(L) 875-860 BC relief of King Ashurnasirpal II with sword and staff from Nimrud, NW Palace Room S Panel 3 (possibly his private apartments). British Museum, ME 124563. (R) 9^th cent BC alabaster stela from Nimrud of Ashurnasirpal II. Cuneiform inscription of king’s titles and achievements. British Museum, ANE 118805. Images by L. M. Clancy.

The 883-859 BC reign of Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (Ashur is Guardian of the Sun) brought in the Neo-Assyrian Period ¹. Before Ashurnasirpal II, Assyrian rulers tried to “beat the bound” and restore Assyrian boundaries. Despite early kings’ campaigns in the Mediterranean and up the Tigris to Urartu, Ashurnasirpal II was the first to exert Assyrian hegemony in these areas. However, Ashurnasirpal II did not engage Babylonia.

Standard Inscription of Ashurnasirpal

The Standard Inscription of Ashurnasirpal is the wording carved across the center of every Northwest Palace wall-panel ². Certain narrow panels omit part of the inscription, but otherwise it is repeated over and over without significant variation around the entire room. The Standard Inscription of Ashurnasirpal is a catalog of royal titles, claims and achievements of Ashurnasirpal II. The translation below is displayed on a plaque alongside Ashurnasirpal’s reliefs at the British Museum.

Tukulti Ninurta I built Kar Tukulti Ninurta just across the river and 3km upstream from Assur. A canal bisected Kar Tukulti Ninurta along the north-south axis, piercing even through the core walled royal-administrative quarter. At the southern end of the canal was a monumental gate; the north end stopped short of the opposite end of Kar Tukulti Ninurta. To the west of the canal were monumental complexes, including two palaces at the northwest edge of the city and another right on the river. There was a ziggurat in the middle of the city’s western half, attached to which was the Assur Temple. Tukulti Ninurta I celebrated his new capital with commemorative inscriptions on alabaster tablets found at Assur and Kar Tukulti Ninurta:

Color plaster paintings decorate the palace: exteriorly, the north and south sides of the terrace; and interiorly, much of the palace walls. Dominant botanical motifs were rosettes, palmettes, lotus blossoms and the sacred tree. Color plaster was formed by mixing clay with sand and vegetable matter to form blue, red and black.

Kar Tukulti Ninurta was abandoned after the death of Tukulti Ninurta I, who was presumably assassinated by one of his sons.

References

http://proteus.brown.edu/mesopotamianarchaeology/1500

Hadatu was an Assyrian provincial city. It was founded along an important route, just 30km east of Carchemish. The 4m thick city walls follow an oval plan, and were built of mudbrick on stone foundations. There are three large gates, one each at the east, west and north.

Amorites were mobile pastoralists perhaps living in North central syria near the jumble-bishree. After entering Assur, their commercial ambitions led them to form the colony Karum Kanesh (aka Kanis or Kanes) a few hundred miles north of Assur on the Anatolian plateau. Most of our knowledge of early Assyria is from Karum Kanesh, as Assur is relatively devoid of evidence during this period.

A bit hilani (Akkadian) was a type of palace or large public building in the late 2^nd and early 1^st millennia BC. They had a colonnaded front porch, as described in 1 Kings 7:1-11 in reference to Solomon’s palace in Jerusalem.

An alliance of the Medes and Babylonias, a decision that Assyria had become too much to deal with, forced the Assyrians to fall back into Haran. Then the Babylonians took over all the southern half of old Assyria and the Medes took over all the northern half. Sacked in 763 BCE, Harran was restored under the Assyrian ruler Sargon II. It served for two years as the headquarters for the then–crumbling Assyrian Empire after the fall of its capital Nineveh in 612 BCE.

Ashur-dan II set the basic patterns of strategy and ideology that are elaborated by succeeding Assyrian kings. First, Ashu-dan II re-conquered Assyrian territories. Like his ancestors, he fought extensively in the mountainous and problematic northern frontier. It was strategically critical due to its proximity to the Assyrian heartland and its routes that led into Anatolia (a source of crucial metals).

Notably, to the north and close to Assyrian territory, Kadmahu’s bronze, tin and precious stones were looted and its king was flayed so his skin could be exhibited on Arbela’s walls; an Assyrian loyalist assumed his throne. To the west, Ashur-dan II’s fragmentarily perserved annals reveal that Aramaeans in loosely controlled territory had revolted by slaughtering Assyrians. In response, he devastated the region and looted all valuable things and creatures. To the east, it was critical for Assyria to secure the limited mountain routes in the Zagros foothills down to the lower Zab.

Next, Ashur-dan II began a campaign of resettlement. After the hunger and instability of the Assyrian recension, Ashur-dan II built new fortified centers with ploughs, horses and stores of grain. This allowed Assyrians to return to regions where they had been forced away, increasing Assyria’s cultivatable land and its security. Also, Ashur-dan II continued the tradition of building palaces in various districts across his land.

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) was found in a central palace erected by Shalmaneser III and Tiglath-Pileser IV (Jastrow 1915, p 19). The Black Obelisk depicts five scenes of tribute, like a miniature throne room. Each scene occupies four panels, wrapping around the obelisk, and is identified by a line of cuneiform script above it. The Black Obelisk provides the earliest depiction of an ancient Israelite.

~728 BC relief of Tiglath-Pileser III from the Central Palace at Nimrud. British Museum. Image by L. M. Clancy.

Tiglath-Pileser III (744-727 BC) reconfigured Assyrian administration to make villages responsible to the center. For this reason, he is often considered the founder of the Assyrian empire. His strategy relied upon diplomacy, deportation and military action. When Tiglath-Pileser III conquered a village, he installed bureaucrats and military officials; these people maintained order and reported directly to him. His queen was named Yaba.

Tiglath-Pileser III started a trend in Assyria of dismantling a conquered capital and replacing it with a controlled capital elsewhere (he did so when he replaced Jerusalem with Lachish). He left behind few monuments in the Assyrian heartland, as he was too busy militaristically to focus on much else. Tiglath-Pileser III stopped Urartu in the west, and solidified areas that had been conquered yet remained rebellious. Tiglath-Pileser III also incorporated large parts of Syria, and defeated the Babylonians (he even stole hands from a statue of Bel). Notably, this made Tiglath-Pileser III the first Assyrian king to rule Babylonia (other than a few appointees) since Tukulti-Ninurta. Tiglath-Pileser III also managed to reach the Mediterranean and Gaza. He did not attack the Palestinians because of their great timber trade. Instead, he had them acknowledge his superiority and offer tribute.

Assyrian king Sargon II (721-705 BC) completed the siege of Samaria begun by Tiglath-Pileser III and continued by Shalmaneser V. Israelites were deported to Gozan (modern tel-Hallath, in the Habur), Media (in modern Iran) and Dur Sharruken. Sargon II had established a new capital at Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad) to replace Nimrud, which had been the capital since the early 9^th century BC. Sargon II’s queen was named Atalia.

In addition to taking Samaria, Sargon II trekked to Tarsus and Malatya on the Anatolian plateau. After conquering Palestine, Sargon II went eastward to enter modern-day Turke, Iranian highlands and Elamite territory. However, Sargon II grew weary of conquering and re-conquering vassals and adopted a no good vassal but a dead vassal policy. He abolished local dynasties and ruled Assyrian territories with the efficient social and military organization developed by Tiglath-Pilezer III.

The settlement and re-settlement of the Habur region by people from Samaria, the Mediterranean shore or even way over on the border of Iran had an Aramization on Assyria. Sargon II (722-705) claims to have built a structure at Dur Sharrukin in the bit hilani style. Also, Sennacherib (704-681) claims to have done construction at Nineveh in the bit hilani style.

Ashur-uballit I reigned over Assyria as it truly gained traction and was completely free of Mittanian control, as shown in his letters found at Amarna. These letters are significant, as up until this point all communications had been through the Mittanni; Ashur-uballit’s predecessors were not allowed to directly contact other kingdoms. In an unprecedented move, Ashur-uballit I communicated with Egypt (forming trade links) and gave one of his daughters to the Kassite king in Babylonia (forming a dynastic link).

Ashur-uballit I did not detail his own military campaigns, but his successors note that he thrust his military northwards into mountains that hid disruptive gangs, contained raw materials and held ideal horse-breding areas. These northern and eastern mountains (along the borders of modern-day Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran) are a recurring military theme throughout Assyrian history. Ashur-uballit’s great-grandson said that the security of his kingship was firmly established as far distant as the mountains (north Iraq) and that he succeeded against the forces of the widespread land of the Subarians (referring to general northerners) and a land called Musri (a vague northwest region).

Adad-nirari I (aka Adad-narari I) (1307-1275 BC) grew Assyrian power and described himself as defeater of the feocious ones, turning Hanigalbat (Assyria’s term for the Mitanni kingdom) into a vassal before annexing it completely (including Washukanni, the old Mittanni capital). However, Adad-narari I was unsuccessful against the Hittites and lost large parts of Mesopotamia to them; after trying to form a brotherly alliance with the Hittites, their king snidely responded; Why should I write to you about brotherhood? Were you and I born of the same mother?.

Assyria now controlled the whole western and northern territory within the defensible boundaries of the Euphrates and Tigris, giving Assyria hegemony over the riverine trade routes. To the south, just east of the Tigris, the boundary between Assyria and Babylonia was formed by either the Lower Zab, Adhaim or Diyala rivers. Adad-narari’s hard stance on this boundary led to celebratory epic, one of Assyria’s first native literary works. However, this area was battled over innumerable times and fluctuated according to levels of Assyro-Babylnonian power.

The ziggurat of Assyrian cities was less prominent than ziggurats in Babylonian cities.

Esarhaddon appointed his successors after seing the rebellion that ensued when he took over the throne.

Ashurbanipal (reigned 668-627 BC) was known to the Greeks as Sardanapalus and in the Old Testament as Asnapper (Ezra 4, 10) (Jastrow 1915, pg. 21). Ashurbanipal is best remembered for his library of Assyro-Babylonian literature. This library has yielded most modern knowledge of Mesopotamian tradition. His artistic side is also shown in his dedication to completing Sennacherib’s construction projects, making it difficult to discern works from Sennacherib or Ashurbanipal. Militaristically, Ashurbanipal was forced to withdraw from Egypt (in ~660 BC) and then entered a very bloody long-term struggle against the Babylonians. The Babylonians were ruled by his own brother, and supported by the Elamites. He was fixated on the Elamites, trying diplomacy; raising children captives; and even beckoning for a king’s held to be swiftly delivered to be hung in his garden.

The costly Elamite wars ended in 646 BC when Assurbanipal defeated Susa, a victorious culmination of his obsession with eliminating the Elamites. His reliefs reveal that he had even flayed an Elamite king, then took his severed head home so that he could admire it hanging on a tree in his garden while he relaxed with his queen under a grape arbor. However, his win was bittersweet because Assurbanipal had focused so many resources on controlling a truly hopeless region. The Assyrian government suffered and was plagued by internal strife.

Removing the Elamites allowed the Medes and Babylonians to rise; also, the Persians were beginning their encroachment. Assyrian control over the far west of Egypt and the Levant fell apart, the east was taken by the Medes and the south was taken by the Neo-Babylonians. Assyria’s hegemony was reduced to just its core area until even that was defeated in 612 BC. There were a few more destructions before Nineveh was totally obliterated. Perhaps foreseeing this end, Ashurbanipal gathered works from far and wide and formed a library that provides much of our knowledge of the region’s culture.

Hanigalbat (the Mitanni) had gained power and allied with the Akhlamus (Aramaeans) and Hittites. The Hittites provided not just military aid, but also used their enduring international power to force their vassals into imposing an embargo against Assyria. This prompted Shalmaneser I to re-conquer the Hanigalbat region, a reassertion of Assyria’s growing importance that made the Hittite monarch regard Shalmaneser I (and his successor) as an equal, brother. In a departure from prior policy, Assyria did not just kill the conquered masses. Shalmaneser I allowed skilled and established merchant families to continue, feeding them into a government trading network that greatly benefited Assyria. Also, Shalmaneser I installed an Assyrian administration in the conquered Mittanni site at Tell Fakeryiah. His administration was implemented across upper Mesopotamia and possibly the upper Tigris as well. He appointed local elites and his own officials as saknu (governors) reporting to a sukkallu rabu (great vizier).

Also, people from the northern territories were deported en masse to labor in Assyria’s agricultural fields: 14,400 captives were deported from Hanigalbat, each person blinded in one eye; 720 captives were deported from Shubru (likely north or within the Tur Abdin) in four gangs each under an Assyrian foreman with an overseer responsible for the whole; 99 people were deported from the land Nairi (north of the Tigris, west of Lake Van); and 174 were deported from Kadmukh (between Tigris and Tur Abdin) under two Assyrian officials. These detailed records are taken from administrative account of grain and wool rations so that the laborers could eat and make their own clothing. Assyria had very precise oranization at this point: regarding a construction campaign, the total of foreign workers and the seven Assyrian officials in charge of them amounted to exactly 1,000.

During the reign of Shalmaneser I (Adad-narari’s son), Uruatri (later Urartu) was still a federation amongst the Armenian highlands. Shalmaneser I spoke of destroying 51 Uruatrian towns to squash their disruption of Assyrian hegemony. Some young men from Uruatri were enlisted into Assyria’s service and relocated. This marks a new phase in Assyrian policy that led to groups of people being shifted around on an increasingly massive scale; these persons could have been just slaughtered, but it was in Assyria’s economic interest to divide the people and let them live.

Bibliograpy

Saggs, 1985. The Might That Was Assyria.

The reliefs at Nineveh were different from those at Dur Sharrukin and Nimrud. Palace reliefs originally in a life-like scale, with large figures taking up much space. At Nineveh, lots of figures were crowded together against very detailed backgrounds. Musculature was not as detailed, as the reliefs were just trying to communicate what happened and where. The magnificent and powerful figures found in Nimrud’s reliefs are absent from Nineveh. The reliefs at Nineveh used illustrations rather than inscriptions to detail locations and times. For example, a torture scene in a Southwest Palace reliefs clearly shows victims wearing western-style clothes. There is much more activity in the reliefs at Nineveh than the reliefs at Nimrud. Incidentally, this also makes Nineveh’s reliefs much more informative of material culture.

Relief fragment of cavalrymen along a stream in mountainous terrain. Alabaster. Palace of Sennacherib, Room XXXVIII, Nineveh. Neo-Assyrian Period, reign of Sennacherib (704-681 BC). Gift of John D Rockefeller Jr 1932. Metropolitan Museum, 32.143.16

Protective spirit (lahmu) guarding a door. Assyrian ~700-692 BC from Nineveh SW Palace WA 124792

Protective spirit (ugallu, great lion). Assyrian ~700-692 BC From Nineveh SW Palace WA 124826

Stone relief from the South-West Palace of Sennacherib (Room 32). Nineveh. Neo-Assyrian, 704-681 BC. Two guardian figures. British Museum. Image by L M Clancy 2009/08/17.

Campaigning in southern Iraq. Assyrian ~640-620 BC. From Nineveh, SW Palace. Court XIX panels 10-12. British Museum.

A central band of river, the Tigris or Euphrates, separates two otherwise independent compositions. Above the Assyrians attack a town on a small island and carry booty from it. Below the Assyrian king in his chariot watches as prisoners are brought in and heads and booty are piled up in a palm grove.

Assyrian expansion continued under Shalmaneser I’s son Tukulti-Ninurta I, who conquered further, exploited more and penetrated deeper. He started with the north, studying the Uqumeni kingdom (aka Uqumani, later Qumani), the principal among the Qutian federation, in anticipation of conquering the land. Upon his victory, he imprisoned the Uqumeni princes at Ashur until they took an oath of allegiance. This allegiance not only reduced Uqumeni to vassaldom, but also incurred a hefty annual tribute. This opened up a channel between Assyria and its vassal, and some Uqumeni names have been found amongst receipts for rations for Assyrian workers.

Next, Tukulti-NInurta I charged south to Babylonia. After many boundary clashes, Tukulti-Ninurta I initiated a full invasion into Babylonia that was immortalized in a laudatory Assyrian epic. Assyria’s defeat of Babylonia was not like the defeat of northern barbarians, but rather a huge cultural coup equivalent to sacking Vatican City, Jerusalem or Mecca in modern times. To justify this, the Tukulti-Ninurta epic claimed Babylon’s tutelary deity Marduk had disapproved of Kashtiliash’s resistance to Assyria, thus deserting Babylonia and giving Tukulti-Ninurta I permission to invade Babylonia. This was symbolized by an image of Tukulti-Ninurta taking the god Marduk to Ashur, where Marduk was revered even after Babylonia recovered its independence.

After conquering Babylonia, Tukulti-Ninurta I moved the capital of Assyria from Ashur. His prestige had begun to wane, and rather than further displease Ashur’s citizenry with higher taxes (for construction labor) or land takeover (for space), he chose to revolve his government around a site on the opposite side of the Tigris: Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta. When Babylonia’s Nechuchadnezzer I o(1,125-1,105 BC) conquered back Babylonia and began the second dynasty of Isin after just seven years of Assyrian rule, Tukulti-Ninurta I’s claim that he had divine approval to take over Babylonia was shattered. After gross exaggerations failed to save his public image, his son (Ashur-nasir-pal) and the nobles of Ashur conspired against him. Tukulti-Ninurta I was removed from the throne, imprisoned in a building at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta and assassinated. Tensions and conspiracy destabilized Assyria, leading to a decline in Assyrian power.

Bibliograpy

Saggs, 1985. The Might That Was Assyria.

To the NorthThere was activity on all four of Assyria’s frontiers. To the north and at the start of Tiglath-Pileser I’s reign, a group of ~20,000 Mushki leapt from territory they had held for ~150 years northwest of the Tur Abdin and invaded Kadmukh. While Assyria had not acted against the Mushki prior, this was a threat to Assyrian security and Tiglath-Pileser I defensively counter-attacked immediately and succeeded initially. He seized 6,000 Mushki prisoners, releasing them as subjects of Assyria into the lands they had invaded and settled. This aided Assyria, as the Mushki helped agricultural production and also provided 120 chariots, teams of horses and presumably their accompanying personnel.

Kadmukh natives, siding with the Mushki, crossed to the north bank of the Tigris to attack an Assyrian fortress there. Tiglath-Pileser I pursued the rebels, and along the way encountered skirmishes with the Papkhu people, who spoke Hurrian and resided north of the Tigris. He also accrued a few more subjects, included the Kaska people who had lived along the Black Sea coast to the west and were likely glad to be accepted by a stable power. He explored the territory where the Papkhu and many other small kingdoms existed (there was no major kingdom in the area) in anticipation of his next move.

Tiglath-Pileser I next took his chariots and main army across the Tigris and northwards into Papkhu territory. His troops carried their chariots in impassible regions. Although the Papkhu tried to battle the Assyrians along the mountainside, they failed and Assyria massively destroyed Papkhu territory before marching onwards north of the Tigris and into eastern Anatolia. Tiglath-Pileser I’s conquests are documented at only two sites in this region: the city of Melid whose capture he recorded, and also a rock he inscribed northwest of Lake Van and in the Melazgirt area: Tiglath-Pileser, strong king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters, conquerer of the land Nairi from the land Tumme to the land Dayenu, conqueror of the land Habha to the Great Sea. He accrued booties of copper and bronze and tributes of thousands of horses, cattle, oxen and asses. Also, he deported captives to boost Assyria’s working population. Simultaneously, he tirelessly developed Assyria’s military chariots to unprecedented capacities.

To the WestAramaean disruption of the Euphrates, a main artery for trade and communication, was a formidable threat. To chase off the Aramaeans for good, Tiglath-Pileser I had to cross the Euphrates 28 times over several years. Once the Aramaeans were off of Assyrian territory, Tiglath-Pileser I was able to leave the Euphrates alone and penetrate the Mediterranean coast. To reach the shore, he crossed former Hittite territory (north Syria) and, on a separate occasion, he trekked through Tadmor (in the heart of Aramaean territory). Once at the shore, he exhibited Assyria’s fascination with the sea and excitedly took a boat ride. I made replicas in basalt of the nahiru, which they call a “sea-horse”, which with a harpoon, as an achievement of my own hand, I killed i the sea of Amurru-land at the command of…the great gods, my lords. It is unclear whether the sea-horse was a dolphin or whale.

To the SouthThe Assyro-Babylonian border remained sensitive. After several normal borer clashes, Tiglath-Pileser I responded by forcing through northern Babylonia to even defeat Babylon. Rather than occupy the territory, though, he merely raided the area and then left as a show of his might. Babylonia’s influence continued in Assyria, with Babylonian month names even replacing their Assyrian counterparts.

Tiglath-Pilser I, NaturalistLike other Assyrian kings, Tiglath-Pileser I was fascinated by foreign animals. Like other kings, he accepted apes, crocodiles and other strange animals as tribute; Tiglath-Pileser I even built a zoo to house animals that were gifted to him and which he had captured. There was rich fauna amidst ancient Assyria, with texts mentioning hunting of bears elephants, wild ox (powerful beasts as tall as six feet at the shoulder), hyenas, lions (up to 800 at a time, as they were a danger), tigers, leopards, deer, wild, water buffalo, wild pigs, gazelle, sheep, lynx, cheetahs, wild asses and onagers. He even attempted to breed herds of two-humped camels that had been sent by merchants abroad, as mentioned in his son Ashur-bel-kala’s Broken Obelisk. Assyrian kings also decimated the ostrich, although it has been rarely sighted in the 20^th century AD.

Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad in Iraq) was established by Assyrian king Sargon II (722-705 BC) as a new capital of Assyria to replace Nimrud. Dur Sharrukin was constructed from 717-707 BC and Sargon II died in battle shortly thereafter in 705 BC. An outer wall pierced by seven fortified gates enclosed a 2.59 sq km city. Within the citadel, buildings had: walls that were thick, windowless and made of mud bricks; and gates opening onto internal courts. The State Court and Grand Entrance Court were the largest courts. The Throne Room was nestled between the State Court and a court for women and children. There was a seven-tiered ziggurat and a group of temples.

References

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/174077/Dur-Sharrukin

http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/sargon_iis_palace_dur-sharrukin

Assyrian king Sennacherib’s (701-681 BC) military campaign and siege of Jerusalem are depicted in his ~689 BC hexagonal prism (discovered at Nineveh; now at the Oriental Institute) and in the reliefs from his palace at Nineveh (particularly his campaign against Lachish). The prism is an example of the Assyrian king’s annals, which catalogue annual accomplishments.

Bibliography

701 BCE; ANET, pp. 287-88; Ben Sasson, HJP, figure 11.

Sennacherib (704-681) likely was involved in the death of his father, Sargon II. Sennacherib moved the Assyrian capital back to Nineveh (modern day Mosull, Iraq) and demarcated a huge area north and south of the original site for his massive building projects. He diverted water courses, built water horses and funneled water from afar (even 20 miles away) with his Jerwan Aqueduct. Sennacherib also built an Incomparable Palace (aka Palace Without Rival) referred to in inscriptions as ekallu sa sanina la.

When Maduk-apla-iddina usurped the Babylonian throne, Sennacherib stationed his troops along the Tigris. After seizing some Babylonian territory, a power struggle ensued between he and Babylonia. In 691 BC, the Babylonian ruler lost his chief ally when the Elamite ruler died of a stroke. Sennacherib invaded, and in an example of god-napping he took a revered statue of Marduk back to Assyria. Sennacherib seized Lachish in Judah, building upon his predecessor’s success at Samaria, but he failed to conquer Jerusalem. To maintain frontier security, Sennacherib also campaigned in Anatolia as well as the Syrian desert and southern Levant. However, he failed to reach Egypt as Assyria’s homeland grew unstable without his presence.

Shamshi-Adad I, the first Assyrian king known via his own inscriptions, recorded 38 prior kings and organized them as shown below.

To read about Assyrian pre-history (including part of the Old Assyrian Period) then read the article on the Assyrian Kinglist.

Bibliograpy

Saggs, 1985. The Might That Was Assyria.

Class Notes, Carter 2009. Assyrians.

Bibliography

J. A. Brinkman, “Foreign Relations of Babylonia from 1600 to 625 Bc: The Documentary Evidence,” AJA 76, no. 3, 1972

Saggs, 1985. The Might That Was Assyria.

Starting in the Old Assyrian Period, the Assyrian king chose a limmu (aka eponymous magistrate) for each year. This distributed authority, allowing the limmu to perform certain cultic acts. Records listing each year and its limmu are critical for reconstructing Assyrian chronology. The limmuship rotated amidst Assyrian noble families and sometimes even the king himself. and in which king participated. The limmu tradition continued through the period of decline (~1,050-934 BC) separating the Middle and the Neo-Assyrian Period; only limmuships from ~892-~648 BC have been reconstructed.

Symbolic Scene. Assyrian, ~865-860 BC. From Nimrud, NW Palace. Room B panel 23. British Museum. WA 124531. Image by L M Clancy 2009/08/19.

British Museum, WA 124567. Image by L M Clancy 2009/08/20.

British Museum, WA 124568. Image by L M Clancy 2009/08/20.

British Museum, WA 124569. Image by L M Clancy 2009/08/20.

Three Formal scenes. Assyrian ~865-860 BC. From Nimrud NW Palace. Room G panels 6 12 10.

Court scene. Assyrian ~865-860 BC. From Nimrud NW Palace. Room G panels 2-4. British Museum, WA 124564-6. Image by L M Clancy 2009/08/20.

King Ashurnasirpal is enthroned between attendants and the group is flanked by a pair of winged protective spirits. The workmanship of these panels, a banquet hall, is exceptionally fine. Detailed patterns are represented by delicate incisions on the clothes. There are traces of paint on the sandals.

Closeup of British Museum, WA 124564-6. Image by L M Clancy 2009/08/21.

Tribute-bearers. Assyria ~865-860 BC. From Nimrud NW Palace. Court D Panel 7. British Museum, ME 124562. Image by L M Clancy, 2009/08/21.

Two of a group of tribute-bearers who were shown on the facade of the throne room. The first one has a turban of a kind worn in NW Syria raiss clenched hands in token of submission. The second may be Phoenician, is bringing a pair of monkeys. The Assyrian kings enjoyed collecting exotic fauna.

Within the Northwest Palace was the Banquet Stele, a large sandstone slab near the entrance to a throne-room. It described in extensive detail the opulent 10-day inauguration of the Northwest Palace in ~879 BC, attended by workmen, officials, inhabitants and notable guests. In the center of the stele was a relief of Ashurnasirpal II standing in front of the deities Sin, Assur, Enlil, Adad and Sibitti. The text tells of 69,574 guests enjoying a dizzying array of luxurious foods amidst gardens whose every plant is listed. Also, the Banquet Stele lists all the woods used to build a terrace supporting Ashurnasirpal II’s palace: boxwood, mulberry, cedar, cypress, pistachio, tamarisk and poplar. There are also descriptions of the royal orchards, its 42 varieties of fruit and its canal irrigation. Boastful depictions of royal lion and bull hunts are also present. Incidentally, this is one of the most extensive accounts of botany and diet in Assyria.

Assyrian reliefs often recount the majestic gardens of Assyrian gardens, packed with exotic flora and fauna.

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III was found in a central palace erected by Shalmaneser III and Tiglath-Pileser IV (Jastrow 1915, p 19).

From 934-745 BC, Assyrians tightened their grip on Upper Mesopotamian territories first conquered during the Middle Assyrian Period. Smaller neighboring states subjected to Assyrian dominance.Traditions continued from the Middle Assyrian Period right through the Neo-Assyrian Period:

From 745-610 BC, the Assyrian empire expanded to directly govern territory from the Arab-Perisan Gulf to Commagene in Turkey by 705 BC and until the Assyrian regime’s 610 BC collapse. By the 7th century BC, Assyria either directly or indirectly dominated the entire Fertile Crescent (including Egypt, temporarily) and controlled terminal points of the Syrian desert’s caravan routes. Rulers of several oases were subject allies of Assyria, and the powerful kingdoms of Urartu, Phrygia (later Lydia) and Elam maintained relations with Assyria.

Neo-Assyrian kings had a tradition of conquest upon which to elaborate; each king as part of a centuries-old monarchic institution, continuing an unbroken line of kings (supposedly of the same family) since ~1,500 BC. This awareness of prior kings’ expansions, sometimes in the same areas tackled by Neo-Assyrian kings, is noted in Ashur-dan II and Tukulti-Ninurta II’s inscriptions. Campaigns of individual kings were not always great wars of conquest, but often warlike marches to reconfirm dominance over areas regarded as Assyrian. Incorporated territories remained under their existing ruler, now viewed as an Assyrian governor. However, Assyrian control gradually intensified until truly reaching its height and then downfall during ~745-610 BC.

Assyrian style: beard; hairod; garments. More incised, not highly carved. Poepl in processions.

Syrian style: broader face, Phoenician and Egyptizing styles in arts and culture were emulated and imitated onthe Meditteranean coast in Phoenicia.

SYrian more solidslightly unbalanced, cutout work.

Egyptianizing wig, classene, palm, cut out.

Royal inscriptions… first across, then between two panels

Epigraph … a succinct little “comic book balloon” describing the events of the depicted scene.

Identifying features of an Assyrian king in reliefs are the fez, jewelry and braided beard and hair.

The Assyrians managed an extensive trade network during the period from about 2000 BC until the end of the Old Assyrian kingdom. Ashur has little evidence on early Assyria, and most of our knowledge is from several hundred miles to the north in Karum Kanesh (modern Kültepe in the Cappadocia region of Turkey). Merchants have resided in Cappadocia as early as the 24^th century BC, but the ~14,000 tablets excavated so far are dated to the dawn of the 2^nd millennium. These tablets revealed that Ashur’s businesses organized trade by placing representatives in multiple cities. Copper-hungry Assyria expanded commercially into copper-rich Anatolia, both importing copper and feeding tin (from the east) and textiles (from Babylonia) into Anatolia. This system benefited the foreigners (their rulers allowed their existence) and also Assyria (which needed vital timber and metals).

Merchants grouped together in large convoys, evidenced by some documents mentioning only a single donkey. It was too unsafe to take a single donkey alone for a 2 month, ~750 mile and sometimes deadly route. There were outposts of Assyrian merchants along the way to facilitate transport. A donkey’s total load, including harness was ~100 kilos. Tin was usually carried in a pair of balanced bullas. Textiles were rolled and placed on top of the donkey. These ass caravans would set off for Anatolia, along with documentation which was inspected against the load.

Upon arrival at Kanesh, the loads were processed and taxed before they could be resold. This suggests a system of private capitalists, rather than government workers. Taxes were hefty — in addition to Kanesh’s tax, 10% of the load’s value en route — and smuggling sometimes occurred. Sales often used gold and silver, but textiles and copper intermediaries were oft used and then resold for precious metals. Gross profits of as much as 100% were typical on tin, and textiles could garner even more. Principals in Anatolia would send the earnings back to their colleague in Ashur (sometimes a wife), and more goods were purchased for shipment to Anatolia. Even if they had a wife in Ashur, principals would sometimes be abroad for years and take additional wives.

The Old Period’s last two rulers, Shame-Adad I and Ishme-Dagan, had hegemony all the way to the western Zagros (a region between the Euphrates and Tigris). After Ishme Dagan, king Hammurabi (~1,770-1,650 BC) of Old Babylon slaughtered the Assyrian king and turned Assyria into a vassal. However, trade activity continued and Ashur remained a link between Iran (tin), Mesopotamia and Anatolia (copper). Assyria still made large profits on tin and prized textiles.