Assyria

The Assyria is an ancient region of northern Mesopotamia , which gets its name from the city of Ashur , which is also that of its patron deity, the god Ashur. From this region was formed in the ^second millennium BC. AD is a mighty kingdom that later became an empire. For the ^eighth and ^seventh centuries BC. BC, Assyria controlled territories extending all or part of several countries such current of Iraq , the Syria , the Lebanon , the Turkey or the Iran.

The Assyriology , the study of ancient Assyria and the wider Mesopotamia Ancient distinguishes three phases in Assyrian history, knowing that prior to around 700 BC. BC dates are approximate: the paleo-Assyrian period, the ^twentieth to the early fourteenth ^centuryBC. AD; mid-Assyrian period, until 911 BC. AD, and the Neo-Assyrian period, up to 612-609 BC. AD, when the end of the Assyrian kingdom. Broadly, during the first period, Assyria comes down to the city-state of Ashur, best known by the dynamism of its merchants. The second period saw the birth of the Assyrian kingdom itself, as the territorial state power, which however had a significant weakening at the turn of the ^Second and ^First Millennium BC. BC The third period saw the Assyrians gradually be transformed into an empire, thanks to his formidable army. It is through this period that Assyria is the best known, thanks to discoveries made from the ^nineteenth century in its successive capital, Ashur , Kalkhu ( Nimrud ), Dur-Sharrukin ( Khorsabad ) and Nineveh. It is also the power of this empire and its rulers who allowed the memory of Assyria to persist in the tradition of the Hebrew Bible and classical Greek authors.

The vast amount of documentation epigraphic and archaeological collected for the Assyrian period for nearly two centuries can be familiar with many aspects of this kingdom which is an essential part of civilization Mesopotamia ancient as well as one who has become his rival Southern, the kingdom of Babylon. This is the last phase of the kingdom, however, is by far the best known. We can therefore draw a picture of several aspects of the administration of the kingdom, economic activities, the components of society, the Assyrian culture, including religion and art. Many mysteries remain because the documentation is not distributed evenly according to places, periods and aspects of the life of the ancient Assyrians, because of the disappearance of many sources from the ancient world , but also because that discoveries are mainly the mid-elites.

Summary 1 Rediscovery of Assyria 1.1 The memory of the Assyrians before the excavations of the nineteenth century 1.2 The discovery of the Assyrian capitals in the nineteenth century 1.3 The review of the literature on Assyria 2 The beginnings of Assyria, the city of Ashur 2.1 A city-state 2.2 A merchant city 2.3 A powerful little city, several times dominated by foreign kingdoms 3 From kingdom to the empire: the history of the Assyrian power 3.1 The Assyrian king is "great" 3.2 Victories and failures of mid-Assyrian kings 3.3 The decline of Assyria 3.4 The beginnings of Neo-Assyrian kingdom 03.05 Growing pains 3.6 Resuming the expansion and formation of the Neo-Assyrian Empire 3.7 The Sargonids: the climax of Assyria 3.8 Fall 3.9 The Assyrians after the empire: the void? 4 Control of Assyrian territory 4.1 The royal power 4.1.1 Ideology and royal duties 4.1.2 Rituals related to royalty 4.1.3 The growing assertion of the royal figure 4.1.4 The issue of royal succession 4.2 The king's entourage 4.2.1 The dignitaries and royal administration 4.2.2 The royal wives and harem 4.2.3 The Royal Palaces: executives of central power 4.3 The war in Assyria 4.3.1 The recruitment and organization of the Assyrian army 4.3.2 armament, types of troops and combat techniques 4.3.3 The military practices: campaigns, looting, destruction and deportation 4.4 The control of areas subject 4.4.1 Terms of the expansion of the Assyrian kingdom 4.4.2 The organization of provinces and kingdoms subject 4.4.3 The relationship between center and periphery: predation and emulation 5 The Assyrians: men and their activities 5.1 Structures and Social Institutions 5.1.1 Social categories 5.1.2 A patriarchal society 5.1.3 The role of institutions and royal power 5.2 The Assyrian campaigns 5.2.1 Landscape and rural settlement and agricultural development 5.2.2 Agrarian structures 5.2.3 Agricultural Production 5.3 Cities Assyrian 5.3.1 Evolution of urbanization in Upper Mesopotamia Assyrian 5.3.2 The urban cities Assyrian 5.3.3 The activities and urban society 5.4 The trade 5.4.1 The arrangements for movement of products 5.4.2 The circuits of trade 6 The Assyrian culture 6.1 Languages and Scripts 6.1.1 The cuneiform in Assyria 6.1.2 The Assyrian language 6.1.3 The "aramasation" of Assyrians in the first millennium 6.2 The religion of Assyria 6.2.1 Assur, the national god 6.2.2 Other important deities and religious centers 6.2.3 The cult in Assyria 6.3 The community scholar 6.3.1 Specialists and Libraries 6.3.2 The content of the works 'literary' 6.4 The Assyrian art 6.4.1 The reliefs of Assyrian palaces 6.4.2 Other forms of sculpture Painting 6.4.3 Ivory 6.4.4 6.4.5 Glyptics 6.4.6 Costumes and Adornments 7 Supplements 7.1 Related articles External 7.2 Links 7.3 Bibliography 8 Notes and references

/ / Rediscovery of Assyria

The memory of the Assyrians before the excavations of the nineteenth ^century

The memory of the Assyrian kingdom persisted in the Western tradition before the first excavations at the sites of Assyria through several ancient sources .

Discoveries of the Assyrian capitals in the nineteenth ^century

Assyria had the privilege of being the first region in the ancient Near East to be excavated which were quickly successful, which earned him giving his name to the discipline concerned with the history of Mesopotamia Ancient of Assyriology . The first palace is clear that the site Khorsabad , the former Hard Sharrukin , capital of Sargon II , unearthed by the consul of France in Mosul , Paul-Emile Botta , from 1843. The Englishman Austen Henry Layard followed suit at Nimrud , the ancient Kalkhu , then the mound of Kuyunjik, the center of the ancient Nineveh . The discoveries of the impressive bas-reliefs of these buildings had some impact in the medium scholar, and these discoveries took place in several European museums. That's when we began the day of tens of thousands of tablets cuneiform which still constitute the bulk of our sources on the Neo-Assyrian kingdom, and that helped to decipher the handwriting and language Akkadian. In 1903, it was the turn of the Germans to dig the last Assyrian capital not clear, Ashur , on such of Qala'at Shergat, with scientific archaeological methods rather rudimentary and improvised as previously .

The study of the literature on Assyria

The excavations of the Assyrian capitals continued during most of the twentieth ^century , while were uncovered new sites of the ancient Assyrian kingdom, especially in the west of Assyria proper, in the Jazira between the Tigris and the Euphrates ( Rimah Tell , Tell Ahmar , Arslan Tash ) . It's in the Syrian side of this region are concentrated searches today because the political situation of Iraq is hampering operations in the country . Recent discoveries concerning the particular mid-Assyrian period, eg Tell Sheikh Hamad and Tell Sabi Abyad . On these sites, these are administrative buildings (the royal palaces or provincial) and temples which are searched in priority, and few homes have been uncovered in Assyria. A special case among the sites we are reading about the Assyrians Kltepe , located in Turkey near the center of Assyria, which emerged after 1924 were the residences of merchants from Ashur installed on site in the early ^second millennium BC. AD and have provided extensive documentation cuneiform. Then there are the operations of ground prospecting and more recently the use of satellite surveys .

The excavations carried out on several of these sites, primarily the major capitals, but also the provincial administrative centers, enabled the discovery of a considerable number of clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform, which helped to know many aspects of the life of the ancient Assyrians . They consist of pieces of practice, by far the most numerous because we are tens of thousands. These are administrative texts recording the operations of a large organization or family, or legal documents such as contracts of sale, loan, note, etc.. They are unevenly distributed in space and time, so that certain times, places and activities are well documented, such as international trade Assyrian nineteenth ^century (as evidenced in the archives of Kltepe ) while others elude us completely, as agricultural activities around Assur to the same period. The outcomes of scholarly circles, moving in the middle of the royal palaces and temples, are abundant for the period through the Neo-Assyrian documents of the royal palaces. It contains the texts called "historical" (chronicles, annals, royal inscriptions), and the texts called "libraries" and informing us about religious life and scientific knowledge.

Recently, the study of the Assyrian history has adopted a series of publications of texts from sites Assyrian royal inscriptions have been several volumes of the series Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia and the texts of Neo-Assyrian royal archives of Nineveh shall be published or republished and discussed in the series State Archives of Assyria (SAA) of the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project at the University of Helsinki . Texts of Neo-Assyrian are also published on Internet sites Assyrian empire builders and Knowledge and Power in the Neo-Assyrian Empire , presenting documents already translated by the PAC project. There is also The Geography of Knowledge in Assyria and Babylonia which deals with records of "libraries" of Nimrud and Sultantepe.

The beginnings of Assyria: the city of Ashur

The first period of Assyrian history is the so-called "paleo-Assyrian (ancient Assyrian) ^, . Unlike the later periods, then there is no political or military power Assyrian. The kingdom is limited to the city of Ashur and its surroundings, and that is why we can call it a " city-state. " However, if he does not play a significant political role, it still has a special place in the Middle East at this time because of the dynamism of its merchants.

List royal Assyrian text drawn from the vicinity of the eighteenth ^century, completed until the end of the Assyrian kingdom and purporting to list the kings of this state since its origins , starts with the enumeration of kings living in tents, "which suggests that the origins of the Assyrian state were to be found in the nomadic world. In fact, this appears to be a pure descent historiographical construction, including nomadic ancestors Amorite King Samsi-Addu of Ekallatum (which includes Ashur in his kingdom in the eighteenth ^centuryBC. ) alongside the kings who actually led Assur. The origins of the Assyrian kingdom are unclear. In all likelihood it develops in an urban environment, the city of Ashur.

A city-state

The city of Ashur is an old urban center, inhabited at least since the beginning ^of the third millennium . She appears in the sources of the Akkadian Empire and the Third Dynasty of Ur , which dominated temporarily. But his eccentric position relative to the major political centers allowed him to preserve his independence, Assur-Puzur regaining its independence during the collapse of the kingdom of Ur around 2010 BC. AD, and thus basing a new dynasty. At the time Amorite ^(XIX - XVII ^centuriesBC.), she appeared as a political power rather low, but it was a very important market town, we were able to compare merchant republics of ' Italy of the Renaissance.

The State of the paleo-Assyrian period is a particular organization. The title of king (arrum) is reserved only god Assur . The ruler who runs the city is called "vicar of the god Ashur ^(D ii'ak insured) because it is regarded as his representative on earth, not to its power as the divine will. It is still sometimes called "head" (waklu) or "high" (rub'um) , titles that indicate its role as primus inter pares among the notables of the city. He has to share his power with the oligarchy represented by a local major institution, the "City" (alum): the political center of Ashur is indeed the "building of the City" or "City Hall" ( Bet PSU), not the royal palace. Both parties share the political and judicial, and official orders were declared in their names . The City holds an Assembly (puhrum), apparently before the temple of the god Assur . It is unclear if it is more precisely a collection of notables, Veterans (a term that occur frequently in the texts), even all the people of the city, and also if there were one or two bedroom (s). The meeting with the monarch, a role of supreme court justice, but also body giving orders and instructions to citizens of Ashur . In economic terms, the City Hall was responsible for the collection of fees and expenses, and debts on unpaid taxes. These tasks of an important person, the lmum, chosen by drawing lots for a period of one year, which ran its own administrative office, bit lmim ("House of lmum"), assisted by inspectors (beru) . He gives the name to the year in which it performs that function, which is why we often speak of him as "the same name (year)" .

A merchant city

The city of Ashur is home to a particularly active community of merchants to the paleo-Assyrian period, known mostly through more than 20,000 tablets unearthed in the homes of their business establishment (Karum) located in the city of Kanesh ( Kltepe the current site), in Cappadocia . We learn that the merchants of Ashur maintained an extensive sales network, based on several counters in Anatolia (which Hattusa , Purushkhanda, etc.. in addition to Kanesh). This trade flourished throughout the ^nineteenth century BC. AD has an interruption in the early ^eighteenth century, before returning briefly during the reign of Samsi-Adad , and finally stop when the city was burned Kanesh, probably during wars between the kingdoms of Anatolia.

The Assyrian merchants trade takes place on a circuit long-distance trade involving several regions of the Middle East and turning around the city of Ashur and Kanesh, the principal place of business Assyrian in Anatolia . They sell in Anatolia of the tin from the Iranian Plateau , which is not known how it was obtained, which is used to make bronze when alloyed with copper for local extraction. The merchants in Anatolia also import pieces of cloth made by their families at Assur (mainly women) or imported from southern Mesopotamia . They are organizing caravans that several times a year, according to specific routes, and realize significant profits by selling imported goods against the money or the gold. To finance trade, they may resort to commercial loans to big adventure , or to associations involving several dealers for a short or long term .

Institutions paleo-Assyrian merchants settled in foreign countries are managed by a particular authority, also known karum (literally "dock", the name of the commercial district of the cities of this period). Kanesh is that of the largest in Anatolia, leading the other counters . It has a scribe in chief and archive, and an assembly which performs the same role as that of the mother city. Its functions are essentially legal, but probably devoted primarily to trade, disputes between expatriate Assyrians. This is also evident in his diplomatic activity since the password karum trade agreements (in the form of international treaties, Mamitum) with foreign kingdoms . It is still subject to central government of Assyria, represented by the King and the City, which act as the supreme legal institutions, and remain in contact with Assyrian institutions abroad.

A city not very powerful, many times dominated by foreign kingdoms

The city of Ashur remained independent until 1800, when King Samsi-Addu of Ekallatum (1815-1775) seizes, and incorporates it into his kingdom (the kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia , with its capital -Shubat Enlil in the valley of Khabur ) . After his death, his son -Ishme Dagan continues to reign over Assyria for forty years. The situation after his death is unclear: Ashur is perhaps again led by rulers of local origin, unless the Samsi-Adad dynasty does continues to reign over the city. It seems anyway that the experience of integration in the kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia remains strong for the history of Assyria, and Samsi-Addu is still considered an Assyrian king from the historiography of this country, under the name Assyrian from Shamsi-Adad ^I, and this because of its prestige. Her ancestors are counted among the first kings of the city in the Assyrian royal List, in which they may have been introduced at the initiative of what King , but the Babylonian domination on the Upper Mesopotamia did not survive the son of the king -iluna Samsu.

The ^seventeenth and ^sixteenth centuries are poorly documented and their chronology is debated. The history of Assyria at that time must be reconstructed from a few royal inscriptions fragmentary sources from other realms, and not contemporary texts, the Assyrian King List and the historical chronicle ^of the seventh century history called synchronic describing relations between Babylon and Assyria in a pro-Assyrian meaning . The list mentions a royal estate of several kings' son of nobody ", so thieves before the first dynastic stabilization following the theft of some Adasi . The name of a sovereign following Kidin-Ninu, refers to the city of Nineveh (Ninu), which means perhaps that it becomes part of the same political Asshur. Anyway, following are the sovereigns, from Ishme-Dagan II, which are known by inscriptions and by history synchronic. Puzur-Ashur III renovated the walls of Ashur, and had a political agreement with Burna-Buriash ^I, King Kassite of Babylon , fixing the boundary between the two kingdoms to the middle of Tiger , suggesting that the Assyrian power has been expanding.

But Ashur must cope with the expansion of a kingdom whose center is located further west in the valley of Khabur : the Mitanni , dominated by Hurrian , non-Semitic people who is very present in Upper Mesopotamia until around Assur. According to the historical prologue of the treaty between a king and a Hittite king of Mitanni in the fourteenth ^century, Assyria would be among the vassals of Mitanni around 1440-1430, but would have benefited from weakness of the latter to stop paying tribute , which would have led the king Mitannian Shaushtatar to plunder . But the history and organization of Mitanni remains poorly understood, we can not very well known place of Ashur in relation to this political entity. Make it a vassal of the kingdom over the whole period is difficult, even if the sources outside the Upper Mesopotamia show that the Mitanni is the dominant power in the region, and extends its authority to Shaushtatar Nuzi , although in east of Ashur . In contemporary texts commemorating the campaigns of the Egyptian king Thutmose III in Syria against the Mitanni, the Assyrians appear as donors attending it , perhaps a way to seek support against the Hurrian kingdom. Later around 1400, the Assyrian king Assur-bel-nisheshu, also known for having contacts with Egypt, finds a new border agreement with a Babylonian king, Kara-indash . Such activity is normally impossible if insurance is still a vassal of Mitanni, and this act shows thus weakening or shutdown of the right Mitannian in Assyria. One can also wonder if the latter did not replace Babylonian domination. The rare diplomatic activities of the Assyrian kings who are known to us in any case seem to reflect a slow rise of this kingdom, but who is probably facing the neighbors too powerful to have an equal relationship with them.

From kingdom to the empire: the history of the Assyrian power

The early fourteenth ^century marks the beginning of a new phase of Assyrian history, with the formation of a political power that acquires over the centuries an increasing weight in the international Middle East. The first boom is the mid-Assyrian kingdom, which dominates the Upper Mesopotamia, in the continuity of political constructions of ^the second millennium that is the kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia and the kingdom of Mitanni supersedes and replaces it. After a marked decline during the last two centuries of the ^second millennium are a time of major crisis for all the kingdoms of the Middle East, the Assyrians proved to be the only one to find a power strong and relatively stable at the beginning of the period Neo-Assyrian ^(IX - VIII ^centuries). Unrivaled in its size, this kingdom would exceed the territorial frameworks that had its heyday in the thirteenth ^century to become an empire dominating the entire Middle East in the ^seventh century. Assyrian power is so unprecedented. However, a serious political crisis, probably reinforced by structural weaknesses, led to the end of that empire in the late ^seventh century. The end of the Assyrian power does not mean the end of Assyria, since several elements show the evolution of this region after the collapse of the empire.

The Assyrian king is "great"

After 1380, the Mitanni suffered several heavy defeats against the Hittite king Suppiluliuma ^I. , which weaken its hold over its vassals. It is within this context that the king of Assyria, Ashur-uballit ^I. (1365-1330), sent a letter to Amenhotep IV / Akhenaten King of Egypt, found in Tell el-Amarna , where he claims " great king "(arru rabu), a title which makes him the equal of the kings of Mitanni , the Hittites , the Babylonians and the speaker. Ashur has clearly become a major political power, and proves it in subsequent years . Thus began the period known as "mid-Assyrian" (1365-911) . Assur-rich region uballit submits the Upper Tigris, notably by taking Nineveh. He succeeded in defeating the Mitanni, which then splits into wars, and passing the eastern part under his vassalage, returning the situation before, and finally taking his place on the international stage. The Babylonian king Burna-Buriash II has a hard situation at first, but a dynastic alliance is finally sealed and he married the daughter of his Assyrian counterpart. This does not preclude a subsequent series of conflicts between the two powers, while another rivalry emerges in the west with the Hittites who seek to dominate what remains of Mitanni.

Victories and failures of mid-Assyrian kings

Kings Adad-nerari ^I. (1308-1275) and Shalmaneser ^I. (1275-1245) must assert their claims by arms to protect their positions against their two powerful adversaries . A policy of territorial control and even colonization is established in Western Upper Mesopotamia ( Hanigalbat ), placed under the control of a line of kings of Hanigalbat "extraction that are actually Assyrian governors with extensive expertise. Several sites in this region have yielded records for the period as Sheik Hamad Tell ( Dur-Katlimmu ) and Tell Chuera ( Harb ). The events of this period are best known through the development of royal inscriptions from which to form such kind of royal annals , by year describing the military campaigns of a king, and who knows its full development to the Neo- Assyrian . Several historical records we also document during this period .

The reign of Ninurta-Tukulti ^I. (1244-1208) saw the Assyrian power continue to grow ^, . It beats the Hittite army of Tudhaliya IV and succeeded in capturing Babylon. These two wins are the most powerful Assyria of his time, Tukulti-door wreaths Ninurta of Assyria and Babylon . Following a plot in the Assyrian court, he was assassinated, his reign ended in chaos and Babylonia regained its independence.

After the dynastic crisis, Assyria was weakened, and the new king Enlil-kudurri-usur (1198-1193) is defeated and captured by the Babylonian king Adad-shum-usur. Another palace revolution occurs, and a new dynasty ascended the throne with Ninurta-RPLA-Ekur (1193-1180), born of the lineage of kings from Hanigalbat (therefore linked to the royal family). His successor Assur-dan ^I. (1179-1133) saw its position threatened in the Zagros by King Elamite Shilhak-Inshushinak , but it fails to prolong his rule. Ashur-resh-ishi ^I. (1133 - 1116) manages several successful campaigns in the Zagros, against Babylon, and also face new enemies, the nomadic Ahlam .

After him, Tiglath-Pileser ^I. (1116-1077) ascended the throne . This is the last great king of this period: he fought many times in Syria 's north, and manages to reach the Mediterranean coast, even if it fails to assert his supremacy against Babylon. In Upper Mesopotamia, it is facing attacks Syrians whose name appears in written sources, often alongside Ahlam with which they seem to have links that elude us. These tribes are increasingly urgent, and it is clear that the Assyrian troops unable to control them. However, Tiglath-pileser and his immediate successors managed to keep control of fortresses and other facilities located near the center of their kingdom, on the Middle Euphrates south ( Khirbet ed-Diniye / Haradu ) and on the Upper Tigris north (Giricano / Dunnu-sha-Uzibi), and it may be that this period is to date the peak of territorial mid-Assyrian kingdom .

The fall of Assyria

After the death of Tiglath-Pileser in 1077, the Assyrian kings were gradually overwhelmed by the attacks of the Syrians, who ultimately deprive them of their possessions in the Jazira during the second half of the ^eleventh century , and cut their lines of communication to the west. The Assyrian kingdom folds around Ashur and Nineveh, but manages to maintain, unlike most of his former rivals: the Hittites disappeared completely in the early decades of the ^twelfth century , while Babylon is unable to stabilize its political situation, and eventually lapses into anarchy .

The Beginning of Neo-Assyrian kingdom

After ^the tenth century than morose, Assyria takes its superb to 911 , when the throne nerari-Adad II (911-891), which manages to push the Syrians . He then launched attacks in all directions, and eventually lead a successful campaign against Babylon. With him began a new dynamic expansionary, and the so-called "neo-Assyrian (911-609) begins . Unopposed to the position of Assyria, polycentrism that prevailed in the previous period is no longer valid, that kingdom will gradually raise the status of hegemonic power, introducing the era of Oriental empires, the Persian Achaemenid and Sassanid , the Parthians , etc.. will be emulated.

The successor of Adad-nirari II continues its momentum: the Syrians in particular suffered several heavy defeats. The kingdoms they established in the vicinity of Assyria are subjugated. The Zagros is also a field campaigns for the Assyrians. In 883, Assurnasirpal II (883-859) became king, and began a series of successful wars in the west, against the Aramean kingdoms, and Neo-Hittite (Bit-Adini, Bit-Agus, Suhua, EQIA, Carchemish , Kummuhuh and Gurgum) . He moved his capital from Ashur to Kalkhu , he repopulated it in deporting the inhabitants of conquered kingdoms. Meanwhile, the Assyrian domination on the Upper Mesopotamia resumed on the basis of the mid-Assyrian period. Shalmaneser III (858-824) fights to turn the kingdoms of northern Syria . After some initial success (making Til Barsip), he was arrested Qarqar by a coalition led by King Bar-Hadad of Damascus , bringing together the kings of Syria in the north, Phoenicia and the Levant. A few years later, Shalmaneser took his revenge by defeating the king of Damascus and its allies, but he can not keep its hold on eastern Syria.

Growing pains

The Assyrian kingdom is experiencing serious difficulties in the reigns of the successors of Shalmaneser III : Shamsi-Adad V (824-811), Adad-nerari III (811-783), and his son Shalmaneser IV (783-773), Assur-dan III (772-755) and Assur-nerari V (755-745). A civil war broke out at the end of the reign of Shalmaneser III and his son and successor Shamsi-Adad V takes several years to quell a revolt that stirred the Assyrian nobility . The tributary kingdoms of Assyria parallel attempt to shake the dominance that weighs on them. Assyrian kings have the greatest difficulty to control these problems, and lose some of their authority over the Assyrian nobles, who became rich during the conquest and have made some significant heritage that gives them great power to court . The most representative case is Shamshi-ilu , the great general of Assyria, which has a large preserve in Upper Mesopotamia around Til Barsip . In addition, the country was shaken by several Assyrian revolts led by some cities. To add more difficulty to the Assyrian power, this period saw the rise of a new enemy: the Urartu , which is challenging the domination of the Assyrians in Anatolia .

Resumption of expansion, and formation of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

In 745, the Assyrian throne is usurped by Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727), perhaps another son of Adad-nirari III . It manages to restore Assyrian power by initiating a series of structural reforms that will strengthen the hold of his kingdom in the territories dominated by replacing some vassal kingdoms by the provinces directly administered by a governor Assyrian. It also reform the army, and won great victories: he beats the Urartu , several kingdoms Syrian and Palestinian (annexations of Damascus and Gaza ), and captured most of Babylon , where he became king under the name Pulu introducing a situation of dual monarchy Assyrian-Babylonian. When he died in 727, Assyrian power has no rival. His son Shalmaneser V (727-722) ascended the throne and his reign was marked by the annexation of the Kingdom of Israel . But he was dethroned after five years by Sargon II (his brother?).

The Sargonids: the climax of Assyria

Sargon II (722-705) and his successor Sennacherib (704-681), Esarhaddon (680-669 BC) and Assurbanipal (668-627), which are grouped under the name Dynasty "Sargonids, will lead the Assyria to a degree of power never hitherto achieved, so much so that one can speak of an "empire" ^, . No other power is indeed able to cope. Some great kingdoms seeking to support uprisings in the Assyrian empire even to weaken it, but they undergo each in turn a crushing defeat on their own soil: the Urartu was crushed by Sargon II in 714, and then concentrates on Armenian region, the Egypt is invaded by Esarhaddon, who is Memphis , and Ashurbanipal, who took Thebes , the Elam , having supported many revolts in Babylonia , was eventually invaded by Ashurbanipal, who plundered his capital Susa in 646. If any of these realms is permanently incorporated into the Assyrian Empire, the fact remains that the kings of the latter show a power and an impressive range.

The internal situation of the empire is not stable so far. Assyrian court knows quite a stir, including the assassination of Sennacherib and the war that his son Esarhaddon must take to ascend the throne. Many revolts occurred in various parts of the empire, and must be suppressed. The biggest problem remains the Babylonian, Assyrians dominated since Tiglath Pileser III. Many revolts occur there, led by Babylonians strain, Chaldeans (the most important figure is Merodach Baladan-II ), supported by the Elamites. Many conflicts occur, marked by moments of great violence. Babylon destroyed by Sennacherib in 689 and restored by Esarhaddon, who attempts to restore peace by his son Shamash-shum-ukin on the throne of the city under the guardianship of his younger brother Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria. This situation does not last because Shamash-shum-ukin rebels and is defeated after a long conflict.

Assyria was then a very wide range, which extends from Iran to the eastern Mediterranean Sea , the Anatolia north of the desert of Arabia. The empire consists of many provinces and vassal kingdoms. Its great capital, Nineveh , rebuilt by Sennacherib, is the heart and is one of the largest cities in the world at this time. The beginning of the reign of Ashurbanipal marks the climax of Assyrian power: he defeated in Babylonia , has ensured its dominance in Syria , the Levant , until Anatolia . The end of his reign is still very poorly known, and may have been difficult. Assyria first experiencing setbacks: the Cimmerians , who invaded Asia Minor before, launching raids in the eastern part of the empire, and are repulsed with great difficulty, while Egypt took advantage of the disorders for emancipate themselves from the Assyrian domination, the revolt of Shamash-shum-ukin addition to its difficulties.

Fall

The fact that a few years Assyria moves from the situation that prevailed during the height of the reign of Ashurbanipal to its total destruction may raise questions. For P. Garelli is even a "historical scandal" . In fact, it is likely that signs announcing the crisis existed as seen above with the military difficulties of the reign of the last great Assyrian king. M. Liverani speculated that the last kings Sargonids have paid little attention to the organization of their empire, perhaps too confident in its strength . It could also highlight the demographic problems of the heart of the empire, dominated by large urban centers of Nineveh , Assur and Kalkhu , which seem too large for the capacity of a region that has never been urbanized, and which is also partly populated artificially, by deportations. Added to this potential difficulties in the supply of cities in cereals. The many wars undertaken by the Assyrian army could be an important demographic brake, it had to be offset by the arrival of deportees . In addition, the fronts will come when the fall of Assyria are the weaknesses of the empire: Babylon is the region where the riots occurred the most dangerous and the northern border is one of the most exposed of the empire, then it is not far from the capitals .

The triggering event of the fall of Assyria is yet internally, and this is probably the most important factor . On the death of Ashurbanipal in 627, his son Assur-etil-Ilan (627-625) ruled the empire. His brother Sin-shar-ishkun (625-612), probably the king of Babylon (as Shamash-shum-ukin before him), revolted against him, and managed to eliminate it in 625. The revolt in Babylonia enjoyed two other characters: Sin-shum-limur, which disappears quickly and Nabopolassar , governor of the Pays de la Mer, which manages to ascend the throne of Babylon, while Sin-shar-ishkun went to power in Assyria. When he decides to restore the situation in Babylonia about 620, he can not defeat Nabopolassar, who pushes forward to attack Assyria. In 616, a new player appears in the person of Cyaxares , king of the Medes , who joins forces with master of Babylon against Assyria. This coalition seal the fate of Assyria . Ashur fell in 614, and Nineveh in 612, and Sin-shar-ishkun disappears. A member of the Assyrian name of Assur-uballit He tries to resist, and fled to Harran , where he hopes to fight the Medes and Babylonians, with the help of Egypt. But his reign was short-lived as it is defeated in 609. After nearly twenty years of internal struggles and conflicts against Babylon which then joined the Median kingdom to bring him the coup de grace, Assyria is likely a country ravaged and battered, which can no longer afford to be the center of a mighty empire, which eventually disappear forever.

The Assyrians after the empire: the void?

It is striking that after the fall of the Assyrian Empire of Upper Mesopotamia ceased to be the focus of a powerful kingdom, unprecedented event since at least more than a millennium. Very few sources the document, including the three centuries following the fall of the Assyrian empire. While other motor regions of the traditional ancient Middle East as the lower Mesopotamia , the Syria of the north, the coastal Levantine or Elam continue to be successful, the post-Assyrian Mesopotamia High becomes a gray area very difficult to understand , located between several kingdoms: the old center became a periphery. In itself, it is this fact which is more surprising that the fall of the Assyrian Empire . Clearly, the late seventh ^century was a period of catastrophic for the region and was deeply upset, because of the conflict leading to the end of the empire , and probably also of economic and social developments of the period of Sargonids. However, the population of the region may not have been massacred or deported en masse, but a new political, economic and demographic starts in place for several centuries .

It is first obvious that the country is predominantly rural, major Assyrian towns do not survive to the end of the empire that had their growth, often very proactive. After the destruction of the late seventh ^century, we find only few traces of reoccupation of parts of the former acropolis Assyrian capitals . It is possible that nomadism then take a more prominent place. The material culture of the period, including ceramics, have not been clearly identified and differentiated from that of the previous period, the archaeological surveys are difficult to mobilize for the Evolution of Rural Settlement in ^the sixth - ^fifth centuries. On the old site Provincial Tell Sheikh Hamad , a residence for the period directly following the collapse of the empire was brought to light ("Red House" as the name of the excavators of the site) , and four tablets dated name of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II , indicating that it is his kingdom, which dominates the valley Khabur in the early ^sixth century . It is difficult to establish how the Medes and Babylonians were divided Upper Mesopotamia, because we only find very little evidence showing an attempt to control one of two in this region . The last Babylonian king, Nabonidus , the son of an Aramean who was born in Upper Mesopotamia to Harran in the reign of Ashurbanipal , ensures the dominance of this city and to restore the great temple of the moon god Sin , whose He is an avid devotee, as taught by two inscriptions found locally .

After 539, the Babylonian Empire was conquered and incorporated in the Achaemenid Persian Empire of Cyrus II , and Assyria (in Persian Aur) came under the control of that empire. This region is slightly better attested in the sources of that time . The Assyrians appear in the representations and lists of dependent peoples found in Persia , and shelves of Persepolis tells us that workers Assyrians are present in this region. The testimony contained in the Anabasis of Greek Xenophon crossing Assyria during the retreat of the Ten Thousand to 400, reports the presence of some cities still inhabited in the region, which is probably a Kanai Assur , and the ruins of Nineveh and Kalkhu are still striking even if they are abandoned . The heart of ancient Assyria is a predominantly rural country. The only major city to the Achaemenid Empire, found there is Arbel ( Erbil ), which is a major traffic hub from which roads crucial to Susa and Sardis .

It is in Assyria that takes place the Battle of Gaugamela (probably in the nearby plain of Nineveh ), won by the Macedonian Alexander the Great against the Persian army in 331, which marks the definitive end of the Empire Achaemenid. The Hellenistic period, during which the Seleucids dominated Mesopotamia, sees no major changes occur in Upper Mesopotamia, unless fault dating from the reign of Seleucus ^I. when Nineveh becomes Greek city . Some parts of the region beginning in any case s'hellniser slightly, and it goes under the rule of Parthians who came from the second half of the second ^century. The ancient Assyrian cities while experiencing a revival, once again become prosperous, host administration: it concerns Ashur , Nineveh , Kalkhu and Arbel . It is in this last that installs a local dynasty, leading the Kingdom of Adiabene first political force to emerge in the region since the fall of the Assyrian kingdom. But it remains a vassal of the Parthians, before the Roman Empire could not go and play them. The Romans managed to establish a province in the reign of ephemeral Trajan in 115 AD. BC, which takes the name of Assyria , and there are a fortified border ( limes ). Subsequently, the Adiabene remains torn between Romans and Parthians, plus Armenians. Farther west, another realm emerges in low Jezireh at Hatra from 100 AD. BC, led by Arab princes, and also is included in the Roman Empire.

In the following decades, the Parthian Empire declined and was replaced by that of the Persian Sassanid , which become new rivals of the Romans in Upper Mesopotamia. At this time, the Assyrians are Aramaic language speakers, even if some of their elites were Hellenized, and the ancient religion still practiced, as seen in the fact that the people of Assur and Hatra continue to worship Ashur , Nergal , Ishtar , Nanaya and other deities of the ancient Mesopotamian pantheon . But Christianity does extend these practices, which may disappear during the a href = "% C3% Antiquit A9_tardive" title = "Late Antiquity"> Late Antiquity, a period in which we can consider that the page in the history of the ancient Assyrian people is turned.

Territorial control Assyrian

From the mid-Assyrian period, Assyria turns into territorial state that is growing in importance, a development that culminates in the empire of Sargonids at the end of the Neo-Assyrian. This causes an assertion of royal figure whose power is more absolute despite some recurring weaknesses related to dynastic troubles, and the development of a group that can be considered as "nobility" that provides Assyrian senior administration and the army of the kingdom. The latter is also an essential part of the Assyrian power of Assurnasirpal II Sennacherib, war is a central place in society, the great battles are real disasters, depleting economic resources and demographics ^{The royal power}

Ideology and royal duties

According to Mesopotamian tradition, the king of Assyria is considered the representative of the god Assur on Earth, indicated by its title iiakku (translated as "vicar") and sar ^mast Assurance ("king of the land of the god Ashur) . The text thus considered the anthem for the coronation of Ashurbanipal proclaims: "Assur is King! " . The sovereign is also considered the "high priest" (Sangu) of god, which also means it is the administrator of his estate . During the ritual celebrations of akitu, New Year, known by the time a text Tiglath-pileser ^I. , as in various royal inscriptions, it is stipulated that the duty of the sovereign land is to expand the country's borders the god Assur. Neighbouring countries should be urged to recognize the supremacy of god. The king must also participate in several other religious ceremonies.

To be worthy of his position, the king must develop the qualities of a warrior, which explains why it is highlighted in the stories and images of campaigns but also the royal hunts . It is the army chief, even if it does not always lead his troops in the field . It must also be morally irreproachable , follow the decisions of the gods by divination, prayers addressed to them, restore their temples. The king is finally the supreme judge of the kingdom, in which every subject is supposed to be able to call as a last resort. The "king's" (shades Saar) overrides any other decision . He must protect his subjects, to ensure that harmony reigns between them, and contribute to their well-being.

Rituals related to royalty

Located at the crossroads between the world of humans and gods, the king lives a very ritualized marked by the special nature that gives it its function . From the mid-Assyrian period, the life of the royal court is codified, access is limited to the king. Hearings and follow a precise course banquets. But most important is the set of rituals that punctuate the life of the king, as high priest and vicar of the god Ashur. The king could not be present at all the ceremonies that would normally lead, it could be represented by his cloak (kuzippu) or a priest delegated. Among the most important ceremonies related to the Assyrian kingdom, often known by fragmentary texts, we know the bit Rimk, purifying bath ritual, tkultu , meals offered to the gods, or the Lunar New Year .

Moreover, the king must always ensure that its decisions have the agreement of many gods, and also be informed of omens concerning the situation of his kingdom or his own life . It is surrounded by soothsayers, who perform the rituals of divination, or observe the omens, including astrological and keeps abreast of the prophecies of the prophets of certain deities like Ishtar of Arbela. When a disaster is announced, it is necessary to hold rituals to avoid them, what is the role of exorcists and lamentations. Following the same principle, the protective spirits figures adorning the royal palaces were to ward off evil from the royal residence.

The most characteristic rituals related to the protection of the king is the "Crown Royal", which comes from a baleful omen announcing death of the sovereign, often an eclipse of the sun or moon, or the occultation of a planet associated to a specific deity . The exorcists who lead the ritual then use an alternative method common in the Mesopotamian magic: evil is transferred from an individual who is notionally enthroned, when the king becomes a "laborer", that is to say a mere mortal. The transfer could be done on an individual deemed unimportant (prisoner, convicted, simple-minded), or a rebel, a rebellious population that was then punish or in some cases a dignitary who is devoted to King. Once the substitute disappeared, the king returned to his seat safe.

The growing assertion of the royal figure

If he keeps throughout its history titles "vicar" and "high priest" of the god Ashur, the Assyrian king acquires other shares marking its growing power. Early in the period mid-Assyrian, Ashur-uballit ^I. called himself "Great King" (arru rabu), in the same manner as other great rulers of the time as those of Babylon and the Hittites it seeks to match . Arik-den-ili adds the title "great king" (arru Dannu) and Tukulti-Ninurta ^I. that of "king of the four regions of the world" (Sar kibrat Erbetta) and under their successors is the expression "king of the universe" (Sar KISSATA), the latter two showing an ambition for universal dominion, to rule over all other sovereign . Literature and art produced by the middle of the court tends to raise the Assyrian royal figure increasing to record their exploits in the loft and idealizing. Every Assyrian king's ambition to surpass the glory of its predecessors by the size of the monuments he built and the countries he travels with his armies and subjects.

In the Neo-Assyrian period, the king may be regarded as a monarch absolute, far removed from the paleo-Assyrian kings who had to deal with the oligarchy of Ashur . All his subjects owe him obedience, dependent on its will and favors, which are the main source of wealth in the kingdom. Collective oaths (ADE) can be arranged on several occasions during which the subjects of the empire reaffirm their loyalty to the sovereign. In cases of treason, conspiracy, rebellion, the sentence is death. Collective oaths include organized twice to proclaim the legitimacy of Ashurbanipal as heir to the throne, because it is in the succession disputes that the weakness of Assyrian royal power is most visible.

The issue of royal succession

Dynastic succession is the major factor of instability at the head of the Assyrian kingdom. For a long time, however, serious problems are caused by the nobility and the cities of Assyria, especially ⁱⁿ the ninth and ^eighth centuries, but they are not yet put in after the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III . This explains the importance of taking the oaths of allegiance (ADE) under Sargonids dignitaries. Inheritance disorders, however, are constant or increasing during the kingdom's history, especially the Neo-Assyrian. Yet these dynastic troubles, since the only probable change of dynasty are observable in the last days of the mid-Assyrian period, especially with the coming to power in 1192 of Ninurta-RPLA-Ekur , son of King of Hanigalbat "Ili-pada and not that of the previous king Assur-nerari III . Subsequently, coups bring to the throne of the princes of the royal family, even in cases of Tiglath-Pileser III and Sargon II , for which we have long had doubts . So at least we respect the dynastic succession.

If it is possible that primogeniture was the rule of succession theory in fact the appointment of a successor is increasingly dependent on the sovereign will of the Neo-Assyrian period. The crown prince then has a particular rank, especially in the Sargonids . It has several areas, including palaces called "house estate" (bit Reduta), which are known examples Tarbisu near Nineveh and in the latter (the "palace north), where he heads an administration charge of collecting information from the border regions of the empire. It's a way to introduce him to his future duties as king. When his father died, he ascended the throne. A text vintage mid-Assyrian, which is not known if he was still relevant in the ^first millennium, describes what seems to be a coronation ceremony, running simple and takes place at Assur . It is marked by the symbolism of the rule of the god Ashur , recalled by the repetition of the phrase "Assur is King! "By a priest according to the sovereign. It culminates with the crowning itself, which takes place in the temple of the god's statue in front of which the future king prostrated himself before his pledge to extend the frontiers of his kingdom.

Despite the systematic designation of a successor, the dynastic troubles are common . Shalmaneser III and chooses Shamsi-Adad V as his successor in 824, the eldest son Assur-cons-da''in Aplu, who then rebelled. Tiglath-Pileser III and Sargon II ascended the throne after removing the king named as heir. The problems are accentuated under Sargonids since the last three designated heirs become kings are all facing fratricidal wars, and those are the problems of succession between two son of Ashurbanipal which lead in part to the downfall of Assyria.

The king's entourage

The dignitaries and royal administration

The study of the administration of the Assyrian empire is complicated by the fact that the charges are for us the central government and administration palace are often coupled with loads of provincial government or military, and the precise role of a function are not always well known. It is in any case in the hands of the royal entourage of people forming the elite of "nobility" Assyrian, with matrimony between them, sometimes going back to the royal family.

From the beginning of the Assyrian kingdom, it is this Assyrian nobility, whose wealth is based primarily land and financial frameworks that provides administrative state, functions which it derives its power . A good example is that of Urad-Sherua who lives at the end of the thirteenth ^century, from a family of holders of high office he inherited in turn, linked by marriage to other large families, and strengthening its wealth by making loans and receiving donations from persons to whom it provides assistance in legal matters . The separation between public and private affairs is still unclear. Subsequently this group open to foreigners, including Syrians , from the Neo-Assyrian period.

During the expansion phases (mid-Assyrian era and the beginning of the Neo-Assyrian), some characters gain considerable power in the kingdom, getting heavy loads, and an estate that goes with it. They therefore constitute a potential threat to royal authority. The most representative cases are those of the dynasty of "Kings of Hanigalbat "in mid-Assyrian period, one of whose descendants, Ninurta-RPLA-Ekur , eventually taking power in Assyria, and that of Shamsi-ilu , great general of Assyria in the first half of the eighth ^century, which is almost its own kingdom around Til Barsip . These officials must swear loyalty oaths commonly (ADE) to the Kings. Under Sargonids who develop such absolute power, their position depends entirely on the royal will . This increases competition and rivalry within the Assyrian court .

From an administrative perspective, the mid-Assyrian era sees the strengthening of royal power, which no longer matched by the municipal authorities, Assyria then being a real territorial state and not a single city-state. The cleric is the largest "Vizier (ukkallu), a sort of prime minister, who has powers military, civil or criminal . When organizing the conquest, the western part of the territory is assigned to a "grand vizier (ukkallu Rabiu). Stewardship of the palace is managed by the "mayor of the palace" (rab Ekalle). Other functions are assigned to palatial eunuchs (habitually). The former title of limmu remains, but it is more than honorary, his keeper, chosen among the most important personages of the kingdom, always giving his name to the year where he is following a tradition that range typically Assyrian . This is very important in the life of the kingdom since the administrative acts were dated after the phrase "+ name limmu the eponymous year, and not by counting the years of rule by the sovereign as Babylonia. Lists of eponyms often incomplete helped rebuild their chronological sequence of more or less satisfactory .

Under the neo-Assyrian kings, several dignitaries are known . Chef (rab nuhhatimi) is responsible for receiving the royal messages. There is also the vizier (ukkallu), the great butler (rab aq), the great intendant (maennu), the herald of the palace (ngiru Ekalle), the chief eunuch (rab EMAN) and the butler's palace (its share Ekalle ), which manages the administration of the royal palace. The great general (turtanu) often has a significant role. This load is also split to avoid it competes with the king. At the time of Sargonids, dolphin, installed in the House of succession (Reduta bit), it exerted heavy loads, especially in border surveillance.

The religious aspect of royal power meant that the sovereign is also religious counselors and more policy advisers: diviners, exorcists and lamentations . The most important component of these priests residing at the college court, charged with organizing the major rituals . Their presence at court under the last Sargonids increases, which should not necessarily consider them as a group with great influence over the king, because there are various factions, and that mishaps are common .

The royal wives and harem

As is the tradition of the ancient Near East, King practiced polygyny. His wives are both daughters of the kings of equal rank (where available) or vassals, noble Assyrian girls or women abducted during conquests. Thus, the harem of the king sees the size increase in proportion to the power of it.

The royal harem occupies much of the private sector of the royal palaces. It is governed by a set of principles, which are codified in edicts Tiglath-Pileser ^I. , called the harem edicts, which are in fact several aspects of palace life . We thus learn that wives are ranked hierarchically. Foremost are the queen-mother, and "royal wives' (Assat Saar), among which the king has a favorite, which is often the mother of the heir presumptive. Following are the wives or concubines who occupy a secondary position, primarily those known as "ladies of the palace" (a sinniti Ekalle) and a set of servants. Children in infancy are also in the harem. The rules of the edicts of the harem should be applied by the mayor or majordomo of the palace.

The rules of the harem are very strict, and designed to limit contact of the wives of the king with the outside, and quarrels that disturb the harem, a great place of intrigue . Queens could often see their position threatened by others seeking to gain favor with the king. Senior wives could sometimes leave the harem and even travel far from the palace, while the secondary wives were apparently reclusive life in the Neo-Assyrian, the rules of the edicts mid-Assyrian being less restrictive for them . One looks in any case they have to avoid physical contact with other members of the royal court. The great royal wives had an estate in land may be important, they managed themselves with their own administrative service, consisting essentially of eunuchs. The harem was also placed in the Neo-Assyrian under the authority of the chief eunuch. Wealth available to the royal wives is also visible in the graves of three of them discovered in a palace Kalkhu and have delivered a very opulent materials, all the more remarkable that this is only of secondary wives.

Some queens were able to exert a very important role in the court of Assyria, especially as queen mothers. The two most famous are those of Sammuramat , mother of Adad-nirari III , passed down to posterity under the name of Semiramis , and that of Zakutu , wife of Aramaic origin of Sennacherib , who manages to make his son Esarhaddon the heir of her royal husband, before allowing her little son Ashurbanipal to climb to turn on the throne .

The royal palace: executives of central power

As part of the King's life, his entourage and the central administration of the kingdom was the palace of the Assyrian city which served as the capital during his reign. The oldest Assyrian palace is the "Old Palace" of the historic capital, Ashur , built in Paleo-Assyrian . This building is then presented on the same plane as a normal residence, only its size confirms its function as a royal residence. At the time mid-Assyrian Tukulti-Ninurta ^I. Ashur built in the "New Palace", located in the northwest corner of the citadel. It could not be searched because it is still more than the terrace serving to its foundations .

In the Neo-Assyrian kings to move several times their royal palace, sometimes keeping the same city, sometimes changing it . The royal palace become the main monuments erected by the Assyrians, who have left us a detailed account of the construction of several of them . These are the excavations of these buildings were made from the ^nineteenth century that allowed us to rediscover and be familiar with the history and operation of the Assyrian Empire.

The first major royal palace of the Neo-Assyrian is built Kalkhu by Assurnasirpal II . Following him, other sovereign build or restore the palace in the citadel of this city: Adad-Nerari III , Tiglath Pileser III , Sargon II and Esarhaddon. Sargon II built to turn a large palace in the capital, Dur-Sharrukin. This construction is quickly supplanted by the great "Palace Northeast" built by Sennacherib in the new Assyrian capital Nineveh. This is probably the biggest neo-Assyrian royal palace. Ashurbanipal is in turn restore the palace to the opposite corner of the citadel of Nineveh. An example of palace province was solved Til Barsip in the region Khabur.

The Neo-Assyrian royal palaces all follow the same plane . You enter through a door that leads to a monumental first courtyard around which organized the public space of the palace (babnu): shops, factories, administrative offices palace. The throne room separates the area of private space (btnu), including the royal apartments and the harem, also organized around a large central space. The decoration of royal palaces consisted of long bas-reliefs carved on orthostats. At Til Barsip, provincial palace, they were substituted with frescoes painted. In general subjects had an identical purpose: to glorify the king. The palace complex may also include religious buildings, libraries and gardens .

War in Assyria

The Assyrian army is a force to be reckoned from the reign of Assur-uballit ^I.. In the thirteenth ^century, the Assyrians won major victories over the Babylonians and the Hittites , which indicates they were probably from this period, the best army in the Middle East. Yet the Neo-Assyrian remains one in which the army of the kingdom became a real machine winning victory after victory, to the point of an empire on a scale never before achieved.

The glorification of military action has been pushed too far this time, and Assyrians have left the image of a predatory nation, as related by the Bible and the inscriptions as well as their sovereign and bas-reliefs of their palaces boasting their military victories and the terrible repression falling on the vanquished (massacres, deportations). It is for this reason that our sources in this area are very abundant although beware of overinterpretations speeches made by the Assyrians on their military campaigns.

The recruitment and organization of the Assyrian army

The Assyrians have quickly developed a well-organized army, very driven (campaigns are often annual), flanked by elite troops formed around the nobility of the kingdom. By the mid-Assyrian period, the latter group that administers the recruitment of basic soldiering: the aristocrats gather from the addicts in their fields, and then equip and maintain the field . Some higher-ranking soldiers have their own domain granted to them to enable them to maintain their equipment.

The organization of the Neo-Assyrian army is much better known . The base of the troops are always in an infantry recruited from the peasantry Assyrian, but this time it's provincial administration which is responsible for mobilizing the debt service due to the king at the time of each annual campaign. Besides that, the rulers themselves are the body called Kisiri Sarri, "King's Army", consisting of permanent troops, who are elite troops or specialized body (chariots, cavalry, engineers, poliorcetics) and are controlled closely by the central government, including from stockpile (Ekali maarti) in large cities. The troops are supplemented by a third group, the auxiliary troops recruited among the subject peoples who provide them as a tribute. Thus the Assyrian army reinforcements to get the remote countryside, and bodies specialized soldiers, such as the Phoenicians mobilized by Sennacherib to build a fleet in the Persian Gulf , or nomads ituens used for missions recognition. Due to the nature of recruitment, these troops are less reliable than those raised in Assyria itself. It has been estimated that by these means Shalmaneser III had met prior to the Battle of Qarqar in 853 at least 86 000 soldiers (a figure of 120 000 he gives in his Annals seeming greatly exaggerated), with 75,000 infantry, 5000 6000 riders and 2000 men riding tanks . Apart from this case, the population numbers of the Assyrian army mobilized for a campaign are impossible to grasp. These numbers are huge if they are related to the Assyrian population estimated at 500,000 inhabitants, the military effort must be exhausting for the country .

People used to frame the neo-Assyrian troops are often also involved in the civil administration that is not separated from the military . It therefore relates to both the king's entourage living in the palace, the nobility, the provincial administrators who took over the forts and garrisons established in territories subject. Military ranks still existed, and we suggest the organization of troops "soldiers" basis (Sabu). The king is at the pinnacle of the military hierarchy and was helped by a kind of Staff, in which was the largest military rank, the turtnu, commanding general, a function that ends up being split in two between a "turtnu right "and" turtnu left "before their function does pass rab habitually (" chief eunuch ") under the Sargonids. The corps are divided into groups of 1000 soldiers led by a "leader of a mile (1 rab lim), in turn divided into a body of 100 soldiers led by a" centurion "(rab me'at 1) then squads of fifty men and groups of 10 headed "decurions (rab eirte). The auxiliary or specialized body had their own organization.

The weapons, the types of troops and combat techniques

The Assyrian armies of military equipment is best known for the neo-Assyrian period, thanks to performances war reliefs of royal palaces. The army is composed mainly of infantry, who were archers , slingers or soldiers with small handguns ( daggers , swords short), and more and more lancers who eventually form the core band . They are dressed in short dresses and tunics less dominating long ago. They are rarely protected by armor, their feet are often bare, although some leather boots. Of chainmail however appear on the bas-reliefs. The shields and helmets are various forms. The diversification of troops with the incorporation of foreign auxiliaries that the Assyrian army is increasingly made up of disparate forces, whose equipment is very varied. The infantry was used primarily in frontal assaults. It seems that the superiority Assyrian relies primarily on the fact of having a numerical superiority over the tactics that , although one should not neglect the interests of elite troops to tip the during the bout.

The elite troops to attack are those using horses. The chariot is the body's most prestigious , which explains why the king was often represented on a chariot. Tanks (narkabtu) are drawn by three horses, mounted by three men, including a driver (mukil bait), a fighter often equipped with a bow (narkabti beautiful, literally "master of the chariot") and a third man ( talu) in charge of protecting them. They become more massive in the Sargonids, and are drawn by four horses and manned by four men (two-door shields). Les chars servent effectuer des charges rapides contre les fantassins ennemis, pour dsorganiser l'arme adverse, ou la harceler avec des flches. La cavalerie monte apparat en Assyrie la fin du II ^e millnaire et prend une place croissante l'poque no-assyrienne, notamment parce qu'elle est plus mobile en terrain accident . Les chevaux sont d'abord monts par des groupes de deux hommes, un archer et un conducteur porteur de bouclier, reprenant le modle dvelopp dans la charrerie, avant que l'on n'organise des troupes de cavaliers seuls quips d'un arc ou d'une lance comme arme principale. Les seconds deviennent les troupes offensives privilgies sous les Sargonides. On comprend donc l'importance pour les rois assyriens d'obtenir des chevaux, dont l'levage naisseur n'tait pas pratiqu en Assyrie mme mais dans des rgions voisines comme l' Iran occidental ou l' Urartu avec lesquelles il fallait donc maintenir des contacts constants pour obtenir les animaux en tant que tribut.

Pour soumettre les villes ennemies, les Assyriens ont dvelopp la poliorctique , une nouvelle fois bien connue grce aux bas-reliefs . Ils disposaient ds les dbuts de la priode no-assyrienne de bliers de 5 6 mtres de long monts dans des tours mobiles dans lesquelles se positionnaient des archers qui pouvaient le cas chant investir les murailles adverses. Plus tard, des bliers plus lgers sont mis au point. Les assigs pouvaient tenter de dtruire ces machines de siges en les incendiant grce des flches ou de la naphte enflammes, ainsi que de l'huile bouillante. La destruction de fortifications adverses pouvait galement se faire par la mthode de la sape.

Les pratiques militaires : campagnes, pillages, destructions et dportations

p> From the mid-Assyrian era and especially the early days of the Neo-Assyrian period, the rulers of Assyria have the habit of annual military campaigns designed to ensure the submission of more or less remote the heart of Assyria, during which they receive the homage of kings they conquered or who have submitted themselves, and where they are taking their toll . The governors of border provinces and attendants monitoring the vassal kings of the region provided regular reports on the status of enemy kingdom, and patrols of scouts were stationed in border forts. Assyrian kings had probably spies informing them of the situation in the current enemy, allowing them to obtain information critical to winning. These spies were also trying to bribe allies and enemies to divide the opponent before the fight.

Assyrian domination also based on practices of terror used to demobilize potential adversaries, to submit them psychologically . After the victory, the inhabitants of regions that had opposed the Assyrian authority could suffer terrible tortures that the Assyrian kings have long and represent and relate in great detail in their Annals and the bas-reliefs of their palaces. They left a reputation for cruelty without qualms, based on real events although one should not exaggerate its specificity, since such practices were common in earlier periods . The aim of these measures was to control the areas under the terror. Similarly, the victories were usually followed by the looting that could bring to Assyria significant wealth or strategic products, as well as slaves or dependents, as in the tribute . The Assyrians also practiced the deportation as a result of military operations . Again, the aims are political and economic: there is weakening of the defeated countries, the attempts to quell rebellion, but also to reorganize some parts missing people, especially reclaim their land, or to provide a skilled artisan in some specialties. But the human cost of these practices could be considerable, since many people did not survive the trip which was performed in difficult conditions. These practices resulted in considerable mixing of populations: it was estimated that 4.5 million people were deported during the Neo-Assyrian period by extrapolating data from royal inscriptions which appear reliable (and document at least 1.32 million deported) , nearly 400,000 under Tiglath-Pileser III and nearly 470 000 by Sennacherib.

The territory under control

Details of the expansion of the Assyrian kingdom

From the ^fourteenth century, Assyria became a political power which is in large territorial state in a few decades. The terms of the overall organization of the mid-Assyrian kingdom are discussed. JN Postgate divides the region dominated by Assyria between the "land of Ashur (god), called ^mast insured in Assyrian texts, that is Assyria itself, the center of a kingdom founded around the capital , Ashur , a territory that belongs to the god Ashur , a true master of the kingdom whose subjects must participate in worship, and the areas under the "yoke of Assur," the kingdoms of Assyria customers who pay tribute . It would therefore be in the presence of an expansion in "oil stain" from a center. For M. Liverani, the mid-Assyrian kingdom spread along a network of command points or outposts forming islands in Assyrian territory under . Rather than opposing them, we can see that both models are not necessarily exclusive. The Assyrian kingdom is a power running roughly along the lines of other great kingdoms of the time, like the Hittites , who dominate many vassal kingdoms and consider themselves equal.

After retraction of the kingdom in the wake of repeated attacks by Syrians , a new expansion phase begins after 911. During the first part of the Neo-Assyrian period, the Assyrian kingdom work in traditional ways: its sovereign seeking to establish a wide area of influence where the vassal kingdoms who pay tribute willingly or forcibly. The difference with the previous period is that Assyria has fewer rivals to its height, except at times Babylon or Urartu. Gradually, the ambitions of the Assyrian kings is toward universal domination, and thus a truly imperial domination. It is from Tiglath-Pileser III or Sargon II that one can speak of an empire : with these kings vassal states are increasingly controlled and often incorporated into the Assyrian kingdom, and Research is generally a strong and direct control over the territories subject, as illustrated in particular the establishment of a network of more efficient communication across the empire .

The organization of provinces and kingdoms subject

In mid-Assyrian period, the kingdom that is divided administratively soon after the conquest, according to a principle that persists thereafter . It creates provinces (phutu), administered by a governor (bel Pahat, later also called aknu). He watched the collection of taxes and tributes, which he kept a portion for its own needs and those of the troops at his disposal, and pour the rest on the central power, and he had to ensure the security of the province, informing the king about what happening. Sometimes, a charge of central government administration resulted in a specific province. The provinces in turn were divided into districts (halu), which also have their directors (hassihlu). While this system was probably being monitored by the central government, made by a cleric called qpu. Locally, there are other royal officials: the "mayors" (hznu) and inspectors (rab Alan) responsible for collecting taxes.

Besides the provinces directly administered by Assyrian governors, there were a number of vassal kingdoms. Their kings had sworn loyalty to the Assyrian king (mmtu at the time mid-Assyrian, ade to the Neo-Assyrian) in exchange for "protection" . They were to pay tribute. Numerous texts of such treaties dating to the Neo-Assyrian period have been unearthed in the Assyrian capitals .

In the Neo-Assyrian period, many vassal kingdoms are processed in the province after the rebellions, especially from Tiglath-Pileser III in the second half of the eighth ^century . The Assyrians eliminate their elites or deported and replaced by a pro-Assyrian governor or Assyrian itself. A trend is emerging division of provinces at the same time to avoid that some governors could gain too much power. Administrative expenses of provinces of crucial steps such as border, assigned to senior dignitaries office holders of the central government.

Some cities had privileged positions: the king had granted franchises (zaktu) . This is the case of large cities of Assyria, as Ashur , some in Babylonia as Nippur and Babylon. The king granted this privilege to thank the support it had provided these cities during rebellions or to prevent them from rebelling.

The relationship between center and periphery: predation and emulation

Because they are its most brutal and arbitrary that are most visible in our sources, the Assyrian domination in the territories subject seems to be largely at the expense of the latter, especially the Neo-Assyrian. The center of the empire, the traditional heart of Assyria, enriched by the tributes paid from the dominated peripheries, and flows of deported peoples, including the elite and the best craftsmen, who bleed the defeated countries often already ravaged by violent looting and destruction done by the Assyrian armies. The empire is thus a "vast enterprise resource exploitation of the vanquished" . So under a predatory aspect that may appear Assyrian domination . This impression is reinforced by the very negative image that the Hebrew Bible has left the Assyrians.

Yet this dark vision of the neo-Assyrian domination may be qualified . The development of a demand for products from the Assyrians, whether in tribute or trade, may have the effect of stimulating the economy of regions vassals, such as the Phoenicia whose artisans realize many luxury goods prized by the elite Assyrian. Moreover, the tribute system is not completely arbitrary because it takes into account the specialties and capabilities of countries that are subject, and probably did not result in bleeding the economy of the latter. The Assyrians have also sought to reorganize certain remote regions and to develop, such as the south-east Anatolia around the present city of Diyarbakir where they established garrisons and agricultural colonists deported . In the country Mede , Assyrian domination and demand tribute in horses necessary for the army were probably made without significantly affecting the local elites, who probably benefited . We can therefore consider that in many cases local elites, or part of them belong to the Assyrian rule if it serves them. The art of peripheral regions is sometimes inspired by the Assyrians . Assyria even open to outside influences, visible in art or architecture, for example with the construction of buildings of Syrian descent called bit Hilani in large Neo-Assyrian palace . Moreover, we note that incorporates Assyria in the central administration a growing number of non-Assyrian, Aramaic foremost.

The Assyrians: men and their activities

The ancient Assyrian Society is a society marked by high levels of inequality that does not necessarily reflect the terminology attested in the texts reflects primarily a legal concept or administrative groups. The majority of the population depends on agriculture, a transition area between the zone where precipitation is sufficient to grow crops and where they are not. Rural society dominated by a large number of dependents subject to the landowners from the royal administration, and it faces the Neo-Assyrian to the growth of large cities including the capitals sometimes created out of nothing by rulers, which could have resulted to destabilize economic and social structures of Assyria. Anyway, it appears that the State occupies a role more and more important over time in the evolution of the economy and society.

structures and social institutions

Social categories

Assyrian Laws, body of laws compiled in the twelfth ^century, but a right resulting oldest, we provide information on the categories comprising the mid-Assyrian society as perceived within a legal framework . They can interbreed with the documents of the practice in the same period. People could be classified in different ways, either by the degree of freedom they had, their economic role or their geographical origin . To quote the simplest criterion, the Assyrian society is traditionally divided between free men (a'lu), slaves (hard, which actually means "servant" broadly and can refer cases to other free people) and an intermediate category of people called "Assyrians" (auriu), whose exact status is unclear, but which have a lower status than the first category and probably a lesser degree of freedom .

The term "Assyrian" is still used in the Neo-Assyrian period, but in a sense meaning belonging to the group of subjects of Assyria. They are also called market ensured, literally "son of Ashur" . This reflects a characteristic of this period, namely the fact that means the people of the kingdom by words without precise legal connotation: it refers to "people" (Nise), of "individuals" (napti), or even "Troops" (SABE). These vague terms can either designate as free non-free. The only thing that seems to matter is their vocation to serve the administration . For this as for the previous period, and this is the position in relation to the royal administration determines the best place in society. Moreover, this terminology also reflects the desire to welcome people into the empire that the Assyrians are not in the ethnic sense of the term, but are a growing both in the cities than in rural central kingdom Following numerous deportations organized by the Neo-Assyrian kings, and which tend to increase the diversity of this ethno-linguistic region, and cause the "aramaisation" progressive population of Upper Mesopotamia .

Among people who are not ethnic Assyrian meaning of the term, a party is a group that is distinguished by its mode of life: the nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes gathered in and evolving especially in the steppe zone of Jezireh where they graze their flocks while another part of the group can be established in villages for agriculture. This lifestyle is not well known by contemporary sources, that the document always indirectly and probably biased, and is rebuilt by current models based on recent evidence on the semi-nomadism in Upper Mesopotamia , thus leaving some uncertainty . These communities have lived in symbiosis with sedentary agricultural groups to which they brought with them products of livestock in which they were specialized, and sometimes by providing extra manpower and also auxiliary troops appreciated by the military because of their mobility and their knowledge of semi-desert. The nomads, however, often appear in our sources as troublemakers, potential looters difficult to grasp. At the time mid-Assyrian texts refer especially Suteans the Ya'urens Middle Euphrates , then more and more of the group Ahlamu, which is then associated with that of the Syrians . The Neo-Assyrian army includes body from nomadic groups, such as Ituens used for patrol missions. After the fall of the Empire, the tribes are Arab who move increasingly in the Middle Euphrates region, which is sometimes called the "Saudi" in the texts of Greek authors ^, .

A patriarchal society

The basic unit of society is the Assyrian household, the head of which is the head of the family, which is in most cases a man . The Assyrian Laws ensure its prominence in the household at the time mid-Assyrian. It has in some extreme cases the right to pledge the members of his family on a loan (wife, children and even slaves) , or even sell their children (especially daughters) in case of famine . In the case of crimes committed by or against a family member is the householder who has often able to carry out the punishment: If a woman steals a property, the householder could cut off his injured nose unless her husband does not cut his own ear . We note in passing the characteristic severity of this body of laws. The woman is always in a position of inferiority: if a woman hits a man, the penalty is a heavy fine and twenty sticks , while the head is allowed to strike his wife or daughter (but not decide to put to death) .

The Assyrian Laws tell us much about the law of marriage : it is negotiated by the heads of household, and gives rise to exchanges of dowry and dowry-cons. The Assyrians practiced the levirate is to say that a widow may be forced to marry the brother of her deceased husband. The husband can dissolve the marriage of his own without necessarily compensating the wife divorced. In the Neo-Assyrian, it is sometimes seen in marriage contracts that the wife breaks the union of his own . Personal property of the wife, including her dowry, not freely available in theory, the husband to manage, even if it appears that in practice some wives have a degree of autonomy in managing their property. A man may take two or more wives, even if there should be a hierarchy between the first and second. But polygamy is not attested outside the circle of elites. In the Census of Harran, of Neo-Assyrian (see below), rural families who are dependent nuclear structure are counted, monogamous and patriarchal .

The role of institutions and royal power

Like other companies in the ancient Near East , Assyrian society is dominated by institutions and AL Oppenheim has described as "large bodies" . This is actually the palace of the royal power dependent organizations, the most important are the royal palace and also includes provincial palaces and temples, which traditionally have a more modest role in Upper Mesopotamia in Lower Mesopotamia and are supervised closely by the royal power. They are key players in economic life, with land, workshops, rise of commercial shipments, and employ a diverse and numerous (scribes directors, employees are free or not free), paid by or allotment of rations land profit. The administration of the palace is managed at the Neo-Assyrian by the mayor or majordomo of the palace (its share Ekalle) . This temple is supported by a high priest (Sangu) assisted by a chief scribe (upar bit ill) . The areas of high officials of the kingdom, as well as those of women occupying the highest rank at court, are managed in a manner similar to large organizations, as seen for example in the administration of the general area of Tell Sabi Abyad in the mid-Assyrian era (see below) .

In such a system is therefore the place in these large organizations that determines the place in society. More and more, including the Neo-Assyrian and especially that of Sargonids is being served the king who can get rich as quickly and build up an important heritage. King assigns so much land to individuals who have rendered services or temples, and also provides tax exemptions and chores . Looking more and more people as mere subjects to serve the kingdom without legal distinction, the royal power makes the fortune and the power increasingly dependent functions and favors he concedes. Plus we are close to power, the more ranks high in society. Thus, the elite of society Assyrian may be considered a "noble duty" . The impact of royal power over society is broader: its policy of deportations, the construction of new cities and the development of new rural landscapes, it helps change the lives of his subjects in a non-negligible. The weight of mobilization for the army, taxes and chores have also played a role in the evolution of societies, undermining Assyrian subjects that were submitted . The economic and demographic status of the population at the end of Assyrian Empire remains to be determined, and the responsibility of the royal policy in these developments is difficult to establish because our sources are too limited.

The Assyrian campaigns

Landscapes and rural settlement and agricultural development

Upper Mesopotamia is a region of plateaus incised by several rivers. Soils, brown or red, are potentially fertile well, but this requires that water be available and it is this issue that is crucial to understand the challenges of agriculture in the region . This is in effect between the dry farming areas, where rainfall is sufficient for the irrigation is not necessary for growing grains, and areas where irrigation is necessary. It is roughly more than 250 millimeters of rainfall a year to hope to grow the barley , a little more for the wheat. The transition zone between the two spaces is actually fluctuating from year to year, so that agriculture is subject to many uncertainties in much of the southern fringe of Upper Mesopotamia, including the region called low Jezireh between Tigris and Euphrates , where the rains occur in winter, drought rainfed preventing the rest of the year and reducing the plain state of steppe. The heart of Assyria and plateaus of northern Upper Mesopotamia in the region called high Jezireh can dry farming with safety, even if irrigation can supplement to increase yields. Rainfall is mostly concentrated in the winter too. Apart from the two great rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates, capricious regimes, there are very few perennial streams for irrigation throughout the year: both Zab , the Khabur , while Balikh is dry in summer. The mountainous areas bordering these regions are cooler and wetter in winter but dry in summer, there are of timber taken from conifers such as cedar or pine trees that grow there.

Assyrian campaigns are the subject of several development operations initiated by the royal power. At the time mid-Assyrian, from the reign of Shalmaneser ^I. (1275-1245), implantation of new rural settlements alongside new administrative centers in the Jazira, and it creates new irrigation canals as around Tell Sheikh Hamad . When this region was reconquered by the Neo-Assyrian kings from the ^ninth century, similar operations occur there, with the deportations and the establishment of agricultural settlers . The rulers are also making irrigation channels to try to cultivate new land or to make them more productive around large cities they build in Assyria itself, in order to ensure their supply. The system created around Nineveh in the time of Sennacherib is an illustration of the most remarkable .

The settlement of Upper Mesopotamia campaigns, has significant changes between the ^Second and ^First Millennium, detectable in the results of archaeological surveys conducted in several areas, and are probably due in part to affirmative action of sovereign Neo-Assyrian . During the Late Bronze Age, which ended with the end of the mid-Assyrian period in the region, the rural population is dominated by housing built on nuclear tells dominant areas of culture, which is the traditional settlement of Upper Mesopotamia for several centuries. A change occurs in early Iron Age in the early centuries of the ^first millennium, especially in ^the eighth ^and seventh centuries. Most of the decline and tells the people were scattered in several small villages or hamlets in the hills or in the lower valleys, which are probably the rural settlements that called kapru texts. Small towns or villages (aluminum) can also serve as centers of population in rural areas . A final form of habitat is the Assyrian campaigns fortified settlement could serve as the center of a large farm, as is the case for the building at the time called dunnu mid-known Assyrian including the archives of Tell Sabi Abyad and Giricano .

The landscape of the Assyrian campaigns is marked by various habitat types hierarchical irrigation canals where they are built, you may add buildings operating as enclosures to park a few head of cattle, threshing floors, cisterns. The cultivated areas of valley bottoms are made from grain fields that dominate, but also vineyards, gardens, all of generally small size, and opposed to the steppe (madbaru to the Neo-Assyrian) used for grazing flocks of sheep and goats. Because of the weather, but also socio-economic size of the cultivated area and the space vary from steppe years.

Agrarian Structures

Farmland in the mid-Assyrian period can be classified into several categories according to their mode of operation . First the land directly under the royal power, managed from the palace, which plays a crucial role as economic institution. More broadly, it seems that the king had prepared a prominent property on all lands in the kingdom, perhaps in the name of the god Ashur . It is complex to distinguish between two types of land, including private lands, and lands granted by the palace in exchange for a service or function being done by the owner on behalf of the royal administration. Private lands, which could be owned by an individual or collectively by several people (especially following a joint ownership ) and size generally smaller than the grounds of the palace, were indeed subject to the ilku , to perform service on behalf of the royal administration. In large areas, it is often a military service borne by the owner who team up and his troops among the dependent (ubtu literally "residents") who work on its behalf. The service could also be converted into a chore. If ilku not perform on behalf of the kingdom, the land can be confiscated by the palace. L'tat contrle galement les transactions de terres agricoles, qui doivent tre prcdes d'une proclamation publique pour viter les contestations ultrieures, et une copie du contrat de vente est dpose dans les archives publiques . Les structures agraires de la priode no-assyrienne ne semblent pas diffrer fondamentalement de celles de la priode mdio-assyrienne , mme si le systme de l' n'est attest que dans le cas de terres concdes par le palais. Les donations de terres des temples par le roi sont bien connues cette priode.

D'une manire gnrale, les rapports de production dans les campagnes assyriennes sont largement dfavorables la petite paysannerie. Ds la priode mdio-assyrienne, on remarque que les transactions immobilires rsultent souvent d'une hypothque de la terre, la suite d'un prt comprenant un gage en antichrse (le prteur peut saisir la terre du crditeur en cas de non-remboursement temps) . Les nobles ont ds cette poque de vastes domaines, constitus la suite de leur implication dans l'administration du royaume lors de son expansion, qui amne leur enrichissement et des dons de terre par le pouvoir. Le cas le mieux connu de ce type de grand domaine est celui de Tell Sabi Abyad , proprit d'Ila-pada, grand vizir de trois rois assyriens et roi du Hanigalbat au dbut du XII ^e sicle, qui en a confi la gestion un intendant . Ce dernier gre depuis le centre fortifi de l'exploitation ( ) prs de 900 dpendants rpartis dans plusieurs villages ou hameaux. Deux catgories de dpendants agricoles sont connues dans les sources de cette priode : des non-libres, les , dpendants ruraux attachs la terre qu'ils cultivent, et des (littralement villageois ), personnes libres travaillant pour un grand propritaire qui a probablement rachet leur terre, mais qui ont la possibilit de racheter leur libert.

la priode no-assyrienne, cette situation ingalitaire semble perdurer voire s'accentuer . Les hameaux ( ) dpendent souvent de grands propritaires, qui peuvent possder de vastes domaines (jusqu' 2 000 hectares, souvent quelques centaines) mais qui ne sont jamais d'un seul tenant. C'est le cas du ou des domaine(s) attest(s) dans le , document cadastral du rgne de Sargon II qui enregistre des proprits disperses et les chefs de maisonnes de dpendants qui y travaillent, avec leur famille . Quant aux petites exploitations les plus courantes, elles font environ une vingtaine d'hectares. La puissance terrienne des nobles assyriens fait face au pouvoir croissant des souverains, surtout sous les Sargonides qui peuvent confisquer ou concder de vastes proprits selon l'volution de leur faveur. De ce fait, et grce la taille de ses domaines, c'est le pouvoir royal qui semble bien dominer l'conomie agricole cette priode.

Productions agricoles

La base de la production agricole est la culture cralire , essentiellement celle de l' orge ( sumrien E , akkadien ), qui ncessite le moins d'eau pour arriver maturit. Elle est cultive en jachre biennale. Les outils agricoles utiliss pour travailler les champs craliers sont ceux qui sont employs depuis plusieurs sicles en Msopotamie : l' araire semoir ( ) tire par des bufs, la houe et la faucille. Les rendements des champs craliers de la Haute Msopotamie ont pu tre estims partir des donnes de tablettes mdio-assyriennes provenant de divers sites de la Djzireh , qui nous montrent des situations trs contrastes selon la rgion o l'on se trouve, l'appoint de l'irrigation, la qualit des terres . Nemad-Ishtar, en zone d'agriculture sche, on trouve des rendements de 1/9 1/7,3, tandis qu'en rgion d'agriculture irrigue Tell Sabi Abyad le rendement moyen semble tre de 1/7,35 et Dur-Katlimmu de 1/3 (mais on remarque des variations de 1/1 1/9 selon les champs). Les rendements sont gnralement bien infrieurs ceux de l'agriculture irrigue de Basse Msopotamie la mme priode, mais ils sont honorables pour une pre-modern agriculture. The hardware investment, the possibility of irrigation canal or reservoir seem critical to achieve good performance, so that the crown lands and nobles are more profitable.

Tree crops are also documented, including the Neo-Assyrian period. In the Census of Harran, there are vineyards of significant size, with between 4,500 and 29,000 feet of vines . There is clearly a speculative culture at the hands of nobles, booming in this period in Western Upper Mesopotamia. The wine is a luxury product, popular in the Assyrian capitals where it is part of the products distributed to dignitaries by the royal palace, and also in Babylon where they are still important since the Upper Mesopotamia in the ^sixth century . The Census of Harran also mentions the presence of orchards .

The animals are raised primarily sheep and goats , which were found alongside the cattle , and pigs , and donkeys , as well as poultry. The nomadic tribes of Upper Mesopotamia were specialized in raising sheep and goats. The Neo-Assyrian Assyria sees the introduction of the camel from the Saudi , thus allowing the opening of roads through the desert areas.

Finally, agriculture Assyria is more extensive and therefore less productive than that of Lower Mesopotamia, despite a possible increase in production during the Neo-Assyrian period, mainly through land expansion and the irrigation . But this optimistic vision of the evolution of Assyrian campaigns can be invoked more pessimistic reading, highlighting structural weaknesses of the peasantry, primarily because of its vulnerability to debt, compounded over time by growth removal, deportation and even military mobilization, and during the latter part of the kingdom the development of large cities consumers whose demand could be too much pressure for the neighboring country . Anyway, the system stops the fall of the Assyrian kingdom, which deprives the countryside of North-Mesopotamian proactive policy of expansion of agricultural land established by kings. Upper Mesopotamia then becomes what it was during most of the ^first millennium: an area sparsely populated rural and sparsely populated, this still observed by Xenophon when he crosses about 400 , and the neo- Assyrian seems to have been a parenthesis.

Cities Assyrian

Evolution of urbanization in Upper Mesopotamia Assyrian

The Assyrian kingdom develops from the fourteenth ^century by taking up the urban structure developed in previous periods in Upper Mesopotamia. Several cities already making existing administrative centers, like Nineveh , Shibaniba ( Tell Billa ), Qattara ( Tell Rimah ), Dur-Katlimmu ( Tell Sheikh Hamad ) Harb ( Tell Chuera ) and others. The ancient site of Tell Brak , a busy time at the beginning of the period mid-Assyrian, was abandoned shortly thereafter. This first phase may have altered the urban network, but not its overall organization, hierarchy between administrative centers, towns and villages. The capital of Assyria is Asshur during most of this period. The most important innovation is the new town that creates a virgin soil Tukulti-Ninurta ^I. (1233-1197) to make it his capital, and he named Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta (Ninurta-Fort Tukulti) . This attempt does not exceed the duration of his reign, but creates a precedent that might inspire the urban creations of the neo-Assyrian period.

The crisis that plunges the Assyrian kingdom in the late ^second millennium changes the structure of the habitat of Upper Mesopotamia, and many ancient cities are experiencing a sharp decline or even abandonment. The Arameans founded principalities from certain sites in the Jazira as Guzan (Tell Halaf). The Assyrian reconquest phase which begins in 911 leads the establishment of new administrative centers, in several cases on ancient sites like Zamah (the new name Tell Rimah ) or Hard-Katlimmu. The Assyrians are erected several palaces and probably contributed to the development of certain sites, as seen in Til Barsip (Tell Ahmar) or Hadatu (Arslan Tash), and as might be expected for the religious and commercial center of Harran , which takes increasing importance during the last phase of the kingdom .

The most striking phenomenon of urbanization in Upper Mesopotamia during the Neo-Assyrian period was the creation of new capital by several sovereign country in the heart of the Assyrian . Assurnasirpal II (883-859) transferred the capital of Ashur to Kalkhu (Nimrud), located further north, a former city school that is totally redesigned, measuring about 350 acres and was populated by at least 63 000 residents. Around 700, Sargon II moved the capital to turn in a city created ex nihilo, Hard-Sharrukin (Khorsabad). This is no time to settle in this place because the ruler next Sennacherib , transferred the capital in the old city of Nineveh , which is completely refounded, and the size from 150 to 750 hectares. We are therefore witnessing an unprecedented phenomenon in Mesopotamian history, namely the successive creations of several capitals, including one from scratch, but each time involving planning of urban space, the implantation a large population (an estimated 120 000 people against the people of Nineveh 15,000 before work ) often brought there by force. These building programs and the development of cities of a size unprecedented in an area previously little urbanized have upset the balance of this: he had to feed the residents of these cities that do not produce their own food , which has created a growing demand for neighboring country which has been sought to increase productivity . It is possible that these towns were enlarged compared to the country where they are, and have created an imbalance contributes to weaken the neighboring country due to the growth of samples needed to feed their growing populations .

The fall of the Assyrian Empire ends this urban network, we can not know whether this is due to massacres and deportations in the period succeeding wars that lead to this end, or the consequences of falling the empire that no longer allows the maintenance of such settlements. Moreover, it is possible that the demographic problems have preceded the end of Assyria . Urban centers known for centuries after the end of the empire are very few, even across the whole of Upper Mesopotamia: Assyria itself, there are hardly any expressions of Ashur and especially some of Arbel becomes the main administrative center, but offset from the ancient heart of the Assyrian kingdom . Urbanization is resumed with certainty only from the ^first century BC. AD under the rule of the Parthians , before the development of new centers as Hatra. In the Jazira , the main urban centers are known for this period in the region Khabur , Harran and Nisibis , which can add Thapsaque on the Middle Euphrates, Syria.

The urban cities Assyrian

The Assyrian urbanism is difficult to study given the long history of cities in the region and therefore because of the complexity of the stratigraphy. Excavations have concentrated mainly on the central neighborhoods of major cities, and virtually none on the residential areas. In recent years, however, the excavations of Upper Mesopotamia Syrian bring new facts to the attention of the cities of the Assyrian kingdom, though again documentation relates primarily administrative buildings.

Traditionally, the urban habitat of Upper Mesopotamia, Assyria included, is organized around a town located high on a mound overlooking a more recent extension, the lower town . Each of these two parties is usually surrounded by a wall. The city of Ashur responds to this model: the political and religious center is built on a rocky promontory overlooking the Tigris , and is called libbi Ali, literally "the heart of the city," while the recent expansion of space Urban is below to the south of the old center, but the two are not separated by a wall . Nineveh and Kalkhu also follow this organization. Probably from the example of Ashur, the new town of Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta , in pattern to a division between politico-religious center away from the rest of the city, but this time the boundary between the two is materialized by a wall. There is no topographic distinction between the two since the city is built on flat ground . The new neo-Assyrian capitals, Kalkhu, Hard-Sharrukin and Nineveh, confirm and extend the triumph of this conception of urban space: the politico-religious center becomes a veritable citadel surrounded by walls, overlooking the rest of the city . There are one or several royal palaces, residences of the elite of the kingdom, and temples often associated with a ziggurat . Unlike traditional Mesopotamian cities, the palace is the main building, one that is the subject of more attention, not the religious buildings. Still found in these other cities citadel distinct from the center, forming an arsenal (Ekali maarti), whose best known case is the "Fort Shalmaneser" of Kalkhu. With the development of the latter is another characteristic element of the new Assyrian capitals, preceded by experiments in mid-Assyrian era: the royal gardens, sometimes for real zoo, which Sennacherib pays great attention to Nineveh .

The excavations of Assur uncovered about 80 houses of the Neo-Assyrian period, while only a dozen homes had been excavated at other sites combined Assyrian . There are two types of houses according to the organization of the parts. The first involves homes in linear organization, smaller (78 m ² ground on average), consisting of a succession of pieces aligned in number from 4 to 6 on average. The second type consists of courtyard houses, larger (192 m ² ground on average), with generally at least a dozen rooms arranged around a central courtyard which organizes the internal circulation. Sales contracts give the name and function of part of rooms or spaces some homes, which are not always obvious to understand: there are shops, reception areas, workshops, bathrooms , and parts where you go to bed that are probably on the floor . Surveys in the lower city of Nineveh in the north of the tell Kuyunjik revealed the presence of an elite residential area consisting of houses organized around central courtyards , and wide streets which found an echo in texts of Sennacherib commemorating the construction of his capital, where he bore the great avenues which a royal road 31 meters wide .

Constructions of Neo-Assyrian capitals

Location map of the excavated areas of the main buildings of the tell Kuyunjik, the politico-religious center of Nineveh (a large part of the palace has not been released).

Attempted reconstruction of the citadel's main Hard Sharrukin with the royal palace of Sargon II and other religious buildings.

Representation of the royal gardens of Nineveh, from a bas-relief of the palace of Sennacherib.

Activities and urban society

The great Assyrian cities are part of specific activities. While most of the rural population seems to live in a semi-autarkic, the cities involved in wider circuits of exchange, driven largely by the palace . Farmers should contact the provincial cities and palaces primarily to obtain rare items, including metal, and to pay taxes . These samples as well as tributes drained many products, including the most luxurious to the main administrative centers, first in the capital. Similarly, the long-distance trade is primarily used to bring to the cities of luxury goods for elites (see below).

Institutional development in the palatial cities led to the installation therein of a population consisting of administrators, palatial servants, merchants and craftsmen of many . It is estimated that the staff of the palaces of Nineveh by Ashurbanipal was 13 000 people divided between the servants, courtiers, scribes administration, priests or guards .

Artisans are usually employed by the palace. In the Neo-Assyrian, they operate on the system called ikru: the palace provides the raw material to the artisan, which then renders the finished product. The palace workshops focused major cities, which are often small, however . A neighborhood craft potters and blacksmiths was identified following surveys in the north-east of Nineveh , thanks to numerous remains of pottery and pottery kilns , but no studio has been searched in an Assyrian city. We know from texts that military arsenals capitals included workshops where making and repairing weapons and military equipment. The temples also employed artisans, like that of Ashur in the city of the same name who had a shop specializing in work for the worship of objects, called bit mumm . A study involving a group of silversmiths of this sanctuary has been hypothesized that the latter have been organized into "guilds", type of institution whose existence is debated in ancient Mesopotamia .

Trade

The modalities of movement of goods

The movement of goods on which we have information for the period mid-and especially neo-Assyrian are primarily forced removals resulting from a balance of power: it is therefore not free trade. It takes the form of a tribute levied by the Assyrian royal power in peacetime or after a war that is directed toward the center of Assyria . The tribute is evaluated based specialties and potential of the region who must pay, which explains why it intersects the channels of commerce. It concerns first of all strategic commodities such as trees, and serves as demonstration of prestige for the royal power.

Free trade, commercial, are poorly documented for the period, compared to the thousands of paleo-Assyrian tablets of business correspondence from Kltepe. The palaces and shrines rise commercial shipments . The royal power has perhaps monopolies on trade in strategic commodities such as iron or horses. Institutions rely on merchants (tamkru) for shipments they organize . These merchants, whose exact status is discussed, can also carry out private activities, but we are poorly documented, and we can not know the respective shares of trade in large organizations and private business.

Depending on the product that is at stake, players and exchange procedures may vary: for cedars, only the state seems capable of organizing the slaughter and transportation of product through the toll, the palace also seems be the one to ask for ivory , but most goods may pass through commercial channels. Moreover, the movement of products with long distance are reserved to a small elite, whatever the means by which they are passing, and often the palace or his entourage that the capture, then with the possibility of redistribution. The institution plays an important role in local trade, especially in town, as the campaigns move probably in a situation of autarky, except to obtain the necessary tools that would be provided by the Palace .

The circuits of trade

Many people are very active in long-distance trade in the ^first millennium, first the Phoenicians , and more and more Arabs who set up road caravan through the desert areas of Syria and Saudi through camel they were domesticated. But almost all regions are involved in long-distance trade, while local and regional trade are the largest by volume but less documented. Many products on the transit routes of the Middle East, Assyrian, and we can not meet some of the most important . Among the wood , the cedar mountains of Lebanon or Syria is very popular with the royal power. The wood of cypress or box are traded. Various metals are traded: the copper , the tin , the gold , the silver , the iron. Their original provenance is discussed: the tin comes from Uzbekistan or Iran , the gold of Egypt or perhaps to India. But in practice areas where these metals are much exchanged are not those where they are extracted: the supply of tin are very popular in the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. The carnelian , the lapis lazuli and alum are prized by institutions and elites. The ivory comes from elephants in Africa but increasingly in India, and less and less of the Syrian elephant is being phased out in the ^first millennium. Areas with Assyria provides horses are present in Iran, among the Medes , the Persians , in Elam , or Urartu , in Anatolia and Syria in the north. Various textiles, dyed or not, are also circulating. Among the food, the wine is traded long distance, but the most perishable transit rather local or regional.

The Assyrian culture

The Assyrian civilization is part of the Mesopotamian antiquity, which occupies the northern part, and it dominates in its entirety during the latter part of the Neo-Assyrian. Usually keep the characteristics of this civilization: writing cuneiform writing in a dialect of Akkadian , a polytheistic religion, but dominated by the tutelary deity of the kingdom, the god Ashur , which takes place mainly in urban places of worship under the patronage of sovereigns, and whose priests are the leading scholars, libraries have lists much knowledge of ancient Mesopotamia. Assyrian culture has yet specific, especially due to inherited traditions of Upper Mesopotamia, which is distinct from that of Lower Mesopotamia, despite the overwhelming influence of that at all periods, while we note increasing loans to people under by the Assyrian kingdom. Nothing better reflects the peculiarity that the Neo-Assyrian art, illustration of the power of the kingdom, he assimilates external influences, but also its capacity for innovation.

Languages and Scripts

The cuneiform in Assyria

The writing practiced in Assyria from the early ^second millennium is writing cuneiform , as in the rest of Mesopotamia and Syria to the North this time. It gets its name because it is generally listed with a reed in reed whose end is bevelled on a shelf in clay , leaving characters composed of incisions-shaped wedges. This writing is transposed to other media, primarily the stone that was used for many royal inscriptions, or wax tablets, whose contents are lost because this material does not survive the test of time but which known to exist by the remains of executives in non-perishable materials . Although restricted to a fringe small population, the practice of this writing, and understanding are not limited to a single elite, and more people than is commonly believed can be used .

Cuneiform writing is a blend of phonograms , sounds or symbols (usually a syllable , while the Neo-Assyrian period saw the growing number of signs (about 300 ) and regularize the spelling is considerably .

The Assyrian language

The great majority of cuneiform texts excavated in Assyria transcribe the language " Assyrian "which is a dialect of Akkadian , by which means the language of the western group of Semitic languages spoken in Mesopotamia in antiquity . The Assyrian language is generally opposed to the dialect found in the tablets of the southern half of Mesopotamia at the same time, called " Babylon , "both of which are known from texts of the ^Second and ^First Millennium BC -C. There are three phases of the Assyrian language, corresponding to the three major phases of its history: the paleo-Assyrian ^(XIX - XVIII ^centuries), the mid-Assyrian ^(XIV - XII ^centuries), and neo -Assyrian (X ^e - VII ^centuries). If it takes the general structures of Akkadian, Assyrian language differs in several respects from the Babylonian : the subjunctive is marked by the suffix-ni-u instead of the original wa-becoming an increasingly u-as in wardu / Urdu "servant", some aspects do not come together in the same way, etc.. The Neo-Assyrian dialect is increasingly marked by the influence of the Aramaic , which foreshadows the fact that the Assyrians are gradually to become speakers of the Aramaic language. In most literary texts, however, the Assyrians use the "Standard Babylonian, Akkadian literary form developed in Babylonia .

The "aramasation" of Assyrians in the ^first millennium

The first Syrians appear in the Jazira and Assyria in the late ^second millennium, and constitute a significant proportion of the population of these regions in the early ^first millennium. Once the Aramaic kingdoms permanently removed after the reign of Sargon II in the late eighth ^century, this population is progressively integrated, the royal administration, including more and more Syrians, to the Royal Family with the Queen Naqi has / Zakutu while the deportations bring a greater number of Syrians in Upper Mesopotamia and Assyria until even. It is this phenomenon which reflects the Romance of Ahiqar , Aramaic narrative written in the sixth ^century and recounting the woes of an Aramaic at the court of Esarhaddon. The results of this are the progressive adoption of Aramaic as the lingua franca of the empire, and the growing use of her writing alphabet in the administration alongside traditional cuneiform Assyrian , this is illustrated in several performances of two scribes one in cuneiform writing on a tablet and the other in Aramaic on parchment. Aramaic is written on perishable material, these records have disappeared, although some inscriptions in Aramaic on clay tablets are known. ^The seventh century, we can consider that Aramaic is dominant: it calls this evolution "aramasation" of the Empire . All this has contributed to cultural homogenization of the Assyrian empire, because the Aramaic is the only language that finds users anywhere in the territory dominated by the Assyrians. This explains why the later Aramaic is the administrative language of the Achaemenid Persian empire. After the fall of the Assyrian Empire, Assyria became a country where people speak mostly or entirely in Aramaic, which is behind the fact that aramophones of Upper Mesopotamia in antiquity are appointed " Assyrians "or" Syrians "(now Syriac ), these two terms are clearly derived from the word Akkadian auriu used to designate the inhabitants of Assyria .

The religion of Assyria

Ashur, the national god

The main deity of Assyria was Ashur , god of the eponymous city from which formed the Kingdom, where her great temple . That may be causing the rocky promontory on which is built the city which has been deified, or a deity of vegetation. In the Assyrian theology, he is the true master of the kingdom, and King is that his "vicar" and "high priest". This is the god who commands him what to do, and the ruler must be accountable to, as evidenced by reports of campaigns that are sometimes addressed. Ashur takes on a more and more important as, and as his kingdom grew, becoming a kind of "imperial divinity." It takes different strokes of the character of Enlil , the great god of the South-Mesopotamian, and that is why the temple of Ashur was appointed Esharra Ekur or, as the temple of Enlil at Nippur. Subsequently, the great god of the rival kingdom of Babylon , Marduk / A>, which becomes the model. In the last days of the kingdom, Assyria becomes the King of Gods, especially under the reign of Sennacherib, who took over the Babylonian ceremony of akitu which takes place on New Year's exaltation of the rule of Marduk, to transpose it to Assur in honor of their national god.

Other important deities and religious centers

Other deities are of importance to Assyria, those in the pantheon Mesopotamian. The great traditional god of Upper Mesopotamia is the storm god, Adad the Assyrians (but Addu for the Amorites , Teshub for Hurrian and Haddad for Arameans ). He still occupies an important place in Upper Mesopotamia to the Assyrian period. It has places of worship in religious centers as secondary Kurba'il, Kilizi Guzan and also , the planet Venus, goddess of love and war. Ishtar is the first of Nineveh ( Shaushga when Hurrians mostly inhabit this city), whose cult is attested by texts from the late ^third millennium and has an international reputation in the second half ^of the second millennium since is venerated even among the Hittites . In the Neo-Assyrian Ashurbanipal dedicate a song to his glory. Ishtar is the second of Arbel , whose temple is at the time of kings Sargonids a place where residents of many prophets. The other deity with a major center of worship in Upper Mesopotamia is the moon god Sin in Harran in the region of Khabur .

We can add to this list the god Ninurta , present in the name of several kings, and who is dedicated the ziggurat of Kalkhu. In the Neo-Assyrian, the Babylonian god of wisdom and writing, Nabu , occupies a place among the growing Assyrian elites. It has a large temple and a ziggurat at Dur-Sharrukin. Assyrian capitals all have important places of worship, even if it is not "holy cities" as Ashur and Nineveh, and their religious buildings are the subject of great attention from the kings, who cater in offerings as they do for traditional major religious centers .

The cult in Assyria

Assyrian religion incorporates the traditional aspects of Mesopotamian religion , and she draws constantly throughout its history the religion of Mesopotamia south. Places of worship of Assyria are temples including one (sometimes two) cella or holy place of a generally oblong, where the statue of the patron god of the building, and organized around a set of parts and Course forming architectural containing various types of organization found in other sanctuaries in Syria and Anatolia on the one hand, and Mesopotamia south of the other . These temples are sometimes flanked by a ziggurat (a square base in this region). The staff of worship and ceremonies that must execute as compiled in technical texts are those that are common in Lower Mesopotamia: priests, officiants, lamentations (Kalu), singers (naru) and actors sacred (kurgru) , or specialists in divination (Barua that make the hepatoscopy , the astrologers ) . Overall, there was a strong influence of Babylonian worship in Assyria, due to the importation of religious texts from southern Mesopotamia, and also the fact that both regions share a common cultural heritage that facilitates exchanges .

But religion has some specific Assyrian, because of the strength of influences Syrian and Hurrian in Upper Mesopotamia, and also the assertion of imperial ideology . Assyrian rituals specifically known to us have already been mentioned, because it is related to those of the priestly king. They take place mainly at Assur , sometimes in other holy cities of Nineveh and Arbela . The celebration of the akitu, from Lower Mesopotamia, is accomplished in several places of Assyria, as Arbela, Nineveh, Harran, or Assur, where she is dedicated to the tutelary deity of the place. The ceremony ends with a procession joining a building specifically designed for this celebration, the bit akita .

It should finally mention that the field of religion best known for the neo-Assyrian period is that of divination, which occupies a major place in the religious texts of technical libraries Kalkhu , Sultantepe or Nineveh , and also in correspondence of kings Sargonids, first Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal . The types of divination are the most documented the hepatoscopy or haruspicine , which is to read the future in the entrails of sheep, the astrology that reads the future in the astral and celestial phenomena, performed by specialists of the court became Royal or in contact with it. In addition these practices the prophecy , where God's message is transmitted spontaneously through a prophet (raggimu) and more often a prophetess (raggintu) which depends on the temple of Ishtar of Arbela which is supposed to be the origin of his speeches. So it's a mystical aspect of religion Assyrian. Again, these religious practices are known to us because they are relevant to the exercise of royal power, and popular religion eludes us.

The literate environment

Among the tens of thousands of tablets discovered in the mid-nineteenth ^century on the site of the Assyrian capitals, literary and scientific texts were quickly attracted attention, and it is through them that a major pan culture elites of ancient Mesopotamia were received. These papers focused because the knowledge acquired during the previous millennia throughout the "Land of the Two Rivers", especially on its southern part which the great intellectual centers were to be excavated later ( Nippur , Ur , Babylon , Sippar , etc. .). The definition of works called " literary "is problematic because such a concept did not really exist in ancient Mesopotamia . Due to the numerical predominance of technical and scientific texts, we will study here alongside hymns , the mythology and epics.

Specialists and Libraries

The works unearthed Assyrian sites are primarily produced by a group of people who can be called "scholars". These are people who have received basic training scribe (uparru) to control the wedge and its various languages, then supplemented by further study including a specialization. Specifically, these are all specialists in the world of temple priests, they have probably received much of their tertiary education, which could also be given dependencies of the palace. The "scholars" Assyrian diviners are specialized in the hepatoscopy (Barua), the astrologers (enum upar Anu Enlil), laments (Kalu), the exorcist (ipu), or specialists in medicine (ASU) . Those we know best move in the royal entourage, where their skills are used to help the king to understand the supernatural and the divine will that govern the destiny of the kingdom, or to protect him by magical means.

The scholars had funds texts that can be regarded as "libraries". We can distinguish several types of body text like this:

• Libraries palace in Assyria represented by the " Library of Ashurbanipal "of Nineveh , actually comprises three separate funds, two of which were actually located in a palace, and began to be incorporated before the reign of King which is commonly attributed, even if the king who proclaims himself a scholar, has greatly contributed to enrich it by organizing the confiscation or copy many tablets contained in other libraries of Mesopotamia;
• libraries of temples, made in the temples of the god of wisdom, Nabu , where there are many bars that form a votive deposit in god even if they were actually a part library, which is known a case Kalkhu and one in Nineveh (included in the Library of Ashurbanipal) ;
• libraries 'private' found in the homes of priests, we should perhaps rather be considered as funds of manuscripts , with known examples of Assyria with the tablets of the exorcist Kisiri-Assur, and Sultantepe (in the region Khabur near Harran ) in the priest's residence Qurdi Nergal- .

The scope of works 'literary'

The text library can be classified in several categories, they constitute an essential source of our knowledge on the scientific and religious practices of ancient Mesopotamia. Technical texts for the use of specialists were divided into two broad categories: vocabulary lists , lexicographical works can take the aspect of bilingual or trilingual dictionaries and collections consist of paragraphs that are used for both medicine and exorcism divination or the right . Among the second category, there are compilations of divining omens (about a quarter of the texts from the Library of Ashurbanipal), serving both for the hepatoscopy (series of tablets called brtu) than for astrology (enum Anu Enlil series ), or the oneiromancy the "textbooks" of exorcism, the texts describing the rituals, prayers and songs to sing during ceremonies by priests lament, collections medical, astronomical, mathematical problems etc.. Finally, the most famous literary texts as the Epic of Gilgamesh deciphered for the first time thanks to its version of Nineveh are only a tiny minority of the library contents of palaces and temples . This confirms the fact that these funds have been established texts in an essentially religious purpose, especially in order to maintain relations between the king and the divine world through a group of priests trained to adequately perform this task considered crucial for the survival of the kingdom.

Shelves of the " Library of Ashurbanipal "of Nineveh , British Museum

Lexical list of synonyms Sumerian / Akkadian.

Tablet telling the myth of the Flood of the Epic of Gilgamesh (eleventh tablet version of Nineveh).

Circular tablet depicting a world map showing the position of heavenly constellations observed the night of Jan. 3 to 4 650 around Nineveh.

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The Assyrian art

At the crossroads of influences from South and North Mesopotamia, but also those from Syria or Anatolia , the Assyrian art had a very successful period as a result of the growth of royal power to the neo- Assyrian, who began to patronize the achievements of more grandiose in its capital, primarily for the royal palace and the courtiers who lived there. Because these are the places of power that were the most searched, our vision of Assyrian art is biased and ignores the secular art. Moreover, very little of artistic periods and paleo-mid-Assyrian are known. Assyrian art which can speak is an imperial art, mainly in the service of power, marked by cosmopolitan influences eating traditions in different regions of the empire which were probably part of the craftsmen at the origin of known works, when they are not simply imports for the elite Assyrian developing a taste for exotic products such as ivory Syro-Phoenician.

The reliefs of Assyrian palaces

The greatest architectural achievements of the Assyrian monarchs were by far their royal palace, which served to symbolize their domination, universal claim. The bas-reliefs that decorated many rooms, corridors and over the buildings based on the same logic . These settings made on plates of limestone gypsum or marble room (called " Mosul "), called orthostats "and affixed to the base of the wall of bricks from clay. They probably found their origin in palace reliefs of Syrian 's ^second millennium, or those made in the kingdoms of the south-east Anatolia in the early ^first millennium. The earliest known Assyrian reliefs are those of the palace northwest of Assurnasirpal II to Kalkhu ( Nimrud ) in the middle of the ninth ^century. They peaked between the ^late eighth and ^seventh century in the palace of Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin ( Khorsabad ) and those of Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal at Nineveh.

The themes of these bas-reliefs are primarily the military achievements of the reign of the king who ordered, as do writing the royal annals , literary genre that grows along . This serves in part to commemorate the king's glory, to preserve the memory, but also to instill fear of foreign ambassadors coming to visit the palace. Assurnasirpal II therefore make bas-reliefs commemorating his victories in Syria in his throne room , while as of Sargon II each room commemorates a full campaign, a practice that is found in the palaces of Nineveh, with spectacular examples of the siege of Lachish by Sennacherib in Room ^No. XXXVI of the "palace of South West "and the campaign of Elam of Ashurbanipal in Room ^No. XXXIII of the same building. Written captions complement these representations. The themes are also changing, reflecting a certain inventiveness of the artists, what they contain, the subjects of texts and images of royal glorification has existed for several millennia in Mesopotamia. Thus, in the palaces of Nineveh, Sennacherib represented sculpture and delivery of human-headed winged bulls of his palace to commemorate his work as a builder. The bas-reliefs of his reign pay particular attention to landscapes. For its part, Assurbanipal represented a cycle of sculptures on the hunt during which he triumphs including a lion, symbolizing his role as king beating the forces of wilderness bearing chaos . Although the reliefs are still characters in profile, the artist could use methods such as diagonal lines making the dynamism of the attack against Lachish and the many gaps showing the spatial freedom of animals during hunts of Ashurbanipal.

Bas-reliefs of the Neo-Assyrian royal palaces

Boat carrying cedars of Lebanon , detail of a bas-relief of the palace of Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin , Muse du Louvre.

Human-headed winged bulls transport to the palace of Nineveh , a copy of a bas-relief of the palace southwest of the city, reign of Sennacherib.

Dying lion, the royal hunting scene of Ashurbanipal 's palace north of Nineveh , British Museum.

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Another part of the reliefs of the Assyrian palaces had a sacred and religious in addition to the architectural, and representations of protective spirits , first human-headed winged bulls placed at the doors of several rooms of the palace, which also had the architectural function to support the arch above the door . Called lamassu or Sedu, it is the most impressive colossal sculptures of the Assyrian palaces. Their head is made in the round , while the rest of their body was in high relief. The other characters carved protective of Assyrian palaces were geniuses adults in low relief, apkallu, usually with a human head but sometimes with bird's head, and carrying sacred objects .

Protective spirits of the Neo-Assyrian palace

Human-headed winged bull from a gate of the palace Kalkhu , Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Protective spirit winged palace of Dur-Sharrukin , Muse du Louvre.

Protective spirit winged bird-headed, Pergamon Museum.

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Other forms of sculpture

Other stone sculptures were commissioned by the Assyrian kings . Several stelae represent Assyrian kings and often commemorate their victories. Also known as rock reliefs of those Bavian in Kurdistan to commemorate the work done by hydraulic Sennacherib for the construction of Nineveh , one of Malta represents a procession of God, or that of Nahr el-Kelb in Lebanon dating back to the reign of ' Esarhaddon. Carved stelae were also carried to Assyria as the "Black Obelisk" of Shalmaneser III , four sides, on which we find bas-reliefs commemorating military victories, so the themes are identical to the bas-reliefs palatial.

We have cases of sculptures in the round with Assyrian statues Assurnasirpal II and Shalmaneser III , which are almost life-size ^, . The kings are represented on a frozen, expressionless, symbolizing function more as a human being. They are wearing a dress with short sleeves around which is wrapped a shawl with fringe, characteristic of the Assyrian kings. The first is prayer position, the second has a more martial appearance even if the attributes available to it, including weapons, referring to his role as high priest, as the mace symbolizing his role as vicar of the god Ashur.

Neo-Assyrian sculptures from the reign of Shalmaneser III (858-824)

Stele proclaiming the victory of the king in battle Qarqar (853), found in Kurkh, British Museum.

" Black Obelisk "monolithic limestone carved black found in Kalkhu ( Nimrud ), British Museum.

Statue of King arising in Assyria , Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

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In addition to stone carving, discloses a remarkable example of sculpture metal at repulsed with slabs of bronze which were nailed to a door of the temple Balawat (formerly Imgur-Enlil), and dated from the reigns of Assurnasirpal II and Shalmaneser III . It is more horizontal plates, each representing a different campaign, with a caption, following a similar layout starting with the departure of troops from the camp, followed by the battle, taking the enemy city, the deportation of the conquered and finally the victory celebration by offerings to the gods and the erection of steles victory. It is therefore once again similar themes to those found on the walls of royal palaces.

We know from several accounts of building the Neo-Assyrian royal palaces and temples were decorated with monumental statues of metal ( copper , bronze above), as large columns or bulls and lions weighing hundreds of tons . But none has survived. However, we know a few small sculptures of metal for a more individual. You can store objects that are to guard the statue of the patron demon Pazuzu , and the plate of conspiracy against the evils of demon Lamashtu dating from the Neo-Assyrian period, and various amulets with similar function.

Sculptures in metal protective purpose of the Neo-Assyrian

Bronze plaque to protect against the demon Lamashtu , Muse du Louvre.

Protective bronze statue of the demon Pazuzu , Muse du Louvre.

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Painting

The bas-reliefs of Assyrian palace were painted, but they lost all their color over the centuries. However, it was found a few examples of painted walls Assur or Kalkhu. But the most impressive series of paintings was found in Assyrian palace provincial Til Barsip in 1930 . Dated ^eighth and ^seventh centuries, much has been degraded and disappeared, and is known only by the copies which were made at the time they were exposed. Style and subject were the same as the bas-reliefs of the great royal palaces: the longest frieze (22 meters long), the royal apartments, and represents a scene of hearing presided over by King Tiglath-Pileser III who appear before the warriors and dignitaries. There were also smaller friezes representing geometric patterns or rosettes, palms, flowers, sometimes embellished with animals or spirits. The use of painting was to have been preferred because this technique was less expensive than carving orthostats.

Ivory

Many objects in ivory have been found carved in the Neo-Assyrian capitals, especially Kalkhu , and in "building the ivories" palace provincial Arslan Tash , the ancient Hadatu . Ivory was one of teeth of hippopotamus or tusks of elephants. The objects are mostly artistic features unique to Syria and Phoenicia, either in style or the subjects depicted. It is therefore of achievements made by artists from these countries, which may have worked in the royal workshops of Assyria, or of imports. The amount of ivory objects found in Assyria itself shows that they were highly appreciated by the elite of this country. Ivory objects are of various types: items of furniture primarily, but also boxes makeup and decorative plates.

Glyptics

As in other periods of the history of Mesopotamia ancient Assyrians have mostly used the cylinder seal to seal and authenticate tablets and other bubbles clay affixed to objects or doors. Many individuals had, until god Ashur himself whose seal was affixed on the shelves of the peace treaty, noting its status as the true king of Assyria. These cylinders were cut in different types of stone, and the decor and the inscriptions were engraved on it could be held indefinitely on clay. The iconography of these seals is varied, and borrows from the Mesopotamian tradition. The Neo-Assyrian is very close to that of Babylonia in the same period to the point of being difficult to dissociate . But the themes do not necessarily remember those carved on the bas-reliefs of the palace or ivory items. Many cylinder seals depict scenes of hunting, including directed by an archer with a triumphant wild prey. Since the time Mid-Assyrian, etrog represent love wild animals or imaginary combatant or round, in a lively style, and sometimes with many details. Other common images are of religious inspiration: there are scenes of worship of a deity, sometimes sitting on a throne in the Mesopotamian tradition, but also representing a mythological deity train to fight, or even scenes of veneration of a sacred tree by geniuses like those bas-reliefs of the palace.

Cylinder seals with religious themes of the Neo-Assyrian period with their impressions.

Fight scene mythological god Ashur attacking a monster.

Religious banquet scene.

Scene of veneration of a sacred tree by geniuses.

Click on a thumbnail to enlarge

Costumes and Adornments

Much of our knowledge of jewelry and clothing worn by the ancient Assyrians from representations of them on the bas-reliefs of the palace or on stelae and statues, as the precious metal objects have generally been recycled since the antiquity, while those in perishable materials, including fabrics, have disappeared and can be supplemented by textual sources, knowing that the terms to which they refer to different types of clothing are difficult to be compared with those of pictorial representations .

The type of textile material as used by the ancient Assyrians is by far the wool of sheep , the most easily accessible, and then came the hair of goats , the flax , the cotton is introduced in the Sargonids and also the byssus made from fibers secreted by molluscs . Following the method of weaving a fabric is obtained more or less good quality, which could then be bleached or dyed with various products, including the alum , and purple taken from murex caught in Phoenicia , which is very successful in Assyrian court . Clothing (usually male) represented on the bas-reliefs of the Neo-Assyrian palace consists typically a lower garment which is a kind of short-sleeved tunic, covered by a sort of cloak or shawl with fringes designated by the generic term kustu. The bas-reliefs show the fringes of clothing were the subject of attention: they are decorated with bands, rosettes may be symbols of the goddess Ishtar , and figurative scenes .

The luxury clothes was enhanced by jewels and other ornaments equally gorgeous in gold , silver , precious stones and colored fabrics or even glass. The characters depicted in the bas-reliefs often wear bracelets that can be adorned with a rosette of earrings or necklaces bearing symbols sometimes divine, as well as tiaras, crowns, turbans decorated. Weapons and other ceremonial objects could join these ornaments. This documentation has been completed so pleased by a remarkable discovery made by archaeologists Iraqi 's website Kalkhu ( Nimrud ) in 1988-1989: it is the discovery of a group of tombs of the queens side second half of the ^eighth century who had escaped the looting . We have found a remarkable amount of gold objects (over 50 kg in total) and precious stones ( lapis lazuli , carnelian , agate , amethyst ), including necklaces, earrings and a ring gold. You can add vases stone and bronze. What is most remarkable, beyond the opulence of the more striking that these junior queens is the quality of execution and the beauty of objects, combining materials of different colors harmonious visual rendering.

Finally, a description of the appearance of the Assyrian courtiers would be incomplete without mentioning the use they made of different flavors from various plant species ( cedar , cypress , myrrh ), and produced cosmetics , the most often cited in texts being gulhu, the kohl , used to make up the eye .

Additions

Related articles

• Rulers of Assyria
• Assyrian cities:
  • Ashur (city) (Qal'at Sherqat)
  • Nineveh (Quyunjik)
  • Kalkhu (Nimrud)
  • Hard-Sharrukin (Khorsabad)
  • Arbel (Erbil)
  • Imgur-Enlil (Balawat)
  • Shibaniba (Tell Billa)
  • Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta (Tulul al-'Aqar)
  • Hard-Katlimmu (Tell Sheikh Hamad)
  • Qattara (Tell Rimah)
  • Harb (Tell Chuera)
  • Til Barsip (Tell Ahmar)
  • Hadatu (Arlan Tash)

External Links

Bibliography

• Annals of the Assyrian palaces: the new empire, al. "The records of Archaeology No. 171, Dijon, May 1992
• P. Garelli, J.-M. Durand, H. Gonnet and C. Breniquet, The Middle East Asia, Volume 1: Origins to the invasions of the Sea Peoples, Paris, 1997
• P. Garelli, A. Lemaire, The Middle East Asian, Volume 2: The Mesopotamian empires, Israel, Paris, 2001
• J.-J. Glassner, Mesopotamia, Paris, 2002
• F. Joannes, Mesopotamia in the ^first millennium BC, Paris, 2000
• F. Joanna (ed.), Dictionary of the Mesopotamian civilization, Paris, 2001
• (It) FM Fales, L'Impero assiro, storia e amministrazione (IX-VII secolo AC), Rome, 2001
• (In) R. Westbrook (ed.), A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law, Leiden, 2003
  • KR Veenhof Old Assyrian Period ", p. 431-483
  • S. Lafont, "Middle Assyrian Period", p. 521-563
  • K. Radner, "Neo Assyrian Period", p. 883-910
• A. Benoit, Art and Archaeology: the civilizations of the ancient Near East, Paris, 2003
• J.-L. Huot, An Archaeology of the peoples of the Near East, Volume II Men Palaces subjects of the first empires ^(e II - the ^first millennium BC. JC), Paris, 2004
• D. Charpin, Reading and writing in Babylon, Paris, 2008

References

Mesopotamia
History:	Uruk period Sumer Dynasties archaic Akkadian Empire Third Dynasty of Ur Kingdom of Babylon Assyria Achaemenids Seleucids Parthians Sassanids
Major cities:	Uruk Ur Eridu Lagash Nippur Kish Babylon Tell Brak Mari Assur Nineveh Kalkhu Hard Sharrukin
Politics, society and economy:	Agriculture Cities and urban Diplomacy Animals
Culture:	Religion Ziggurat Cuneiform Debut writing Literature Medicine

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