Neo-Assyrian Empire

The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient <a href="/facts/Assyria/n9pMP48S">Assyrian</a> history. Beginning with the accession of <a href="/facts/Adad-nirari_II/9f6QQsWz">Adad-nirari II</a> in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the <a href="/facts/Ancient_Near_East/Ipt8t839">ancient Near East</a> and parts of <a href="/facts/South_Caucasus/MQaTkhRJ">South Caucasus</a>, <a href="/facts/North_Africa/ItxQAfs7">North Africa</a> and <a href="/facts/East_Mediterranean/RLpwLJyM">East Mediterranean</a> throughout much of the 9th to 7th centuries BC, becoming the <a href="/facts/List_of_largest_empires/zudjlgmV">largest empire</a> in history up to that point. Because of its geopolitical dominance and ideology based in <a href="/facts/World_domination/uKxRxb0t">world domination</a>, the Neo-Assyrian Empire has been described as the first <a href="/facts/World_empire/hg7DoNjA">world empire</a> in history. It influenced other empires of the ancient world culturally, administratively, and militarily, including the <a href="/facts/Neo-Babylonian_Empire/GfIPHmzs">Neo-Babylonians</a>, the <a href="/facts/Achaemenid_dynasty/avlzWxF0">Achaemenids</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Seleucid_Empire/NSYMLBYa">Seleucids</a>. At its height, the empire was the strongest military power in the world and ruled over all of <a href="/facts/Mesopotamia/f0mmbhTK">Mesopotamia</a>, the <a href="/facts/Levant/uuJLt3Af">Levant</a> and Egypt, as well as parts of <a href="/facts/Anatolia/vMkrLrPr">Anatolia</a>, <a href="/facts/Arabian_Peninsula/x1fDka2b">Arabia</a> and modern-day <a href="/facts/Iran/24yukge8">Iran</a> and <a href="/facts/Armenia/t3GQx9sU">Armenia</a>.
The early Neo-Assyrian kings were chiefly concerned with restoring Assyrian control over much of northern Mesopotamia, East Anatolia and Levant, since significant portions of the preceding <a href="/facts/Middle_Assyrian_Empire/LmFx7j63">Middle Assyrian Empire</a> (1365–1050 BC) had been lost during the late 11th century BC. Under <a href="/facts/Ashurnasirpal_II/plrWXBHV">Ashurnasirpal II</a> (r. 883–859 BC), 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 also oversaw the transfer of the imperial capital from the traditional city of <a href="/facts/Assur/trEQvzpD">Assur</a> to the more centrally located <a href="/facts/Kalhu/4tL6H0H3">Kalhu</a> (later known as <a href="/facts/Calah/4tL6H0H3">Calah</a> in the Bible and <a href="/facts/Nimrud/4tL6H0H3">Nimrud</a> to the Medieval Arabs) The empire grew even more under Ashurnasirpal II's successor <a href="/facts/Shalmaneser_III/2Khr2kWq">Shalmaneser III</a> (r. 859–824 BC), 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 <a href="/facts/Tiglath-Pileser_III/qH7Gh0g1">Tiglath-Pileser III</a> (r. 745–727 BC), who re-asserted Assyrian royal power once again and more than doubled the size of the empire through wide-ranging conquests. His most notable conquests were <a href="/facts/Babylonia/J4jjdUua">Babylonia</a> in the south and large parts of the Levant. Under the <a href="/facts/Sargonid_dynasty/Yj3EF2Ix">Sargonid dynasty</a>, which ruled from 722 BC to the fall of the empire, Assyria reached its apex. Under the Sargonid king <a href="/facts/Sennacherib/SxJYPXzq">Sennacherib</a> (r. 705–681 BC), the capital was transferred to <a href="/facts/Nineveh/yl44Guzj">Nineveh</a> and under <a href="/facts/Esarhaddon/PeKEG38x">Esarhaddon</a> (r. 681–669 BC) 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 BC, destroyed by <a href="/facts/Neo-Babylonian_Empire/GfIPHmzs">a Babylonian uprising</a> and an invasion by the <a href="/facts/Medes/T0ym7KJ2">Medes</a>. 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 a large-scale use of cavalry and new <a href="/facts/Siege_warfare/7RAugQoD">siege warfare</a> 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 <a href="/facts/State_communications_in_the_Neo-Assyrian_Empire/SwLzDMpr">state communication system</a>, 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 <a href="/facts/Resettlement_policy_of_the_Neo-Assyrian_Empire/epTwmbb6">resettlement policy</a>, 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 <a href="/facts/Aramaic/FpvKez1w">Aramaic</a> as the regional <a href="/facts/Lingua_franca/dlGrD7ra">lingua franca</a>, 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 the later empires that succeeded it and the ideology of <a href="/facts/Universal_monarchy/rz9M4Dqq">universal rule</a> promulgated by the Neo-Assyrian kings inspired, through the concept of <a href="/facts/Translatio_imperii/KuAvxjKD">translatio imperii</a>, similar ideas of rights to <a href="/facts/World_domination/uKxRxb0t">world domination</a> in later empires as late as the <a href="/facts/Early_modern_period/hhpHM721">early modern period</a>. The Neo-Assyrian Empire became an important part of later folklore and literary traditions in northern Mesopotamia through the subsequent <a href="/facts/Post-imperial_Assyria/6LAnkY0E">post-imperial period</a> and beyond. <a href="/facts/Judaism/tjQ5Tgs6">Judaism</a>, and thus in turn also <a href="/facts/Christianity/nKyJHlqq">Christianity</a> and <a href="/facts/Islam/zDLbL45C">Islam</a>, 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 Neo-Assyrian Empire is prominently remembered today for the supposed excessive brutality of the <a href="/facts/Military_history_of_the_Neo-Assyrian_Empire/PsSWFJL7">army</a>, the Assyrians were not excessively brutal when compared to other civilizations throughout history.

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Neo-Assyrian Empire