9.42 Assyria from 1,112 BC and the “Second” Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC)

For many years Syria and Palestine were allowed to develop as their larger neighbours were distracted by internal strife. The Assyrians had to wait to be invigorated by their king Tiglath-Pileser (1,112-1,074 BC), who began a westward thrust around 1,100 BC against the Semitic Aramaeans in Syria to expand Assyrian power into the Fertile Crescent. The Phoenicians avoided their invasion in turn by paying tribute to the Assyrians. A terracotta octagon buried under the corner of a ziggurat in Ashur recounts the king’s achievements. The Aramaeans were a nomadic people who moved into Syria in the 2^nd Millennium BC from the desert, during the Amorite Period. They had no Empire but spread through trade and tribal migrations. However, Damascus had become the capital of a small Aramaean principality where they spoke a Northern Arabian dialect of Arabic that later became Aramaic or Syriac. As it turned out they had a significant long-term influence, since they displaced the Phoenician language with Aramaic, using the Phoenician alphabet, which became the main language for all Semitic Asia outside Arabia, and was in turn the basis of Hebrew, Arabic and Persian. The Aramaeans re-took Northern Mesopotamia in about 1,000 BC, and infiltrated Assyria so much that by 750 BC the Assyrians themselves started to adopt the Aramaic language, even though it had a fair few Akkadian words thrown in.

There is not much information about Assyria between 1,050 and 911 BC, until the new Assyrian leader Adad-Nirari II started the expansion that created the Second or Great Assyrian Empire, under a series of powerful and ruthless kings. It succeeded because of the prowess of their army and the efficiency of their administration. Ashurnasirpal II assumed the throne in 883 BC, and transferred Assyria’s Capital to Nimrud in 880 BC, building huge citadel palaces. One, alongside a canal, was large enough for him to host a “housewarming” party for 70,000 guests. He was notorious for his cruelty to his enemies. He expanded their Empire into South Syria, and Babylonia was annexed from about 880 to 627 BC.

Map of Neo Assyria - source Wikipedia ningyou

Ashurnasirpal II’s son, Shalmaneser III (859-824 BC), sent soldiers towards Phoenicia and Egypt. The kings of Damascus and Israel, who had united in 853 BC, joined with the Phoenicians and Egyptians and with some difficulty halted the Assyrian expansion. However, 20 years later Israel was paying tribute to Assyria. A few decades later a coalition of 12 states raised an army of 70,000 that resisted another Assyrian southward push. However, when the brilliant leader Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BC) took over, he defeated the coalition army, destroying many cities including Damascus, deported many people, replaced the ruler of Israel and forbade Phoenicia from trading with Egypt. Phoenicia and Palestine revolted and were crushed in 734 BC, and Assyria finally threatened Egypt in 732 BC.  

Assyrian art flourished, supported in part by the Assyrian governors who made improvements to their cities, including one who built himself a palace at Ur. Sizeable ceramic “foundation” objects were buried under the new buildings. They often contained cuneiform inscriptions of prayers, a dedication to the relevant god and the name of the ruler, so that later kings would know the original intention when replacing the buildings. These contain considerable information for us today.