FEARSOME. FEARLESS.
FRIGHTENING. ASSYRIA.
John Macdonald, Kevin McCoy, Ryan McGarvey,
William Plunkett, Robert Weigman
Esarhaddon
• Became king of Assyria in 681 B.C after his
notorious father, Sennacherib, was
assassinated after besieging Jerusalem
• The first great kind after many poor ones
• Vassals tried to invade, Esarhaddon’s Assyria
conquered and added 2 Vassal provinces
More on Esarhaddonon
• Created a peace treaty with Elam in Iran
• Peace treaty is a huge deal because the
Muslim, Elam is long time rivals to the
Christian, Assyria who is surrounded by other
Muslim fundamentalist countries
• Conquered Egypt, another very successful
Muslim state
• After many years of failing health, Esarhaddon
died in 669 B.C on his way to the Nile, in Egypt
2371 B.C. - Sargon
of Akkad creates 1st
Assyrian kingdom
4750 B.C.
1st temple of
Ashur built
1307 B.C.
Adad-nariri starts 1st
Assyrian empire
934 B.C. – Period of
Neo-Assyrian empire
begins; PEAK POWER
752 B.C. - Aramaic
1115 B.C. - Tiglathbecomes official
Pilseser creates 2nd
language of Assyria
Assyrian empire
609 B.C. - Ashur-uballit
is crowned new king of
Assyria in Harran
609 B.C. - Chaldean
612 B.C. - Neo-Assyrian defeats Egypt, Assyria
soon falls
Empire collapses
256 A. D.
Assyrian Church of East
established
350 B.C. - Assyrians try 600 A.D. - Period of
to reestablish kingdom, the Assyrian Religious
Empire begins
Persia squashes efforts
0 A.D.
“I slew one of every two. I built a wall before the
great gates of the city; I flayed the chief man of the
rebels, and I covered the walls with their skins. Some
of them were enclosed within the wall; some of them
were crucified with stakes along the wall; I caused a
great multitude of them to be flayed in my presence
and I covered the wall with their skins.”
–An Assyrian King (Cottrell 89)
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Conquest above all
1 story houses
Sculptures and carvings important
Mostly small villages centered around farming
Economy mostly farming and treasure from
war
• Ruled by a king who only answers to his court
• Class system
King
Ruling family,
*millitary commanders,
officials
Men of trades
Pesants and slaves
• If city resists capture:
– Citizens butchered; leaders tortured, skinned alive,
impaled on stakes
– City looted and burned
• To avoid nationalist revolts, large groups
deported
• Iron swords, lances,
metal armor, battering rams
• Largest ever army
in Middle East/
Mediterranean
• Polythesitic
• Assur = main god
• Conquered people do not have to follow
religion
• King is the high priest and representative of
Assur
• Interpreted events of nature as signs from the
gods
• Apsu and Tiamat have Assur and Kishar
• Apsu wants to kill children because they’re too
loud
• Ea kills Apsu because of this
• Tiamat avenges Apsu, starts war
• She loses, cut in half
• Half her body holds up sky, eyes become
source of Tigris and Euphrates
Short and Long Term Impacts
-They had military taxation and uniform calendar which some
countries have today
-Were the first civilization and empire
-Were roots on which civilizations built on and had a powerful art
culture
Works Cited
Betbasso, Peter. Brief History of the Assyrians. 16 February 2009. 20 September 2010
<http://www.aina.org/aol/peter/brief.htm>.
—. Timeline of Assyrian History. 19 October 2003. 20 September 2010
<http://www.aina.org/aol/peter/timeline.htm>.
Carr, Karen. Assyrians. 10 May 2010. 20 September 2010
<http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/westasia/history/assyrians.htm>.
Cottrell, Leonard. Land of the two Rivers. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company,
1962.
Highlights from the Collection: Assyria. 7 February 2007. 20 September 2010
<http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/highlights/assyria.html>.
Hooker, Richard. The Assyrians. 1996. 18 September 2010
<http://wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/ASSYRIA.HTM>.
Kjeilen, Tore. Assyria . 21 September 2010 <http://i-cias.com/e.o/assyria.htm>.
Letters, queries, and reports. 16 September 2010. 2010 September 2010
<http://knp.prs.heacademy.ac.uk/lettersqueriesandreports/>.
Radner, Karen. Esarhaddon, king of Assyria (681-669). 2010. 20 September 2010
<http://knp.prs.heacademy.ac.uk/essentials/esarhaddon/>.
Siren, Christopher. The Assyro-Babylonian Mythology FAQ. October 2003. 21
September 2010 <pubpages.unh.edu/~cbsiren/assyrbabyl-faq.html>.
THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE. 17 May 2006.
<http://www.portergaud.edu/academic/faculty/cmcarver/asyr.html>.