Statue of Ashurnazirpal. London. British Museum

The activities of Ashurnazirpal were continued by Shalmaneser III, who reigned in the second half of the 9th century. BC e. During his 35-year reign, he made 32 campaigns. Like all Assyrian kings, Shalmaneser III had to fight on all the borders of his state. In the west, Shalmaneser conquered Bit Adin with the goal of completely subjugating the entire Euphrates valley down to Babylon. Moving further north, Shalmaneser met stubborn resistance from Damascus, which managed to rally quite significant forces of the Syrian principalities around itself. At the Battle of Karkar in 854, Shalmaneser won a major victory over the Syrian troops, but was unable to realize the fruits of his victory, since the Assyrians themselves suffered during this battle big damage. Somewhat later, Shalmaneser again marched against Damascus with a huge 120,000-strong army, but still could not achieve a decisive victory over Damascus. However, Assyria managed to significantly weaken Damascus and divide the forces of the Syrian coalition. Israel, Tire and Sidon submitted to the Assyrian king and sent him tribute. Even the Egyptian pharaoh recognized the power of Assyria, sending him a gift of two camels, a hippopotamus and other strange animals. Greater successes befell Assyria in its fight against Babylon. Shalmaneser III made a devastating campaign in Babylonia and even reached the swampy regions of the Maritime Country off the coast of the Persian Gulf, conquering all of Babylonia. Assyria and the northern tribes of Urartu had to wage a stubborn struggle. Here the Assyrian king and his generals had to fight in difficult mountain conditions with the strong troops of the Urartian king Sardur. Although Assyrian troops invaded Urartu, they were still unable to defeat this state, and Assyria itself was forced to restrain the pressure of the Urartu people. An external expression of the increased military power of the Assyrian state and its desire to carry out a policy of conquest is the famous black obelisk of Shalmaneser III, which depicts ambassadors of foreign countries from all four corners of the world, bringing tribute to the Assyrian king. The remains of the temple built by Shalmaneser III in the ancient capital of Ashur, as well as the remains of the fortifications of this city, have been preserved, indicating a significant increase in fortress construction technology during the era of the rise of Assyria, which claimed a leading role in Western Asia. However, Assyria did not retain its predominant position for long. The strengthened Urartian state became a formidable rival to Assyria. The Assyrian kings failed to conquer Urartu. Moreover, the Urartian kings sometimes won victories over the Assyrians. Thanks to their victorious campaigns, the Urartian kings managed to cut off Assyria from Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Northern Syria, which dealt a heavy blow and damage to Assyrian trade with these countries and had a heavy impact on the economic life of the country. All this led to the decline of the Assyrian state, which lasted for almost a whole century. Assyria was forced to cede its dominant position in the northern part of Western Asia to the state of Urartu.

In the middle of the 8th century. BC, e. Assyria is growing stronger again. Tiglath-pileser III (745–727) again resumes the traditional aggressive policy of his predecessors during the period of the first and second rise of Assyria. The new strengthening of Assyria led to the formation of the great Assyrian power, which claimed to unite the entire ancient Eastern world within the framework of a single world despotism. This new flowering of Assyria's military power is explained by the development of the country's productive forces, which required the development of foreign trade, the seizure of sources of raw materials, markets, the protection of trade routes, the seizure of booty and mainly the main workforce - slaves.

During this period, cattle breeding was still of great importance in the economic life of the Assyrians. The camel is added to those types of domestic animals that were domesticated in the previous period. Bactrian camels appeared in Assyria already under Tiglath-pileser I and Shalmaneser III. But camels, in particular one-humped camels, appeared in large numbers only from the time of Tiglath-pileser IV. The Assyrian kings brought camels in large numbers from Arabia. Ashurbanipal captured such a large number of camels during his campaign in Arabia that the price for them fell in Assyria from 1 2/3 mina to 1/2 shekel (4 grams of silver). Camels in Assyria were widely used as beasts of burden during military campaigns and trade expeditions, especially when crossing waterless, dry steppes and deserts. From Assyria, domestic camels spread to Iran and Central Asia.

Along with grain farming, garden farming has received widespread development. The presence of large gardens, which were apparently under the jurisdiction of the royal palace, is indicated by surviving images and inscriptions. Thus, near one of the royal palaces, “a large garden was laid out, similar to the gardens of the Aman Mountains, in which various varieties of vegetables and fruit trees grow, plants originating from the mountains and from Chaldea.” In these gardens, not only local fruit trees were cultivated, but also rare varieties of imported plants, such as olives. Gardens were laid out around Nineveh in which they tried to acclimatize foreign plants, in particular the myrrh tree. Valuable species of useful plants and trees were grown in special nurseries. We know that the Assyrians tried to acclimatize a “wool-bearing tree,” apparently cotton, which had been brought from the south, perhaps India. Along with this, attempts were made to artificially acclimatize various valuable grape varieties from mountainous regions. Excavations discovered in the city of Ashur the remains of a large garden, laid out by order of Sennacherib. The garden was laid out on an area of ​​16 thousand square meters. m. covered with an artificial earthen embankment. Holes were punched in the rock, which were connected by artificial canal beds. Images of smaller privately owned gardens, usually surrounded by a clay wall, have also survived.

Artificial irrigation did not have such enormous importance in Assyria as in Egypt or in the southern Mesopotamia. However, artificial irrigation was also used in Assyria. Images of water drawers (shaduf) have been preserved, which became especially widespread under Sennacherib. Sennacherib and Esarhaddon built a number of large canals in order “to widely supply the country with grain and sesame.”

Along with agriculture, crafts have achieved significant development. The production of opaque glass paste, glassy faience and tiles or tiles covered with variegated, multi-color enamel has become widespread. These tiles were usually used to decorate the walls and gates of large buildings, palaces and temples. With the help of these tiles in Assyria they created beautiful multi-colored ornamentation of buildings, the technique of which was later borrowed by the Persians, and from Persia passed on to Central Asia< где и сохранилась до настоящего времени. Ворота дворца Саргона II роскошно украшены изображениями «гениев плодородия» и розеточным орнаментом, а стены - не менее роскошными изображениями символического характера: изображениями льва, ворона, быка, смоковницы и плуга. Наряду с техникой изготовления стеклянной пасты ассирийцам было известно прозрачное выдувное стекло, на что указывает найденная стеклянная ваза с именем Саргона II.

The presence of stone contributed to the development of stone cutting and stone cutting. Limestone was mined in large quantities near Nineveh, which was used to make monolithic statues depicting geniuses - patrons of the king and the royal palace. The Assyrians brought other types of stone needed for buildings, as well as various precious stones from neighboring countries.

Metallurgy reached particularly wide development and technical perfection in Assyria. Excavations in Nineveh have shown that in the 9th century. BC e. iron was already used along with copper. In the palace of Sargon II in Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad) a huge warehouse was found with a large number of iron products: hammers, hoes, shovels, plowshares, plows, chains, bits, hooks, rings, etc. Obviously, in this era in technology there was a transition from bronze to iron. High technical perfection is indicated by beautifully crafted weights in the shape of lions, bronze pieces of artistic furniture and candelabra, as well as luxurious jewelry made of gold.

The growth of productive forces caused further development foreign and domestic trade. A wide variety of goods were brought to Assyria from a number of foreign countries. Tiglath-pileser III received incense from Damascus. Under Sennacherib, the reeds needed for buildings were obtained from coastal Chaldea; lapis lazuli, highly valued in those days, was brought from Media; Various precious stones were brought from Arabia, and ivory and other goods were brought from Egypt. In the palace of Sennacherib, pieces of clay were found with impressions of Egyptian and Hittite seals, which were used to seal parcels.

In Assyria, the most important trade routes crossed, connecting various countries and regions of Western Asia. The Tigris was a major trade route along which goods were transported from Asia Minor and Armenia to the Mesopotamian valley and further to the country of Elam. Caravan routes went from Assyria to the region of Armenia, to the region of large lakes - Van and Urmia. In particular, an important trade route to Lake Urmia went along the valley of the upper Zab, through the Kelishinsky pass. To the west of the Tigris, another caravan route led through Nassibin and Harran to Carchemish and through the Euphrates to the Cilician Gate, which opened the further route to Asia Minor, inhabited by the Hittites. Finally, from Assyria there was a high road through the desert, leading to Palmyra and further to Damascus. Both this route and other routes led from Assyria to the west, to large ports located on the Syrian coast. The most important was the trade route that ran from the western bend of the Euphrates to Syria, from where, in turn, a sea route opened to the islands of the Mediterranean Sea and to Egypt.

Statue of a winged bull, the genius - patron of the royal palace

In Assyria, for the first time, good, artificially made, stone-paved roads appeared. One inscription says that when Esarhaddon rebuilt Babylon, “he opened its roads in all four directions so that the Babylonians, using them, could communicate with all countries.” These roads were of great strategic importance. Thus, Tiglath-pileser I built a “road for his carts and troops” in the country of Kummukh. The remains of these roads have survived to this day. This is the section of the high road that connected the fortress of King Sargon with the Euphrates Valley. The technology of road construction, which reached a high level of development in ancient Assyria, was subsequently borrowed and improved by the Persians, and from them, in turn, passed on to the Romans. Assyrian roads were well maintained. Signs were usually placed at certain distances. Every hour guards passed along these roads, using fire signals to transmit important messages. The roads passing through the desert were guarded by special fortifications and supplied with wells. The Assyrians knew how to build strong bridges, most often wooden, but sometimes stone. Sennacherib built a bridge of limestone slabs opposite the city gates, in the middle of the city, so that his royal chariot could pass over it. The Greek historian Herodotus reports that the bridge at Babylon was built from rough stones held together with iron and lead. Despite the careful guarding of roads, in distant areas where Assyrian influence was comparatively weak, Assyrian caravans were at great risk. They were sometimes attacked by nomads and bandits. However, Assyrian officials carefully monitored the regular dispatch of caravans. One official, in a special message, reported to the king that one caravan that left the country of the Nabateans had been robbed and that the only surviving caravan leader had been sent to the king to make a personal report to him.

The presence of a whole network of roads made it possible to organize a state communications service. Special royal messengers carried royal messages throughout the country. In the largest populated areas there were special officials in charge of the delivery of royal letters. If these officials did not send letters and ambassadors within three or four days, then complaints were immediately received against them in the capital of Assyria, Nineveh.

An interesting document that clearly illustrates the widespread use of roads are the remains of the most ancient guidebooks, preserved among the inscriptions of this time. These guidebooks usually indicate the distance between individual settlements in hours and days of travel.

Despite the widespread development of trade, the entire economic system as a whole retained a primitive natural character. Thus, taxes and tribute were usually collected in kind. At the royal palaces there were large warehouses where a wide variety of goods were stored.

Social order Assyria still retained the features of the ancient tribal and communal system. For example, until the era of Ashchurbanipal (7th century BC), remnants of blood feud persisted. One document from this time states that instead of “blood,” a slave should be given in order to “wash off the blood.” If a person refused to give compensation for a murder, he should be killed at the grave of the murdered person. In another document, the murderer undertakes to give his wife, his brother or his son as compensation for the murdered man.

Along with this, ancient forms of the patriarchal family and domestic slavery have also been preserved. Documents from this time record the facts of the sale of a girl being given in marriage, and the sale of a slave and a free girl being given in marriage were formalized in exactly the same way. Just as in previous times, a father could sell his child into slavery. The eldest son still retained his privileged position in the family, receiving the larger and better part of the inheritance. The development of trade also contributed to the class stratification of Assyrian society. Often the poor lost their land plots and went bankrupt, becoming economically dependent on the rich. Unable to repay the loan on time, they had to work off their debt by personal labor in the lender's house as indentured slaves.

The number of slaves especially increased as a result of the large conquests carried out by the Assyrian kings. Captives, who were driven in huge numbers to Assyria, were usually enslaved. Many documents have been preserved recording the sale of slaves and slaves. Sometimes entire families consisting of 10, 13, 18 and even 27 people were sold. Many slaves worked in agriculture. Sometimes plots of land were sold along with the slaves who worked on this land. The significant development of slavery leads to the fact that slaves receive the right to have some property and even a family, but the slave owner always retained full power over the slave and over his property.

The sharp stratification of property led not only to the division of society into two antagonistic classes, slave owners and slaves, but also caused the stratification of the free population into the poor and the rich. Wealthy slave owners owned large amounts of livestock, land, and slaves. In ancient Assyria, as in other countries of the East, the largest owner and landowner was the state in the person of the king, who was considered the supreme owner of all the land. However, private land ownership is gradually strengthening. Sargon, buying land to build his capital Dur-Sharrukin, pays the owners of the land plots the cost of the land alienated from them. Along with the king, temples owned large estates. These estates had a number of privileges and, along with the estates of the nobility, were sometimes exempt from paying taxes. A lot of land was in the hands of private owners, and along with small landowners there were also large ones who had forty times more land than the poor. A number of documents have been preserved that speak of the sale of fields, gardens, wells, houses and even entire land areas.

Long wars and brutal forms of exploitation of the working masses over time led to a decrease in the size of the free population of Assyria. But the Assyrian state needed a constant influx of soldiers to replenish the ranks of the army and therefore was forced to take a number of measures to preserve and strengthen the financial situation of this bulk of the population. The Assyrian kings, continuing the policy of the Babylonian kings, distributed land plots to free people, imposing on them the obligation to serve the royal troops. So, we know that Shalmaneser I settled the northern border of the state with colonists. 400 years after this, the Assyrian king Ashurnazirpal used the descendants of these colonists to populate the new province of Tushkhana. Warrior-colonists, who received land plots from the king, settled in the border areas so that in the event of a military danger or a military campaign they could quickly gather troops in the border areas. As can be seen from the documents, the warrior-colonists, like the Babylonian red and bair, were under the patronage of the king. Their land plots were inalienable. In the event that local officials forcibly seized land plots granted to them by the king, the colonists had the right to file a complaint directly with the king. This is confirmed by the following document: “The father of my lord-king granted me 10 dimensions of arable land in the country of Halakh. For 14 years I used this site, and no one challenged my character. Now the ruler of the Barkhaltsi region came, used force against me, plundered my house and took my field from me. My lord the king knows that I am only a poor man who serves as a guard for my lord and who is devoted to the palace. Since my field has now been taken from me, I ask the king for justice. Let my king reward me justly, so that I do not die of hunger.” Of course, the colonists were small landowners. From the documents it is clear that their only source of income was a plot of land granted to them by the king, which they cultivated with their own hands.

Long wars; which for centuries the Assyrian kings waged with neighboring peoples in order to capture slaves and booty, led to a high development of military affairs. In the second half of the 8th century, under Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II, who began a series of brilliant campaigns of conquest, various reforms were carried out, leading to the reorganization and flourishing of military affairs in the Assyrian state. The Assyrian kings created a large, well-armed and strong army, putting the entire apparatus at the service of military needs state power. The large Assyrian army consisted of military colonists, and was also replenished thanks to military recruitment, which was carried out among wide sections of the free population. The head of each region gathered troops in the territory under his jurisdiction and himself commanded these troops. The army also included a contingent of allies, that is, those tribes that were conquered and annexed to Assyria. Thus, we know that Sennacherib, the son of Sargon (late 8th century BC), included 10 thousand archers and 10 thousand shield bearers from the captives of the “Western Country” into the army, and Ashurbanipal (7th century BC) BC) replenished his army with archers, shield bearers, artisans and blacksmiths from the conquered regions of Elam. A permanent army was created in Assyria, which was called the “knot of the kingdom” and served to suppress the rebels. Finally, there was the Tsar’s Life Guard, which was supposed to protect the “sacred” person of the Tsar. The development of military affairs required the establishment of certain military formations. The inscriptions most often mention small units consisting of 50 people (kisru). However, obviously, there were both smaller and larger military formations. Regular military units included infantrymen, horsemen and warriors who fought in chariots, and sometimes a proportional relationship was established between individual types of weapons. For every 200 infantry there were 10 horsemen and one chariot. The presence of chariots and cavalry, which first appeared under Ashurnazirpal (IX century BC), sharply increased the mobility of the Assyrian army and gave it the opportunity to carry out swift attacks and just as quickly pursue the retreating enemy. But still, the bulk of the army remained infantry, consisting of archers, shield bearers, spearmen and javelin throwers. The Assyrian troops were distinguished by their good weapons. They were armed with armor, shields and helmets. The most common weapons were the bow, short sword and spear.

The Assyrian kings paid special attention to the good armament of their troops. A lot of weapons were found in the palace of Sargon II, and Sennacherib and Esarhaddon (7th century BC) built a real arsenal in Nineveh, “a palace in which everything is preserved” for “arming the blackheads, for receiving horses, mules, donkeys, camels, chariots, freight carts, carts, quivers, bows, arrows, all kinds of utensils and harnesses of horses and mules.”

In Assyria, for the first time, “engineering” military units appeared, which were used to lay roads in the mountains, to build simple and pontoon bridges, as well as camps. The surviving images indicate the high development of fortification art in ancient Assyria for that time. The Assyrians knew how to build large and well-protected permanent fortress-type camps, well protected by walls and towers, which they gave a rectangular or oval shape. The fortification technique was borrowed from the Assyrians by the Persians, and from them passed on to the ancient Romans. The high technology of fortress construction in ancient Assyria is also evidenced by the ruins of fortresses that have survived to this day, discovered in a number of locations, such as, for example, in Zendshirli. The presence of well-defended fortresses required the use of siege weapons. Therefore, in Assyria, in connection with the development of fortress construction, the beginnings of the most ancient “artillery” business also appeared. On the walls of Assyrian palaces there are images of siege and storming of fortresses. Besieged fortresses were usually surrounded by an earthen rampart and a ditch. Plank pavements and platforms were built near their walls for the installation of siege weapons. The Assyrians used siege battering rams, a kind of battering ram on wheels. The striking part of these weapons was a large log, covered with metal and suspended on chains. The people who were under the canopy swung this log and broke the walls of the fortresses with it. It is very possible that these first siege weapons of the Assyrians were borrowed from them by the Persians and subsequently formed the basis for more advanced weapons used by the ancient Romans.

The broad policy of conquest caused a significant increase in the art of war. The Assyrian commanders were aware of the methods of using frontal and flank attacks and the combination of these types of attacks when attacking with a widely deployed front. The Assyrians often used various “military tricks,” such as a night attack on the enemy. Along with the tactics of crushing, the tactics of starvation were also used. For this purpose, military detachments occupied all mountain passes, water sources, wells, river crossings, in order to thus cut off all enemy communications, deprive him of water, the supply of provisions and the opportunity to receive reinforcements. However, the main strength of the Assyrian army was the rapid speed of the attack, the ability to strike the enemy with lightning speed before he gathered his forces. Ashurbanipal (7th century BC) conquered the entire mountainous and rugged country of Elam within one month. Unsurpassed masters of the military art of their time, the Assyrians perfectly understood the importance of the complete destruction of the enemy’s fighting force. Therefore, the Assyrian troops especially swiftly and stubbornly pursued and destroyed the defeated enemy, using chariots and cavalry for this purpose.

The main military power of Assyria lay in its large, well-armed and combat-ready land army. Assyria had almost no fleet of its own and was forced to rely on the fleets of the conquered countries, mainly Phenicia, as was the case, for example, during Sargon’s campaign against Cyprus. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Assyrians portrayed each sea expedition as a major event. Thus, the dispatch of the fleet to the Persian Gulf under King Sennacherib is described in great detail in Assyrian inscriptions. Ships for this purpose were built by Phoenician craftsmen in Nineveh, sailors from Tire, Sidon and Ionia were boarded on them, then the ships were sent down the Tigris to Opis. After that, they were dragged overland to the Arakhtu Canal. On the Euphrates, Assyrian warriors were loaded onto them, after which this finally equipped fleet was sent to the Persian Gulf.

Siege of the fortress by the Assyrian army. Relief on a stone. London. British Museum

The Assyrians waged their wars with neighboring peoples mainly to conquer neighboring countries, seize important trade routes, and also capture booty, primarily captives, who were usually enslaved. This is indicated by numerous inscriptions, in particular chronicles, which describe in detail the campaigns of the Assyrian kings. Thus, Sennacherib brought from Babylon 208 thousand captives, 720 horses and mules, 11,073 donkeys, 5,230 camels, 80,100 bulls, etc. cows, 800,600 heads of small cattle. All booty captured during the war was usually divided by the king between temples, cities, city rulers, nobles and troops. Of course, the king kept the lion's share of the spoils for himself. The seizure of booty often turned into undisguised robbery of the conquered country. This is clearly indicated by the following inscription: “The war chariots, carts, horses, mules that served as pack animals, weapons, everything related to the battle, everything that the king’s hands took between Susa and the Ulai River was joyfully ordered by Ashur and the great gods.” taken from Elam and distributed as gifts among all the troops."

The entire system of government was put at the service of military affairs and the aggressive policy of the Assyrian kings. The positions of Assyrian officials are closely intertwined with military posts. All threads of governing the country converge on the royal palace, where the most important government officials in charge of individual branches of government are permanently located.

The vast territory of the state, which exceeded in size all previous state associations, required a very complex and cumbersome apparatus of government. The surviving list of officials from the era of Esarhaddon (7th century BC) contains a list of 150 positions. Along with the military department, there was also a financial department, which was in charge of collecting taxes from the population. Provinces annexed to the Assyrian state had to pay a certain tribute. Regions inhabited by nomads usually paid tribute in kind in the amount of one head per 20 heads of livestock. Cities and regions with a settled population paid tribute in gold and silver, as can be seen from the surviving tax lists. Taxes were collected from peasants in kind. As a rule, one tenth of the crop, a quarter of the fodder and a certain amount of livestock were taken as a tax. A special duty was taken from arriving ships. The same duties were collected at the city gates on imported goods.

Only representatives of the aristocracy and some cities in which large priestly colleges enjoyed great influence were exempt from such taxes. Thus, we know that Babylon, Borsha, Sippar, Nippur, Ashur and Harran were exempt from taxation in favor of the king. Usually, the Assyrian kings, after their accession to the throne, confirmed the rights of the largest cities to self-government with special decrees. This was the case under Sargon and Esarhaddon. Therefore, after the accession of Ashurbanipal, the inhabitants of Babylon turned to him with a special petition, in which they reminded him that “as soon as our lords-kings ascended the throne, they immediately took measures to confirm our right to self-government and ensure our well-being.” Letters of gift given to aristocrats often contain codicils that exempted the aristocrat from duties. These postscripts were usually formulated as follows: “You should not take taxes in grain. He bears no duties in his city.” If a plot of land is mentioned, it is usually written: “A vacant plot, exempt from the supply of fodder and grain.” Taxes and duties were levied on the population on the basis of statistical lists that were compiled during periodic censuses of population and property. The lists preserved from the regions of Harran indicate the names of people, their family relationships, their property, in particular the amount of land they owned, and, finally, the name of the official to whom they were obliged to pay taxes.

A surviving set of laws dating back to the 14th century. BC e., speaks of the codification of ancient customary law, which preserved a number of relics of ancient times, such as, for example, the remnants of blood feud or the trial of a person’s guilt with the help of water (a kind of “ordeal”). However, the ancient forms of customary law and communal courts increasingly gave way to regular royal jurisdiction, which was in the hands of judicial officials who decided cases on the basis of unity of command. The development of the court case is further indicated by the judicial procedure established by law. The legal proceedings consisted of establishing the fact and corpus delicti, interrogating witnesses, whose testimony had to be supported by a special oath “by the divine bull, the son of the sun god,” trials and the passing of a judicial verdict. There were also special judicial bodies, with the highest court usually sitting in the royal palace. As can be seen from the surviving documents, the Assyrian courts, whose activities were aimed at strengthening the existing class system, usually imposed various punishments on the perpetrators, and in some cases these punishments were very cruel. Along with fines, forced labor, corporal punishment Cruel mutilation of the perpetrator was also used. The culprit's lips, nose, ears, and fingers were cut off. In some cases, the convict was impaled or had hot asphalt poured over his head. There were also prisons, which are described in documents that have survived to this day.

As the Assyrian state grew, the need arose for more careful management of both the Assyrian regions proper and the conquered countries. The mixing of Subarean, Assyrian and Aramaic tribes into one Assyrian people led to the severance of old tribal and clan ties, which required a new administrative division of the country. In distant countries conquered by the force of Assyrian weapons, uprisings often arose. Therefore, under Tiglath-pileser III, the old large regions were replaced by new, smaller districts, headed by special officials (bel-pakhati). The name of these officials was borrowed from Babylonia. It is quite possible that the entire new system of small administrative districts was also borrowed from Babylonia, where population density always required the organization of small districts. Trading cities that enjoyed privileges were governed by special mayors. However, the entire management system as a whole was largely centralized. To manage the vast state, the king used special “officials for assignments” (bel-pikitti), with the help of which all the threads of governing the huge state were concentrated in the hands of the despot who was in the royal palace.

In the New Assyrian era, when the enormous Assyrian power was finally formed, the administration of a vast state required strict centralization. Waging constant wars of conquest, suppressing uprisings among conquered peoples and among the broad masses of cruelly exploited slaves and poor people required the concentration of supreme power in the hands of a despot and the sanctification of his authority through religion. The king was considered the supreme high priest and himself performed religious rites. Even noble persons allowed to receive the king had to fall at the king’s feet and “kiss the ground” or his feet before him. However, the principle of despotism did not receive such a clear expression in Assyria as in Egypt during the heyday of Egyptian statehood, when the doctrine of the divinity of the pharaoh was formulated. The Assyrian king, even in the era of the highest development of the state, had to sometimes resort to the advice of priests. Before starting a major trip or at the appointment high official For a responsible position, the Assyrian kings asked the will of the gods (oracle), which was conveyed to them by the priests, which made it possible for the ruling class of the slave-owning aristocracy to exert significant influence on government policy.

The true founder of the Assyrian state was Tiglath-pileser III (745–727 BC), who laid the foundation of Assyrian military power with his military campaigns. The first task that faced the Assyrian king was the need to strike a decisive blow to Urartu, Assyria's longtime rival in Western Asia. Tiglath-pileser III managed to make a successful campaign in Urartu and inflict a number of defeats on the Urartians. Although Tiglath-pileser did not conquer the Urartian kingdom, he significantly weakened it, restoring the former “power of Assyria in the northwestern part of Western Asia. We are proud to report the Assyrian king about his campaigns to the northwest and to the west, which made it possible to finally conquer the Aramaic tribes and restore the dominance of Assyria in Syria, Phenicia and Palestine. Tiglatdal cap, conquers Carchemish, Samal, Hamat, the regions of Lebanon and reaches the Mediterranean Sea. Hiram, the king of Tire, the prince of Byblos and the king of Israel (Samaria) bring him tribute. Gaza recognizes the power of the Assyrian conqueror. Hanno, the ruler of Gaza, flees to Egypt. However, the formidable troops of the Assyrians are approaching the borders of Egypt. Having dealt a strong blow to the Sabaean tribes of Arabia, Tiglath-pileser established connections with Egypt, sending a special official there during the especially great success of the Assyrians. These western campaigns included the capture of Damascus in 732, which opened the most important trade and military route to Syria and Palestine for the Assyrians.

An equally great success of Tiglath-pileser was the complete subjugation of all of southern Mesopotamia up to the Persian Gulf. Tiglath-pileser writes about this in particular detail in the chronicle:

“I subjugated the vast country of Karduniash (Kassite Babylon) to the farthest border and began to dominate it... Merodach-Baladan, son of Yakina, king of Primorye, who did not appear before the kings, my ancestors and did not kiss their feet, was seized with horror before the formidable by the power of Ashur, my master, and he came to the city of Sapia and, being in front of me, kissed my feet. I accepted gold, mountain dust in large quantities, gold items, gold necklaces, precious stones... colored clothes, various herbs, cattle and sheep as tribute.”

Having captured Babylon in 729, Tiglath-pileser annexed Babylonia to his vast state, enlisting the support of the Babylonian priesthood. The king “made pure sacrifices to Bel... the great gods, my lords... and they loved (recognized. - V.A.) my priestly dignity."

Having reached the Aman mountains in the north-west and penetrated into the region of the “powerful Medes” in the east, Tiglath-pileser III created a huge and powerful military state. In order to saturate the internal regions with a sufficient amount of labor, the king brought in a large number of slaves from conquered countries. Along with this, the Assyrian king resettled entire tribes from one part of his state to another, which was also supposed to weaken the resistance of the conquered peoples and completely subordinate them to the authority of the Assyrian king. This system of mass migrations of conquered tribes (nasahu) from that time on became one of the ways to suppress the conquered countries.

Tiglath-pileser III was succeeded by his son Shalmaneser V. During his five-year reign (727–722 BC), Shalmaneser made a number of military campaigns and carried out important reforms. Shalmaneser's special attention was drawn to Babylon and Phenicia and Palestine located in the west. In order to emphasize the existence of a personal union with Babylon, the Assyrian king adopted the special name Ululai, which he was called in Babylon. In order to suppress the uprising, which was being prepared by the ruler of the Phoenician city of Tire, Shalmaneser made two campaigns to the west against Tire and its ally, the Israeli king Osi. Assyrian troops defeated the Israelites and besieged the island fortress of Tire and the capital of Israel, Samaria. But special meaning had a reform carried out by Shalmaneser. In an effort to somewhat soften the excessively aggravated class contradictions, Shalmaneser V abolished the financial and economic benefits and privileges of the ancient cities of Assyria and Babylonia - Ashur, Nippur, Sippar and Babylon. With this, he dealt a strong blow to the slave-owning aristocracy, wealthy merchants, priests and landowners, who enjoyed especially great economic influence in Babylonia. Shalmaneser's reform, which acutely affected the interests of this segment of the population, caused his dissatisfaction with the king's policies. As a result of this, a conspiracy was organized and an uprising was raised. Shalmaneser V was overthrown and his brother Sargon II was installed on the throne.

The aggressive policy of Tiglath-pileser III was continued with great brilliance by Sargon II (722–705 BC), whose name (“sharru kenu” - “legitimate king”) suggests that he seized power by force, overthrowing his predecessor. Sargon II had to make another trip to Syria to suppress the uprising of the Syrian kings and princes, who apparently relied on the support of Egypt. As a result of this war, Sargon II defeated Israel, took Samaria and took into captivity over 25 thousand Israelis, relocating them to the internal regions and to the distant borders of Assyria. After a difficult siege of Tire, Sargon II managed to get the king of Tire to submit to him and pay tribute. Finally, at the Battle of Raphia, Sargon inflicted a complete defeat on Hanno, the prince of Gaza, and the Egyptian troops that the pharaoh sent to help Gaza. In his chronicle, Sargon II reports that he “seized Hanno, king of Gaza, with his own hand” and accepted tribute from Pharaoh, “king of Egypt,” and the queen of the Sabaean tribes of Arabia. Having finally conquered Karchemysh, Sargon II took possession of all of Syria from the borders of Asia Minor to the borders of Arabia and Egypt.

Sargon II and his vizier. Relief on a stone. VIII century BC e.

Sargon II won no less major victories over the Urartians in the 7th and 8th years of his reign. Having penetrated deep into the country of Urartu, Sargon defeated the Urartian troops, occupied and plundered Musasir. In this rich city, Sargon captured enormous booty. “The treasures of the palace, everything that was in it, 20,170 people with their property, Khalda and Bagbartum, their gods with their rich attire, I counted as booty.” The defeat was so great that the Urartian king Rusa, having learned about the destruction of Musasir and the capture of the statues of the gods by the enemies, “with his own hand he committed suicide with the help of his dagger.”

The fight against Babylon, which supported Elam, presented great difficulties for Sargon II. However, in this war, Sargon defeated his enemies, taking advantage of the dissatisfaction of the Chaldean cities and priesthood with the policies of the Babylonian king Merodach-Baladan (Marduk-apal-iddina), whose stubborn but futile resistance to the Assyrian troops brought losses to the trade operations of the Babylonian cities and the Babylonian priesthood. Having defeated the Babylonian troops, Sargon, in his own words, “entered Babylon amidst rejoicing.” People; led by the priests, solemnly invited the Assyrian king to enter the ancient capital of Mesopotamia (710 BC). The victory over the Urartians enabled Sargon to strengthen his influence in the border areas inhabited by the Medes and Persians. The Assyrian kingdom reached high power. The king built himself a new luxurious capital, Dur-Sharrukin, the ruins of which give a vivid idea of ​​Assyrian culture and the flourishing of Assyria at this time. Even distant Cyprus recognized the power of the Assyrian king and sent him tribute.

However, the power of the huge Assyrian state was largely internally fragile. After the death of the powerful conqueror, the conquered tribes rebelled. New coalitions formed that threatened the Assyrian king Sin-herib. The small kingdoms and principalities of Syria, Phenicia and Palestine were united again. Tire and Judea, feeling the support of Egypt, rebelled against Assyria. Despite the large military forces, Sennacherib was unable to quickly suppress the uprising. The Assyrian king was forced to use not only weapons, but also diplomacy, taking advantage of the constant hostility between the two large cities of Phenicia - Sidon and Tire. Having besieged Jerusalem, Sennacherib ensured that the king of Judah bought him off with rich gifts. Egypt, ruled by the Ethiopian king Shabaka, was unable to provide Palestine and Syria with sufficient support. The Egyptian-Ethiopian troops were defeated by Sennacherib.

Great difficulties arose for Assyria and southern Mesopotamia. The Babylonian king Merodach-Baladan was still supported by the Elamite king. In order to deliver a decisive blow to his enemies in the southern and southeastern countries, Sennacherib equipped a large expedition to coastal Chaldea and Elam, sending his army by land and at the same time by ship to the shores of the Persian Gulf. However, Sennacherib was not able to immediately put an end to his enemies. After a stubborn struggle with the Elamites and Babylonians, Sennacherib only occupied and devastated Babylon in 689, inflicting decisive defeats on his opponents. The Elamite king, who had previously helped Babylon, was no longer able to provide him with sufficient support.

Esarhaddon (681–668 BC) came to the throne after a palace coup during which his father Sennacherib was killed. Feeling a certain fragility of his position, Esarhaddon at the beginning of his reign tried to rely on the Babylonian priesthood. He forced the head of the Babylonian rebels to flee, so that he “fled to Elam like a fox.” Using mainly diplomatic methods of struggle, Esarhaddon ensured that his opponent was “killed by the sword of Elam” for breaking his oath to the gods. As a subtle politician, Esarhaddon managed to win over his brother to his side, entrusting him with the management of the Maritime country and completely subordinating him to his power. Esarhaddon set the task of defeating the main enemy of Assyria, the Ethiopian pharaoh Taharqa, who supported the princes and kings of Palestine and Syria and the cities of Phenicia, who constantly rebelled against Assyria. In an effort to strengthen his dominance on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Assyrian king had to deal a decisive blow to Egypt. Preparing a campaign against distant Egypt, Esarhaddon first strikes one of his stubborn enemies, Abdi-Milkutti, king of Sidon, “who,” according to Esarhaddon, “ran away from my weapons into the middle of the sea.” But the king “caught him out of the sea like a fish.” Sidon was taken and destroyed by Assyrian troops. The Assyrians captured rich booty in this city. Obviously, Sidon stood at the head of a coalition of Syrian principalities. Having captured Sidon, the king conquered all of Syria and resettled the rebellious population in a new, specially built city. Having consolidated his power over the Arabian tribes, Esarhaddon conquered Egypt, inflicting several defeats on Taharqa's Egyptian-Ethiopian forces. In his inscription, Esarhaddon describes how he captured Memphis within half a day, destroying, devastating and plundering the ancient capital of the great Egyptian kingdom, “ripping out the root of Ethiopia from Egypt.” It is very possible that Esarhaddon tried to rely on the support of the Egyptian population, portraying his campaign of conquest as the liberation of Egypt from the Ethiopian yoke. In the north and east, Esarhaddon continued to fight with the neighboring tribes of Transcaucasia and Iran. The inscriptions of Esarhaddon already mention the tribes of the Cimmerians, Scythians and Medes, who are gradually becoming a threat to Assyria.

Ashurbanipal, the last significant king of the Assyrian state, during his reign with great difficulty maintained the unity and military-political power of a huge state that absorbed almost all the countries of the ancient Eastern world from the western borders of Iran in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, from Transcaucasia in the north to Ethiopia in the south. The peoples conquered by the Assyrians not only continued to fight their enslavers, but were already organizing alliances to fight Assyria. The remote and inaccessible regions of coastal Chaldea with its impassable swamps were an excellent refuge for the Babylonian rebels, who were always supported by the Elamite kings. In an effort to strengthen his power in Babylon, Ashurbanipal installed his brother Shamash Shumukin as Babylonian king. However, his protege sided with his enemies. The “treacherous brother” of the Assyrian king “did not keep his oath” and raised a rebellion against Assyria in Akkad, Chaldea, among the Arameans, in the Maritime country, in Elam, in Gutium and in other countries. Thus, a powerful coalition was formed against Assyria, which Egypt also joined. Taking advantage of the famine in Babylonia and internal unrest in Elam, Ashurbashal defeated the Babylonians and Elamites and took Babylon in 647. In order to finally defeat the Elamite troops, Ashur-Banipal made two trips to this distant mountainous country and dealt a heavy blow to the Elamites. “14 royal cities and countless small cities and twelve districts of Elam - all this I conquered, destroyed, devastated, set on fire and burned.” Assyrian troops captured and plundered the capital of Elam, Susa. Ashurbanipal proudly lists the names of all the Elamite gods whose statues he captured and brought to Assyria.

Much greater difficulties arose for Assyria in Egypt. While fighting against Ethiopia, Ashurbanipal attempted to rely on the Egyptian aristocracy, in particular on the semi-independent ruler of Sais named Necho. Despite the fact that Ashurbanipal supported his diplomatic game in Egypt with the help of weapons, sending troops to Egypt and making devastating campaigns there, Psamtik, the son of Necho, taking advantage of the internal difficulties of Assyria, fell away from Assyria and formed an independent Egyptian state. With great difficulty, Ashurbanipal managed to maintain his control over Phenicia and Syria. A large number of letters from Assyrian officials, residents and intelligence officers addressed directly to the king, in which a wide variety of information of a political and economic nature are reported, also testifies to the unrest and uprisings taking place in Syria. But the Assyrian government paid special attention to what was happening in Urartu and Elam. Obviously, Assyria could no longer rely only on the strength of its weapons. With the help of subtle diplomacy, constantly maneuvering between various hostile forces, Assyria had to maintain its vast possessions, break up hostile coalitions and defend its borders from the invasion of dangerous opponents. These were the emerging symptoms of the gradual weakening of the Assyrian state. A constant danger to Assyria was posed by numerous nomadic tribes living to the north and east of Assyria, in particular the Cimmerians, Scythians (Ashusai), Medes and Persians, whose names are mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions of the 7th century. The Assyrian kings failed to completely subjugate Urartu and completely crush Elam. Finally, Babylon has always harbored a dream of restoring its independence and its ancient not only commercial and cultural, but also political power. Thus, the Assyrian kings, who strove for world domination and formed a huge power, conquered a number of countries, but were unable to completely suppress the resistance of all conquered peoples. A finely developed system of espionage contributed to the fact that the capital of Assyria was constantly supplied with a variety of information about what was happening on the borders of the great state and in neighboring countries. It is known that the Assyrian king was given information about preparations for war, about the movements of troops, about the conclusion of secret alliances, about the reception and dispatch of ambassadors, about conspiracies and uprisings, about the construction of fortresses, about defectors, about cattle thefts, about the harvest and other affairs of neighboring states. .

The Assyrian power, despite its enormous size, was a colossus standing on feet of clay. The individual parts of this huge state were not firmly connected with each other economically. Therefore, this entire huge edifice, built with the help of bloody conquests, constant suppression of conquered peoples and exploitation of the broad masses of the population, could not be durable and soon collapsed. Soon after the death of Ashurbanipal (626 BC), the combined forces of Media and Babylon attacked Babylon and defeated the Assyrian army. In 612 Nineveh fell. In 605 BC. e. The entire Assyrian state collapsed under the blows of its enemies. At the Battle of Karchemish, the last Assyrian troops were defeated by Babylonian troops.

Historical significance Assyria was the organization of the first large state that claimed to unite the entire then known world. In connection with this task, which was set by the Assyrian kings, are the organization of a large and strong standing army and the high development of military technology. Assyrian culture, which achieved quite significant development, was largely based on the cultural heritage of Babylon and ancient Sumer. The Assyrians borrowed a cuneiform writing system from the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia, typical features religions, literary works, characteristic elements of art and a whole range of scientific knowledge. From ancient Sumer, the Assyrians borrowed some of the names and cults of the gods, the architectural form of the temple, and even the typical Sumerian building material - brick. The cultural influence of Babylon on Assyria especially intensified in the 13th century. BC BC, after the capture of Babylon by the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I, the Assyrians borrowed widespread works of religious literature from the Babylonians, in particular the epic poem about the creation of the world and hymns to the ancient gods Ellil and Marduk. From Babylon, the Assyrians borrowed the measuring and monetary system, some features in the organization of government, and many elements of the law so developed in the era of Hammurabi.

Assyrian deity near a date palm

The high development of Assyrian culture is evidenced by the famous library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, found in the ruins of his palace. Found in this library huge amount a variety of religious inscriptions, literary works and scientific texts, among which inscriptions containing astronomical observations, medical texts, finally, grammatical and lexical reference books, as well as prototypes of later dictionaries or encyclopedias are of particular interest. Carefully collecting and copying according to special royal instructions, sometimes subjecting various works of more ancient writing to some alterations, Assyrian scribes collected in this library a huge treasury of cultural achievements of the peoples of the ancient East. Some literary works, such as penitential psalms or “plaintive songs to calm the heart,” testify to the high development of Assyrian literature. In these songs, the ancient poet with great artistic skill conveys the feeling of deep personal sorrow of a person who has experienced great grief, aware of his guilt and his loneliness. The original and highly artistic works of Assyrian literature include the chronicles of the Assyrian kings, which describe mainly the campaigns of conquest, as well as internal activities Assyrian kings.

An excellent idea of ​​Assyrian architecture during its heyday is given by the ruins of the palaces of Ashurnazirpal in Kalakh and King Sargon II in Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad). Sargon's palace was built, like Sumerian buildings, on a large, artificially erected terrace. The huge palace consisted of 210 halls and 30 courtyards, located asymmetrically. This palace, like other Assyrian palaces, is a typical example of Assyrian architecture combining architecture with monumental sculpture, artistic reliefs and decorative ornamentation. At the majestic entrance to the palace there were huge statues of “lamassu”, the genius guardians of the royal palace, depicted in the form of fantastic monsters, winged bulls or lions with a human head. The walls of the state halls of the Assyrian palace were usually decorated with relief images of various scenes of court life, war and hunting. All this luxurious and monumental architectural ornamentation was supposed to serve the exaltation of the king, who headed a huge military state, and testify to the power of Assyrian weapons. These reliefs, especially the depictions of animals in hunting scenes, are the highest achievements of Assyrian art. Assyrian sculptors were able to depict with great truthfulness and great power of expressiveness the wild animals that the Assyrian kings loved to hunt.

Thanks to the development of trade and the conquest of a number of neighboring countries, the Assyrians spread Sumerian-Babylonian writing, religion, literature and the first rudiments of objective knowledge throughout all countries of the ancient Eastern world, thus making the cultural heritage of ancient Babylon the property of the majority of the peoples of the ancient East.

Tiglath-pileser III on his chariot

Notes:

F. Engels, Anti-Dühring, Gospolitizdat, 1948, p. 151.

Some of these reliefs are kept in Leningrad, in the State Hermitage.

Assyria is one of the first empires in the world, a civilization that originated in Mesopotamia. Assyria dates back to the 24th century and has existed for almost two millennia.

Assyria in ancient times

Assyria was one of the most powerful empires in the 1st millennium BC. e., its heyday and golden age occurred precisely during this period. Until this time it was a simple state in the north

Mesopotamia, which was mainly engaged in trade, since it was located on important trade routes.

Assyria was then subject to attacks by nomads such as the Arameans, which led to the decline of the state in the 11th century BC. e.

In total, historians roughly divide into three periods:

• Old Assyrian;
• Middle Assyrian;
• Neo-Assyrian.

In the latter, Assyria becomes the world's first empire. In the 8th century, the golden age of the empire began, when it was ruled by King Tiglath-pileser III. Assyria crushes the state of Urartu. At the end of the 8th century, she subjugates Israel, and in the 7th century she also captures Egypt. When Ashurbanipal became king, Assyria subjugated Media, Thebes, and Lydia.
After the death of Ashurbanipal, Assyria could not resist the onslaught of Babylon and Media, and the end of the empire came.

Where is ancient Assyria now?

Now Assyria as a state does not exist; in the 21st century, the following countries are located on the territory of the former empire: Iraq, Iran and others. The peoples of the Semitic group live on its territory: Arabs, Jews and some others. The dominant religion in the territory of former Assyria is Islam. The largest territory belonging to Assyria is now occupied by Iraq. Iraq is now on the brink of civil war. On the territory of Iraq there is a diaspora of those ancient Assyrians who founded the world's first empire, which conquered almost the entire Arabian Peninsula (Interfluve).

What does the territory of Assyria look like today?

Now the world, according to some data that has not been confirmed, is inhabited by about a million Assyrians. In the modern world they do not have their own state; they inhabit Iran, Iraq, the USA, Syria, and there are also small diasporas in Russia and Ukraine. Modern Assyrians primarily speak Arabic and Turkish. And their ancient, native language is on the verge of extinction.
Modern Assyria is not a state, but only one million descendants of the ancient Assyrians, who carry the unique Assyrian culture and folklore.

How did the first empire arise and fall? History of the Assyrian state

Assyria - this name alone terrified the inhabitants of the Ancient East. It was the Assyrian state, possessing a strong, combat-ready army, that was the first of the states to embark on a broad policy of conquest, and the library of clay tablets collected by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal became a valuable source for the study of science, culture, history, and ancient Mesopotamia. The Assyrians, who belonged to the Semitic language group(Arabic and Hebrew also belong to this group) and those who came from the arid regions of the Arabian Peninsula and the Syrian Desert, through which they roamed, settled in the middle part of the Tigris River valley (the territory of modern Iraq).

Ashur became their first major outpost and one of the capitals of the future Assyrian state. Thanks to the neighborhood and, as a result, acquaintance with the more developed Sumerian, Babylonian and Akkadian cultures, the presence of the Tigris and irrigated lands, the presence of metal and forest, which their southern neighbors did not have, thanks to the location at the intersection of important trade routes of the Ancient East, the former nomads formed the foundations of statehood , and the settlement of Ashur turned into a rich and powerful center of the Middle East region.

Most likely, it was control over the most important trade routes that pushed Ashur (that is what the Assyrian state was originally called) onto the path of territorial aggressive aspirations (in addition to the seizure of slaves and booty), thereby predetermining the further foreign policy line of the state.

The first Assyrian king to begin a major military expansion was Shamshiadat I. In 1800 BC. he conquered all of Northern Mesopotamia, subjugated part of Cappadocia (modern Türkiye) and the large Middle Eastern city of Mari.

In military campaigns, his troops reached the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and Assyria itself began to compete with the powerful Babylon. Shamshiadat I himself called himself “king of the universe.” However, at the end of the 16th century BC. For about 100 years, Assyria fell under the rule of the state of Mitanni, located in northern Mesopotamia.

A new surge of conquests falls on the Assyrian kings Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BC), who destroyed the state of Mitanni, capturing 9 cities with the capital, Tukultininurt I (1244-1208 BC), which significantly expanded the possessions of the Assyrian power , who successfully intervened in Babylonian affairs and carried out a successful raid on the powerful Hittite state, and Tiglath-pileser I (1115-1077 BC), who made the first sea voyage in the history of Assyria across the Mediterranean Sea.

But, perhaps, Assyria reached its greatest power in the so-called Neo-Assyrian period of its history. The Assyrian king Tiglapalasar III (745-727 BC) conquered almost the entire powerful Urartian kingdom (Urartu was located on the territory of modern Armenia, up to present-day Syria), except for the capital, Phenicia, Palestine, Syria, and the fairly strong Damascus kingdom.

The same king, without bloodshed, ascended the throne of Babylonia under the name Pulu. Another Assyrian king Sargon II (721-705 BC), spending a lot of time on military campaigns, seizing new lands and suppressing uprisings, finally pacified Urartu, captured the state of Israel and forcefully subjugated Babylonia, accepting the title of governor there.

In 720 BC. Sargon II defeated the combined forces of the rebel Syria, Phenicia and Egypt that joined them, and in 713 BC. makes a punitive expedition to Media (Iran), captured even before him. The rulers of Egypt, Cyprus, and the Sabaean kingdom in South Arabia fawned on this king.

His son and successor Sennacherrib (701-681 BC) inherited a huge empire, in which uprisings periodically had to be suppressed in various places. So, in 702 BC. Sennaherrib, in two battles at Kutu and Kish, defeated the powerful Babylonian-Elamite army (the Elamite state, which supported the rebel Babylonia, was located on the territory of modern Iran), capturing 200,000 thousand prisoners and rich booty.

Babylon itself, whose inhabitants were partly exterminated and partly resettled to various regions of the Assyrian state, was flooded by Sennacherib with the released waters of the Euphrates River. Sennacherib also had to fight a coalition of Egypt, Judea and the Arab Bedouin tribes. During this war, Jerusalem was besieged, but the Assyrians failed to take it due, as scientists believe, to tropical fever that crippled their army.

The main foreign policy success of the new king Esarhaddon was the conquest of Egypt. In addition, he restored the destroyed Babylon. The last powerful Assyrian king, during whose reign Assyria flourished, was the already mentioned library collector Ashurbanipal (668-631 BC). Under him, the hitherto independent city-states of Phenicia Tire and Arvada became subordinate to Assyria, and a punitive campaign was carried out against Assyria's longtime enemy, the Elamite state (Elam then helped Ashurbanipal's brother in the struggle for power), during which in 639 BC. e. Its capital, Susa, was taken.

During the reign of the Three Kings (631-612 BC) - after Ashurbanipal - uprisings raged in Assyria. Endless wars exhausted Assyria. In Media, the energetic king Cyaxares came to power, expelling the Scythians from his territory and even, according to some statements, managed to attract them to his side, no longer considering himself to owe anything to Assyria.

In Babylonia, a longtime rival of Assyria, King Nabobalassar, the founder of the Neo-Babylonian kingdom, who also did not consider himself a subject of Assyria, comes to power. These two rulers formed an alliance against their common enemy Assyria and began joint military operations. Under the prevailing conditions, one of the sons of Ashurbanipal - Sarak - was forced to enter into an alliance with Egypt, which by that time was already independent.

Military actions between the Assyrians and Babylonians in 616-615. BC went with varying degrees of success. At this time, taking advantage of the absence of the Assyrian army, the Medes broke through to the indigenous regions of Assyria. In 614 BC. they took the ancient sacred capital of the Assyrians, Ashur, and in 612 BC. the combined Median-Babylonian troops approached Nineveh (the modern city of Mosul in Iraq).

Since the time of King Sennacherib, Nineveh has been the capital of the Assyrian power, a large and beautiful city giant squares and palaces, the political center of the Ancient East. Despite the stubborn resistance of Nineveh, the city was also taken. The remnants of the Assyrian army, led by King Ashuruballit, retreated to the Euphrates.

In 605 BC. In the Battle of Karchemish near the Euphrates, the Babylonian prince Nebuchadnezzar (the future famous king of Babylon), with the support of the Medes, defeated the combined Assyrian-Egyptian troops. The Assyrian state ceased to exist. However, the Assyrian people did not disappear, maintaining their national identity.

What was the Assyrian state like?

Army. Attitude towards conquered peoples.

The Assyrian state (approximately XXIV BC - 605 BC) at the highest peak of its power owned, by the standards of that time, vast territories (modern Iraq, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Armenia, part of Iran, Egypt). To capture these territories, Assyria had a strong, combat-ready army that had no analogues in the ancient world of that time.

The Assyrian army was divided into cavalry, which in turn was divided into chariot and simple cavalry and into infantry - lightly armed and heavily armed. The Assyrians in a later period of their history, unlike many states of that time, were under the influence of Indo-European peoples, for example, the Scythians, famous for their cavalry (it is known that the Scythians were in the service of the Assyrians, and their union was secured by marriage between the daughter of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon and the Scythian king Bartatua) began to widely use simple cavalry, which made it possible to successfully pursue the retreating enemy. Thanks to the availability of metal in Assyria, the Assyrian heavily armed warrior was relatively well protected and armed.

In addition to these types of troops, for the first time in history, the Assyrian army used engineering auxiliary troops (recruited mainly from slaves), who were engaged in laying roads, constructing pontoon bridges and fortified camps. The Assyrian army was one of the first (and perhaps the very first) to use various siege weapons, such as a ram and a special device, somewhat reminiscent of an ox vein ballista, which fired stones weighing up to 10 kg at a distance of 500-600 m at a besieged city The kings and generals of Assyria were familiar with frontal and flank attacks and a combination of these attacks.

Also, the espionage and intelligence system was quite well established in countries where military operations were planned or were dangerous for Assyria. Finally, a warning system, like signal beacons, was quite widely used. The Assyrian army tried to act unexpectedly and quickly, without giving the enemy the opportunity to come to their senses, often making sudden night raids on the enemy camp. When necessary, the Assyrian army resorted to “starvation” tactics, destroying wells, blocking roads, etc. All this made the Assyrian army strong and invincible.

In order to weaken and keep the conquered peoples in greater subordination, the Assyrians practiced the resettlement of the conquered peoples to other areas of the Assyrian empire that were uncharacteristic for their economic activities. For example, settled agricultural peoples were resettled in deserts and steppes suitable only for nomads. Thus, after the capture of the 2nd state of Israel by the Assyrian king Sargon, 27,000 thousand Israelis were resettled in Assyria and Media, and the Babylonians, Syrians and Arabs settled in Israel itself, who later became known as the Samaritans and were included in the New Testament parable of the “Good Samaritan”.

It should also be noted that in their cruelty the Assyrians surpassed all other peoples and civilizations of that time, which were also not particularly humane. The most sophisticated tortures and executions of a defeated enemy were considered normal for the Assyrians. One of the reliefs shows the Assyrian king feasting in the garden with his wife and enjoying not only the sounds of harps and tympanums, but also the bloody sight: the severed head of one of his enemies hangs on a tree. Such cruelty served to intimidate enemies, and also partly had religious and ritual functions.

State system. Population. Family.

Initially, the city-state of Ashur (the core of the future Assyrian Empire) was an oligarchic slave-owning republic governed by a council of elders, which changed every year and was recruited from the wealthiest residents of the city. The tsar's share in governing the country was small and was reduced to the role of commander-in-chief of the army. However, gradually the royal power strengthened. The transfer of the capital from Ashur for no apparent reason to the opposite bank of the Tigris by the Assyrian king Tukultininurt 1 (1244-1208 BC) apparently indicates the king’s desire to break with the Ashur council, which became only a city council.

The main basis of the Assyrian state were rural communities, which were the owners of the land fund. The fund was divided into plots that belonged to individual families. Gradually, as the aggressive campaigns are successful and wealth is accumulated, rich community members-slave owners emerge, and their poor fellow community members fall into debt slavery. So, for example, the debtor was obliged to provide a certain number of reapers to a rich neighbor-creditor at the time of harvest in exchange for paying interest on the loan amount. Another very common way to fall into debt slavery was to give the debtor into temporary slavery to the creditor as collateral.

Noble and wealthy Assyrians did not perform any duties in favor of the state. The differences between the rich and poor inhabitants of Assyria were shown by clothing, or rather, the quality of the material and the length of the “kandi” - a short-sleeved shirt, widespread in the ancient Near East. The more noble and rich a person was, the longer his candi was. In addition, all the ancient Assyrians grew thick, long beards, which were considered a sign of morality, and carefully looked after them. Only eunuchs did not wear beards.

The so-called “Middle Assyrian laws” have reached us, regulating various aspects of the daily life of ancient Assyria and being, along with the “laws of Hammurabi,” the most ancient legal monuments.

In ancient Assyria there was a patriarchal family. The power of a father over his children differed little from the power of a master over slaves. Children and slaves were equally counted among the property from which the creditor could take compensation for the debt. The position of a wife also differed little from that of a slave, since a wife was acquired by purchase. The husband had a legally justified right to resort to violence against his wife. After the death of her husband, the wife went to the latter's relatives.

It is also worth noting that the outward sign of a free woman was wearing a veil to cover her face. This tradition was subsequently adopted by Muslims.

Who are the Assyrians?

Modern Assyrians are Christians by religion (the majority belong to the “Holy Apostolic Assyrian Church of the East” and the “Chaldean Catholic Church”), speaking the so-called northeastern New Aramaic language, successors of the Old Aramaic language spoken by Jesus Christ, consider themselves direct descendants of ancient Assyrian state, which we know about from school history textbooks.

The ethnonym “Assyrians” itself, after a long period of oblivion, appears somewhere in the Middle Ages. It was applied to the Aramaic-speaking Christians of modern Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey by European missionaries, who declared them descendants of the ancient Assyrians. This term successfully took root among Christians in this region, surrounded by alien religious and ethnic elements, who saw in it one of the guarantees of their national identity. It was the presence of the Christian faith, as well as the Aramaic language, one of the centers of which was the Assyrian state, that became ethnically consolidating factors for the Assyrian people.

We know practically nothing about the inhabitants of ancient Assyria (the backbone of which occupied the territory of modern Iraq) after the fall of their state under the attack of Media and Babylonia. Most likely, the inhabitants themselves were not completely exterminated; only the ruling class was destroyed. In the texts and annals of the Persian Achaemenid state, one of the satrapies of which was the territory of the former Assyria, we encounter characteristic Aramaic names. Many of these names contain the name Ashur, sacred to the Assyrians (one of the capitals of ancient Assyria).

Many Aramaic-speaking Assyrians occupied quite high positions in the Persian Empire, such as, for example, a certain Pan-Ashur-lumur, who was the secretary of the crowned princess Cambyssia under Cyrus 2, and the Aramaic language itself under the Persian Achaemenids was the language of office work (imperial Aramaic). There is also an assumption that the appearance of the main deity of the Persian Zoroastrians, Ahura Mazda, was borrowed by the Persians from the ancient Assyrian god of war Ashur. Subsequently, the territory of Assyria was occupied by successive different states and peoples.

In the II century. AD the small state of Osroene in western Mesopotamia, inhabited by Armenian-speaking and Armenian populations, with its center in the city of Edessa (the modern Turkish city of Sanliurfa 80 km from the Euphrates and 45 km from the Turkish-Syrian border) thanks to the efforts of the apostles Peter, Thomas and Jude Thaddeus for the first time in history adopted Christianity as the state religion. Having adopted Christianity, the Arameans of Osroene began to call themselves “Syrians” (not to be confused with the Arab population of modern Syria), and their language became literary language all Aramaic-speaking Christians and received the name “Syrian” or Middle Aramaic. This language, now practically dead (now used only as a liturgical language in the Assyrian churches), became the basis for the emergence of the New Aramaic language. With the spread of Christianity, the ethnonym “Syrians” was adopted by other Aramaic-speaking Christians, and then, as mentioned above, the letter A was added to this ethnonym.

The Assyrians were able to maintain the Christian faith and not dissolve into the Muslim and Zoroastrian population around them. In the Arab Caliphate, Assyrian Christians were doctors and scientists. They did a great job of spreading secular education and culture there. Thanks to their translations from Greek into Syriac and Arabic, ancient science and philosophy became accessible to the Arabs.

The real tragedy for the Assyrian people was the First world war. During this war the leadership Ottoman Empire decided to punish the Assyrians for “betrayal,” or more precisely, for helping the Russian army. During the massacre, as well as from forced exile in the desert from 1914 to 1918, according to various estimates, from 200 to 700 thousand Assyrians died (presumably a third of all Assyrians). Moreover, about 100 thousand Eastern Christians were killed in neighboring neutral Persia, whose territory the Turks invaded twice. 9 thousand Assyrians were exterminated by the Iranians themselves in the cities of Khoy and Urmia.

By the way, when Russian troops entered Urmia, from the remnants of the refugees they created detachments, headed by the Assyrian general Elia Agha Petros. With his small army, he managed to hold back the attacks of the Kurds and Persians for some time. Another dark milestone for the Assyrian people was the killing of 3,000 Assyrians in Iraq in 1933.

August 7 is a reminder and day of remembrance of these two tragic events for the Assyrians.

Fleeing various persecutions, many Assyrians were forced to flee the Middle East and were scattered throughout the world. Today, the exact number of all Assyrians living in different countries, cannot be installed.

According to some data, their number ranges from 3 to 4.2 million people. Half of them live in their traditional habitat - in the countries of the Middle East (Iran, Syria, Turkey, but most of all in Iraq). The remaining half settled throughout the rest of the world. The United States has the second largest Assyrian population in the world after Iraq (the largest number of Assyrians live in Chicago, where there is even a street named after the ancient Assyrian king Sargon). Assyrians also live in Russia.

The Assyrians first appeared on the territory of the Russian Empire after Russian-Persian war(1826-1828) and the signing of the Turkmanchay Peace Treaty. According to this treaty, Christians living in Persia had the right to move to the Russian Empire. A larger wave of emigration to Russia occurred during the already mentioned tragic events of the First World War. Then many Assyrians found salvation in the Russian Empire, and then in Soviet Russia and Transcaucasia, such as a group of Assyrian refugees walking along with Russian soldiers retreating from Iran. The influx of Assyrians into Soviet Russia continued further.

It was easier for the Assyrians who settled in Georgia and Armenia - there is a climate and natural conditions were more or less familiar, there was an opportunity to engage in familiar agriculture and cattle breeding. The same is true in the south of Russia. In Kuban, for example, Assyrian immigrants from the Iranian region of Urmia founded a village of the same name and began growing red bell peppers. Every year in May, Assyrians from Russian cities and neighboring countries come here: the Hubba (friendship) festival is held here, the program of which includes football matches, national music, and dances.

It was more difficult for the Assyrians who settled in the cities. Former mountaineer farmers, who were also mostly illiterate and did not know the Russian language (many Assyrians did not have Soviet passports until the 1960s), found it difficult to find something to do in urban life. Moscow Assyrians found a way out of this situation by starting to shine shoes, which did not require special skills, and practically monopolized this area in Moscow. Moscow Assyrians settled compactly, along tribal and single-village lines, in the central regions of Moscow. The most famous Assyrian place in Moscow was a house in 3rd Samotechny Lane, inhabited exclusively by Assyrians.

In 1940-1950, the amateur football team “Moscow Cleaner” was created, consisting only of Assyrians. However, the Assyrians played not only football, but also volleyball, as Yuri Vizbor reminded us of in the song “Volleyball on Sretenka” (“The son of an Assyrian is an Assyrian Leo Uranus”). The Moscow Assyrian diaspora continues to exist today. There is an Assyrian church in Moscow, and until recently there was an Assyrian restaurant.

Despite the great illiteracy of the Assyrians, the All-Russian Union of Assyrians “Hayatd-Athur” was created in 1924, national Assyrian schools also operated in the USSR, and the Assyrian newspaper “Star of the East” was published.

Hard times for Soviet Assyrians came in the second half of the 30s, when all Assyrian schools and clubs were abolished, and the small Assyrian clergy and intelligentsia were repressed. The next wave of repression hit the Soviet Assyrians after the war. Many were exiled to Siberia and Kazakhstan on trumped-up charges of espionage and sabotage, despite the fact that many Assyrians fought alongside the Russians on the fields of the Great Patriotic War.

Today, the total number of Russian Assyrians ranges from 14,000 to 70,000 people. Most of them live in the Krasnodar Territory and Moscow. Quite a lot of Assyrians live in the former republics of the USSR. In Tbilisi, for example, there is a quarter called Kukia, where Assyrians live.

Today, Assyrians scattered throughout the world (although in the thirties a plan to resettle all Assyrians to Brazil was discussed at a meeting of the League of Nations) have retained their cultural and linguistic identity. They have their own customs, their own language, their own church, their own calendar (according to the Assyrian calendar it is now 6763). They also have their own national dishes- for example, the so-called prahat (which means “hand” in Aramaic and symbolizes the fall of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh), round flatbreads based on wheat and corn dough.

Assyrians are cheerful, cheerful people. They love to sing and dance. All over the world, Assyrians dance the national dance “Sheikhani”.

Period (XX-XVI centuries BC)

In the Old Assyrian period, the state occupied a small territory, the center of which was Ashur. The population was engaged in agriculture: they grew barley and spelt, raised grapes, using natural irrigation (rain and snow), wells and, in a small volume - with the help of irrigation structures - Tigris water. In the eastern regions of the country, cattle breeding, using mountain meadows for summer grazing, had a great influence. But main role Trade played a role in the life of early Assyrian society.

The most important trade routes passed through Assyria: from the Mediterranean and from Asia Minor along the Tigris to the regions of Central and Southern Mesopotamia and further to Elam. Ashur sought to create his own trading colonies in order to gain a foothold on these main frontiers. Already at the turn of 3-2 thousand BC. he subjugates the former Sumerian-Akkadian colony of Gasur (east of the Tigris). The eastern part of Asia Minor was especially actively colonized, from where raw materials important for Assyria were exported: metals (copper, lead, silver), livestock, wool, leather, wood - and where grain, fabrics, ready-made clothing and handicrafts were imported.

Old Assyrian society was slave-owning, but retained strong vestiges of the tribal system. There were royal (or palace) and temple farms, the land of which was cultivated by community members and slaves. The bulk of the land was the property of the community. The land plots were in the possession of large-family “bitumen” communities, which included several generations of immediate relatives. The land was subject to regular redistribution, but could also be privately owned. During this period, a trading nobility emerged, becoming rich as a result of international trade. Slavery was already widespread. Slaves were acquired through debt slavery, purchase from other tribes, and also as a result of successful military campaigns.

The Assyrian state at this time was called alum Ashur, which meant the city or community of Ashur. People's assemblies and councils of elders still remain, which elected the ukullum - the official in charge of the judicial and administrative affairs of the city state. There was also a hereditary position of ruler - ishshakkum, who had religious functions, supervised temple construction and other public works, and during the war became a military leader. Sometimes these two positions were combined in the hands of one person.

At the beginning of the 20th century BC. The international situation for Assyria was developing unsuccessfully: the rise of the state of Mari in the Euphrates region became a serious obstacle to the western trade of Ashur, and the formation of the Hittite kingdom soon brought to naught the activities of Assyrian merchants in Asia Minor. Trade was also hampered by the advance of the Amorite tribes into Mesopotamia. Apparently, with the aim of restoring it, Ashur, during the reign of Ilushuma, undertook the first campaigns to the west, to the Euphrates, and to the south, along the Tigris. Assyria pursues a particularly active foreign policy, in which the western direction predominates, under Shamshi-Adad 1 (1813-1781 BC). Her troops capture the northern Mesopotamian cities, subjugate Mari, and capture the Syrian city of Qatnoi. Intermediary trade with the West passes to Ashur. Assyria maintains peaceful relations with its southern neighbors - Babylonia and Eshnunna, but in the east it has to wage constant wars with the Hurrians. Thus, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 18th century BC. Assyria turned into a large state and Shamshi-Adad 1 appropriated the title “king of multitudes”.

The Assyrian state was reorganized. The tsar headed an extensive administrative apparatus, became the supreme military leader and judge, and directed the royal household. The entire territory of the Assyrian state was divided into districts, or provinces (khalsum), headed by governors appointed by the king. The basic unit of the Assyrian state was the community - alum. The entire population of the state paid taxes to the treasury and performed various labor duties. The army consisted of professional warriors and a general militia.

Under the successors of Shamshi-Adad 1, Assyria began to suffer defeats from the Babylonian state, where Hammurabi then ruled. He, in alliance with Mari, defeated Assyria and she, at the end of the 16th century BC. became the prey of the young state - Mitanni. Assyria's trade declined as the Hittite Empire drove Assyrian merchants out of Asia Minor, Egypt out of Syria, and Mitanni closed the routes to the west.

Back in the 2nd millennium BC. Assyria became one of the largest ancient eastern states. However, the invasion of semi-nomadic Aramaic tribes had a serious impact on her fate. Assyria experienced a protracted, almost two-hundred-year decline, from which it recovered only in the 10th century BC. The settled Arameans mixed with the main population. The introduction of iron into military affairs began. In the political arena, Assyria had no worthy rivals. Assyria was pushed to campaigns of conquest by a shortage of raw materials (metals, iron), as well as a desire to capture forced labor - slaves. Assyria often resettled entire peoples from place to place. Many peoples paid large tribute to Assyria. Gradually, over time, the Assyrian state began to essentially live from these constant robberies.

Assyria was not alone in its desire to seize the wealth of Western Asia. States such as Egypt, Babylon, Urartu constantly opposed Assyria in this, and it waged long wars with them.

By the beginning of the 9th century BC. Assyria strengthened, restored its power in Northern Mesopotamia and resumed its aggressive foreign policy. It became especially active during the reign of two kings: Ashurnasirpal 2 (883-859 BC) and Shalmaneser 3 (859-824 BC). During the first of them, Assyria successfully fought in the north with the Nairi tribes, from which the state of Urartu was later formed. The Assyrian troops inflicted a series of defeats on the mountain tribes of the Medes, who lived east of the Tigris. But the main direction of Assyrian expansion was directed to the west, to the region of the Eastern Mediterranean coast. The abundance of minerals (metals, precious stones), magnificent timber, and incense were known throughout the Middle East. The main routes of land and sea trade passed here. They passed through cities such as Tire, Sidon, Damascus, Byblos, Arvad, Carchemish.

It was in this direction that Ashurnatzinapar 2 undertook his main military campaigns. He managed to defeat the Aramaic tribes living in Northern Syria and conquer one of their principalities - Bit Adini. He soon reached the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and a number of rulers of Syrian principalities and Phoenician cities brought him tribute.

His son Shalmaneser 3 continued his father's policy of conquest. Most of the campaigns were also directed to the west. However, at this time Assyria also fought in other directions. In the north there was a war with the state of Urartu. At first, Shalmaneser 3 managed to inflict several defeats on him, but then Urartu gathered its strength, and the wars with it became protracted.

The fight against Babylon brought great success to the Assyrians. Their troops invaded far into the interior of the country and reached the shores of the Persian Gulf. Soon an Assyrian protege was placed on the Babylonian throne. In the west, Shalmaneser 3 finally captured the principality of Bit-Adini. The kings of the principalities of Northern Syria and the southeast of Asia Minor (Kummukh, Melid, Hattina, Gurgum, etc.) brought tribute to him and expressed their submission. However, the kingdom of Damascus soon created a large coalition to fight Assyria. It included the states of Que, Hamat, Arzad, the Kingdom of Israel, Ammon, the Arabs of the Syrian-Mesopotamian steppe, and an Egyptian detachment also took part in the battles.

A fierce battle took place at the city of Karkar on the Orontes River in 853 BC. Apparently, the Assyrians were unable to inflict a final defeat on the coalition. Although Karkar fell, other cities of the coalition - Damascus, Ammon - were not taken. Only in 840, after 16 campaigns across the Euphrates, Assyria managed to achieve a decisive advantage. Hazael, king of Damascus, was defeated and rich booty was captured. Although the city of Damascus itself was again not taken, the military strength of the Damascus kingdom was broken. Tire, Sidon and the kingdom of Israel hastened to bring tribute to the Assyrian king.

As a result of the seizure of numerous treasures, Assyria began extensive construction during this period. Ancient Ashur was rebuilt and decorated. But in the 9th century BC. The Assyrian kings paid special attention to the new Assyrian capital - the city of Kalha (modern Nimrud). Majestic temples, palaces of Assyrian kings, and powerful fortress walls were built here.

At the end of the 9th - beginning of the 8th century BC. The Assyrian state again entered a period of decline. A large part of the Assyrian population was involved in constant campaigns, as a result of which the country's economy was in decline. In 763 BC. A rebellion broke out in Ashur, and soon other regions and cities of the country rebelled: Arraphu, Guzan. Only five years later all these rebellions were suppressed. There was a fierce struggle within the state itself. The trade elite wanted peace for trade. The military elite wanted to continue campaigns to capture new booty.

The decline of Assyria at this time was facilitated by changes in the early 8th century BC. international situation. Urartu, a young state with a strong army, which made successful campaigns in Transcaucasia, the southeast of Asia Minor and even into the territory of Assyria itself, came to the forefront among the states of Western Asia.

In 746-745 BC After the defeat suffered by Assyria from Urartu, an uprising breaks out in Kalhu, as a result of which Tiglath-pileser 3 comes to power in Assyria. He carries out important reforms. Firstly, he carried out the disaggregation of the former governorships, so that too much power would not be concentrated in the hands of any civil servant. The entire territory was divided into small areas.

The second reform of Tiglath-pileser was carried out in the field of military affairs and the army. Previously, Assyria fought wars with militia forces, as well as colonist warriors who received land plots for their service. During the campaign and in peacetime, each warrior supplied himself. Now a standing army was created, which was staffed from recruits and was fully supplied by the king. The division according to the types of troops was fixed. The number of light infantry was increased. Cavalry began to be widely used. The striking force of the Assyrian army were war chariots. The chariot was harnessed to four horses. The crew consisted of two or four people. The army was well armed. Armor, shields, and helmets were used to protect warriors. Horses were sometimes covered with “armor” made of felt and leather. During the siege of cities, rams were used, embankments were erected to the fortress walls, and tunnels were made. To protect the troops, the Assyrians built a fortified camp surrounded by a rampart and a ditch. All major Assyrian cities had powerful walls that could withstand a long siege. The Assyrians already had some semblance of sapper troops who built bridges and paved passages in the mountains. The Assyrians laid paved roads in important directions. Assyrian gunsmiths were famous for their work. The army was accompanied by scribes who kept records of the booty and prisoners. The army included priests, soothsayers, and musicians. Assyria had a fleet, but it did not play a significant role, since Assyria waged its main wars on land. The fleet for Assyria was usually built by the Phoenicians. An important part of the Assyrian army was reconnaissance. Assyria had enormous agents in the countries it conquered, which allowed it to prevent uprisings. During the war, many spies were sent to meet the enemy, collecting information about the size of the enemy army and its location. Intelligence was usually headed by the crown prince. Assyria almost did not use mercenary troops. There were such military positions - general (rab-reshi), chief of the prince's regiment, great herald (rab-shaku). The army was divided into detachments of 10, 50, 100, 1000 people. There were banners and standards, usually with the image of the supreme god Ashur. The largest number of the Assyrian army reached 120,000 people.

So, Tiglath-pileser 3 (745-727 BC) resumed his aggressive activities. In 743-740. BC he defeated the coalition of North Syrian and Asia Minor rulers and received tribute from 18 kings. Then, in 738 and 735. BC he made two successful trips to the territory of Urartu. In 734-732 BC a new coalition was organized against Assyria, which included the kingdoms of Damascus and Israel, many coastal cities, Arab principalities and Elam. In the east by 737 BC. Tiglath-pileser managed to gain a foothold in a number of areas of Media. In the south, Babylon was defeated, and Tiglath-pileser himself was crowned there with the crown of the Babylonian king. The conquered territories were placed under the authority of an administration appointed by the Assyrian king. It was under Tiglath-pileser 3 that the systematic resettlement of conquered peoples began, with the goal of mixing and assimilating them. 73,000 people were displaced from Syria alone.

Under Tiglath-pileser 3's successor, Shalmaneser 5 (727-722 BC), a broad policy of conquest was continued. Shalmaneser 5 tried to limit the rights of wealthy priests and merchants, but was eventually overthrown by Sargon 2 (722-705 BC). Under him, Assyria defeated the rebel kingdom of Israel. After a three-year siege, in 722 BC. The Assyrians stormed the capital of the kingdom, Samaria, and then completely destroyed it. Residents were relocated to new places. The kingdom of Israel disappeared. In 714 BC. a heavy defeat was inflicted on the state of Urartu. A difficult struggle ensued for Babylon, which had to be recaptured several times. In the last years of his reign, Sargon 2 waged a difficult struggle with the Cimmerian tribes.

The son of Sargon 2 - Sennacherib (705-681 BC) also led a fierce struggle for Babylon. In the west, the Assyrians in 701 BC. besieged the capital of the Kingdom of Judah - Jerusalem. The Jewish king Hezekiah brought tribute to Sennacherib. The Assyrians approached the border of Egypt. However, at this time Sennacherib was killed as a result of a palace coup and his youngest son, Esarhaddon (681-669 BC), ascended the throne.

Esarhaddon makes campaigns to the north, suppresses the uprisings of Phoenician cities, asserts his power in Cyprus, and conquers the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula. In 671 he conquers Egypt and takes the title of Egyptian pharaoh. He died during a campaign against the newly rebelled Babylon.

In Assyria, Ashurbanipal came to power (669 - about 635/627 BC). He was a very smart, educated man. He spoke several languages, knew how to write, had literary talent, and acquired mathematical and astronomical knowledge. He created the largest library, consisting of 20,000 clay tablets. Under him, numerous temples and palaces were built and restored.

However, in foreign policy Things were not going so smoothly for Assyria. Egypt (667-663 BC), Cyprus, and Western Syrian possessions (Judea, Moab, Edom, Ammon) rise up. Urartu and Manna attack Assyria, Elam opposes Assyria, and the Median rulers rebel. Only by 655 did Assyria manage to suppress all these uprisings and repel attacks, but Egypt had already completely fallen away. In 652-648. BC Rebellious Babylon rises again, joined by Elam, Arab tribes, Phoenician cities and other conquered peoples. By 639 B.C. Most of the protests were suppressed, but these were the last military successes of Assyria.

Events developed rapidly. In 627 BC. Babylonia fell away. In 625 BC. - Mussel. These two states enter into an alliance against Assyria. In 614 BC. Ashur fell, in 612 - Nineveh. The last Assyrian forces were defeated at the battles of Harran (609 BC) and Carchemish (605 BC). The Assyrian nobility was destroyed, Assyrian cities were destroyed, and the ordinary Assyrian population mixed with other peoples.

Source: unknown.

• The history of Assyria, briefly described in this article, is full of conquests. It was one of the states of antiquity that played a significant role in the development of the history of Mesopotamia. Initially, Assyria was not a strong power - the state of Assyria occupied a small territory, and throughout its history its center was the city of Ashur. The inhabitants of Assyria mastered agriculture and grew grapes, which was facilitated by natural irrigation in the form of rain or snow. They also used wells for their needs, and by building irrigation structures, they managed to put the Tigris River at their service. In the drier eastern regions of Assyria, pastoralism was more common, facilitated by the abundance of green meadows on the mountain slopes.

• The first period is called Old Assyrian. While most of the common population of Assyria was engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture, in the city of Ashur, through which the main trade routes passed, along which trade caravans passed from Asia Minor and the Mediterranean to Mesopotamia and Elam. All this was allowed

• Assyria, and first of all, its ruler. At the border of the 2nd and 3rd millennia, Ashur was already trying to establish his own trading colonies, and began to conquer the colonies of neighboring states.
  The country of Assyria was a slave state, but during this period the tribal system, from which society had already moved away, still left its influence. The king owned a large number of lands and farms, and the priesthood also took control of no less. However, the community owned most of the land in the state.

• In the 20th century BC. the state of Mari gained power near the Euphrates, and traders from the country of Assyria lost most of their profits, which was also facilitated by the resettlement of the Amorites in Mesopotamia. As a result, the Assyrian army, which at that time had developed advanced siege weapons, headed west and south. During these wars, the northern cities of Mesopotamia and the state of Mari itself submitted to Assyria. It was then that not just a state was formed, but the entire kingdom of Assyria, which was one of the most influential forces in the ancient Near East.
  The rulers of the state eventually realized how large of an area they had captured, so the state of Assyria was completely reorganized.

• The tsar headed a huge government apparatus, concentrated judicial power in his hands and became the supreme commander in chief. The territory of the state was divided into khalsums, which were led by governors elected by the king. The population was obliged to pay taxes to the royal treasury and perform certain labor duties. Professional warriors began to be recruited into the army, and in some cases militia were used. The Old Assyrian period ended in decline - the state of the Hittites, Egypt and Mitanni undermined the influence of Assyria in their markets.

• This was followed by the Middle Assyrian period, during which the kingdom of Assyria tried to restore its influence. In the 15th century, Assyria entered into an alliance with Egypt, as a result of which the power of Babylonia was shaken. Soon, King Ashur-uballit 1 installed his entourage on the Babylonian throne. Mitanni fell, a hundred years later Assyria captured Babylon, and sent successful expeditions to the Caucasus. However, wars were so frequent and continuous that in the 12th century BC. The Assyrian Empire weakened. Half a century later, the situation improved a little, but later the Arameans invaded Western Asia, capturing Assyria and settling on its territory, and there was no historical information left about the 150-year period from that moment.

• The Assyrian Empire reached its greatest prosperity and achievements in the third period of its existence (the New Assyrian period), spreading its influence from Egypt to Babylon and part of Asia Minor. However, old enemies were replaced by new ones - in the 6th century BC. Assyria was unexpectedly attacked by the Medes, who betrayed the alliance. The undermined power of Assyria played into the hands of Babylon, which in 609 BC. captured the last territories belonging to the Assyrian state, after which it left the world forever.

Culture

Art

Of course, one of the most developed states of the ancient Near East was Assyria. And, while the Assyrian troops roamed the expanses of neighboring countries, annexing and capturing them, in the most major cities The art of Assyria developed and improved. However, its origins should be sought in even more ancient times....

Cities

Throughout almost the entire history of the cities of Assyria, the first of which was Ashur, they were the center of culture and trading activities the entire region. Ashur was the capital of Assyria, and remained so until the destruction of the Assyrian state under the blows of the Babylonians. The city was named after the supreme deity of the Assyrian pantheon - Ashur. Most likely, it was built on the site of ancient settlements....

Capital

Capital of Assyria for most of its history ancient empire was located in the city of Ashur, also known as Assur. It was he who gave the name to the entire state.

Map of Assyria

The ancient state of Assyria was one of the most influential in the Middle East. The map of Assyria was constantly changing, as its kings continually carried out conquests and annexed new lands. There were also conquests from outside.

King of Assyria

Unlike ancient Akkad and Egypt, the king (queen) of Assyria was never revered as a god.

Territory

The territory of Assyria throughout the existence of this state was constantly changing, since the Assyrians themselves constantly waged wars of conquest, and their neighbors carried out raids every now and then.

Rulers of Assyria

Initially, the rulers of Assyria did not win back decisive role in the state. In the early stages of the history of the city of Ashur, and the state formed around it, the king was only the highest dignitary of the priesthood, and was in charge of only some issues in the city, and in wartime he could lead troops.

Wars

In the early period of its existence, Assyria was not a warlike state. It developed due to active trade, and for a long time was under the dominion of other civilizations.

Laws

The laws of Assyria throughout history have been characterized by brevity and extreme cruelty.

Gods

The inhabitants of Ancient Mesopotamia worshiped a single pantheon of gods, only sometimes different peoples had slightly different names and powers that protected their deities. The gods of Assyria were no exception to this rule.

Army

The army of Assyria was one of the most powerful in its time. Assyrian commanders were masters of siege warfare, and in battle they used various types tactics.

Fall of Assyria

The Assyrian Empire, which existed for almost one and a half thousand years, at the end of the 6th century BC. was destroyed.

Religion

The religion of Assyria was closely connected with the entire religious cult that was professed by the peoples of Mesopotamia.

Geographical location of Assyria

The area along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers was extremely favorable for the peoples living here.

River in Assyria

The main river in Assyria, which played an important role in the development of the state, is called the Tigris.

Conquest of Assyria

Assyria was engaged in constant conquest throughout most of its history.

Architecture

Between the 11th and 7th centuries BC. Assyria became the most powerful slave state in Western Asia.

Writing

Historians have been able to learn a lot about the writing of Assyria thanks to numerous clay tablets found in the ruins of ancient cities.

Achievements

Undoubtedly, Assyria was one of the most powerful states in the history of Ancient Mesopotamia. Its history lasted almost 1.5 thousand years, during which a small new state turned into a powerful empire.

Reliefs

In the 9th century BC. During the reign of King Ashurnasirpal II, Assyria reached the greatest prosperity in its history.