 | Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire would put many soap operas to shame. Fictional works like Game of Thrones or I, Claudius pale compared to the larger-than-life personalities, lethal political intrigue, assassinations, and gruesome tortures of the Assyrian Empire. Starting with the city of Ashur around 2,000 BCE through the empire’s height in 900-600 BCE, the author weaves an intriguing tale of religious and political transformation. The city-state of Ashur began as an egalitarian trading hub that survived by avoiding its neighbors’ wars. Over the next 1,400 years, it transformed into a warmongering colonial power that “godnapped” idols from conquered states and deported masses of people. |
King Shalmaneser I (1273-1244 BCE) used mass deportations “to weaken the identity of the recently defeated polities in order to reduce the risk of future resistance, and to add to the labor force wherever this seemed most beneficial, whether on construction sites and workshops in the Assyrian capitals or in the countryside, where relocated people served as tenant farmers on unused or underused land. Unsurprisingly, skilled craftsmen and experts in magic and divination were particularly valued targets of Assyrian deportations. Some deportees were also integrated into the Assyrian army.”
 | Conquered enemy rulers fared poorly: During the Katmuhu campaign, the deposed ruler, Kendibhale, was “flayed and executed. His skin was brought back to Katmuhu and draped across the wall of one of his former cities, to serve as a warning for other potential troublemakers.” King Ashsurbanipal chained his enemies to hungry dogs or bears. The author states “the Assyrians were not alone among the people of the ancient world in engaging in acts of extreme violence. Even in ancient Egypt…soldiers heaping up the severed hands (and penises) of slaughtered enemies to celebrate successful military campaigns are frequently shown in temple reliefs.” |
The Assyrian kings also created great beauty: towering temples and palaces, and “many palatial parks and gardens that would become central features of the imperial landscapes of the Middle East.” These gardens were fed by artificial canals, “streams of water (luminous) as the stars of heaven.”
Although women were literate and frequently worked as merchants during the early years, the empire was patriarchal. But there were women who assumed considerable power:
“Female chief administrators with the title s[h]akintu were responsible for the management of sprawling communities of [harem] women. Legal documents reveal that the s[h]akintus bought slaves and land, made loans, and helped organize the production of textiles, an activity in which many harem women were engaged. The staff of the s[h]akintus included female scribes writing in Aramaic.”
“Female chief administrators with the title s[h]akintu were responsible for the management of sprawling communities of [harem] women. Legal documents reveal that the s[h]akintus bought slaves and land, made loans, and helped organize the production of textiles, an activity in which many harem women were engaged. The staff of the s[h]akintus included female scribes writing in Aramaic.”
 | Naqia, the queen mother of King Esarhaddon “received a share of the tribute regularly delivered to the Assyrian court and owned large agricultural estates in various corners of the empire. She had residences in all the major cities of Assyria and a large staff that included not only high-ranking administrators but also military personnel.” Naqia’s formidable power “reached its peak in the weeks after Esarhaddon’s death in the fall of 669, when she became the guardian of his succession arrangement. Esarhaddon…had made the unconventional decision to have a younger son of his, Ashurbanipal, replace him on the Assyrian throne. " |
When Ashurbanipal assumed power, apparently without facing any serious opposition, Naqia had fulfilled her final mission.” She later "disappeared from the public record."
I wonder if Naqia was exiled or executed for being a political threat by King Ashurbanipal, the grandson she helped into office.
I wonder if Naqia was exiled or executed for being a political threat by King Ashurbanipal, the grandson she helped into office.
The author describes Ashurbanipal as “a spiteful, brutal man who lived in constant need of affirmation. The king’s description of the fates of defeated enemies are unusually gruesome and seem driven by a deep-felt hatred. …after the conquest of Babylon…he rounded up people who opposed him and ‘destroyed their faces, flayed them, and chopped up their flesh.’ …two sons of Nabu-shumu-eresh, a governor of Nippur who had sided with [enemy] Elamites, were forced to grind the bones of their father.”
 | Ashurbanipal staged a lion “hunt” in an arena: “First a child or a small adult released the lions from a cage. The king then killed them one by one, shooting his arrows from the royal chariot while racing around the arena. Citizens watched this spectacle from a nearby hill, while men carrying waterskins sold them drinks.” It was “a circus-like performance to be watched by admiring crowds….The lions released into the Nineveh arena were probably well fed—and perhaps even sedated—when they were unleashed to face the merciless weapons of the Assyrian king.” But Ashurbanipal also fancied himself a scholar and collected a vast library, which has been invaluable to modern-cay archeologists. |
I read this book as background on the fall of the Assyrian city of Nineveh, which figures into both my novel-in-progress Sky God’s Warrior and a shorter story set in Assyria. The author did not disappoint:
 | “The Assyrian kings had wanted the gates [of Nineveh] to be monumental and beautiful…The size of the gates, and the enormous length of the city wall, made it impossible to defend Nineveh effectively.” In 612 BCE, “on a fateful day in August, after a three-month-long siege, the enemy finally broke through. The babylonian and Median troops and their allies…engaged in an orgy of slaughter, pillage, and destruction. Nineveh’s palaces, temples, and private residences went up in flames. The skeletons of the fallen remained where they lay for some 2,600 years…” |
Despite the academic writing, Assyria is a fascinating read for history buffs and anyone interested in the ancient Near East.
For more on Ashurbanipal, read my review of I am Ashurbanipal
RSS Feed