-nasirpal at Nimrud.

His son, Shalmaneser II., was successful in war against the monarch of Babylon, Benhadad, king of Damascus, the rulers of Tyre and Sidon, and Jehu, king of Israel. In 745 B. C., Tiglath-Pileser II. became king of Assyria, made himself master of Babylon, and had great successes in war against Syria and Armenia, extending the empire greatly.

REIGN OF SARGON THE ASSYRIAN

Sargon (722-705 B. C.) was engaged in war against Samaria, which he captured, carrying the people into captivity; against King Sabako of Egypt, whom he defeated; and the revolted Armenians, whom he thoroughly subdued. He then turned against Merodach-Baladan, king of Babylonia, and drove him from his throne, and, after extensive internal reforms, was succeeded by his son, the famous Sennacherib.

ASSYRIA BEGINS PERIOD OF GREATEST SPLENDOR

This warlike monarch marched into Syria in 701 B. C., captured Sidon and Askelon, defeated the forces of Hezekiah, king of Judah, with his Egyptian and Ethiopian allies, and made Hezekiah pay tribute. In 700 B. C. Sennacherib marched into Arabia, there defeated Tirhakah, king of Egypt and Ethiopia, and then his army perished before Libnah, in the south of Judah, by the catastrophe recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures. Sennacherib was engaged, on his return to Assyria, in crushing rebellions of the Babylonians, constructing canals and aqueducts, and greatly adding to the size and splendor of Nineveh.

In 681 he was murdered by two of his sons, and another son, Esarhaddon, became king in 680. Esarhaddon made successful expeditions into Syria, Arabia, Egypt, and as far as the Caucasus Mountains, and after the erection of splendid buildings at Nimrud and other cities, was succeeded in 668 by his son Asshur-banipal (the origin of the Greek “Sardanapalus”).

GREAT EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT

The Assyrian Empire was at its height of power under the kings Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Asshurbanipal. The states nominally subject to the Assyrian king, paying tribute and homage, extended from the river Halys, in Asia Minor, and the seaboard of Syria, on the west, to the Persian Desert on the east; and from the Caspian and the Armenian Mountains, on the north, to Arabia and the Persian Gulf, on the south; and latterly included Egypt.

DECLINE AND FALL OF THE EMPIRE

Ashurbanipal inherited Egypt as part of his dominions, but his power was not firmly established in that country until he led an expedition there, and sacked the city of Thebes. He erected splendid buildings at Nineveh and Babylon, and did much for literature and the arts; so that under him there was a great development of luxury and splendor. He died in 625 B. C.; and soon afterwards Babylonia, for the last time, and with success, revolted. The Babylonians marched from the south against Nineveh, under their governor Nabopolassar; and the now powerful Medes, from the north, came against it under their king, Cyaxares. Nineveh was taken and given to the flames, which have left behind them in the mounds the calcined stone, charred wood, and statues split by the heat, that furnish silent and convincing proof of the catastrophe. Thus, about 625 B. C., warlike, splendid, proud Assyria fell, after which it became a Median province.