Chapter One: Infectious
Alternatives
History Club
Historical Information
About the Assyrians
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The Mesopotamian world from
approximately 2400 B.C. to 610
B.C. saw Assyria rise to become a
major power.
The following timeline lists the
major events in the history of
Assyria (and the Assyrian Peoples):
Emergence: Beginnings To 2400
B.C.
First Golden Age: 2400 B.C. to 610
B.C.
First Dark Age: 610 B.C. to 33 A.D.
Second Golden Age: 33 A.D. to
1300 A.D.
Second Dark Age: 1300 A.D. to
1918 A.D.
Diaspora: 1918 A.D. To The
Present
This is when Assyrian dominance
ended in the Middle East.
Siege of Jerusalem
• In 701 B.C., the Assyrians launch a siege of Jerusalem
after having “had occupied no fewer than forty-six
walled places in the kingdom of Judah and compelled
Hezekiah, king of Judah, to shut himself up in
Jerusalem ‘like a bird in a cage.”
• The Jews were able to repel the Assyrians, according to
William H. McNeill through constructing a tunnel that
“still carries water from the spring of Gihon to the pool
of Siloam, just outside Jerusalem’s ancient walls.” In
doing this, the Jews forced the Assyrians to drink
contaminated water, thus leading to the spread of
disease amongst Assyrian ranks. The Jews held a
different view, claiming that God had saved the city for
his sake “and for my servant David’s sake.”
Jewish Beliefs
• “The circumstances of the Assyrian withdrawal from the
walls of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. confirmed this belief, proving
God’s universal power to pious and eager believers more
clearly and far more convincingly than ever before.”
• Due to their stern beliefs that God not only governed the
Jews, but all the world, the Jews saw their exile at the
hands of the Babylonians as God’s “punishment for the
failure of Judah’s rulers and people to observe his
commandments to the full.” Therefore, rather than
abandoning the religion as one that praised a God weaker
than those worshiped by the Babylonians, the Jewish
peoples began to study the scripture even more closely,
thus enabling the creation of Christianity and Islam.
What If?
• What if the Assyrians had succeeded in their
conquest of Jerusalem, and as a result never
allowed the concept that the Jewish God was an
all powerful worldwide ruler to become the
common belief within the religion?
• What if Judaism ended with
the conquest of Jerusalem?