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The Assyrian Empire was the world’s first great empireand the first nation to make warfare and militarism acentral facet of its foreign and domestic policies. A forceto be reckoned with for over seven centuries, the Assyr-ian Empire experienced many ups and downs, attainingits greatest heights of power and dominance during theninth through the seventh centuries BCE before implod-ing spectacularly, perishing under the booted heel ofvengeful conquerors in 612 BCE.

The traditional heartland of Assyria was centered onthe Tigris River in what is now northern Iraq. Borderedby the expansionist Hittite Empire to the west and theBabylonians to the south, and constantly harried bynomadic tribes to the north and east, Assyria developeda militaristic culture early on.

The Assyrians took a unique approach to warfare.While other armies of the day traditionally gave preemi-nence to the swift chariot, the Assyrians deployed heavilyarmored infantry and ingenious siege engines. Off thebattlefield, they relied on a combination of doggednessand intimidation, becoming masters of psychologicalwarfare.

Assyria enjoyed two distinct periods of regionaldominance. The first period, often referred to as theMiddle Assyrian period, lasted from roughly 1350 to1200 BCE During this time, Assyria conquered its neigh-bors, clashed with the Hittites, and annexed the ancientkingdom of Babylon.

In the wake of the collapse of the Hittite Empire,Assyrian ruler Tiglath-Pileser I (1115–1077 BCE) inaug-urated a new period of expansionism that saw the Assyr-ians extend their empire to the Mediterranean coast. Asuccession of weak rulers temporarily stalled the Assyrianwar machine, but by the reign of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BCE), the Assyrians were aggressively expanding

their empire in every direction. They would continueto do so as a matter of policy for the next two centuriesduring a period commonly called the Neo-AssyrianEmpire.

That period also marks the full flowering of twovastly different aspects of the Assyrian culture. On theone hand, the infamous tools of Assyrian psychologicalwarfare were perfected: the deportations, mass behead-ings, and gruesome atrocities, all meant to send a mes-sage to those who would oppose the empire’s will. Onthe other hand, Assyrian art, architecture, and learningall reached new heights during the Neo-Assyrian period.

Although known for their warlike society, Assyriansput great emphasis on piety and record keeping. Muchof our understanding of Babylonian mythology comesfrom Assyrian records. Additionally, Assyrians were wellknown for their grand palaces and feats of engineering:aqueducts and canals watered the capital at Nineveh andthe Assyrians were the first to lay a system of paved roadsacross the Near East to facilitate travel and administra-tion (as well as warfare), a system that served laterempires well.

Despite all these triumphs, Babylon remained athorn in the Assyrians’ side; the Babylonians had neveraccepted foreign rule. After trying a variety of solutions,in 689 BCE the Assyrians finally razed the ancient city ofBabylon. It was an extreme measure, even in thoseextreme times, and Babylon was soon allowed to rebuild.

It was a resurgent Babylon that would lead an alliedarmy against Assyria, sacking the capital of Nineveh(across the river from modern-day Mosul, Iraq) in 612BCE and bringing a sudden end to what was once themost powerful empire on Earth. The Assyrians builttheir power on a foundation of terror and retribution,and that is what led directly to their downfall.

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iMajor FiguresKing Ahab of IsraelAhab (birth and death dates unknown), king of Israel inthe middle of the ninth century BCE, is perhaps bestremembered for the Biblical account of his marriage tothe Phoenician princess Jezebel and the bloody revolu-tion that eventually resulted from that union. But in hisown time, the people of the Near East primarily knewhim as one of the twelve allied generals who checked,albeit briefly, the relentless advance of the Assyrian warmachine at the Battle of Qarqar.

The Political Climate in Ahab’s Time At the timeof Ahab’s rule, the ancient Hebrew tribes were split intotwo kingdoms. Ahab ruled Israel, the ‘‘Northern King-dom,’’ which was centered on Samaria, a hilltop citychosen by Ahab’s father Omri as the new capital.

Throughout its turbulent history, the NorthernKingdom saw the passage of many ‘‘dynasties,’’ manyof which only lasted as long as the kingship of one ortwo kings—in the case of the House of Zimri, all ofseven days! Ahab had the fortune to be the son of thefounder of one of Israel’s more successful dynasties.

During Ahab’s life, Israel became a player on theinternational scene, garnering mention in contemporaryAssyrian documents. With its increased recognition camewealth, particularly after Ahab cemented an alliancethrough marriage with the rich Phoenician city-state ofTyre on the Mediterranean coast. The economic con-nection to Phoenicia’s vast mercantile empire broughtfabulous wealth to Samaria. It also brought a religiousinfluence that would eventually spell the doom of theHouse of Omri.

While Ahab was honoring his wife by constructing atemple to the Ba’al (‘‘lord’’) of Tyre, most likely the godMelkart, he was also busy shoring up good relations withhis many neighbors. The region known as the Levantthat today encompasses Israel, the Palestinian territories,Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan was in Ahab’s day a patch-

work of small kingdoms and city-states. These states hadarisen after the fall of the Hittite Empire had left a powervacuum in the region, and they spent most of their timewarring with each other.

The most powerful city-state in the region wasDamascus, and it was with Damascus that Israel hadthe most strained relations. Nevertheless, the bickeringstates had enough of a sense of self-preservation to bandtogether in the face of the approaching Assyrians, whoseempire was swiftly overshadowing the region.

AssyriaontheMove TheAssyrianheartland is inmodern-day northern Iraq and was in ancient times surroundedby more powerful nations. Initially as a method of self-preservation, the Assyrians developed the most warlikeculture yet seen and began conquering their neighbors.Soon self-preservation turned to greed, and conquest, nolonger defensively motivated, became a state policy. By themiddle of the ninth century, the Assyrians, who were justentering into their last and greatest phase (the so-calledNeo-Assyrian Empire) under Shalmaneser III, had turnedtheir gaze to the fractured Levant.

In one of the earliest examples of psychologicalwarfare and propaganda, Assyria had consciously built areputation for brutality and cruelty, knowing that a fear-some reputation would more often than not compelpotential resisters to surrender without a fight. Ofcourse, this approach can backfire and inspire one’s ene-mies to band together and put up a fierce fight ratherthan submit—and this is precisely what happened asShalmaneser marched his armies into Syria.

Ahab and the Battle of Qarqar Strangely, the OldTestament is silent on Israel’s participation in the alli-ance and ensuing battle. Our chief source is an Assyrianstele (carved stone monument) that provides detailedlists of the twelve allied armies that stood against theAssyrians at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE

It would appear that Damascus was the leader of thealliance, but Ahab provided a sizeable contribution of

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troops, about half as many as Damascus. The battle tookplace near the town of Qarqar on the Orontes River inmodern-day Syria. Although the stele makes a claim thatthe Assyrians emerged victorious, their advance wasapparently checked.

It would be another decade before Assyria was ableto lay siege to Damascus and begin raiding Israel proper.By that time the alliance of Qarqar had long since dis-integrated and the Assyrians soon added the dividedcity-states of Syria to their growing empire. Israel wasnext in the line of conquest.

Ahab’s Legacy Ahab was long gone by the time Assy-ria took Israel. He probably died only a few years afterQarqar and was succeeded by his son Ahaziah. TheHouse of Omri disintegrated as the foreign influence,both religious and political, of Ahab’s widow Jezebelinspired a bloody revolution led by Jehu, a captain inthe Israelite army. Ahab’s children were beheaded, Jez-ebel murdered. Ahab’s line was extinguished.

Tiglath-Pileser IIITiglath-Pileser III (ruled 745–727 BCE) is widelyregarded as one of the greatest kings in the centuries-long history of the Assyrian empire. His reign marks ahigh point for the so-called Neo-Assyrian Empire, bothmilitarily and culturally. Under his leadership Assyriafinally defeated the Kingdom of Urartu, their longtimeenemy. More importantly, Tiglath-Pileser III reformedAssyria’s imperial administration and is the king mostlikely responsible for creating a network of paved roadsand messengers, a network that would outlive the Assyr-ian Empire by many centuries.

Rise to Power Historians are unsure of Tiglath-Piles-er’s exact birth date. He came to power in 745 BCE,

apparently as a result of a palace coup that overthrew

the previous king, Ashur-Nirari V. It is also likely that he

took the name Tiglath-Pileser when he ascended to the

throne, a common practice in the Assyrian monarchy.

Detail from an Assyrian stele depicting Jehu of Israel paying tribute to King Shalmaneser III. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

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He is also referred to in the Old Testament as Pul, whichmight have been the name he took when he assumedpersonal kingship over Babylonia in 729 BCE.

Babylonia Although the Assyriansnumbered the ancientstate of Babylonia as one of their first conquests, theirsouthern cousins were never comfortable with Assyrianrule. Because of close linguistic and cultural ties, as well asthe capital city Babylon’s status as a holy place, Assyriankings were reluctant to deal with the periodic Babylonianrevolts in their customarily harsh manner.

When Tiglath-Pileser III assumed the Assyriancrown, Babylonia had been operating in a state of nearanarchy for some fifty years. One of the new king’s firstacts was to take an army south, restore order, and install anew governor. Babylonia was pacified for the time being.

War with Urartu Urartu, also known as the King-dom of Van, was centered in modern-day Armenia. Ithad been steadily expanding, taking advantage of a seriesof weak Assyrian kings and annexing the city-states ofSyria. This southern expansion had cut off Assyria’saccess to the iron mines of Anatolia (modern Turkey).Tiglath-Pileser III prepared an expedition to win backthe lost Assyrian territories and finally put an end to histroublesome northern neighbor.

The Assyrians defeated Sarduris, King of Urartu,and his Syrian allies in 742 BCE and the flow of iron fromthe west was restored. Tiglath-Pileser extracted tributefrom the Phoenician city-states of Tyre and Byblos, richmercantile cities on the Mediterranean coast, and fromIsrael.

Military Intervention in Judah It was to the Hebrewkingdoms that Tiglath-Pileser next turned his attention.Ever since the death of Solomon in the middle of the tenthcentury, there had been two kingdoms: Israel in the northand Judah in the south. Israel was by far the dominant oneof the pair, enjoying sea access, a lucrative trade relation-ship with the Phoenicians, and strategic placement onnorth-south and east-west trade routes.

Judah, landlocked and with a smaller population andless arable land, was poor and often turned to its morepowerful neighbors for protection. In 734 BCE, King Ahazof Judah was feeling sufficiently put-upon by both Israeland the great Syrian city-state of Damascus to appeal toTiglath-Pileser III for help. The Assyrian king was only toohappy to oblige and marched his armies, fresh from theirvictory over Sarduris, south.

King Pekah of Israel, knowing he could not standup to the might of Assyria, submitted quickly, but Dam-ascus shut its gates and prepared for a siege. Despitetheir mastery of siegecraft, it took the Assyrians twoyears to take the city. When they did, in 732 BCE, theysubjected the city to the usual round of atrocities that layin store for any town that dared oppose Assyria. Dam-ascus was ruined, its independence lost for centuries tocome.

Invasion of Urartu With his campaigns in the westwrapped up, Tiglath-Pileser III turned his attention backto Urartu. Although it had lost its southern possessions,the Kingdom of Van still posed a real threat to Assyrianinterests. The king led his army into the mountainousnorth, looting and ravaging the countryside. SomeAssyrians may have marched as far north as the CaspianSea, bringing ruin in their wake as the main forcebesieged the capital-fortress at Van.

Van never did fall to the Assyrians, but the damagewas done. The depredations of the invaders caused amajor disruption from which Urartu would neverrecover. Assyria’s northern border was finally secure.

Innovations in the Infrastructure After so many yearsof campaigning, Tiglath-Pileser III apparently felt it nec-essary to turn his attention to the upkeep of his vastempire, and he did this ably. Ancient roads were oftenlittle better than footpaths, making overland travel slowand difficult. Tiglath-Pileser saw that a speedy and reli-able system of roads would make administration mucheasier and ordered the construction of a network of royalroads, wide lanes paved with limestone.

To this network Tiglath-Pileser added a system ofmessengers who operated in relays, much like the PonyExpress of the Old West. Travel time throughout theempire improved dramatically, and messages could beconveyed to their destinations in days instead of weeks.

This system worked so well that it actually outlivedthe Assyrian Empire itself, which fell in 612 BCE The laterempires of the Near East—the Neo-Babylonians, thePersians, the Macedonian successor states—would con-tinue to use, expand, and improve upon the systemdeveloped by Tiglath-Pileser III.

Babylonia Revisited The reign of Tiglath-Pileser IIIbegan with trouble in Babylonia and ended the sameway. In the 730s BCE, a local usurper named Ukin-zerseized the Babylonian throne and incited an uprisingagainst Assyria. Tiglath-Pileser led his army south onemore time and put down the revolt with great severity.

At this point, the Assyrians had tried a variety ofsolutions to placate the restive Babylonians, such asinstalling local governors and puppet kings, using gov-ernment-appointed eunuch viceroys, and so forth.Tiglath-Pileser decided on a new strategy: he had himselfcrowned King of Babylonia and Assyria, uniting the twothrones for the first time in history.

Ultimately this solution would not work any betterthan any of the others and Babylonia would continue tobe a thorn in Assyria’s side, but Tiglath-Pileser III wouldnot be around to see the failure of his last innovation.He died in 727 BCE, two years after taking the Babylo-nian crown.

Sargon IIThe reign of Sargon II (?–705 BCE), king of Assyria from722 BCE to his death in 705 BCE, marked a continuation

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of the growing power of the resurgent Neo-AssyrianEmpire. Sargon II’s reign looms large in Biblical history,as it marks the end of the ancient Kingdom of Israel andthe origin of the tale of the ‘‘Ten Lost Tribes.’’

Sargon the Usurper All indications point to Sargon IIcoming to power through a coup, usurping the power ofKing Shalmanassar V in 722 BCE A close examination ofthe evidence further indicates that Sargon was mostlikely not of royal blood, or even a palace insider.

Sargon II, lacking the proper royal pedigree, tried toestablish his legitimacy in other ways, starting with thename ‘‘Sargon,’’ which literally means ‘‘legitimate king’’and was the name of the first great Mesopotamianempire builder, a Sumerian who conquered vast swathsof land sixteen hundred years before.

About a decade into his reign, Sargon II even wentso far as to build his own capital city, most likely to get

away from the entrenched political factions in the tradi-tional capital of Ashur. Dur-Sharrukin (or ‘‘Fort Sar-gon’’), also called Khorsabad, not only became Sargon’srefuge but a source of national prestige as well.

Dur-Sharrukin was dominated by the royal palace, amagnificent structure of brick, wood, precious stonesand metals, and ivory. The city also featured a magnifi-cent park filled with exotic trees and a variety of templesdedicated to different Assyrian gods. To populate thecity, Sargon relocated subjects from around the empire,particularly from recently conquered lands, a commonpractice in ancient Assyria.

The Destruction of Israel It was this practice of depor-tation and resettlement that sealed the fate of the north-ern Kingdom of Israel and the ten Hebrew tribeswho lived within its borders. Although the Old Testa-ment attributes the destruction of Israel to Sargon’s

A winged bull from from Nimrud, Assyria. Public Domain

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