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THE ASSYRIANS

THE ASSYRIANS. HISTORY and CULTURE

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THE ASSYRIANS

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  1. THE ASSYRIANS HISTORY and CULTURE “I slew one of every two. I built a wall before the great gates of the city; I flayed the chief men of the rebels, and I covered the wall with their skins. Some were enclosed alive within the bricks of the wall, some were crucified with stakes along the wall; I caused many to be flayed in my presence, and I covered the wall with their skins”. Assyrian inscription.

  2. Assyrians • Essential Questions: • What are the benefits of military might to a civilization? What are its limits? • What is the proper treatment of defeated peoples?

  3. THE ASSYRIANS • Assyria was located in northern Mesopotamia • They were Semitic • Assur was their main city. • Became indep Sumer after 2000 BC. • Traders: Assur to Turkey

  4. THE ASSYRIANS • BACKGROUND: • 1700 BC conquered by Amorites. • 1360 BC, governor of Assur, Assur-uballit began to call himself king. • Under Tukulti-Ninurta, conquered Babylon in 1225 BC. • 1115 BC under Tiglath-pilesar they expanded north and south. • Capital became Ninevah. • But Assur remained an important city • Main cities: Assur, Ninevah, Arbel, Nimrod

  5. THE ASSYRIANS Tiglath-pileser I Tukulti-ninurta

  6. THE ASSYRIANS • THE ARMY: • Feared by all. Ruthless, mean. • Every spring, travel down the Tigris. • Return home every fall following Euphrates • Pillaged wherever they went. Took: gold, silver, art, slaves. • These plundering raids took place every year for hundreds of years.

  7. Assyrian Army

  8. The Assyrians • Policy of Deportation • Goal: • How do you think such a policy and the violent nature of Assyrian rule made other people in M.E. feel about them?

  9. THE ASSYRIANS • The Army: Weapons • Iron weapons (learned from Hittites) • Swords, lances, metal armor. • Chariots, mounted cavalry • Moveable siege towers, battering rams • Psychological Warfare: • Employed cruelty and violence • Deported whole populations • 500 years they terrorized the region.

  10. THE ARMY • Royal Inscription: “For some I cut off their noses, their ears and fingers, of many I put out the eyes…I bound their heads to tree trunks round about the city”. • Many other statements such as this exist.

  11. THE ARMY Soldiers digging holes by city King Assurbanipal 8th BC

  12. The Army Weapons: Bronze Scimitar 1325 BC Bronze Axe Straight Sword

  13. The Army • Weapons: • Bows/arrows • Quivers: 4 per • Lances • Spears • Pikes • Daggers

  14. The Army • Arrows were common weapons in Assyria. • Assyrian arrows were made from metal, bone or flint arrowheads attached to short reed shafts.

  15. The Army • Helmet

  16. The Army • Dagger:

  17. The Army • Sword and Shield

  18. The Army • Sword and Shield

  19. The Army • Curved Sword • It is not a Sickle since the cutting edge is the Convex one.

  20. History • Shalmaneser II: 800’s BC • Took plundering expeditions west. • Placed pro-Assyrian Jews on throne in N and S kingdoms of Israel. • 827 BC revolt at home forced him to leave the west.

  21. History • Tiglath Pileser III: 744 BC • Usurped throne. • Conquered Israel (North), Phoenicia and others • Very strong leader, ambitious.

  22. History • Sargon: 722-705 BC. • Destroyed N kingdom of Israel forever. • He founded the last great Assyrian dynasty • Excavations of his palace at Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad) have uncovered his personal annals, in which he recorded in detail his destruction of Samaria. His name appears also as Sharrukin.

  23. History • Sargon of Assyria: 722-705 BC.

  24. History • Sennacherib: 705 –681 BC • He defeated the Egyptians at Eltekeh (701 B.C.) • 698 BC Sennacherib captured and destroyed Babylon • He constructed canals and aqueducts and built a magnificent palace at Nineveh • Murdered by his two sons. • Esarheddon, another son succeeded him.

  25. History • Inside palace of Sennacherib: Nineveh

  26. History • Esarheddon: king of Assyria (681–668 B.C.), son of Sennacherib. (Esar-Haddon) • Defeated the Chaldaeans • Most important was his conquest (673–670 B.C.) of Egypt • Died on way to subdue revolt in Egypt • He was succeeded by Assurbanipal

  27. History Restoration of Babylon • Esar-Haddon: 681-668 BC

  28. History • Assurbanipal: 668-633 BC. • Son of Esar-Haddon. • Under Assurbanipal, Assyria reached the height of sumptuous living. • The famous lion-hunt reliefs in the royal palace at Nineveh date from his reign and are among the finest examples of ancient sculpture.

  29. History • Assurbanipal: • Assurbanipal was interested in learning; excavations at Nineveh have uncovered 22,000 clay tablets from his library—the chief sources of knowledge of ancient Mesopotamia. • Among the tablets were found copies of the Babylonian flood and creation stories. • His reign ended the greatness of the empire.

  30. History • Assurbanipal: 668-633 BC.

  31. History • After Assurbanipal, the empire was severely weakened. • By 605 BC, Assyria fell to King Nabopolassar of Babylon (Chaldeans).

  32. Kings

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