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ASSYRIA
The original inhabitants of Assyria and Babylonia are known as Accadians (or Sumerians). They belonged to the Turanian or Ural-Altaic race, and were, therefore, of the same stock - that the Finns, Turks, and Magyars have descended.
Assyria. (the Asshur of the Hebrews, - Athurd of the ancient Persians), an ancient monarchy in Asia, intersected by the upper course of the Tigris, and having the Armenian mountains on the north and Babylonia on the south; An area, probably about 100,000 sq. miles; surface partly mountainous, hilly, or undulating, partly a portion of the fertile Mesopotamian plain.
In early times a Semitic race of people spread themselves over the country, and mingled with or supplanted the original inhabitants, while their language took the place of the Accadian, the latter becoming a dead language. The numerous remains of ancient habitations have shown how many people their must have once been; now, for the most part, it is a mere wilderness. The later Assyrians were thus akin to the Hebrews, Phoenicians, and modern Arabians.
The chief cities of Assyria in the days of its prosperity were Nineveh, the site of which is marked by mounds opposite
Mosul (Nebi Yunus and Koyunjik), Calah or Kalakh (the modern Nimrud), Asshur or Al Asur (Kalah Sherghat), Sargina
(Khorsabad, and Arbela (Arbil).
Much light has been, thrown on the history of Assyria by the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions obtained
by excavation - The assertion of the Bible that the early inhabitants of Assyria - went from Babylon is in conformity
with the traditions of later times, and with inscriptions on the disinterred Assyrian monuments. For a long period
the country as subject to governorship pointed by the kings of Babylon ,but about B.C. 1500 it became independent.
About the end of the fourteenth century its king, Shalmaneser, is said to have founded the city of Kalakh or Calah; his son Tiglath-ninip conquered the whole of the valley of the Euphrates. The five following reigns were chiefly occupied by wars with the Babylonians.
About 1120 Tiglath-Pileser I, one of the greatest of the sovereigns of the first Assyrian monarchy, ascended the throne, and carried his conquests to the Mediterranean on the one side and to the Caspian and the Persian Gulf on the other. At his death there ensued a period of decline, which lasted over 200 years.
He reduced Babylon to a state of vassalage, and came into hostile contact with Benhadad and
Hazael of Damascus, and with Ahab and Jehu of Israel, from whom he exacted tribute, as also from the kings of Tyre
and Sidon.The old dynasty
came to an end in the person of Assurnirari II
Under Assurnazirpal, who reigned from 884 to 859 B.C.,
Assyria once more advanced to the position of the leading power in the world, the extent of his kingdom being greater
than that of Tiglath-Pileser.
The magnificent palaces, temples, and other buildings of his reign prove the advance of the nation in wealth, art,
and luxury.
In 859 he was succeeded by his son Shalmaneser II. whose career of conquest was equally successful.
A scene from a wall carving in King Assurnasipal palace at Nimrud in Assyria
Wo was driven from the throne by a usurper, Tiglath-Pileser III. In 745, after a struggle of some years. He conquered Babylon and broke down the resistance that the Syrians had hitherto maintained in northern Palestine.
This opened up an easy road by which the conquerors could march against the little kingdom of Israel, and disperse its ten tribes. A protracted campaign in Media, another in Armenia, and the expedition into Syria (Aram) mentioned in (2 Kings Ch. 16 vs. 5-10), are among the most important events of the latter years of his reign. Tiglath-Pileser carried the Assyrian arms from Lake Van on the north to the Persian Gulf on the south, and from the confines of India on the east to the Nile on the west.
He was, however, driven from his throne by Shalmaneser V., who blockaded Tyre for five years. Under the reign of Hosea who had usurped the throne of Israel, Samaria was besieged by Shalmaneser, who probably died before the city was reduced. His successor Sargon II. claimed descent from the ancient Assyrian kings, and probably took Samaria in 740 B.C.E., leading over 27,290 people captive, (2 Kings Ch.17 vs. 1-6, Ch. 18 vs. 9-11), re-populating the land with Babylonians, and Syrians.
Sargon II overthrew the combined forces of Elam, (Susiana) and Babylon. He defeated the King of Hamath, who along with other princes had revolted, took him prisoner, and flayed him alive, advanced through Philistia and captured Ashdod; then pushing southwards totally defeated the forces of Egypt and Gaza at Raphia . The revolted Armenians had also more than once to be put down.
Merodaoh-Baladan was driven out of Babylonia by Sargon, after holding it for twelve years as an independent king, and being supported by the rulers of Egypt and Palestine; his allies were also crushed, Judah was overrun, and Ashdod levelled to the ground. Sargon latterly crossed over and took Cyprus, where be left an inscription telling of his expedition.
He spent the latter years of his reign in internal reform; in the midst of which he was murdered, being succeeded by Sennacherib, one of his younger sons. Sennacherib at once had to take up arms against Merodach-Baladan, who had again obtained possession of Babylon. Fresh outbreaks in Syria led him in that direction, He captured Zidon and Askelon, and defeated Hezekiah and his Egyptian and Ethiopian allies, and forced him to pay tribute, after which he returned to Assyria to overawe the Babylonians, Elamites, and the northern hill tribes.
A second expedition into Syria in 732 B.C.E. is briefly recorded in (2 Kings xix., 35) where we are told that, as his army lay before Libnah, in one night the angel of Jehovah went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000 men (2 Kings xix. 35).
Sargon's son, the more famous Sennacherib who, in Byron's words, "came down like a wolf on the fold," failed, we know, to take Jerusalem. According to the Jewish account, "and it came to pass that night that the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred, four score, and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning they were all dead corpses."
He was murdered by his two sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, but they were defeated by their brother Esar-haddon, who then mounted the throne. Esar-haddon fired his residence at Babylon, and made it his capital The most important event of this reign was the conquest of Egypt, which was reduced to a state of vassalsge, the Ethiopian ruler Tirhakah being driven out said the land divided into twenty separate kingdoms, the ruler, of which were the vassals of Esarhaddon.
He associated his son Assur-bani-pal with him in the government of the kingdom (669), and two years later this prince (the Sardanapalus of the Greeks) became sole ruler. Amongst the spoil of Babylon were thousands of clay tablets, inscribed with works on religion, history, science, medicine, etc., and these became the property of Assurbanipal, grandson of Sennacherib (668 - 626 B.C.). It was Assurbanipal's boast that he had been brought up to read as well as to ride and use the bow. He was extremely proud of his library, and built a special room with shelves to house the tablets, that thousands of years later were discovered by archeologists and brought to the British Museum. Apart from bookish tastes Assurbanipal was as savage as other Assyrian rulers, and rejoiced in wholesale slaughter of his enemies, and in the tortures that it was the custom of his race to inflict on prisoners of war.
In 652 a general insurrection broke out, headed by Sammughes, governor of Babylonia, Assur-bani-pal's own brother, and including Babylonia, Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia. Egypt was the only power, however, which regained its independence; fire, sword, and famine reduced the rest to submission. Under his leadership his armies carried his empire from Tigris to Nile; but it was the domination purely of force and strained the resources of Assyria herself so far that her collapse inevitably followed.
In 640 the Medes revolted, though the king's character was marked by cruelty and sensuality, he was a zealous patron of the arts and learning. He died in 626, and was succeeded by his son Assur-emid-ilin (or Sarakos), under whom Babylon definitely threw off the Assyrian yoke.
The country continued rapidly to decline, fighting
hard for existence until the capital Nineveh was captured and burned by the final
union of a Semitic race the Medes and Babylonians (Chaldeans),
about 607 or 606 B.C.
The story of Sardanapalus associated
with this event is a mere myth or legend.
Assyria now fell partly to Medi; partly to Babylonia and afterwards formed with Babylonia one of the satrapies of the Persian empire. In 312 B.C. it became part of the kingdom of the Seleucidae; later on it came under Parthian rule, and was more than once a Roman possession. For a long pealed it was under the caliphs of Bagdad.
In 1638 the Turks wrested it from the Persians, and It has continued under their dominion since that data
