Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Ancient Empires: Assyria, Babylon and Persia
Mesopotamia land between two rivers
cradle of the world's first empires
until about nine hundred BCE Ashur and Babylon vied for supremacy in Mesopotamia
then from about nine hundred onwards
the Assyrian empire became dominant and spread
north and west and south
till Assyria controlled Mespotamia, Syria,
a large part of Arabia and eventually even into Egypt
the Assyrian army could amassed large numbers of soldiers equipped at bows
and sling shots as well as the more usual chariot spears and swords
as this relief
from Sennacherib's palace showing that taking of Lachish shows us
by the way the slingshot was a fearsome weapon
imagine these rocks the size of cricket balls being rained upon you
this obelisk, or engraved stone pillar, known as the black obelisk
comes from eight forty one BCE and it tells of the campaigns and successes of
Shalmaneser III
in the west
in particular tells of his defeat of Jehu and Jehu's paying tribute to him
Jehu was king of Israel
that's Jehu in the center of the picture groveling at Shalmeneser's feet
it's the only known
picture from the period of a character from the Bible
during the reign of king Hezekiah ofJudah
Sennacherib the Assyrian emperor
marched against Hezekiah and captured most of his cities
the last major city apart from Jerusalem to fall was Lachish
this was a significant triumph for Sennacherib and he commemorated it on the
walls of his palace
Lachish was a large city on a steep-sided tell
here we're looking down from the palace towards the ancient gateway
and beyond to the small hill where the Assyrian army was camped
here we are looking at the ramp up to the gateway
and then moving across to look at cut away of the large siege ramp that the
Assyrian soldiers built in order to attack the walls of the city at a less defended spot
to make this ramp they had to shift huge quantities of stone and rubble and dirt
and then attacking both up the ramp and using siege towers
they took the city
many of the defenders who were not killed in the fighting
where impaled an stakes outside the city wall
women and children were taken captive carried away are slaves
objects captured as *** were carried off in carts and on soldiers' backs
the city was destroyed
as well as the pictures from the relief
from Sennacherib's palace
and the associated written account we know of these events also from the Bible
these fragments of pots with writing on
we call them "ostraca"
tell of the last days of the doomed city
during the later Babylonian attack
among other things they mention that the last watchtower that te rest of Judah could see
was from here, Tell Azekah
another dominating spot this time governing
the western approaches to Jerusalem
this is part of the annals of king Tiglath Pileser the third
they tell of his campaign "against Juah, Amon, Moab, Ashkelon, Edon
Gaza and Tyre"
it was to this king
that Damascus fell
and not long after
the northern kingdom Israel also fell to the Assyrian empire
if you found the writing Tiglath Pileser's annals difficult to read
it may be clearer on the back of his lion
the writing is called cuneiform
it's made up of combinations of wedge-shaped marks
stuck into the wet clay with a shaped stick
the lion with its beauty its grace
and its power
stands as a fitting symbol
of the Assyrian empire
to the south and east of the heartland of the Assyrian empire lay the ancient city of Babylon
eventually gained independence
finally took control of the empire
first Mesopotamia itself and then virtually the entierity of what had
been Assyrian empire was controlled by the neo-Babylonians
or new Babylonians
it was the Babykonians who captured Jerusalem
the city of babylon
became a wonder of the ancient world
the first great metropolis
this is the Ishtar gates
all of its bricks are faced with brilliant colours
just imagine
the Judean exiles
looking up at this gate
watching the processions
carrying the majestic gold-plated idols of Babylon's gods
through to the highway leading to the temple of Ishtar
the processional route too was lined with
magnificent brilliantly coloured pictures
like nothing ever seen before
over to the east a new empire was rising
Cyrus the persian
controlled from Iran to Turkey
all along the northern border of the Babylonian empire
Nabonidus king of Babylon at that time was unpopular
Cyrus was welcomed into Babylon as a liberator
and built the largest empire the world had seen
the "Oxus Treasure"
now the British Museum
gives some idea of the wealth
of the Persians
and of their skill at metalwork
Cyrus' policy was different from that of the Babylonians
instead of exiling conquered peoples
the Persians encouraged them to return home
and to rebuild
this document the "Cyrus Cylinder"
gives a very similar account of the orders which permitted that to that found in
the books of the Bible