Neo-Assyrian Empire

Neo-Assyrian Empire
𒆳𒀭𒊹𒆠
*māt Aššur*
Neo-Assyrian Empire 𒆳𒀭𒊹𒆠; māt Aššur
911 BCE–609 BCE
	The Neo-Assyrian Empire at its maximum extent, around 671 BCE.
Capital	Assur (911–879 BCE); Nimrud (879–706 BCE); Dur-Sharrukin (706–705 BCE); Nineveh (705–612 BCE); Harran (612–609 BCE);
Official languages	Akkadian; Imperial Aramaic;
Religion	Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Government	Monarchy
Notable kings
• 911–891 BCE	Adad-nirari II (first)
• 883–859 BCE	Ashurnasirpal II
• 859–824 BCE	Shalmaneser III
• 745–727 BCE	Tiglath-Pileser III
• 722–705 BCE	Sargon II
• 705–681 BCE	Sennacherib
• 681–669 BCE	Esarhaddon
• 669–631 BCE	Ashurbanipal
• 612–609 BCE	Ashur-uballit II (last)
Historical era	Iron Age
• Accession of Adad-nirari II	911 BCE
• Nimrud made capital	879 BCE
• Age of the magnates	823–745 BCE
• Conquest of Babylonia	729 BCE
• Nineveh made capital	705 BCE
• Conquest of Egypt	671 BCE
• Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire	626–609 BCE
• Fall of Assur	614 BCE
• Fall of Nineveh	612 BCE
• Fall of Harran	609 BCE
Area
670 BCE	1,400,000 km2 (540,000 sq mi)
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Middle Assyrian Empire
	Middle Babylonian period
	Aram-Damascus
	Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)
	Mannaea
	Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt
	Neo-Hittite states
Neo-Babylonian Empire
Median Empire
Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt

The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of the South Caucasus, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean throughout much of the 9th to 7th centuries BCE, becoming the largest empire in history up to that point. Because of its geopolitical dominance and ideology based in world domination, the Neo-Assyrian Empire has been described as the first world empire in history. It influenced other empires of the ancient world culturally, administratively, and militarily, including the Neo-Babylonians, the Achaemenids, and the Seleucids. At its height, the empire was the strongest military power in the world and ruled over all of Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt, as well as parts of Anatolia, Arabia and what is now Iran and Armenia.

The early Neo-Assyrian kings were chiefly concerned with restoring Assyrian control over much of northern Mesopotamia, eastern Anatolia and Levant, since significant portions of the preceding Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BCE) had been lost during the late 11th century BCE. Under Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 BCE), Assyria once more became the dominant power of the Near East, ruling the north undisputed. Ashurnasirpal's campaigns reached as far as the Mediterranean, and he oversaw the transfer of the imperial capital from the traditional city of Assur to the more centrally-located Kalḫu (later known as Calah in the Hebrew Bible, and Nimrud to the Arabs) The empire grew even more under Ashurnasirpal's successor Shalmaneser III (r. 859–824 BCE), though it entered a period of stagnation after his death, referred to as the "age of the magnates". During this time, the chief wielders of political power were prominent generals and officials, and central control was unusually weak. This age came to an end with the rule of Tiglath-Pileser III (r. 745–727 BCE), who reasserted Assyrian royal power and more than doubled the size of the empire through wide-ranging conquests. His most notable conquests were Babylonia in the south and large parts of the Levant. Under the Sargonid dynasty, which ruled from 722 BCE to the fall of the empire, Assyria reached its apex. Under Sennacherib (r. 705–681 BCE), the capital was transferred to Nineveh, and under Esarhaddon (r. 681–669 BCE) the empire reached its largest extent through the conquest of Egypt. Despite being at the peak of its power, the empire experienced a swift and violent fall in the late 7th century BCE, destroyed by a Babylonian uprising and an invasion by the Medes. The causes behind how Assyria could be destroyed so quickly continue to be debated among scholars.

The unprecedented success of the Neo-Assyrian Empire was not only due to its ability to expand but also, and perhaps more importantly, its ability to efficiently incorporate conquered lands into its administrative system. As the first of its scale, the empire saw various military, civic and administrative innovations. In the military, important innovations included the large-scale use of cavalry and new siege warfare techniques. Techniques first adopted by the Neo-Assyrian army would be used in later warfare for millennia. To solve the issue of communicating over vast distances, the empire developed a sophisticated state communication system, using relay stations and well-maintained roads. The communication speed of official messages in the empire was not surpassed in the Middle East until the 19th century. The empire also made use of a resettlement policy, wherein some portions of the populations from conquered lands were resettled in the Assyrian heartland and in underdeveloped provinces. This policy served to both disintegrate local identities and to introduce Assyrian-developed agricultural techniques to all parts of the empire. A consequence was the dilution of the cultural diversity of the Near East, forever changing the ethnolinguistic composition of the region and facilitating the rise of Aramaic as the regional lingua franca, a position the language retained until the 14th century.

The Neo-Assyrian Empire left a legacy of great cultural significance. The political structures established by the empire became the model for later empires, and the ideology of universal rule promulgated by the Neo-Assyrian kings inspired—through the concept of translatio imperii—similar ideas of rights to world domination as late as the early modern period. The empire became an important part of later folklore and literary traditions in northern Mesopotamia through the subsequent post-imperial period and beyond. Judaism—and in turn Christianity and Islam—was profoundly affected by the period of Neo-Assyrian rule; numerous Biblical stories appear to draw on earlier Assyrian mythology and history, and the Assyrian impact on early Jewish theology was immense. Although the empire is prominently remembered today for the supposed excessive brutality of its army, the Assyrians were not excessively brutal when compared to other civilizations throughout history.