Assyrians

Toward the close of the thirteenth century ВС, Hittite weakness became evident. The Assyrians, located in north Mesopotamia, were anxious to take the place of the Hittites as the region's dominant state.

The rise of Assyria was the most striking event in Mesopotamia. The Assyrians were a Semitic-speaking people, who had long lived in the upper region of the Tigris and Euphrates Valley, but they were spectators rather than participants in the civilizations that developed to the south. On all sides they had hostile enemies; hence, they acquired a major concern for defense.

The Assyrians began to assert themselves only about 1350 ВС. In this early period they became noted for their military strength and the cruelty they used to make certain that subject people were aware of the price they paid for any hint of revolt.

The first victims of Assyrian imperialism were the Kassites of lower Babylonia. Then the Assyrian kings turned their armies against their northern neighbors in the kingdom of Urartu. The strongest of the conquerors was Tiglath-Pilesar I, ruling from 1116 to 1078 ВС. His ruthless shifting of population and merciless disposal of his enemies brought fear and trembling to all subject peoples from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.

After Tiglath-Pilesar no king approached his level of competence so that Assyrian power languished for a century and a half only to be renewed in the time of Shalmaneser III about 859 ВС. Each year this ruler led his armies into territories not yet incorporated into the Assyrian state. When the Assyrians overran new regions, the inhabitants were forced to move far away from their homeland, and new settlers from other parts of Southwest Asia replaced them. Assyrian chronicles speak of over a hundred such deportations. The idea was to break the will of the conquered.

Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was the largest and most impressive city of Southwest Asia, if not the world, in the seventh century. From his palace, the Assyrian king set up a strong financial system for the state, during that taxes would be assessed and collected on a regular basis. The Assyrians created the first fully developed bureaucratic state to appear in world history.

Despite their skills in war, the Assyrians were anxious to excel in other ways. These areas included their interest in history, for palace scribes kept careful notes on all the campaigns of the kings. Needless to say, they were always "victors", even when they were not.

Sculptors had a special place in Assyrian society, for the rulers wanted posterity to gaze admiringly on their portraits. They are depicted receiving tribute from conquered kings and hunting in their chariots. The sculptors told the stories of their conquests carved in stone on successive panels. Sculptors also pictured hunting scenes. In fact so many lions died at the hands of Assyrian rulers that the animals practically became extinct in Mesopotamia.

The last major ruler of Assyria was Assurbanapal. The library that he collected at Nineveh, 25,000 tablets, is a storehouse of information on Southwest Asia. Here were housed collections of all previous Mesopotamian literature. His patronage of sculptors and painters made the Nineveh palace the wonder of his contemporaries. At his death in 627 ВС, it appeared that Assyria stood at the pinnacle of success.

Like all empires in their glory, appearances were deceptive. Assyrian energies were on the wane after years of campaigns that embittered so many people. Revolts, despite the ferocity of their repression, continued to flare, as enemies gathered outside the nation. In 612 ВС the final blow fell on Nineveh when the Medes and Babylonians allied to destroy Assyria. The Babylonians now inherited the position of leadership in Mesopotamia.