Decline
The twelfth century was a time of international upheaval that saw the decline of some circum-Mediterranean states and the demise of others. Contemporary documents refer to crop failure and famine linked to drier climatic conditions.
The volume of water flowing in the Tigris and Euphrates was reduced and did not begin to rise again until around 950 b. c.e. Archaeological evidence confirms the information revealed in the documentary sources.
Large bands of marauders of diverse and obscure origins, including women and children as well as warriors, roamed the shores of the eastern Mediterranean, attacking anywhere that they could. These Sea Peoples were driven off several times by the Egyptians; some settled in coastal regions, including the group known as the Peleset (Philistines), and others were directly or indirectly responsible for the fall of the Hittites. Mesopotamia was shielded from direct attack by its inland location but suffered significantly from the disruption of its trade and international relations.
The region immediately west of the middle Euphrates had been home for some time to tribes known collectively as Aramaeans (Ahlamu). They spoke Aramaic, a Semitic language, which eventually replaced Akkadian as the lingua franca of the Near East. The Aramaeans were originally seminomadic, depending largely on sheep pastoralism supplemented by trading, but by 1200 B. C.E. some also dwelt in towns. The deteriorating climate drove Aramaean tribal groups into Mesopotamia, raiding and causing substantial destruction. They settled widely and carved out many small principalities, ruled by tribal sheikhs. Had the Aramaean tribes been united they would have been a major and formidable political force; as it was, each tribe acted independently and the Assyrians and Babylonians were sometimes able to secure the alliance of some Aramaean groups against others. By the end of the eleventh century, the disastrous Aramaean raids were largely over, but they had left a legacy of economic and political weakness in Mesopotamia, and Aramaean dominance of the middle Euphrates had cut traditional north-south trade routes.
After the Kassites fell in 1155, the political vacuum in Babylonia had been filled by a southern dynasty, the Second Dynasty of Isin. Under its first three rulers, Babylonia gradually recovered from the disaster of Elamite defeat, driving the Elamites from the eastern regions where they had established themselves. The fourth king, Nebuchadrezzar I, carried the fight into Elamite territory, eventually sacking Susa and recovering the venerated statue of Marduk. Nebuchadrezzar was a vigorous king, campaigning against eastern tribes and the Aramaeans and scrapping with the Assyrians. His youthful successor reigned only four years; he was succeeded by Nebuchadrezzar's brother, Marduk-nadin-ahhe, who made an ill-judged raid into Assyria, attracting defeat at the hands of Assyria's strong king Tiglath-Pileser I. Marduk-nadin-ahhe's reign ended disastrously in its eighteenth year with a severe famine. Thereafter the country went downhill. In the mid-eleventh century the major shrine of Shamash at Sippar was plundered and other cities were sacked. These disasters may be the inspiration behind the magnificent poem "The Epic of Erra" (see chapter 8). A succession of weak kings ruled before the country began to revive in the late tenth century b. c.e.
Assyria enjoyed relative prosperity under a series of rulers beginning with Ashur-dan I (r. 1178-1133). He and his successor successfully fought off Aramaean and Babylonian attacks and expanded Assyrian territory. Tiglath-
Pileser I (Tukulti-apil-esharra), who acceded in 1114, defeated Nebuchadrezzar and Marduk-nadin-ahhe of Babylonia, various Aramaean groups, and the Mushki (Phrygians), and successfully raided Urartu. Assyria controlled a substantial empire under his rule. He was murdered, however, in 1076, and after his death Assyria declined; territory was lost, particular to the Aramaeans, and by 1030 B. C.E. the Assyrians again controlled only their ancestral lands.
Ashurnasirpal II and the Assyrian Revival
Assyrian fortunes revived in the reign of Adad-nirari II (911-891), who began winning back lands lost to Aramaean tribes. He conquered areas to the north and west of the Assyrian heartland, acquiring substantial quantities of booty, and raided Babylonia on several occasions as well as promoting domestic enterprises, notably agriculture. His son, Tukulti-Ninurta II, further extended the realm, but it was his grandson, Ashurnasirpal II, who contributed most to the state's expansion, conducting successful annual campaigns in every direction, particularly to the west, where he defeated a number of Syrian and Levantine states. In 877 Ashurnasirpal "washed his weapons" in the Mediterranean, a traditional victor's gesture.
Initially the Assyrian kings had campaigned to defend their borders and keep open their trade routes, while also acquiring booty and captives. Defeated states had to pay annual tribute: Revolts and failure to honor tribute obligations were savagely dealt with in punitive raids. Ashurnasirpal acquired a reputation for cruelty that led some states to offer allegiance and tribute without previously being attacked. As the size of the empire and the distance from the heartland grew, local rulers tended to be replaced by Assyrian governors who administered the provinces for the Assyrian king. Vast wealth and manpower flowed from conquered states to enrich the Assyrian heartland; these enabled Ashurnasirpal to undertake major projects, in particular the construction of a canal from the Upper Zab river to Kalhu (Nimrud), and the transformation of the latter from a small administrative center into Ashurnasirpal's magnificent new capital city, a project that took fifteen years. To celebrate its founding, Ashurnasirpal held a ten-day banquet for 69,574 guests. Well defended and strategically located, it remained the capital until 707 B. C.E.
In Babylonia, the Dynasty of E had come to power in 978 b. c.e. For a number of years Aramaean raids made it impossible to celebrate the vitally important New Year festival on which the spiritual well-being of the Babylonian state depended. The fifth king, Nabu-shuma-ukin I, was defeated in battle by the Assyrians under Adad-nirari; thereafter, however, a treaty was made in which the kings exchanged daughters as wives and agreed the line of their frontier, inaugurating a peace that lasted for eighty years.
Shalmaneser III and Assyrian Conquests
Nabu-shuma-ukin's grandson, Marduk-zakir-shumi I, was aided by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III to put down a rebellion. Shalmaneser then made a pious tour of Babylonian shrines, and a relief scene of the two kings
A detail from the relief decoration on the throne of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (right) (858-824 B. C.E.) at Kalhu showing him grasping the hand of the Babylonian king Marduk-zakir-shumi (left) (ca. 854-819 B. C.E.). (Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis)
Grasping hands as equals—an unprecedented honor—was carved on Shalmaneser's throne in his new palace ("Fort Shalmaneser") at Kalhu.
Like Ashurnasirpal, Shalmaneser undertook annual campaigns, although he did not always enjoy his father's success. Expeditions against Urartu ended in victories but did little to set back Urartu's growing power. In the first years of his reign Shalmaneser successfully fought the Aramaean state of Bit-Adini, capturing its capital, Til Barsip, where he constructed a fortress as a base for further operations in the west. In 853 he fought a coalition of Levantine states at the battle of Qarqar. Although some states were forced to become Assyrian tributaries, or chose to do so rather than risk further attacks, Shalmaneser's victory was not conclusive. He continued to campaign in the region until 838 when finally he turned his attentions elsewhere, fighting for ten years against Que (Cilicia) and its neighbors in the Taurus region. He also made expeditions into Iran, reaching the land of the Medes.
A panel from the “Black Obelisk” of King Shalmaneser III from Kalhu, carved in 825 B. C.E. It shows the king receiving tribute from the kneeling figure of King Jehu of Israel or his representative. (Zev Radovan/Land of the Bible Picture Archive)
Assyria's ally, Babylonia, did not control Sealand in the south. This was home to five Chaldaean tribes, of which Shalmaneser attacked three. The Chaldaeans' origins are uncertain but they were probably not related to the Aramaeans. They raised cattle, cultivated date palms, and engaged in trade; their prosperity is reflected in the enormous booty that Shalmaneser won from them.
Assyria's good relations with Babylonia were strained by events at the end of Shalmaneser's long reign. In 828 the king's son Ashur-danin-apla revolted and was joined by many Assyrian cities. The civil war lasted beyond Shalmaneser's death in 824, when he was succeeded by another son, Shamshi-
Adad V. Marduk-zakir-shumi of Babylon aided the latter but on terms that were humiliating to Assyria. Some time after their joint victory, and after the death of Marduk-zakir-shumi, Shamshi-Adad took his revenge, turning on the Babylonians and capturing first the new king Marduk-balassu-iqbi and later his successor. As a result, Babylonia descended into anarchy.
Adad-nirari III succeeded Shamshi-Adad in 810. His mother, Sammuramat (who appeared in later Greek literature as the cruel queen Semiramis), enjoyed an unusually high profile, her name appearing alongside his in some official records. Little is now known of this queen. Adad-nirari proved a vigorous monarch, campaigning to west, east, and south. The traditional view is that in his reign and that of his successors, powerful provincial governors began to act as independent rulers. A recent reinterpretation of the evidence, however, suggests that the provincial governors, though often exercising hereditary rule, did so as loyal deputies of the Assyrian monarchs. The period, nevertheless, saw a decline. Assyrian prosperity was undermined by revolts and plagues. Aramaean tribal leaders seized the opportunity to expand their territories, and Israel and Judah regained their independence in the early eighth century.
World History
