A Brief History of Assyria. The country in the north of which the Assyrian state arose

Circummesopotamian civilization

Today we will talk about a civilization that covered significant geographic areas and, perhaps, one of the most variegated in linguistic terms. I prefer to call it Circummesopotamian, from “circum” - “around”, since Mesopotamia was its main core and the surrounding linguistic groups were drawn into the orbit of this, in fact, originally Mesopotamian culture.

More narrowly, the primary basis of this group can be distinguished - these are the Sumerians, who, in fact, created the first civilization in Mesopotamia, i.e. a system that has all the features of civilization that we talked about. These are cities, statehood, at least a nominal type, fine arts - the existence of an already expressed architectural tradition is especially important - and, of course, phonetic writing. Not just pictograms, but a system of signs reflecting the phonetic sound of a word, syllable, or a specific element of speech.

We find all these signs among the Sumerians. Before the Sumerians, other cultures existed in this region - Ubeid, Samaria - but they did not reach the level that the Sumerians were able to reach.

For a long time there has been a dispute about who was the first to invent phonetic writing in the Ancient East, the Sumerians or the Egyptians. For us in this case, this moment is not relevant, it is important that we can talk about two centers, two autonomous, significantly isolated from each other territories in which writing arose. Even if some influences may have existed, they did not determine the nature of these writing systems. It cannot be said that Sumerian influence determined the character of Egyptian hieroglyphics, and it is equally impossible to say that Egyptian hieroglyphics significantly influenced the Sumerian writing system. These were completely independent models, viable and very stable in historical time.

Sumerian writing is a very important element, since around the subsequent Sumerian cuneiform writing, the literary culture of not only Mesopotamia, but also the adjacent territories, was formed. The Sumerian writing did not immediately take the form of cuneiform. At first, it was hieroglyphics, ideographic writing, which gradually evolved into an alphabet, more precisely, into writing, which had both syllabic and ideographic meaning. Those. each element of writing in the cuneiform of the Sumerians could mean either a certain root meaning of the word, or a syllable. And, having outlined very briefly this picture of Sumerian culture, without going into its details, we can now say that Sumerian achievements were gradually transmitted to the surrounding peoples.

First of all, it must be said about the Semites of northern Mesopotamia - the Akkadians, who adopted in many ways not only the system of beliefs of the ancient Sumerians, or, shall we say, renamed, altered their religious system in accordance with the Sumerian, but also adopted cuneiform from the Sumerians, i.e. information fixing system, information transmission system.

And this moment is extremely important so that we can determine the outer boundaries of civilization. This perception at the early stage of the Sumerian writing, in particular, by the Akkadians, allows us to talk about the involvement of the Akkadians in the orbit of civilization, the core of which was the Sumerians.

And here, too, a very important point in our theory. The fact is that the Akkadians among all the Semites can be considered the first community to enter the civilizational stage, i.e. the first to reach the stage of civilization, who acquired cities, statehood, writing, literature, architecture, etc. And therefore, in fact, we can say that all the other Semites, who did not create their own textual religion, were drawn into the orbit of the same civilization to which the Akkadians belonged.

Thus, we can say that both the Canaanite population of the Levant and the Semitic population of southwestern Arabia were, to one degree or another, involved in the life of this civilization. And even later, when the southern Arabians crossed the strait and began to populate northeast Africa, then this civilization spread there too.

In addition to the Semites, the Elamites were involved in the orbit of the same civilization. Actually, the origin of the Elamites, the linguistic identity of the Elamites, like the linguistic identity of the Sumerians, remains a mystery to this day. There are many theories about where the Sumerians came from and where the Elamites came from, what languages ​​they spoke, the languages ​​of which groups, but today we can still say that these were two isolate languages. It is difficult to prove the affinity of the Sumerian or Elamite languages ​​with any other languages.

The Elamites largely adopted the architectural achievements of Sumerian culture. And, besides this, from some point on they completely switched to Sumerian cuneiform. Before that, the Elamites, or, more precisely, the Proto-Elamites, because until now the proto-Elamite inscriptions have not been deciphered, had hieroglyphic writing, which still remains a mystery to historians. And we cannot say with certainty that the proto-Elamite writing transmitted the language of the Elamites. It can be assumed that this is exactly the case, but so far it has not been deciphered. So, the proto-Elamites had their own hieroglyphic writing, but later they switched to cuneiform, based on the same logographic and syllabic principles on which the Sumerian cuneiform was built. So we can say, again, that the Elamites are also being drawn into the orbit of this same civilization.

And subsequently, a number of other peoples, speaking in completely different languages, are involved in the orbit of this civilization. These are Hurrians, Urarts and Hittites. The Hurrians and Urarts spoke the languages ​​of the Hurrian-Urartian group, perhaps one can trace its relationship with the modern Vainakh languages, more broadly, with the Nakh-Dagestan languages.

And the Hittites, who were Indo-Europeans in their language and occupied the central part of Asia Minor. The Hurrians borrowed literature and writing from the Akkadians, Hurrian literature and writing were largely borrowed by the Hittites, so we see this very motley, vivid picture of a multitude of distinctive, original cultures, which, at the same time, can still be attributed to the circle of one common civilization, the core of which were the Sumerians.

So, the Sumerian culture was perceived in Northern Mesopotamia by the Semites. At that time, this population spoke Akkadian. Gradually the Akkadians assimilated the Sumerians, and the Sumerians disappeared from the historical scene around the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. NS. Although the Sumerian language continued to be studied, it persisted as a language of literary knowledge literally until the turn of the era. "I grew up in the Akkadian city of the Sumerians // disappeared like swamp fires // they once knew a lot // but we came and where are they now."

Sumerian - Akkadian - Aramaic

Linguistically, there is one interesting detail to note. Since about the time of the New Assyrian period, the Assyrians have switched from Akkadian to Aramaic. The Arameans, or, as they are also called, the Chaldeans, are the tribes of Northern Arabia, which gradually flowed into the territory of Mesopotamia, into the territory of Mesopotamia, settling it. The Aramaic language acquired the function of the lingua franca, the language of international communication, quite early. And even the peoples who initially did not speak it, especially the peoples related to the Arameans in the linguistic sense, in particular the Akkadians or the ancient Jews, gradually switched to the Aramaic language. And, for example, the later records of the Assyrians are more likely an Aramaic language with a noticeable Akkadian influence. I would say so.

After the death of the Assyrian state, which we will talk about in the next lecture, the New Babylonian kingdom became the heir of Assyria, less bloody, but more, so to speak, functional. In the New Babylonian kingdom, the same Aramaic language also functioned as the state language. And the Assyrians themselves, in a sense, left the pages of history, but this legacy of the Aramaic language remained, which cannot even be attributed only to them, since they were not originally its carriers. For example, modern Aysors, or Assyrian Christians, who are well known in Russia, can be considered linguistically speakers of the ancient Aramaic language, but their attribution to those Assyrians who once devastated the territories adjacent to their state is very controversial.

Long life of the Sumerian gods

It must be said that in religious terms the Akkadians borrowed the images of the Sumerian gods - the famous Ishtar, which migrated from the Sumerian pantheon to the Babylonian-Assyrian, to Akkadian. The priesthood system, apparently, was perceived in Sumer, and the system of priestly knowledge, which the Babylonians adopted from the Sumerians, remained in Semitic Mesopotamia for a long time. And the Sumerian priestly texts, apparently, were used by the priests in all spheres of life - in astronomy, and in medicine, and in political theory, and primarily in the forms of worship. And later we can talk about a certain translation of the images of the Sumerian gods further inside the Semitic world. For example, the image of Astarta-Ashtoret, which already appears among the Western Semites. And in this sense, we can speak just about a certain religious continuum, the initial, as it were, a bundle of which was Sumer.

I will draw your attention to this again and again: that for non-textual religions it is not so much the community of gods that is important as the system of succession in related spheres. Gods can be called differently in a particular system, gods can have different ethnic origins, and ancient religiosity is generally seriously rooted in an ethnic community. Although, perhaps, even this or that ethnic community, if we look in retrospect, may not be aware of itself as an entity.

For example, apparently, the Sumerians did not realize themselves as a kind of community. It can be assumed that they called their country in relation to foreign countries by such a term as "kalam", but there were no Sumerians as an integral ethnic community, within a recognizable one, within a integrally identifiable one. And when we observe such systems, ethnically or linguistically, we can say that more important elements than religion than religious communities ...

Of course, religious stylistics somehow manifests itself in cultures, and the images of the Sumerian gods became widespread in the Semitic environment. But more important here is the perception of the earliest civilizational signs, which at the same time become markers of the same civilization. For example, if we see that the Semites-Akkads perceive the Sumerian writing, then this very writing becomes for them both a sign of reaching a civilizational level, and a civilizational marker that allows us to attribute this community to the same civilization to which we refer the Sumerians.

"Assyrian Peace" or "Assyrian War"?

So, in fact, the Akkadians, having assimilated the Sumerians, fully adopted their culture and created for the first time a powerful state that covered the whole of Mesopotamia under Sargon of Akkadian. But if we look at these early formations of Akkadians, we will see them, in general, instability and rapid decay. And the first really powerful state, which becomes, in the full sense of the word, the first empire claiming regional significance, to the regional level is Assyria.

The name itself - Assyria - comes from the central, primary city of this country - Ashura. Ashur was on the territory of the frontier, the border of the Akkadians and the Hurrians. There can not even be absolute certainty that Ashur himself was founded by Akkadians. It is quite possible that at first there was some kind of Hurrian settlement, which was then Semitized. Until the last third of the XIV century. Ashur, in general, did not stand out from other North Mesopotamian centers in terms of foreign policy activity and culture. It was a rather ordinary city, and only the fall of the Hurrian-Aryan state of Mitanni opened the way for him to expand, to strengthen his power. And the first surge of this increase begins under the king Ashur-uballit, who ruled in the middle of the XIV century. and who was the first to call himself the king of the country of Ashur, the king of the country of Assyria.

An important moment in the strengthening of Assyria falls on one of his heirs, Adad-Nirari, who conquered almost the entire former territory of the Mitanni state and fought with Babylon. And, finally, under Shalmaneser I, this is already approximately the first half - the middle of the XIII century. BC e., there are qualitative shifts in Assyrian politics. Fortresses began to be built, the defeat of Mittani was completed, and finally, under Shalmaneser, for the first time, information appeared about the extreme cruelty of the Assyrians. It is to this king that the blinding of 14,400 captive Mitannians captured in one of the campaigns is attributed.

It is curious that this first rise of Assyria ends - a period of foreign policy silence begins. The second period of Assyrian activity falls on the reign of Tiglathpalasar I - the turn of the XII-XI centuries. BC NS. But his successors were unable to continue his policy, and a new period of silence, calmness, if I may say so, begins in the Assyrian expansion. At the end of the X century. BC NS. there is a new, third strengthening of Assyria under the kings Ashurnatsirapala and Shalmanasar III, who tried to conduct an offensive in all directions. It was then that Babylon, the states of Syria and Phenicia were first subordinated in the full sense. At the time of the reign of Shalmaneser III, there is also evidence of the excessive cruelty of the Assyrian kings, who ordered the mutilation of captives and the erection of pyramids from captured people. Well, and, finally, the third period is already the new Assyrian period, the reign of King Tiglathpalasar III.

A special way: propaganda of cruelty and the scope of conquest

Assyria is a very interesting state in every sense. Initially, they spoke a dialect of the Akkadian language and were culturally completely indistinguishable from the Babylonians, actually Akkadians, one might say so. And for a long time Ashur - the center of the Assyrian statehood - did not stand out among other North Mesopotamian centers, until finally, in the 1300s, its rise began.

Assyrian statehood in general attracts attention at once for many reasons. This is, firstly, the well-known cruelty of the Assyrian conquests. History has preserved a lot of evidence that was left by the Assyrians themselves, who boasted of their predatory potential.

And, secondly, it is the scope of the conquests. At the peak of their power, in the 7th century, the Assyrians were able to subdue even Egypt for a short time. Thus, the possessions of this state covered colossal territories from the Nile delta to the mountains of Western Iran, respectively in the east and west, and from the Urartu mountains (Ararat mountains) to the semi-deserts of the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula.

The Assyrian rulers left behind a rather ominous memory in numerous recorded written sayings in which they exalt themselves. For antiquity, it was natural to emphasize the power of the ruler, but the level of self-glorification that was achieved in Assyria, perhaps nowhere else in the East, and in the West, is not found. Here, let's say, the exaltation of Ashurnatsirapal II (self-aggrandizement): “I took the city, killed many soldiers, captured everything that could be captured, cut off the heads of the soldiers, put a tower of heads and bodies in front of the city, built a tower of living people, planted alive on he burned the stakes around the city of young men and women at the stake. " This is a nice description of his own greatness and his own victory left to us by this Assyrian king.

No less impressive self-aggrandizement of the king Assarhaddon: “Assarhaddon, the great king, the mighty king, the king of the universe, the king of kings, I am mighty, I am omnipotent, I am a hero, I am brave, I am terrible, I am respectful, I am magnificent, I do not know equal among all kings , I am a mighty king in battle and in battle, who has destroyed his enemies, who has conquered the disobedient to himself, who has subdued all of humanity. " Here is such a speech of the Assyrian rulers, rich in self-identification and description of punitive actions.

However, the Assyrian statehood is distinguished by one very curious feature. It has zigzags of ups and downs, in which it turns out to be quite unstable. Those. the Assyrians did not manage to establish a stable and stable functioning model for a long time. Largely because of this, the Assyrians had to make more and more invasions of the seemingly conquered territories in order to support Pax assirica. But here it would even be more correct to call it not Pax assirica, but somehow differently, because the Assyrians could not establish peace in the conquered territories.

The peculiarity of the Assyrian statehood was noted by Oppenheim, who said, I quote: "The ability to quickly restore one's strength and increase one's power should be considered just as typically Assyrian trait as the amazing instability of the government structure."

And the terror of the Assyrians, completely distinguishing them from all other conquering systems of antiquity, was in many ways the flip side of this inability to form a stable exploitation of the occupied territories. Terror served as a form of intimidation and maintenance of order in the subordinate territory, and at the same time it meant that the subordinate territory was not seen as part of the expanding domain of the Assyrian state proper. Those. in a sense, we can say that the Assyrians could not expand the actual territory of their state, and therefore the main purpose of their aggression was to plunder the surrounding territories. Not incorporation into the already existing imperial model, but precisely such a military exploitation of these territories, a contributory way of alienating material wealth. And, accordingly, this is connected with the attitude of the Assyrians towards the local population. The local population was not seen as a productive resource. Very often it was literally exterminated without exception, and this also affects the inferiority of the Assyrian empire.

Later, during the reign of Tiglatpalasar III, they tried to switch to more balanced forms of government. Then the Assyrians are actively introducing iron weapons into the arsenal, more systemic population movements are already being practiced, not accompanied by such mass exterminations. But, however, this period of the New Assyrian history also turns out to be very unstable, and the Assyrians are unable to hold the occupied lands for a long time. Egypt falls away, even the kindred Babylon falls away, and the Assyrian statehood eventually perishes under the blows of the Babylonians and Iranian peoples.

Four rises and a belated concern for the world

We can say that for the period from the 15th to the 7th centuries. BC NS. Assyria knew four ups and downs in its power. It is possible to designate the approximate milestones of the beginning of these ups: this is the turn of the XIV-XIII centuries, the end of the XII century, the beginning of the IX century. and the middle of the VIII century. BC NS.

Of course, the most powerful, most pronounced upsurge is the rule of Tiglathpalasar, who undertook a reform of the Assyrian statehood in all directions. It was under him that this model of the Assyrian army appeared, in which, apparently, not just community members, but professional warriors armed with iron weapons already serve. At that time, it was the most advanced, most powerful army in the Middle East.

The second point is the division of the conquered territories into provinces, in which Assyrian governors are placed, subordinate directly to the king, i.e. an attempt to achieve some kind of centralization.

The third point is a large systematicity in the resettlement of the population, in the movement of the population in such a way that economic ties within the Assyrian statehood are preserved, maintained, and the population, so to speak, is saved for exploitation.

And, perhaps, we can say about a certain decrease in this pathos of militancy during the late Assyrian kings of the new Assyrian period. Rather, not even so much militancy as bloodthirstiness, although the annals of the new Assyrian kings - Sinacherib, Esarhaddon - are full of all sorts of references to various punishments to which the opponents of Assyria were subjected.

Assyria achieves the first significant strengthening under the king Ashurbalit I. This is the middle of the XIV century, and this is due to the weakening of the neighboring Mitannian state, the Hurrian-Aryan, because there, apparently, the rules were a dynasty of Aryan origin, Indo-European origin, and the main population was Hurrian ... And the official language, the language of literature, remained Hurrian in this state. This Mitannian state, again, for the same reasons, belongs to the same metaculture to which the Assyrians belonged, and in conflict with its neighbors, the Hittites and Assyrians, it perishes. And from this moment the first rise of Assyria begins.

By the XIV century. The correspondence of the Assyrian king that has come down to us with the Egyptian reformer pharaoh Akhenaten, in which the Assyrian king calls himself the brother of the Egyptian king. Those. we can say that Assyria is already entering the world arena as a claimant for equality with the leading states of that period - Babylon, Hittites, Egypt and Elam. However, this first rise was short-lived, followed by a recession. There was an attempt at a new rise in the XII century, but it was also very short. And this alternation of ups and downs brought Assyria to a new level in the 9th century. It was from this moment that the famous reports of the Assyrian kings began, reporting on their cruelty towards the conquered countries.

This period of the IX century. was also short-lived in terms of aggression, although very bloody. And, finally, the last, most pronounced turn falls on the 8th century, at the beginning of the reign of King Tiglathpalasar III, from which, in fact, begins the period of the new Assyrian statehood.

Empire and iron

Empire, in my opinion, is a phenomenon that can appear exclusively in the era of iron, the appearance of iron weapons. Before iron weapons appear, before iron enters into everyday life, it is impossible to talk about the emergence of stable imperial formations. Those. those formations that we conditionally designated as empires.

For the first time, iron appears in Western Asia among the Hittites and, apparently, neighboring peoples around the XIV century. BC NS. At this time, the Hittites already had a developed iron industry. At the same time, the Hittites tried to preserve the secrets of iron production, protected their skills from prying eyes. But, one way or another, it is difficult to keep technologies secret for a long time, and gradually they spread outside the Hittite world.

One of the important elements that contributed to the spread of iron tools and, in general, the technology of iron production, was the so-called catastrophe of the Bronze Age, when the Hittite state was crushed by the so-called "Sea Peoples" who came from the West. At the same time, Egypt was attacked. And at this moment there is an intensive exchange of knowledge between the then existing communities. And then, apparently, the iron industry begins to penetrate into the regions inhabited by Semites.

The inertia of bronze weapons still existed for quite a long time, and even under the king Tiglatpalasar, who ruled at the turn of the II-I millennium BC. e., bronze weapons dominated. But already at the beginning of the IX century. n. NS. under King Tukulti-Ninurta II, iron becomes quite common in the Assyrian army, it appears in service with all soldiers, and with the help of iron weapons the Assyrians can not only fight, but, for example, pave roads for themselves in hard-to-reach places, as evidenced by the records of this king.

And, finally, a new, last spurt in this case takes place already in the New Assyrian period. The fact that the Assyrians had iron is evidenced not only by written sources, but also by archaeological data. Assyrian iron was found even in Egypt in the 7th-6th centuries. - Apparently, the appearance of iron in Egypt in a fairly wide amount belongs to this time. Although it continues to be considered a rare metal in Egypt, the introduction of iron in Egypt into use in the broadest sense is a matter of controversy.

Let's go back to Assyria. Under Shalmaneser III - this is the middle of the 9th century. BC NS. - iron comes in the form of war booty and tribute from areas that adjoin the Upper Euphrates. And to the same time, we can attribute the discovered iron cuts, i.e. blanks for the production of iron tools. Those. Assyria established not only the production of weapons, but also had a kind of arsenals that could be used to arm the army. The army did not know any interruptions in the provision of iron weapons. This is very important for that time. Although some of the elements of weapons, such as helmets and shields, were still bronze. Iron entered the army gradually. But this represented in the full sense of the word a revolutionary breakthrough in military affairs, which endowed Assyria with enormous advantages.

Assyrian archive and reviews of neighbors

Assyria is interesting because it left a huge archive. Assyrian kings kept official records of both internal events and, of course, external conquests. Moreover, great attention was paid to external conquests. And the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings have not only a purely internal, administrative meaning - they have, of course, a propaganda meaning.

In fact, if we are talking about sources on the history of the Ancient East, then for this period the Assyrian archive turns out to be the most informative. All the other peoples surrounding Assyria, who testify to it, left much less data about it. Those. we can, of course, find references to Assyria in the Bible, but here it should be borne in mind that biblical testimonies are very often called Assyria, most likely, the later New Babylonian kingdom.

And Assyria was the main enemy for the Northern Israelite kingdom, which destroyed it. But for a Jew, it was still such a relatively peripheral enemy, who, although he committed the most severe devastation of this territory, could not exterminate the Jewish state. Therefore, we can speak very carefully about the nature of the interaction between Jews and Assyria on the basis of biblical data, always taking into account what Assyrian sources say.

But in the same way, for example, the Egyptian sources are very sparing, in comparison with the Assyrian, illuminate the Assyrian expansion. We could not, according to Egyptian sources, completely reconstruct the picture of the relationship between Assyria and Egypt. And finally, Elamite records. Elam became one of the victims of the Assyrian aggression. But the Elamite archives that have come down to us, very sparingly and restrainedly tell us about the history of Assyria. Ultimately, we can say that the Assyrians are a people testifying to themselves, praising themselves. But at the same time, it cannot be said that the sources of other peoples refute these data of the Assyrians.

Unprovoked aggression as the mystery of Ashur

Here we need to return to our idea that this structure, which we conventionally call an empire, can arise in response to the external to civilization. If we look at the map of the Middle East, we will see that Assyria was actually inside this civilization and, in fact, had no active contacts with the outside world. The only exception, perhaps, can be considered the Iranian tribes who lived east of Assyria. But the problem is that these tribes were still at a very early stage of development and did not pose a serious threat to the Assyrians either in military or civilizational terms.

Thus, if we consider the idea of ​​the emergence of an empire as a response to a challenge from an external aggressor in relation to civilization, then we will see that in order for the very empire in question to arise, Assyria simply had no grounds ... Accordingly, the statehood of Assyria can be called not imperial, but quasi-imperial in this sense. This is a statehood that possessed the potential for aggression, but did not possess the potential for systemic exploitation of the territory. But this ability for systemic exploitation, long-term retention of the received resources - territorial, human and others - is just one of the signs of the imperial structure.

The emergence of this powerful and terrible, I would venture to say, state, its ups and downs and these outbreaks of expansion need some explanation. But, to be honest, I have no clear explanation in this case. This remains a big mystery to me. It is the contrast of Assyria with all other states of that period, and the centuries-old period - with Egypt, with the Hittites, with Babylon - is obvious. This state, of course, differs in every sense from everything with which it borders.

But at the same time, it is impossible to explain this impulse, this need for expansion, this desire for aggression within the framework of the theory that I proposed, namely, as a response to external aggression, since Assyria itself has not experienced external aggression as such. And there was no reason for such a reaction. But, apparently, we can say that in civilization - well, this is already an absolute speculation, please do not evaluate it strictly ... In the civilization itself there was a certain powerful impulse for external expansion, for expansion, for consolidation. And this impulse needed some kind of state registration. And Assyria in this case acted as a contender for this "master of the designer" of both civilization and its expansionist avant-garde.

The fact that Assyria did not succeed in playing this role is quite possible to explain, but the fact that it was she who tried to appropriate this role for herself requires, of course, new reflections, and so far I have nothing else to say in this case, unfortunately, I can not.

Alexey Tsvetkov. I grew up in an Akkadian city. The author's punctuation is preserved, i.e. lack of such - Approx. ed.

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Assyria is a country located in the middle reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates. These rivers are rough here and have a very deep bed. Their spill was much less pronounced in Assyria, so that a significant part of the country's territory was not affected by it at all. Most of the river valley is dry. The harvest was largely dependent on the rainfall, which fell more than in Babylonia. Artificial irrigation did not play a big role. In addition, Assyria was distinguished by its mountainous terrain. The mountains that bordered the country from the east, from the north and from the west were partially covered with forests. On the plains of Assyria, there were lions, elephants, leopards, wild donkeys and horses, wild boars, in the mountains - bears and fallow deer. Hunting for lions and leopards was a favorite pastime of the Assyrian kings. In the mountainous regions, various types of stone were mined, including marble, metal ores (copper, lead, silver, iron). In addition to agriculture, hunting and cattle breeding played an important role in the economy. The favorable geographical position at the intersection of the caravan routes contributed to the early development of trade.

At the beginning of the III millennium BC. NS. the main population of northeastern Mesopotamia were subareas, associated with one of the most ancient peoples of Southwest Asia by the Hurrians, whose main area of ​​settlement was northwestern Mesopotamia. From here the Hurrians later spread to Syria, Palestine and Asia Minor. In the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. NS. there is an intensified Semitization of Northern Mesopotamia. Ethnos is being formed Assyrians, who spoke their dialect of Akkadian. Nevertheless, Hurrian traditions persisted for a long time on the eastern outskirts of Assyria, beyond the Tigris.

Speaking about the sources on Assyrian history, it is necessary to highlight among them the monuments of material culture from the excavations of the largest cities. A turning point in the study of Assyrian antiquities was the discovery by an English diplomat G.O. Layard v 1847 during the excavation of the Kuyundzhik hill, northeast of Mosul (modern Iraq), the Assyrian capital Nineveh. In it, Layard discovered the ruins of King Ashurbanapal, who died in a fire, with a huge library of books written on clay tablets. It was Layard's findings that formed the basis of the British Museum's richest collection of Assyrian antiquities. Botta's French diplomat 1843 g. discovered in the area of ​​the village of Khorsabad a fortress and the royal residence of Dur-Sharrukin, built by Sargon II. These findings laid the foundation for a new science - Assyriology.

The main group of written sources is made up of cuneiform texts from the Ashurbanipal library and other palace complexes. These are diplomatic documents, letters and reports of priests and military leaders, administrative and economic documentation, etc. From legal monuments, the so-called Middle Assyrian laws stand out (middle II thousand BC BC): 14 tablets and fragments found during excavations in Ashur. There was no actual historical literature in Assyria, however, “royal lists” and chronicles of individual kings were compiled, in which they praise their exploits.

Information about Assyria is also preserved by sources originating from other countries (for example, the Old Testament of the Bible). Ancient authors (Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo) also write about Assyria, but they know little about its history, and the information they report is often semi-legendary.

Periodization of the history of Ancient Assyria

• 1. Old Assyrian period (XX-XVI centuries BC).
• 2. Middle Assyrian period (XV-XI centuries BC).
• 3. New Assyrian period (X-VII centuries BC).

In this book, you can find interesting material on many large empires that have existed on Earth, from ancient times to the present day. It was thanks to these empires that human civilization was able to achieve a certain level of its development. This publication offers to trace the general factors and signs of "imperial development", as well as to determine and analyze the place and role of world empires in the general history of mankind.

Assyrian empire

The Assyrians were perhaps one of the most warlike peoples in history: for almost 700 years, they fought incessant wars, seeking domination over neighboring peoples. Having reached the highest power, they created a huge power stretching from Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea to the Transcaucasus, the Persian Gulf and the Arabian deserts - a mighty empire that lasted for about a thousand years. War became a means of development of this state - it lived for war and for war. The Assyrians were indomitable warriors, there was no stronger army at that time, and for a long time no one could offer them worthy resistance. Even the title of Assyrian kings sounded like this: “king of the great, king of the mighty, king of the Universe, king of Assyria, ruler of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of Kardunias ... , I do not know equal among all kings. "

At the origins of civilization

In the upper reaches of the mighty Tigris River, where two large tributaries, the Big and Small Zab, flowed into it, the city-state of Ashur was founded in ancient times, which later became the capital of the Assyrian kingdom. Mainly Semitic peoples lived here. In the north, the lands of Assyria reached the Armenian Highlands, from the north-east they were closed by the spurs of the Zagra mountains, in the south they bordered on Babylonia, and in the west endless steppes stretched. The steppes and mountains were covered with sparse vegetation that quickly burned out under the scorching rays of the sun. The lands here were irrigated thanks to rains and melting snows, and in the areas adjacent to the Tigris - by the waters of the river. The Assyrians said that when it rains in a country, there will be a good harvest. When spring came, both the valleys and the steppe revived, covered with fresh greenery, but already at the beginning of summer, the hot sun literally burned all the vegetation. Bread was harvested in the fields in June, and in August the heat became so intense that even in the gardens succulent plants dried up. Only the valley of the Upper Zaba and the small valley of the Tigris River, constrained by high mountains, were suitable for agriculture. In the valleys, the inhabitants of Assyria grew wheat and barley, planted beautiful gardens, but they were mainly engaged in hunting and cattle breeding.

The high slopes of the mountains were covered with forest, and their bowels were rich in metal ores and stone. Assyrian artisans knew how to make jewelry and various metal weapons, so it is not surprising that the weapons of the Assyrian army were known throughout the ancient Eastern world. The city-state of Ashur, built by the Assyrians and named after the supreme god Ashur, occupied an advantageous geographical position: it stood at the intersection of caravan trade routes, along which timber and various metals (gold and silver, copper and lead), as well as handicrafts and agricultural products. Thanks to this, the city flourished and grew rich, and trade became the main occupation of the local population. Assyrian merchants purchased goods in some countries and resold them in others. Trade brought them fabulous profits: it happened that the net profit reached 200%. Ishshakkum was the ruler of Ashur, his power was hereditary, but he carried out mainly priestly functions and was not considered a king until the time of large military campaigns.

Gradually, Assyrian merchants began to establish their trading colonies far beyond Assyria. In those days, caravan routes were very unsafe, and often merchants were forced to take up arms to protect their goods, and often their lives. Numerous nomadic tribes roamed the steppes, attacking trade caravans, robbing and killing passing merchants. Therefore, trade was inextricably linked with military affairs - the protection of caravans and trade routes, and often with the robbery of merchants and the seizure of new trade routes.

“Assyria is irrigated with little rain, and this moisture is enough only for grain plants to take root; however, the crops irrigated from the river grows and the grain ripens, and the river does not spill over the fields by itself, as in Egypt, but irrigation is carried out with the help of hands and scoops. " (Herodotus. "History in nine books." V century BC)

The birth of an empire

The Assyrian state began to take shape in the II millennium BC. NS. The state reached its first prosperity during the reign of King Shamshi-Adad I (1813–1781 BC). Thanks to a well-armed and organized army, he conquered the entire Northern Mesopotamia and subdued Cappadocia to his power. All the neighboring states lying to the north and east of Assyria began to pay tribute to him. The country was getting rich, many slaves, who were captured in military campaigns, worked for the king and his subjects. But in order to maintain dominance over a huge territory, a large army was needed, which Assyria did not have. In the second half of the 18th century. BC NS. Babylonian king Hammurabi subdued the country to his power. His victory led to the formation of a large Babylonian kingdom, of which Assyria became a part. Later, in 1500 BC. BC, Assyria was conquered by another powerful state - Mitanni. The Assyrians lost their trading colonies, and their merchants began to be ousted from their usual places of trade by the dealers of more powerful countries. Despite this, the Assyrians still retained their own lands and waited only for an opportune moment to rush into battle for dominance in trade. Soon Assyria regained a strong position on the trade routes to Syria and Asia Minor.

Tiglathpalasar I (1115 - c.1076 BC)

The history of Assyria is a series of endless wars, military campaigns, preparations for these campaigns, or repelling enemy attacks. It is difficult to imagine a more militant state: almost every year the Assyrian armies went on military campaigns, accompanied by incredible atrocities. They seized and often destroyed cities that resisted them, literally wiping them off the face of the earth, sprinkling these places with salt, and thereby making them sterile. The Assyrians often exterminated the entire male population of the conquered lands, selling women and children into slavery, drove them into captivity or resettled entire tribes to another conquered and devastated country, where they had to work on the land and pay tribute.

Thus, one of the Assyrian kings reported in his eulogy inscription: “I swept by like a destructive hurricane. On the stained earth, the weapon sank in the blood of enemies, as in a river. I piled up the corpses of their soldiers in the form of victory mounds and chopped off their limbs. I cut off the hands of the prisoners; I have crushed them like straw. "

Another king, having made a victorious campaign against Babylon, smashed its city fortifications and destroyed this once rich and powerful city. The Assyrians even plundered the temple of the supreme god Marduk and took away his golden statue. It should be noted that periods of brilliant military successes, when the troops of the Assyrian kings won victory after victory, capturing a large number of prisoners and huge booty, were replaced by periods of crushing defeats. Assyria achieved the greatest successes during this period under King Tiglatpalasar I. The chronicles of those times testify to his successful campaigns against the Urartu tribes and the capture of huge booty. Tiglatpalasar won major victories in Syria, reached the Mediterranean coast, took possession of several Phoenician cities there and imposed tribute on them. Even Babylon was forced to admit the power of the mighty Assyrian king. The borders of Assyria were expanded by cruel and bloody wars. If any area showed the slightest signs of disobedience to the Assyrian ruler, then it was subjected to complete plundering and ruin, and people were either killed or enslaved - this was to serve as an edification for the disobedient.

In the mountainous regions of Assyria, deposits of iron ore were found. Over time, the Assyrians learned to process and use it in military affairs. There is no doubt that a warrior, dressed in iron armor, was practically invulnerable to weapons made of bronze. A warrior armed with an iron sword or arrows tipped with iron was able to crush the toughest bronze armor.

Ashur is the main god of Assyria. He was the patron deity of the city and later became the main god of the Assyrian Empire. He was called "the ruler of countries" and "the father of the gods." His wife was the goddess Ishtar Ashur, or Enlil. Ashur was revered as the arbiter of destinies, the deity of war and wisdom. The symbol of God was a winged disc of the sun above the sacred tree of life. Sometimes Ashura was depicted as a man holding a bow and half-hidden by a winged disk of the sun.

According to one of the chronicles, Tiglatpalasar I proudly reported that “he took care of his country, decorated its cities with temples and palaces, surrounded by walls and fortifications, her peace and happiness. " It seemed that no one and nothing could prevent the further rise of Assyria. Her possessions stretched from Babylon to Egypt, the once mighty states could no longer compete with her. Egypt was torn apart by civil war, Babylonia was defeated, the Hittite kingdom was weakened by constant wars with the Phoenicians, and gradually it left the arena of world history.

However, Assyria's victories came at a heavy price. The incessant wars that its rulers waged almost constantly bled the country. The increase in taxes and duties completely ruined the conquered population. Assyrian laws - the most cruel of all ancient Eastern laws, allowed a slave who fell into debt bondage to beat, pull by the hair, mutilate and pierce his ears.

In the XII century. BC NS. nomadic tribes of the Arameans moved from the steppes of Arabia to the lands of Assyria. It was almost impossible to fight with them. In small groups, with their tents, families and herds, they seeped into the country, penetrating deeper and deeper. The small Assyrian population literally "drowned" in this endless Aramaic sea. This invasion was accompanied by terrible devastation: the nomads seized the steppes and pastures, robbed trade caravans and cruelly dealt with the local population, killed men, captured women and children, sold them into slavery. They took cattle, horses, grain, and the rest was ruthlessly destroyed. The peasants were forced to flee from their homes. There was famine in the country - it was simply impossible to feed such a horde of uninvited guests.

This was the time of the country's decline. The Assyrians have lost all their past conquests. But the neighboring countries also suffered greatly from the invasion of nomadic tribes. Therefore, when Assyria was able to recover from the Aramaic invasion and begin new conquests, it had no serious rivals for a long time.

Revival of Assyria

From the X century. BC NS. The Assyrian state began new campaigns of conquest. The revival and rise of the country is associated with the name of King Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC), who was distinguished by his unparalleled cruelty even among the Assyrian kings. With fire and sword, he passed Mesopotamia and Syria, expanding the borders of Assyria and causing terrible damage to the conquered countries, as a result of which the foundation was laid for a future mighty military power, which turned into a threat to the whole of Western Asia.

The main goal of the wars of conquest of Assyria of that period was not so much the annexation of new territories to expand the borders of the state and raise its prosperity, but the seizure of booty, the most important trade routes and the creation of a springboard for subsequent predatory campaigns. In the devastated countries, there were burnt villages and cities, trampled fields, destroyed orchards and vineyards, there was almost no one to cultivate the fields and engage in crafts. Therefore, the power of the Assyrians in the conquered countries was held only by force of arms. As soon as the Assyrian troops left any conquered area, uprisings broke out there. Therefore, often the former opponents, forgetting their feuds, united in the face of the Assyrian danger. The continuous wars that Assyria waged for many years gradually depleted its forces, and constant recruitment led to the depopulation and desolation of the country. At this time, new powerful states entered the arena of world history, one of which was Urartu. In battles with him, the Assyrian state more than once was on the verge of complete defeat.

It seemed that the fate of Assyria had already been decided. In addition, the country was shaken by bloody civil wars, and to top it off, epidemics began. However, in spite of everything, Assyria was again able to get out of a severe crisis and largely due to the fact that in 745 BC. NS. came Tiglathpalasar III, who was not only a victorious commander, but also a brilliant administrator and a far-sighted politician.

Hammurabi - King of Babylonia from 1792 to 1750 BC NS. The rise of Babylon is associated with his name, he was the most famous ruler and became famous not only for military successes, but also for the code of laws he compiled.

At the peak of power

Tiglathpalasar III (745-727 BC)

Tiglathpalasar III was undoubtedly the most outstanding and talented of the kings of the Ancient East. Under him, the Assyrian state became the first true empire of antiquity. He ascended the throne at an extremely difficult time for the country, amid a complex internal struggle, and in a fairly short time managed to get it out of this deplorable situation.

He began his reign with energetic reformist activity. Under him, a well-trained professional army was created, the basis of which was the detachments formed on the territory of the state. If necessary, it was reinforced with detachments provided by the vassal states.

Previously, the soldiers were obliged to equip and maintain themselves, but now the army was staffed mainly from impoverished farmers, so the soldiers received all the equipment and food at the expense of the treasury. Thus, by attracting recruits from the very bottom of the free Assyrian population, Tiglathpalasar III achieved a sharp increase in the number of his army. In addition, he unified weapons, divided military units according to the types of weapons - into chariots, horsemen, heavily and lightly armed infantrymen. As defensive weapons, the Assyrian warriors used dense leather jackets with convex metal plates attached to the top and metal leggings, large shields covered with bronze, and pointed copper helmets. The most common offensive weapons were the bow, short sword, and iron-tipped long spear. It was the Assyrians who were the first to actively use iron weapons. Each warrior was also equipped with an individual inflatable leather mech, which made it easy to swim across the river in full armor.

The best soldiers, well-armed and trained, were part of the so-called tsarist regiment - they were professional soldiers, supported by tsarist money. The former people's militia was replaced by a regular army, "shackled" by iron discipline. The Assyrian soldiers appeared to be people of invincible strength. “Here it is, the army of the Assyrians, - said the Jewish prophet Isaiah, - it will come easily and soon, it will not have either tired or exhausted, not one will sleep or fall asleep, and the belt will not be removed from his loins, and the belt will not break by his shoes; his arrows are pointed, and all his bows are drawn; the hooves of his horses are like flint, and the wheels of his chariots are like a whirlwind. " The "sacred person of the king" was guarded by a specially recruited and trained personal guard, which included infantry, cavalry and chariots.

The basis of the offensive power of the Assyrian army was the war chariots. Covered in brass and harnessed by a pair or four of horses, they were truly formidable weapons. As a rule, the chariot's crew consisted of three people: a charioteer, a warrior armed with a bow or spear, and a squire who covered the warrior with a shield. Heavy chariots rushing in a row usually overturned the enemy with a powerful onslaught, demoralizing him, forming gaps in his system, into which the cavalry would then rush in to consolidate the success. When the enemy fled in panic, the warriors in chariots finished off the retreating ones, crushing them with their wheels. The only drawback of heavy chariots was that they could only be used on the plains.

Subsequently, the chariot detachments were replaced by more mobile cavalry, which made it possible to deliver unexpected swift strikes and use it in rough terrain. Over time, chariots began to be used exclusively for the ceremonial trips of the king and his closest associates. Assyrian infantrymen were divided into heavily armed and lightly armed. The lightly armed infantry consisted of archers and javelin throwers, and the heavily armed were shield bearers and spearmen. When storming enemy fortresses, siege machines - catapults and battering rams - were used. The catapults could throw stone balls weighing up to 10 kg at a distance of up to half a kilometer. But more often they were charged not with cannonballs, but with clay vessels filled with burning resin. Getting into the enemy camp, the vessels broke, and the burning resin spread and set fire to wooden buildings, thereby increasing the panic in the besieged fortress and diverting the forces of the defenders to extinguish the fire. Combat units were freed from the dirty work of serving the army. For this purpose, the so-called engineering troops were created in Assyria, which were used to build roads in the mountains, build simple and pontoon bridges, and build well-protected camps. By the way, the technology of building fortified camps was borrowed from the Assyrians, first by the Persians and then by the Romans. The Assyrian army was one of the largest and most superbly organized armies in the Ancient World. The blows of strong rams destroyed the powerful fortress walls of the cities. The best armies could not resist the crushing onslaught of the Assyrian cavalry.

Tiglatpalasar III also changed the policy of the state in relation to the conquered peoples. Previously, the population was exterminated or turned into slavery, and those who remained in habitable places were imposed exorbitant taxes. Therefore, it is not surprising that it was easier for Assyria to conquer the lands than to keep them. As soon as the Assyrian army left the conquered country, a rebellion broke out there and it again withdrew from Assyria. At the same time, the lands of Assyria were devastated, cities and villages were depopulated, and the fields were uncultivated. During the endless wars, the country's economy fell into decay. Then Tiglatpalasar began to resettle the inhabitants from the conquered countries to empty lands, levying taxes and taxes on them. Driving them away from their homes for centuries, he deprived them of the incentive to revolt.

Solving the problem of fighting enemy light infantry and cavalry, the Assyrians fixed long knives on the wheels of chariots - this is how sickle-bearing, or mowing, chariots appeared. The next step was the installation of the spear points on the drawbar - now the chariots could attack regular heavy infantry head-on.

Having thus strengthened the internal position in the country and received, thanks to his reforms, a large and well-armed army, the king was able to resume his aggressive activities. First of all, he decided to end the Urartian threat. Soon Tiglatpalasar managed to upset the alliance of the North Syrian and Asia Minor rulers and, as he wrote, "began to receive tribute from eighteen kings." Then the Assyrian troops set off on a campaign in the area of ​​the Armenian Highlands, reached the capital of the Urartian kingdom - Tushpu, but could not take the well-fortified city. Urartu suffered so much damage that they could no longer even think of a retaliatory strike for many years. In an effort to seize control over trade routes and sources of raw materials, Tiglatpalasar turned his gaze towards the Kingdom of Judah, and then Damascus, the most important strategic and trading point in Central Syria. Taking advantage of the struggle of the warring factions in Babylonia, he managed to subdue her to his power and reign under the name of Pula.

The policy of conquest of Tiglathpalasar III was continued by his youngest son, Sargon II (722–705 BC). The military nobility, which constituted the support of the tsar, was vitally interested in military campaigns. Endless wars were a constant source of enrichment, since it was the nobility who got the lion's share of the spoils captured from the enemy. At the same time, the conquered areas had to be kept in constant fear, and the Assyrians achieved this with systematic repeated military raids. In addition, the stay of the army in inaction could lead to its decay - the Assyrian army retained its combat effectiveness only in action, and the country could not contain such a huge number of inactive soldiers. At the very beginning of his reign, Sargon II decided to conquer the kingdom of Israel. The Assyrians won an impressive victory, capturing the capital of Israel, Samaria, and resettling about 30,000 people from there. In the eighth year of his reign, after careful preparation and a series of successful military campaigns, he sent to the north against Urartu. Urartu, weakened by internal strife, failed to organize an effective defense. Moreover, Sargon's blow was unexpected. Thanks to good reconnaissance, the Assyrian troops went around the narrow mountain paths through the forests. Sargon swept through the whole country Urartu, "like a grinning dog", sowing destruction and death on his way, leveling cities to the ground, cutting down gardens and vineyards, burning bread at the root. But the capital of Urartu - Tushpu, remembering the previous unsuccessful siege, he bypassed. He managed to capture and destroy the sacred city of Urartu Musasir, where the sanctuary of the main god Khald was located.

“By the onslaught of my strong weapon, I climbed into the fortress, plundered its wealth and ordered to transfer everything to my camp. Its strong walls, eight cubits thick, I took down and leveled to the ground. I set them on fire inside the fortress. I lit one hundred and thirty villages around like bonfires, and with their smoke, like fog, I covered the face of heaven. I opened the full barns, and I fed my army with barley without counting. I sent my cattle into the meadows like swarms of locusts. They pulled out its grass and devastated the fields ”, - this is how Sargon II described the campaign to Urartu. Capturing colossal booty, Sargon returned home. Having defeated Urartu, he completed the work begun by his father. From that time on, the Urartian kings never again dared to enter into conflicts with Assyria. Moreover, the rulers of Urartu sent rich gifts to the Assyrian capital, and subsequently peaceful relations were established between the kingdoms. Sargon's subsequent conquests were associated with Palestine and Phenicia.

During the reigns of Tiglathpalasar III and Sargon II, Assyria turned into a powerful military empire, occupying the territory "from the Upper Sea, where the sun sets, to the Lower Sea, where the sun rises." Almost all of Western Asia, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, was under the rule of the Assyrian kings. They even managed to subdue Egypt for a short time. Having ruined and devastated the conquered countries, the Assyrians imposed a tribute on the conquered population, which they themselves considered heavy.

Tiglathpalasar III, like other Assyrian rulers, was well aware of the value of information about enemies and generously paid for it in hard currency. Information about anything suspicious, about conspiracies or uprisings in remote provinces, was collected and delivered by merchants or special agents.

The construction of powerful fortresses consolidated military successes and testified to the power of the Assyrian kings. The cities were connected by good roads paved with stones. Road construction technology was borrowed from the Assyrians, first by the Persians and then by the Romans. The roads were guarded by armed guards, at certain distances there were signs on the roads. Wells were dug along the roads that ran through the desert and fortified outposts stood. Assyrian craftsmen built strong bridges across rivers and gorges. So, the Greek historian Herodotus reported that the Assyrians built a bridge in Babylonia from rough stones, which was fastened with iron and lead.

Assyrian cities were fortresses with strong walls and defensive towers, surrounded by moats. The walls of the ancient city of Ashur were made of adobe bricks, their height reached 18 m, and the thickness - 6 m. The battlements were faced with blue bricks with a yellow border. Tall towers were erected every 20 m. Fortified gates-bastions led to the city. The central place in the Assyrian city was occupied by the royal palace, which was built on a high platform and resembled a fortress. The royal palaces of Nimrud, Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad in Iraq) and Nineveh were distinguished by special splendor and splendor. They were built and decorated by thousands of skilled craftsmen, captive artisans driven from different countries. The architects carefully thought out the plan of the palace to the smallest detail.

“I built a city at the foot of a mountain on the Nineveh road and gave it the name Dur-Sharrukin,” - this is how King Sargon II reported in one of the inscriptions. The center of the city was a majestic palace, erected on a specially constructed artificial terrace of adobe bricks 14 m high. The thick walls of the palace were also built of bricks made of sun-dried clay, and then faced with stone. The height of the walls reached 18 m. There were ramps from both sides to the pompous main entrance to the palace, which was located in the southeast. It was guarded by six huge figures of winged bulls with the heads of warriors - I am walking. The head of the shedu was crowned with a tiara with stars, at the top of the crown it was decorated with feathers, and on the sides - a pair of horns. The face of the creature, framed by long hair, was very expressive: thick overhanging eyebrows, a well-defined nose, piercing eyes. It had five legs, located in such a way that if you look at it from the front, it seemed that I was walking, and in the lateral projection, the beast seemed to move, spreading its powerful wings. Between the hind legs of the shedu was a slab with a carved warning to any ruler who was planning evil. There were eight gates in total.

And day and night, the guards who stood there guarded the king's peace. The one entering the palace passed the formidable shedu and saw giant sculptures depicting Gilgamesh - the hero of the Sumerian epic - and his friend Enkidu. In one hand, the hero had a short curved sword, and in the other he held the paw of a slain lion. It seemed that Gilgamesh, without looking up, was looking straight into the eyes. The palace had 210 luxuriously decorated rooms and thirty courtyards where trees, plants and flowers, brought from different countries, grew. It was possible to get lost in these countless courtyards and endless covered corridors. The largest was the entrance courtyard, where ceremonial reviews and gatherings were held before military campaigns. The walls of the palace were lined with large stone slabs with painted reliefs and paintings, telling about the military exploits of King Sargon, praising his power and deeds, as well as pictures of court life and hunting, a favorite pastime of the Assyrians. On the magnificent bas-reliefs, proudly erect, the kings and their entourage stood, chariots rushed madly in a dangerous hunt for lions, the hunters caught up with their prey, blood flowed.

War scenes were also favorite subjects: the destruction of the conquered cities, the humiliation of captured prisoners, the piling up of pyramids from the severed heads of the conquered. War, hunting, maximum exertion of forces - these are the ideals of the life of the Assyrian. The walls of the two ceremonial halls of the palace were decorated with cuneiform texts - the annals of the victorious campaigns of Sargon II. The palace also had running water and luxurious bathrooms with sewerage.

I am walking in the art of Mesopotamia and Iran - the image of a guardian genius in the form of a winged bull or a lion with a human head. They were usually installed on the sides of the city gates or passages to the palace. Since they combined the qualities of man, animal and bird, it was believed that they were a powerful means of protection from enemies.

In addition to the ceremonial halls and office premises, the palace complex included a ziggurat temple, it was made in the form of a huge quadrangular tower. The temple rose up in seven stepped tiers, each six meters high, and the total height of the temple was 42 meters. Each floor was dedicated to a deity and painted in its own color: white, black, red, blue, orange, silver and golden-red.

The upper platform of the tower was gilded. A spiral ramp led to the top of the temple. The fortified wall of the city faced the plain, every 27 m it was crowned with square towers, which dominated it with their jagged tops and formed protrusions of 4 m.The height of the wall above ground level was 20 m, and its width was so great that along the road, passing along it around the entire city, chariots could move in seven rows without touching each other.

No less magnificent was the palace of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, a city that rivaled Babylon for the wealth and splendor of its palaces and temples. Nineveh - the new capital, erected during the reigns of Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal under the snapping of scourges by tens of thousands of prisoners - became a symbol of the great Assyrian empire. "The city of a lion, a lioness and a lion cub" - this is how the biblical prophet Nahum called Nineveh, which made the nations fearful. The city was defended by a powerful wall about 12 km long, about which they said: "The one that throws away enemies with its terrible radiance." The wall rested on a strong foundation of four slabs, and was forty bricks (10 m) wide and one hundred bricks (24 m) high. Fifteen gates led to the city. A deep ditch 42 m wide was dug along the wall, and a magnificent stone bridge was thrown across the ditch near the Garden Gate - "a real miracle of architecture of that time." An external fortress wall with fortified forts was also built in front of the moat.

The layout of Nineveh was different from that of most cities at the time. The central streets were straight, covered with asphalt or paved slabs. The width of the central street, called the Royal Road, was 26 meters. “I rebuilt the ancient streets, expanded those that were too narrow, and made the city as shiny as the sun itself,” wrote the Assyrian king Sennacherib. It was a huge city with about 170,000 inhabitants.

Contemporaries noted that the palaces of Nineveh surpassed everything that existed before that time; there was collected all the luxury of the East, and "the towers and walls of the city were covered with skin, ripped from the defeated enemies, at the eastern gate of the city in cages on a dog chain sat the captive kings and pounded the bones of their ancestors dug from the graves in mortars." On the walls of Sennacherib's palace, one could see relief images of Assyrian warriors storming enemy fortresses or crossing rivers, walking lines of captured prisoners, as well as slaves engaged in construction. Ashurbanipal's palace was decorated mainly with hunting scenes. The king commanded that the hunt for lions be imprinted in the stone and show everyone his courage and strength: an angry lion is released from the cage, Ashurbanipal wounds him with an arrow, and then pierces him with a sword; but the king with four slain lions stands in front of the altar. The inscription on the relief said that Ashurbanipal was "the king of the Universe, the king of Assyria" and the gods "rewarded him with tremendous power." With exceptional likelihood and brightness, the Assyrian reliefs depicted perishing lions. The depictions of these animals are very naturalistic, and their postures are natural and expressive. Some images of the Assyrian kings have also survived to our time - they are full of a sense of power and greatness.

“I planted all kinds of herbs, fruit and other trees from among those that grow in Chaldea around the palace. I divided the public lands outside the city and distributed them to the people of Nineveh for fruit orchards. In order for these gardens to grow beautifully, I ordered to dig a channel with iron picks from the city of Kizir to the plain near Nineveh and directed the water through the mountains and lowlands. I made the eternal waters of Khosr flow into the irrigation canals dug in these gardens ... ”- this is how Sennacherib described the construction of Nineveh.

During the excavations of the Ashurbanipal palace, hundreds of thousands of clay tablets were found inscribed with wedge-shaped signs. It was a huge library, handpicked with great care and skill.

Empire decline

Ashurbanipal (669–626 BC), preparing for priestly activity, was a very intelligent and educated person. He spoke several languages, knew how to write and even possessed a literary talent, we owe him the creation of the world's first library.

By order of the king, scribes made copies of books stored in various libraries in the ancient cities of Mesopotamia. It was the first systematically selected library in the world, it contained hundreds of clay books, arranged in a certain order by topic, each stamped with the stamp "Palace of Ashurbanapal, king of the universe, king of Assyria." The scribes also compiled catalogs - lists in which the names of the books and the number of lines in each clay tablet were indicated. Many books were presented in the library in several copies. Thanks to this library, legends and legends, historical legends, as well as scientific knowledge of the inhabitants of Ancient Mesopotamia have survived to our time. The library contained essays on astronomy and mathematics, geographical maps and reference books with the names of countries, cities and rivers, works on medicine and collections of grammatical examples and exercises.

Twelve clay tablets were found in the library of Ashurbanipal, on which was written a wonderful work in verse - "The Epic of the Hero Gilgamesh." Unfortunately, not all tablets have survived to this day. The epic appeared in Sumer around 2400 BC. e., and was subsequently translated into Akkadian. It was passed from mouth to mouth and was recorded in the 1st millennium BC. NS.

The library also kept the chronicles of the Assyrian kings, telling about the numerous campaigns of conquest. A lot of valuable information about the language, history, science, life, customs and laws of the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia has been preserved for us by this clay library. After becoming king, Ashurbanipal had to conquer Egypt again, which was captured at that time by the Ethiopian king, with whom the Egyptian nomarchs had a secret relationship. The conspiracy was discovered, the instigators were arrested, but the king for the first time did not execute the rebels, but used the tactics of a carrot and stick. He pardoned them, richly endowed them, and reappointed them as rulers of their provinces. But this policy did not fully justify itself: Ashurbanipal had to face uprisings in Egypt twice more. And if he managed to successfully cope with the first and he even destroyed and robbed Thebes, capturing huge booty there, then the second uprising, about 655 BC. e., led to the complete liberation of Egypt from Assyrian rule. Thus, Egypt was lost irretrievably: it was too far from the empire of Ashurbanapal, and to retain power over it, enormous forces were required, which Assyria no longer had. Ashurbanipal was forced to come to terms with the loss of this richest country.

But it was not only Egypt that was restless. Ashurbanipal had to repeatedly lead his troops to Elam and other provinces. After his death, the final fall of Assyria began. The successors of Ashurbanipal were unable to take any effective measures against the collapse of the Assyrian military power, and incessant civil wars depleted the strength of the state. The former rivals, Babylonia and Media, concluded an alliance and surrounded their weakened enemy from the east and south. The ancient city of Ashur was taken by storm, it was plundered and razed to the ground.

The Bible mentions Nineveh several times, and many prophecies predicted its destruction: that it would become desolate and dry, like a desert, because it has always been a city of blood, robbery, deceit and murder. Even during the life of King Ashurbanapal, the troops of the Median king Fraort tried to take Nineveh by storm, but then the city withstood all the attacks of the enemy.

Two years later, a similar fate befell Nineveh, despite the fierce resistance of the Assyrian army and numerous counterattacks. Enemies destroyed a dam on the river flowing through the city, and a powerful stream of water broke a huge gap in the fortress wall. The Babylonian and Median troops rushed into the resulting ravine. The beautiful royal palaces, temples and residential buildings were turned into heaps of ruins. Nineveh died in a fire that broke out, and the famous library was destroyed. The death of the "city of blood", as the enemies called Nineveh, caused general rejoicing throughout the Ancient East. The Bible gives a colorful description of the death of Nineveh. "Your shepherds are sleeping, King Ashura, your knights rest, your people are scattered over the mountains and there is no one to gather them." The destruction was such that the city was never revived again, turning into a mound.

Only Egypt did not rejoice, realizing that now it was necessary to be afraid not of the bleeding Assyria, but of Babylonia and Media that had defeated it. This is why Egypt even gave aid to its former enemies.

After the fall of Nineveh, the remnants of the Assyrian army retreated to the northwest and even fortified in the region of Harran-Karkemysh. However, the days of the Assyrian Empire were already numbered. In 605 BC. NS. Babylonian troops in the battle of Karkemysh utterly defeated the combined forces of the Assyrians and Egyptians. The Assyrian state ceased to exist forever.

Assyria is an ancient civilization that originated on the territory of the "Fertile Crescent" or, more simply, Mesopotamia. Assyria has existed as an independent state for two thousand years.

History of Ancient Assyria

Assyria begins its existence from the XXIV century BC. NS. and exists until the end of the 7th century BC. NS.

History is divided into three periods:

• the Old Assyrian period (XXIV - XVI centuries BC);
• Middle Assyrian (XV - XI centuries BC);
• New Assyrian (X-VII centuries BC).

History of Ancient Assyria: Old Assyrian Period

At this time, the Assyrians founded the city of Ashur, which became their capital, and their state was also called. The country was mainly engaged in trade, since Ashur was located on important trade routes.
Historians know very little about this period, and Assyria itself did not exist as such, and Ashur was part of Akkad. In the XVIII Babylon was conquered by Ashur.

Middle Assyrian period

During this period, Assyria finally gains independence and pursues an active foreign policy, aimed at capturing the territories of Northern Mesopotamia.
In the middle of the 15th century, Assyria is freed from the encroachments of the Mitanni. Already in the XIII century, Assyria as an empire was fully formed. In the XIV - XIII centuries. waging wars with the Hittites and Babylon. In the XII century, the decline of the empire began, however, when Tiglatpalasar I (1114 - 1076 BC) came to power, the flourishing began again.
In the 10th century, the invasion of the Aramean nomads begins, which led to the decline of Assyria.

New Assyrian period

It only starts when she manages to recover from the invasion of the Arameans. In the 8th century, the Assyrians founded the world's first empire, which lasts until the end of the 7th century. This period was the golden age of Assyria. The newly created empire breaks Urartu, conquers Israel, Lydia, Media. However, after the death of the last great king Ashurbanipal, the great empire could not withstand the onslaught of Babylon and the Medes. Divided between Babylon and Media, it ceases to exist.

Capital of Ancient Assyria

The capital of Assyria was. It begins its existence since the 5th millennium BC. e., in the VIII century. BC NS. - for the times of Ashurbanipal. This time is considered to be the heyday of Nineveh. The capital was a fortress with an area of ​​more than 700 hectares. Interestingly, the walls were 20 meters high! It is impossible to say for sure about the population size. During the excavations, the Ashurbanapala palace was found, on the walls of which scenes of hunting were depicted. The city was also decorated with statues of winged bulls and lions.