Ancient Assyria: Political History

Old Kingdom of Assyria (All Facts)

Period of Assyrian History that consisted of the rule of many kings, notably including

• Puzur-Ashur I

• Shamshi-Adad I

Ends up being invaded by Babylonia, which was ruled by Hammurabi at the time; and then by the Mitanni, which ruled them for 200 years up until the “Middle Kingdom”

~2000 BCE - ~1800 BCE - Puzur-Ashur I (All Policies)

• Assyrian King, he is considered the first to have ruled over the established city of Ashur, which

  • Is all the Assyrian Empire was at its founding - a small shrine settlement dedicated to the head Assyrian God called Ashur

  • Was initially a hub of trade for Babylonia, Anatolia, and Elam; made wealthy due to

    • Its position along the Tigris River and from which Tin and Textiles passed through it quite frequently

    • It growing into a commercial enterprise in which trading colonies developed over time in other regions, most notably in the Anatolian city of Kanesh/Nesa

1796 BCE - 1775 BCE - Shamshi-Adad I (All Policies)

• Assyrian King (from the Amorites, was once an Amorite prince)

  • Conquered the city-state of Mari and regain possession of his kingdom of Terqa on the Euphrates River, from which he was ousted by an ambitious neighbor

  • Sought refuge in Babylon upon the sight of the growth and expansion of Eshnunna under Naram-Sin

  • Returned to Ekalatum upon Naram-Sin’s death in Eshnunna 

  • Conquered Mari and regained possession of his Kingdom of Terqa near there and put his son there as his Viceroy

  • Seized power around 1800 BCE

• He is considered the first to have consolidated the territory known as Old Assyria (or "Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia") through a series of military campaigns around Northern Iraq and the Levant

• He overthrew the last king of the 1st Dynasty of Assyria established by Puzur-Ashur I and annexed the city of Ashur to his growing territory which would come to be known as Old Assyria (or "Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia"), deposing its ruler but paying respect to its temples and shrines and adorning them with lavish gifts

Middle Kingdom of Assyria (All Facts)

Period of Assyrian History that consisted of the rule of many kings, notably including

• Ashur-ubaIlit I

• Adad-Nirari I

• Shalmaneser I

• Tukulti-Ninurta I

• Tiglath-Pileser I

1365 BCE - 1330 BCE - Ashur-ubaIlit I (All Policies)

• Assyrian King, 1st King of the “Middle Kingdom”

• Founded a new Assyrian Kingdom or “Middle Kingdom” which freed itself from the Mitanni rule of the past 200 years

• He successfully revolted against Shaushtatar and the Mitanni Kingdom under which the Assyrians were subjugated and has freed the Assyrians from them

  • This was likely due to the Mitanni having to relocate military resources from the East to the West due to the pressures put on them by the Hittite Kingdom

• Upon his success in taking back Ashur, he reorganized the Assyrian army and pushed onwards taking the former Mitanni land and pushing further to Hanigalbat, the land of the Hittite subjugation of the Mitanni

• Tried and failed to establish ties with Egypt upon his emergence, but entered diplomatic relations with them from the start

  • This was due to the Kassites in Babylon intercepting his correspondence with Egypt and lying to Egypt to say they had control of Assyria and that if Egypt allowed Assyria to continue correspondence Babylon would not support Egypt anymore

• Established a strategic marriage with Babylonia by marrying his daughter off to the Babylonian King at the time, Burna-Buriash II

  • However, the Kassites had overthrown the grandson of Burna-Buriash, Kara-Hardash, through the namesake King's daughter, replacing him with their appointed King, Nazi-Bugash

• Upon the Kassite coup of his grandson Kara-Hardash by Nazi-Bugash, he overthrew Nazi-Bugash and installed the son of Burna-Buriash II, Kurigalzu II to avenge his grandson’s death and restore political stability in the region

  • Many consider these events to be the start of the 700 year-long tensions between Assyria and Babylonia

  • Provoked by such a murder, he marched on Babylon and sparked off the war - the first open conflict between the two kingdoms

• Built up Ashur’s city walls

• This King is the driving force behind the resurgence and expansion of Assyria, which is gradually asserting itself as a great power

1305 BCE - 1274 BCE - Adad-Nirari (All Policies)

• Assyrian King of the “Middle Kingdom”

• Reduced tensions with Babylonia while confirming control over Hanigalbat (of the Hittite Kingdom) and taking over many more territories to the West of the Mitanni

1273 BCE - 1244 BCE - Shalmeneser I (All Policies)

• Assyrian King of the “Middle Kingdom”

• Continued the Assyrian campaign of conquest after subduing the Kingdom of Urartu (Armenia) and annexed the Urartu Kingdom as well as the lands of the Hurrians and the Hittites

1244 BCE - 1208 BCE - Tukulti-Ninurta I (All Policies)

• Assyrian King of the “Middle Kingdom”

• First Assyrian to be named King of Babylon

• Successfully invaded Babylon due to their King Kashtaliash IV having "broken an oath" to the Sun God Shamash and took Babylon

  • However, he went way too far when he desecrated the Temple of Marduk (Babylon’s historical patron deity) and carried off the holy statue of the God back to Assyria, and although he tried to justify it, even his OWN people weren't going to let him get away with it because of how universally respected Marduk and the Assyrian religion was at that time and place in history for being sacred (it's like the equivalent of sacking Jerusalem today), even by the very rivals of Assyria which was Babylon

    • Despite trying to justify his act of sacking the Temple of Marduk and even commissioning a poem explaining why he did it, he was very unpopular among the Assyrians and he eventually had both his land taken and his puppet rulers overthrown and Babylon basically took back what it had lost

    • Believed to have been assassinated towards the end of his reign under the impression that he was to bring about great catastrophes for the Assyrian people because of his wicked rule and his having insulted the gods by sacking Marduk

    • A conspiracy involving his sons led to his assassination

  • He marched on to Babylon to seize this king, which he then deported to Kalah (Nimrud) in order to give the Assyrians control of Babylon

• Said to have brought about the end of the Middle Assyrian Kingdom / Period due to his having lost land in Babylon and then shortly after his reign, Assyria had to give up their land in the West (Hanigalbat) soon after but overall were lucky since they avoided being conquered by the "Sea Peoples" that completely destroyed Levantine Egypt and the Hittite Empire

• By 1235 BCE, the Babylonians revolted against their Assyrian puppets who ruled since his invasion and Kassite supremacy is restored

• By 1100 BCE, scribes in Assyria began to compose records perpetuating the memory of his royal conquests and victories that culminated in an epic in honor his exploits, especially those of attacking and occupying Babylon

1114 BCE - 1076 BCE - Tiglath-Pileser I (All Policies)

• Assyrian King

• Regained much of their previously lost territory under his rule and even gained more territory all the way to the wealthy Levantine (Phoenician) Coast on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea

• Also conquered Babylon after heavy resistance

• Successfully subjugated the various Aramean peoples who were harassing the Assyrian Kingdom

• Brought back more wealth from the Levantine (Phoenician) Coast area into the Assyrian treasury than ever before in the form of Gold and Silver

• Helped fund many construction projects including new temples (such as the Temple of Anu and Adad, the Temple of Sin and Shamash, and the Temple of Ishtar), gardens, parks, and even a zoo

• Reinforced the city walls of Ashur and Nineveh

• Was a patron of the writers of the day and scribal schools; he is the first of a few famous Assyrian Kings to have funded and ultimately build a library in Ashur whose purpose was to collect writings on various scholarly subjects all from which he would be credited with devising an Assyrian Law Code which are collectively called the "Middle Assyrian Laws;” promoted law and justice

• Was the last great King of Assyria, and the land of Assyria would dramatically decline over the next 150 years due to weak leadership and the troubling Arameans; thus ending the Middle Assyrian Period once and for all

  • His murder brought an end to the glorious period in the history of the region

• He fought 28 battles against the Arameans and yet the tide of them as nomads continued to stream into his country undiminished

  • Additionally, infighting amongst his successors weakened the kingdom and led to the loss of control of surrounding lands

  • Bands of invading Arameans were defeated by subsequent Assyrian Kings, but they were not able to consolidate their power like this again until around 900 BCE

  • Eventually, when Arameans occupied the throne of Babylon, thereafter Assyrians would not be able to quell such a serious threat to their sovereignty until around 900 BCE

911 BCE - 610 BCE - Neo-Assyrian Empire (All Facts)

Period of Assyrian History that consisted of the rule of many kings, notably including

• Ashur-Dan II

• Adad-Nirari II

• Ashurnasirpal II

• Tiglath-Pileser III

• Sargon II

• Sennacherib

• Esarhaddon

• Ashurbanipal

934 BCE - 912 BCE - Ashur-Dan II (All Policies)

• 1st Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• Helped Assyria begin to regain the territory lost after Tiglath-Pileser I's reign including territory being harassed by the Arameans to the West and territory to the North and East as far as the Zagros Mountains, having accessed again the lucrative trade routes around that area

• Resettled farmers on uncultivated lands to maximize the agricultural output of Assyria, restored crumbling buildings and temples (including the Temple of Anu and Adad

• Systematically rebuilt the Assyrian Military; all of which helped provide a foundation for the Empire which would allow it to rule and be stable for over 3 centuries

• Regained territory in Babylon lost under Tiglath-Pileser I, bringing a succession crisis to the Kassites in Babylon

911 BCE - 891 BCE - Adad-Nirari II (All Policies)

• 2nd Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• Led six military campaigns which established strategic strongholds in northern Syria and greatly revived the territory under the control of Assyria

• Reconsolidated Assyrian lands into the new Empire

• Grandfather of Ashurnasirpal II

883 BCE - 859 BCE - Ashurnasirpal II (All Policies)

• 4th Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, he was one of the most effective Assyrian rulers in his day

• Was a great warrior who led over 14 military campaigns across the area and greatly expanded Assyrian territory, he conquered Urartu to the North, the city of Carchemish to the West, and substantial areas in the Levantine Coast of the Mediterranean including Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre; all for the sake of gaining treasure and loot for the Assyrian treasury in the form of Gold, Silver, textiles, cattle, sheep, grain, and incense

  • Thus, he extended Assyrian authority over an empire that stretched from the Mediterranean city-states of Phoenicia in the west to the Zagros mountains of Armenia and Lake Urmia in the east

  • Consolidated the authority of the fortifications that went all the way towards the eastern border as established by his grandfather and predecessors which he left free to re-open the route to the sea

• Used the vast amount of wealth he gained from his many military campaigns and used it to build

  • A brand new city capital city for Assyria, which was Kalhu (Nimrud)

    • Built new temples, palaces, gardens, vast amounts of quarters for the slaves and workers living and working there to maintain it, and even an extensive sewer system

      • A major ten-day feast was held as a result of the opulence of the new capital he built at Nimrud and Assyria’s controlling an empire that reached to the Mediterranean

        • More than 60K guests traveled to the capital to partake in the inaugural feast and to pay tribute and homage to him

    • This capital

      • Replaced the old capital of Ashur as the seat of Assyrian power

      • Reflected the strength of the Assyrian revival and the huge resources controlled by the empire by that time

      • Is where the conquered peoples of the empire brought their annual tributes of gold, silver, and other precious metals; along with raw materials, goods, herds, flocks, and produce

  • A royal palace for himself, which dominates the city’s 5-mile perimeter

    • The palace gates are guarded by colossal alabaster lions and bulls

    • Inside, its porticoes are decorated with cedars, cypress, boxwood, pistachiowood, and mulberry

    • Inside the throne room and reception rooms, the walls are decorated with life-size bas-reliefs depicting religious scenes, battles, and royal hunts

  • A fortified acropolis, which contained several temples

    • One of these temples was dedicated to Ninurta (the Assyrian God of War), who has smiled on Assyria in recent times

• Eventually oversaw the empire’s maintaining a conscious policy of terror which his successors continue to maintain after him

  • The empire’s army, the most effective in the Near East during his reign, was also the most repressive

  • Whole communities of non-Assyrians are uprooted as part of Assyria’s security strategy of bringing conquered peoples completely under its control

    • Non-Assyrians are considered barbarians and subjected to ruthless treatment including massacres and mutilation

• Oversaw an army which

  • was heavily equine-based; in other words, horse-drawn two-wheeled chariots and cavalry have proved to be unbeatable at breaking through enemy lines in high-speed phalanxes

    • Thus, horse supply was made a major priority in the empire

    • Under his reign and that of his successors, trusted nobles scoured the empire to ship back horses

      • Royal stables were replenished at the rate of 100 horses per day

  • was religious; in other words, he and they saw themselves as being engaged in a cosmic fight against evil on behalf of their supreme god, Ashur; in which all their wars were divinely inspired and the stuff of ceremonies

  • brought back soil from the towns it had pillaged and spread it outside Nimrud’s gates so people can daily tread it underfoot

• Under his reign, he invaded and took the statue of the Babylonian god Marduk in Babylon, as their plundering of Babylon continued to worsen the preexisting economic crisis there

858 BCE - 824 BCE - Shalmeneser III (All Policies)

• 5th Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• He and his new army seemed to have engage in the Battle of Qarqar against the Anti-Assyrian Coalition formed at the time by 11 tribes, most notably Hamath, Damascus, Israel, and the Arameans; it is uncertain as to whether or not the battle was a stalemate or a win for the Assyrians since all the rulers of the coalition remained in power afterwards

• He eventually defeated the second wave of the Anti-Assyrian coalition, which was smaller than the first; and made the lands that were a part of this coalition (most notably Israel) pay tribute to the Assyrian King as vassals of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• He apparently did not make an attempt to reorganize Assyrian government as the provincial rulers were becoming more powerful than their rank suggested and upon his death, there was a civil war headed between his two sons and thus an initial problem of succession

• He favored one son over the other, Shamshi-Ramman, whose side ultimately won the conflict; but the conflict having taken place ultimately weakened the central authority of Assyria overall and during the reigns of the next few rulers after him, the provincial rulers were really in power while the Assyrian King was more of a recognized formality than actual position of power

• He eventually made a third vain attempt to conquer Syria by 838 BCE

• At the end of his reign, a revolt of the rural nobility, fueled by his son, broke out around 827 BCE against the great barons of the kingdom and eventually led to a civil war that weakened the empire’s central authority for the next few generations

823 BCE - 811 BCE - Shamshi-Adad V (All Policies)

• 6th Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• He took this throne name, previously known as Shamshi-Ramman, the son of Shalmeneser III who was favored by the previous King and who won over his brother in a civil war that overall weakened the central authority of the Neo-Assyrian Empire for the next few generations

  • Had to subdue the internal uprising led by his brother

  • While the civil war was taking place, Babylon took advantage and took control of Assyria; however, by his reign, he had took back control of Assyria from Babylon and consolidated its authority once again as he pulverized the Babylonian forces

• By the end of his reign, Assyria’s power was restored, Babylon’s control ceased, and the civil war in Assyria had ended

810 BCE - 783 BCE - Adad-Nirari III (All Policies)

• 7th Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• Upon assuming full power, he invaded Syria and entered Damascus, where he succeeded in imposing taxes and tributes on the city

• He was relatively strong compared to the rest of the Kings during this time and made successful, albeit temporarily, the giving of power back to the actual Assyrian King rather than the provincial rulers

• His mother is considered by many historians to be the inspiration for the story of the legendary Assyrian Warrior-Queen "Semiramis"; who may have even had a part in maintaining the King's power as Queen Reagent since his father died when he was only five

745 BCE - 727 BCE - Tiglath-Pileser III (All Policies)

• 11th Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• Brutally dealt with his enemies, both foreign and domestic, and was the first King to take the power away from the provincial rulers and give it back to the King, thus centralizing Assyria's authority once more and brought about the peak of the power of not only the Neo-Assyrian Empire but Assyria in all of history

  • Defeated Arpad after a 3-year siege, which was the center of the Anti-Assyrian coalition led by the kingdom of Urartu during his reign

  • After stamping out a Babylonian revolution, he names himself King of Babylon as well

• Defeated the Assyrians and took Damascus; while during his reign, Samaria, Tyre, and Byblos recognized Assyrian authority when he broke up the Anti-Assyrian coalition

• Was the first of many Assyrian Kings to enact a foreign policy in which he would take the surviving civilian population of a military campaign (most notably the Arameans) and move them to other lands, replacing them with new Assyrian settlers who moved into the homes and occupied the cities of the former peoples who once lived there; he and his successors enacted this policy in order to

  • Reduce the capability of these subjugated peoples to resist against the Empire by taking away from them not just their rule over the land, but the land itself, thus eliminating their identity as a people (due to their having been completely removed from their homeland) and their familiarity with the lands with which they would occupy under foreign rule; ultimately psychologically shattering them

  • Eliminate the diversity of culture and language as well, making the lands they subjugated more culturally and linguistically unified; mainly to prevent armed resistance but also to prevent division and promote stability throughout the empire

• Allowed subjugated peoples (so long as they paid tribute to the King and sent troops and resources when the King needed them), to rule over their lands independently, thus establishing a balance of power between the King and the provincial rulers for the first time that was checked in that the independent rulers were of the same identity due to the policy of his put forth already mentioned

• After his death, he leaves his successor with a vast and prosperous empire

726 BCE - 721 BCE - Shalmeneser V (All Policies)

• 12th Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• One of the most incompetent monarchs during his reign

• Overthrown by his successor

721 BCE - 705 BCE - Sargon II (All Policies)

• 13th Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, he was a brilliant soldier but otherwise has an unknown and mysterious background

• Moved fast and ended the domestic disorder that helped him to ride to power and overthrow his predecessor

• Names himself deliberately to echo the glory days of the namesake king and founder of the Akkad dynasty

• Overturned the unpopular decision of his predecessor to curtail the privileges of Assyria’s holy cities, which led to the civil unrest under his predecessor

  • Assured the citizens of the temples and city states that he will not restrict their traditional immunity from taxation and conscription

• Handled the Egyptians to the West and their supporting a revolt for the princes of Palestine against his kingdom in order to leave his forces stretched out and the Elamites to the East and their affairs in Babylon in order to cut their trade routes

• Successfully invaded the land of Urartu defeating their King Rusa I and plundering their Temple of Haldi, the patron deity of their city Musasir

  • Ended over 150 years of Assyrian conflict with the kingdom

  • Its fall on the shores of Lake Van mark their collapse and a personal triumph of his, since he succeeded where his predecessors failed

  • Is said to have done so due to his shrewd use of military intelligence, in which he monitored reports from his scouts at the Urartian border from his palace at Nineveh

  • Reports culminated in his decision that the time was ripe to move against his weakened enemy

  • The conquest of Urartu gave Assyria control of its flourishing economy

  • Its annexation will further enrich Assyria and help to secure its northern border

• Begun mass deportations of captured Israelites, removing every trace of its tribes from Samaria, totaling 27,000+ Israelites, most of which were used as slaves in forced labor camps

  • Redesignated Samaria as a province

  • Repopulated Samaria with foreign deportees from Syria, Babylon, and Arabia

  • Judah, the Israelite kingdom to the South, opted for Assyria’s protection

  • Samaria’s surrender was his first victory since becoming king

• Took lands to the West as far as Phrygia, where he stopped conquesting due to his mutual respect for the ruler of Phrygia at the time, King Midas

  • Forced them to sign a peace treaty with him, guaranteeing protection in return for Phrygia paying him tribute

• Chased a rebel Chaldean king by the name of Marduk-apla-Iddina II back to his homeland south of Ur and negotiated with him and they made an agreement in which he would spare Marduk-apla-Iddina II's life only if he takes down the defensive walls around his city

• Stayed in Babylon for over 3 years having had great respect for the city so much so that he devoted himself to Babylon's patron deity Marduk which somewhat alienated the Assyrians who judged that he was neglecting their own patron deity of Ashur

• Built a capital for himself at Der-Sharrukin and eventually moved his court there

  • Moves his capital from Nimrud to Khorsabad, 15 miles northeast of Nineveh

  • Khorsabad, built on a previously virgin site, include a vast palace and a ziggurat

• Was killed in battle having tried to subdue a massive rebellion in Tabal, a city in the West which he previously subjugated; and his body was never recovered from battle thus the Assyrians couldn't hold the proper funeral procession for him and so because of this, his spirit was believed by the Assyrians to "haunt" the living after his death due to his improper burial

• Father of Sennacherib

704 BCE - 681 BCE - Sennacherib (All Policies)

• 14th Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• Well-informed about the situation prevailing in the provinces since he was, while crown prince, in charge of the reconnaissance service of the Assyrian army

• Suppressed the revolts that broke out upon his taking the throne

• Abandoned Dar-Sharrukin / Khorsabad, believing to be cursed since it was the capital city of his predecessor Sargon II, who paid more attention to the deity of Babylon, Marduk; than the deity of Assyria, Ashur; and thus he established anew at and moved the capital for Assyria to Nineveh

• Reversed the foreign policies of his predecessor having

  • Successfully established good relations with Urartu to the Northeast in order to provide a buffer zone between the Assyrians and the various tribes to the Northeast of Urartu such as the Scythians and Samarians

  • Subdued a massive revolt in Babylon and southern Babylonia led by Marduk-apla-Iddina II (aka Merodach-Baladan), the rebel Chaldean King whom Sargon II had allowed into exile; and he established a puppet ruler in the city of Babylon for the time being while he searched for Marduk-apla-Iddina II

    • When he found him, he had him forced to flee with the statues of his gods and the bones of his ancestors with his family falling into Assyrian hands

    • Involved building open-sea boats at Nineveh and then sailing them down the Tigris as far as Opis; which were then hauled overland to the Arahtu canal before continuing down the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf

  • Subduing this revolt allowed Assyria to consolidate its power and control not just over Babylonia but by being given access to the Persian Gulf

• Invaded the Kingdom of Judah and sieged its capital city of Jerusalem; however he couldn't remain there long and soon had to relocate back to Babylonia where Marduk-apla-Iddina II led another major rebellion against the Neo-Assyrian Empire in which the namesake King defeated the Babylonians and took the city of Babylon for a second time, installing a second puppet ruler there

• His second puppet state in Babylon was being overthrown by Hallushu of Elam and the subjugated Babylonian peoples in response to the namesake King's attempt to invade Elam and so in response to this the namesake King sacked the city of Babylon and burned it to the ground (which included the Temple of Marduk); thus officially putting an end to the Babylonian revolts during his rule

  • Following Assyria’s near defeat in this battle with the Babylonians and Elamites on the Tigris River, the city of Babylon is completely destroyed

• Attacked Elam to try and prevent them from supporting any further rebellions in Babylon or Southern Mesopotamia, having oversaw the building of a fleet of ships in which he would then hire Phoenician sailors to sail down the Tigris River into the Persian Gulf where he would load the ships with troops and have them attack South Elam from the Gulf; it was ultimately a failure and costly military disaster

• Oversaw various building projects in Nineveh, the new capital city, including expanding the city's walls and building large gardens and parks there with all sorts of exotic plant life there

• Maintained the royal tradition of surpassing his predecessors, a “palace without a rival” has been built according to the positions of the stars in the skies and the gods in the heavens

• Designated one of his sons as successor for many years but near the end of his rule he changed his mind to designate his other son, his successor, as ruler; and thus the supporters of his other son whom he initially designated assassinated the namesake King in response to his changing his mind as to who the successor should be and took the throne for themselves

  • Some say that they murdered him because of his complete destruction of Babylon

680 BCE - 669 BCE - Esarhaddon (All Policies)

• 15th Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• Marched into Nineveh and overthrew his older brother and his older brother's supporters who assassinated their father, Sennacherib, and became the next King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire having won the dynastic feud with the help of his mother Naqia (Zakutu)

• Tried to balance out the policies involving Babylon compared to that of his predecessors by rebuilding Babylon, which his immediate predecessor had destroyed, while at the same time not neglecting the Assyrian Gods like Ashur having maintained veneration for Ashur whilst aiding in Babylon's restoration as a balance between the extreme policies of his two immediate predecessors

  • Put his energies into restoring Babylon

• Expanded Assyria's borders by successfully invading and conquering Silesia, the Medians in the Zagros Mountains, Eastern Arabia, and most notably, he successfully conquered Egypt and all its territories and its capital city at Memphis

  • Invaded Egypt and drove out Pharaoh Taharqa in retaliation for Taharqa’s attempt to restore Egyptian influence in Assyria by stirring up revolt amongst the Assyrian vassal states at the time

• Successfully put down revolts in the Assyrian Empire occurring near the city of Ashur and in cities around it; and when he left to put down a revolt in Egypt he died on the way there

• Established firm ties with Elam and made a peace treaty with them

• Tried to establish a co-regency for the Empire shortly before his death (thinking it would resolve the issue of succession that he had been a part of when taking the throne), where one of his sons would rule from Assyria and another one of his sons would rule from Babylon; however this system failed and a civil war between Babylon and Assyria within the Neo-Assyrian Empire broke out

668 BCE - 629 BCE - Ashurbanipal (All Policies)

• 16th Assyrian King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

• He was the last great King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyria overall

• Sent his most trusted generals to subdue the revolt in Egypt being led by Taharqa in which they forced him and his followers to take refuge in Thebes

  • Invaded Egypt with the help of the Syrians, subduing Thebes and inflicting great damage on its holy sanctuaries

• During the same time his army was in Egypt, he fought and ultimately won against his brother in the civil war that broke out between them upon his father's death

  • He burned his brother alive and sacked Babylon and thus became the new ruler of Babylon by 648 BCE

    • Alternatively, his brother, Shamash-shuma-ukin ordered for the palace to be burned and he committed suicide himself within the palace fire to prevent the namesake king, his brother, from capturing him

• From these efforts, he secured Assyria’s control over Babylon and Egypt

• His army defeated Elam twice:

  • First, at the Battle of Tulliz on the Kerkha River where they warned Elam’s future princes not to take on the Assyrian Empire after hanging the head of King Tempt-humbanin-shushinak of Elam in his royal garden there

    • He then split Elam into two subject territories to be ruled by the sons of Urtak, Humbanigash and Tammaritu who fled to Nineveh when the throne was seized by Tempt-humbanin-shushinak of Elam

    • Elamite attempts to have these two men extradited by the namesake ruler and his refusal to do so led to Elam declaring war on Assyria

    • In turn, his strategy was based on dividing Elam, absorbed in its own dynastic squabbles, to coordinate attacks against Assyria

    • He engineered many of Elam’s palace plots, with their rival factions tearing each other to pieces as they fought for the throne

    • These events occurred around 645 BCE

  • Second, when they were led by their King named Teumann (who had broken the peace treaty established by the namesake King's predecessor Esarhaddon and Teumann's predecessor named Urtak) at the Battle of the Ulai River and Teumann's head was brought back to the namesake King and put on display at his palace at Nineveh

    • By this second time around, he decided to end Elam once and for all and his army absolutely destroyed Elam and sacked and burned its capital of Susa to the ground

      • Effectively carried out out a scorched-earth policy against the Elamites

        • The enameled brick temple there was destroyed

        • The statues of all of Elam’s gods were removed to Assyria, where they were rendered powerless

        • The graves of generations of Elamite kings were destroyed and their bones strewn across the desert

        • He carries out a defoliation program in Elam, in which they scatter salt so that it will be desert for years to come

      • This ended the 3,000-year feud between the two peoples once and for all

      • As a result, a great parade was held in Assyria celebrating the sacking of Susa at the same time that three captured Elamite princes and a former king of Arabia were shackled like cart-horses to his chariot and made to pull him around the capital

    • While this was occurring, he relaxed his hold on Judah

    • These events occurred around 639 BCE

  • From these efforts, he secured Assyria’s control over Elam and Judah

• His army routed Lygdamis and his Cimmerian forces in Anatolia after they has burned down Ephesus

  • From these efforts, he secured Assyria’s control over Anatolia

• From all of these efforts described above, he made Assyria’s 1,200 mile northern and eastern frontiers more secure than ever by his reign and thus claimed to be Assyria’s most powerful emperor yet

  • However, many at the time believed that the empire overstretched itself and the army exhausted itself, and that Assyria’s use of force rather than assent will eventually fall through and dissent and rebellion will emerge

  • He also tried to make an alliance with Madyes and the Scythians, but this did not prevent successful raids into Assyrian territory by the Scythians, who have been unable to be held back by the Assyrians under his rule despite their riches and sophisticated system of government at the time of his reign

• Under his reign, the princes of Media and Persia pledged their allegiance to him and Judah, Phoenicia, and Lydia became vassal states

• Was one of the few Assyrian Kings in Assyrian History who did not go to war himself against Assyria's various enemies but rather sent his army to do the job for him but nonetheless waged war on whoever he could

  • Instead of going to war with his generals (whom he trusted enough to fight for him on their own), he stayed in his capital at Nineveh

  • Thus, as a warrior-king, he was innovative, directing strategy from his palace while leaving his generals in the field to take care of tactics

• Helped collect ancient texts associated with the history and literature of Mesopotamia up to that point which culminated in his building of the Library of Nineveh, (one of) the most celebrated scholarly institution(s) of the ancient world at that point in history

  • This priceless library contained over 25,000 works of literature, many of which was discovered amongst his possessions in his tomb

  • Many of these works were rare, and thus the result of painstaking searches throughout Mesopotamia ordered by him

  • Is a national treasure that allowed future generations to learn of the legends and gods of his time

• Dies in obscure circumstances at his palace in Nineveh

• Was the last great King of Assyria and the Empire fell after his reign, and the 17th-20th Kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire were relatively weak

• His two sons which succeeded him proved ineffective as rulers

612 BCE - 609 BCE - Ashur-uballit II (All Facts)

• Final King of Assyria

• Under his reign, the Assyrian Empire falls to a Babylonian-Median Alliance

• He made a last-ditch attempt to regain the Assyrian capital of Nineveh using Egyptian conscripts, but many of them lied dead outside Nineveh’s gates and his attempt failed overall

• He died on the battlefield while Babylon and the Medians overtook Assyria

• Without Nineveh, he could not restore his throne

• However, he was encouraged by a number of minor victories after he rallied his forces at Harran, west of the capital, following Nineveh’s fall to the Medians

630 BCE - 609 BCE - End of Assyria (All Facts)

Phenomenon which occurred due to a number of factors including:

• Ashurbanipal’s successor having been too young to rule and having vanished, the successor of the young ruler served reagent of that ruler but was not a member of the royal family nor nobility which was unheard of at the time and thus was quickly deposed

• The last two rulers of Assyria (including Ashur-uballit II) fell under the growing power of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and under the rule of Nabopalossar who allied with the Medes (led by Cyaxares) and they joined together to defeat/conquer/sack/burn to the ground the city of Ashur, which was untouched since before the formation of Assyria as an empire along with the city of Arrapha, which was captured shortly before that

• By 609 BCE the two forces Ashur fell to had breached and took Nineveh, burning it to the ground and that was the nail in the coffin for the Assyrian Empire