History of the Ancient Near East · Part 16 · Kingdoms of the Iron Age · B2
Assyria: Nineveh, Ashurbanipal’s Library and Lachish
Part 16 of History of the Ancient Near East: from the 9th to the 7th century BCE, the kings of Assyria built the largest empire the world had yet seen, from Iran to Egypt. They ruled by fear, moved whole peoples across the map, carved their victories on palace walls, and collected the greatest library of the age. Have something done (he had a palace built), emphatic himself, and the language of propaganda, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
Tonight, the first great world empire. Its kings wanted everyone to be afraid of them, and they were very good at it.
The greatest of its time. Fear and learning, in the same palace. That is Assyria.
Our Greek writers call the last king of Assyria Sardanapalus, and say he spent his life in silk dresses among his women.
Hold on to that story, Demetria. By the end of tonight, you may not believe it.
Assyria was the land of the city of Assur, on the river Tigris in northern Mesopotamia. Between about 911 and 612 BCE, its kings built an empire that reached from western Iran to the Mediterranean, and, for a few years, into Egypt. Its great capitals were Nimrud, Khorsabad and, finally, Nineveh.
The Assyrians ruled with an army of professional soldiers, a network of roads and messengers, and fear. Rebel cities were destroyed and their people punished, and the kings made sure that everyone heard about it. They also deported whole populations, moving perhaps millions of people from one end of the empire to the other, to break resistance and to farm empty land. One result was that Aramaic, the language of many deported peoples, spread across the Near East. In Philo’s…
Or try our free games and lessons.