Assyrian Empire

Examples of Assyrian Empire in the following topics:

• Architecture in Assyria

  • During the Assyrian Empire's historical span from the 25th century BCE to 612 BCE, architectural styles went through noticeable changes.
  • Ziggurats in the Assyrian Empire came to be built with two towers (as opposed to the single central tower of previous styles) and decorated with colored enameled tiles.
  • Building plans remained rectangular through much of the empire's history.
  • Lamassu figures abounded throughout the Assyrian Empire, featuring in the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (reigned 883-859 BCE) at Nimrud.
  • Assyrian inscriptions suggest the gates were made of cedar.

• Nineveh

  • Nineveh, an Assyrian city on the Tigris River and capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, was one of the earliest, greatest cities in antiquity.
  • Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
  • Thus, it became one of the oldest and greatest of all the region's ancient cities, and the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
  • While there is no large body of evidence to show that Assyrian monarchs built at all extensively in Nineveh during the 2nd millennium BCE, it appears to have been originally an "Assyrian provincial town".
  • It was not until the Neo-Assyrian Empire, particularly from the time of Ashurnasirpal II (ruled 883–859 BCE), that Nineveh experienced a considerable architectural expansion.

• The Assyrians

  • The Assyrian Empire was a major Semitic kingdom, and often empire, of the Ancient Near East.
  • In the late 24th century BCE, Assyrian kings were regional leaders under Sargon of Akkad, who united all the Akkadian Semites and Sumerian-speaking peoples of Mesopotamia under the Akkadian Empire (c. 2334 BC-2154 BCE).
  • The history of Assyria proper is roughly divided into three periods, known as Old Assyrian (late 21st-18th century BCE), Middle Assyrian (1365-1056 BCE), and Neo-Assyrian (911- 612BCE).
  • However, a shift in the Assyrian's dominance occurred with the rise of the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365 BCE-1056 BCE).
  • Additionally, during this period, Assyria overthrew Mitanni and eclipsed both the Hittite Empire and Egyptian Empire in the Near East.

• Artifacts of Assyria

  • Assyrian artifacts consist of a variety of media and range in size from hand-held to monumental.
  • Artifacts produced during the Assyrian Empire range from hand-held to monumental and consist of a variety of media, from clay to bronze to a diversity of stone.
  • Additionally, they bear inscriptions in Assyrian cuneiform and Phoenician script, indicating use by speakers of both languages.
  • This magnesite (magnesium carbonate) sculpture of Ashurnasirpal II (9th century BCE) serves as a rare example of sculpture in the round produced during the Assyrian Empire.
  • Three registers on each side focus on conquered kings from specific regions paying tribute to the Assyrian ruler.

• Babylon

  • Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite, and Elamite domination.
  • Throughout the duration of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-608 BCE) Babylonia was under Assyrian domination or direct control.
  • Babylon threw off Assyrian rule and destroyed the Assyrian Empire between 620 and 605 BCE, using an alliance with Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and Persians together with the Scythians and Cimmerians.
  • Babylon thus became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
  • By 141 BCE, when the Parthian Empire took over the region again, Babylon was in complete desolation and obscurity.

• The Assyrian Culture

  • The Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian capitals of Nimrud, Dur-Sharrukin, and Nineveh are known today for their ruins of great palaces and fortifications.
  • Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located in southern, modern Iraq on the River Tigris.
  • Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
  • Thus, it became one of the oldest and greatest of all the region's ancient cities, and the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
  • It was not until the Neo-Assyrian Empire that Nineveh experienced a considerable architectural expansion.

• The Achaemenid Empire

  • Under Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, the Achaemenid Empire became the first global empire.
  • The Achaemenid Empire, c. 550–330 BCE (Before Common Era), or First Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great in Western and Central Asia.
  • By the 7th century BCE, a group of ancient Iranian people had established the Median Empire, a vassal state under the Assyrian Empire that later tried to gain its independence in the 8th century BCE.
  • Around 550 BCE, Cyrus II of Persia, who became known as Cyrus the Great, rose in rebellion against the Median Empire, eventually conquering the Medes to create the first Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire.
  • Between c. 500-400 BCE, Darius the Great and his son, Xerxe I, ruled the Persian Plateau and all of the territories formerly held by the Assyrian Empire including Mesopotamia, the Levant and Cyprus.

• Babylon

  • Following the disintegration of the Akkadian Empire, the Sumerians rose up with the Third Dynasty of Ur in the late 22nd century BCE, and ejected the barbarian Gutians from southern Mesopotamia.
  • Conflicts between the Amorites (Western Semitic nomads) and the Assyrians continued until Sargon I (1920-1881 BCE) succeeded as king in Assyria and withdrew Assyria from the region, leaving the Amorites in control (the Amorite period).
  • Hammurabi also entered into a protracted war with the Old Assyrian Empire for control of Mesopotamia and the Near East.
  • Both the Babylonians and their Amorite rulers were driven from Assyria to the north by an Assyrian-Akkadian governor named Puzur-Sin, c. 1740 BCE.
  • The extent of the Babylonian Empire at the start and end of Hammurabi's reign.

• The Hittites

  • The Hittite Empire reached its height during the mid-fourteenth century BCE under Suppiluliuma I.
  • The first archaeological evidence for the Hittites appeared in tablets found at the Assyrian colony of Kültepe, containing records of trade between Assyrian merchants and a certain "land of Hatti. "
  • By 1160 BCE, the Empire had collapsed.
  • "Neo-Hittite" post-Empire states, petty kingdoms under Assyrian rule, may have lingered on until ca. 700 BCE.
  • The Hittite Empire is shown in Blue, ca. eighteenth century BCE–ca. 1178 BCE.

• The Decline of Ancient Egypt

  • First occupied by the Assyrians, then the Persians, and later the Macedonians and Romans, Egyptians would never again reach the glorious heights of self-rule they achieved during previous periods.
  • Having been victorious in Egypt, the Assyrians installed a series of vassals known as the Saite kings of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.
  • In 653 BCE, one of these kings, Psamtik I, was able to achieve a peaceful separation from the Assyrians with the help of Lydian and Greek mercenaries.
  • In 609 BCE, the Egyptians attempted to save the Assyrians, who were losing their war with the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medians, and Scythians.
  • Egypt was joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, also called the Twenty-seventh Dynasty.