Assyrian Empire

Examples of Assyrian Empire in the following topics:

• 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.

• 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.

• Ur

  • Between the 24th and 22nd century BCE, Ur was controlled by Sargon the Great, of the Akkadian Empire.
  • It was ruled by the first dynasty of Babylonia, then part of the Sealand Dynasty, then by the Kassites before falling to the Assyrian Empire from the 10th-7th century BE.

• 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.

• Nebuchadnezzar and the Fall of Babylon

  • Following the collapse of the First Babylonian Dynasty under Hammurabi, the Babylonian Empire entered a period of relatively weakened rule under the Kassites for 576 years— the longest dynasty in Babylonian history.
  • Later in his reign, he went to war with Assyria and had some initial success before suffering defeat at the hands of the Assyrian king Ashur-Dan I.
  • Some initial success in these conflicts gave way to catastrophic defeat at the hands of Tiglath-pileser I, who annexed huge swathes of Babylonian territory, thereby further expanding the Assyrian Empire.
  • Assyrian domination continued until c. 1050 BCE, with the two reigning Babylonian kings regarded as vassals of Assyria.
  • Assyria descended into a period of civil war after 1050 BCE, which allowed Babylonia to once more largely free itself from the Assyrian yoke for a few decades.

• Nubia

  • Piye was defeated by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V and then his successor Sargon II in the 720s BCE.
  • Between 674 and 671 BCE the Assyrians began their invasion of Egypt under King Esarhaddon.
  • The Assyrians, who had a military presence in the north, then sent a large army southwards.
  • Tantamani was chased back to Nubia and never threatened the Assyrian Empire again.
  • A map showing the full extent of the Kushite Empire in 700 BCE.

• The Decline of Ancient Egypt

  • First occupied by the Assyrians, then Persians, then Macedonians and Romans, Egyptians would never again reach the glorious heights of self-rule during previous periods.
  • First occupied by the Assyrians, then Persians, then Macedonians and Romans, Egyptians would never again reach the glorious heights of self-rule during previous periods.
  • Having been victorious in Egypt, the Assyrians installed a series of vassals known as the Saite kings of the 26th 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.
  • Egypt was joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, also called the 27th Dynasty.

• Government and Trade in the Achaemenid Empire

  • Emperors Cyrus II and Darius I created a centralized government and extensive trade network in the Achaemenid Empire.
  • Cyrus was known to have an overall attitude of religious tolerance throughout the empire, although it has been debated whether this was by his own implementation or a continuation of Babylonian and Assyrian policies.
  • Tariffs on trade were one of the empire's main sources of revenue, along with agriculture and tribute.
  • Darius the Great moved the capital of the Achaemenid Empire to Persepolis around 522 BCE.
  • Trade in the Achaemenid Empire was extensive.

• The Third Intermediate Period

  • The Nubians were driven out of Egypt in 670 BCE by the Assyrians, who installed an initial puppet dynasty loyal to the Assyrians.
  • Although originally established as clients of the Assyrians, the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty managed to take advantage of the time of troubles facing the Assyrian empire to successfully bring about Egypt's political independence.
  • Pharaoh Psamtik III succeeded his father Ahmose II only six months before he had to face the Persian Empire at Pelusium.

• The Phoenicians

  • Although Egyptian seafaring expeditions had already been made to Byblos to bring back "cedars of Lebanon" as early as the 3rd millennium BCE, continuous contact only occurred in the Egyptian New Empire period.
  • Assyrian warship (probably built by Phoenicians) with two rows of oars, relief from Nineveh, c. 700 BCE.