Assyria
From Encyclopediak
Assyria, an ancient country occupying the northern part of the Mesopotamian plain. It was bounded on the n. by the mountains of Armenia, on the e. by Media, on the s. by Susiana and Babylonia; its western limit is thought to have been the watershed of the Euphrates. This country embraced an area of about 75,000 sq. m. It was crossed by several mountain chains and watered by the Tigris and its tributaries. Its more fertile portion lay to the east, where clustered the many cities that finally were combined into the Assyrian monarchy.
PEOPLE. The early settlers of Assyria were of the same branch of the Semitic race as their southern neighbors, the Babylonians, whom they closely resembled in many respects. The Assyrians, however, were more rugged and aggressive in warfare. The two peoples had the same form of religion—a worship of many g'ods representing" the powers of nature. Tlie chief deity of the Assyrians was Aslmr, tlie name also of the ancient capital. Large temples were reared for the carrying on of their worship, and there developed an elaborate organization of priests. They had a literature consisting of hymns to the gods, mythological poems and works on law and science. The material used for writing was clay, on which were inscribed peculiar wedge-shaped symbols (See CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS).
The Assyrians surpassed the Babylonians in architecture and sculpture, but were inferior to them in the other arts and sciences. Assyrian sculpture was remarkable for its colossal man-headed bulls and lions guarding the portals, and its decorative scenes in low relief. Their buildings were of brick, with stone foundations and stone facings for the walls. Their palaces were quadrangular, having chambers grouped around three courts; the temples were pyramidal in shape. These people advanced far in the industrial arts, and fashioned richly embroidered garments, highly finished arms and armor, carvings in ivory and silver, and bronze vessels decorated with gold.
HISTORY. Assyria first comes into the light of history in the 19th century B. C., then a dependent province belonging to the Chaldean Empire. About 1000 B. C. it attained supremacy over Babylonia under the leadership of Tiglath-Pileser I. This monarch, who assumed the title "King of the Four Quarters of the World," made Ashur the capital of the kingdom and extended and fortified his dominions to the north, northeast and nortliwest. After the death of Tiglath-Pileser the Assyrians and Babylonians contended for supremacy until the reign of Asurnazirpal (B. C. 885-860). This vigorous and warlike ruler made Assyria a great empire, and Babylon was forced to give up the hope of regaining political supremacy. Nineveh, which was made the capital of Assyria after tlie death of Tiglath-Pileser, became mistress of the Eastern world. The next king, Shalmaneser II (B. C. 859-825), continued the military activity of his predecessor.
In 745 B. C. Tiglath-Pileser III seized the throne, and established the most powerful empire the world had yet seen, and one which was well organized. Assyrian satraps ruled many of the subject kingdoms, thus lessening the tendency to rebellion. Sargon II (B. C. 722) was the great ruler who carried away the ten tribes of Israel into captivity (See ISRAEL, KINGDOM or). He also put an end to the power of the Hittites, made Judah a subject kingdom and Babylonia a dependent province, and forced the cities of the Mediterranean to pay tribute. Sargon's son Sennacherib subdued the King of Judah,' who had revolted. This is the ruler whose army, according to the Biblical account, was destroyed by a pestilence. Esarhaddon (B. C. 672), son of Sennacherib, began the conquest of Egypt, which was completed in the reign of Asurbanipal, his son. Asurbanipal kept the empire intact by ceaseless warfare, but after his death a rapid decline set in. Egypt and Babylonia revolted, and Scythian hordes repeatedly invaded the country from the north. In 606 B. C. Nineveh was captured by the combined forces of the Medes and Babylonians, and Assyrian supremacy was at an end. See BABYLONIA.
