HIST 101 1st Edition Lecture 5 Outline of Lecture I Assyrians and Persians The Assyrians o The Middle Assyrian Period o The Neo Assyrian Empire o A Society Organized for War The Persians o Creating the Persian Empire o Maintaining the Persian Empire What is the optimal way to run an empire What does it take to create an empire Lecture Notes II The Middle Assyrian Period A Semitic people in northern Mesopotamia o Assur Ashur city and god how they got the name Assyrians Assur is the God of War People of war Ashur uballit I r 1362 1327 B C o Ambitious governor of Assur turned king Starts with city and spread out from there Mesopotamia Babylonia as theirs believed the history is theirs o Kassites the people from away moved into Mesopotamia Tukulti Ninurta I r 1244 1208 B C o Sacking of Babylon Drive out utterly destroy the Kassites o Kassite king and Marduk as hostages Marduk a god created by Hammurabi Marduk is a statue representation of the god o Tikulti Ninurta becomes king of Babylonia Opposition and decline o Everyone hates the Assyrians because of aggression brutality Possibly due to Sea Peoples from Agean Sea III IV The Neo Assyrian Empire Ashurnasirpal II r 883 859 BC establishes a brand new empire even more brutal o Kalhu Calah Nimrud temple palace Regional alliance against Assyrian ambitions natural fear o Does nothing to halt expansion Sargon II r 722 705 BC o Sargonoid Dynasty Family dynasty Military commander took throne by force Amps up idea that they are the true descendants of Hammurabi Mesopotamia is THEIRS o Sargon of Akkad r 2334 2279 BC and his Akkadian Empire o Assyria the dominant power in Near East Conquest Empire reached from Babylonia through Phoenicia to Egypt o Art depicted Nubian boy below Egypt eaten by Lion found in Kings palace at Nimrud Lions represent the violence of the Assyrians Tribute gifts to show respect and loyalty for King o Statue of Gilgamesh found in Assyrian king s throne room Gilgamesh was a hero in old Mesopotamia shows relationship to Mesopotamia Hospitality and rebellion Sennacherib r 704 681 BC o Punishing Judah 701 BC Judah stood up to the Assyrians King Hezakiah of Judah r 715 686 BC Jerusalem Lachish o New palace at Nineveh Ashurbanipal r 669 627 BC enlightened Assyrian Emperor o Sponsored a library of collected texts o Showed interest in technology o Conquest of Egypt 667 BC Message of courage shown through art depicting Lion Hunting Shows power of Emperor because he is casually killing the most dangerous animal in the empire importance of lions in Assyrian art A Society Organized for War Brutal war as religious piety o Demand to worship Ashur gods as hostages V VI Only way to show faith in gods is to engage in brutal war Absolutist way of ruling o Enmity to Assyria enmity to Ashur If you are disrespecting Ashur the Assyrians will immediately kill you o Sennacherib in the Hebrew Bible Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria 2 Kings 18 33 Says to Hebrews that even their god YHWH can t do anything either How to conquer how to govern o Captives Sold into slavery impaled etc o Conquer then divide o Publicizing and celebrating their atrocities How do know when to be afraid of Assyrians Because they show it everywhere Siege warfare getting into a walled city o Military bureaucracy the state is run by soldiers A pyrrhic victory over enemies and subjects only a victory on the surface o The Chaldeans southern Babylonia Nabopolassar r 626 605 B C Allied against Assyrians o The Medes northwestern Iran o Sacking of Nineveh 612 B C end of Assyrian Empire Showed that you cannot govern strictly with brutality Creating the Persian Empire People on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf Subject to the Medes Cyrus the first king of Persia r 559 530 B C o Prince of a southern Persian tribe 559 B C o Conquers lands of the Medes o Cyrus invades Chaldean Mesopotamia 539 B C Hebrews return to Palestine Babylonian Captivity 586 538 B C Cambyses r 530 525 B C o Egypt and Libya Darius I r 521 486 B C o Northwestern India Maintaining the Persian Empire How can you effectively govern a territory that big o From Lybia to NW India Persepolis near Persian Gulf Satrapy a province of the empire o Satrap provincial governor protector of the land The king s eyes The royal road canals postal service infrastructure made it possible to rule Toleration for conquered peoples keep your culture keep your traditions keep your gods just be loyal o Zoroastrianism Zoroaster Zarathustra c 600 B C But tolerant overlords are still overlords o Ionian Revolt 499 494 B C o Battle of Marathon 490 B C