Assyrian Pressure
SECTION REVIEW
The extension of Assyrian power over the entire Middle East had enormous consequences for all the peoples of the region. In 721 b. c.e. the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and deported a substantial portion of the population, and for over a century the southern kingdom of Judah faced relentless pressure. Assyrian threats and demands for tribute spurred
The extension of Assyrian power over the entire Middle East had enormous consequences for all the peoples of the region.
The costs of frequent military campaigns, the hatred of conquered peoples aroused by Assyrian brutality, and changes in the ethnic composition of the army and the population of the homeland weakened the Assyrian state.
The Neo-Babylonians and the Medes of northwest Iran launched a series of attacks on the Assyrian homeland that destroyed the chief cities by 612 b. c.e. and led to the depopulation of northern Mesopotamia.
The Neo-Babylonian kingdom took over much of the territory of the Assyrian Empire and fostered a cultural renaissance.
The Phoenicians to explore and colonize the western Mediterranean. Tyre's fall to the Assyrians in 701 B. c.E. accelerated the decline of the Phoenician homeland, but the western colonies, especially Carthage, flourished. Even Egypt, for so long impregnable behind its desert barriers, fell to Assyrian invaders in the mid-seventh century B. c.E. Southern Mesopotamia was reduced to a protectorate, with Babylon alternately razed and rebuilt by Assyrian kings of differing dispositions. Urartu and Elam, Assyria's nearby rivals, were destroyed.
By 650 B. c.E. Assyria stood unchallenged in western Asia. But the arms race with Urartu, the frequent expensive campaigns, and the protection of lengthy borders had sapped Assyrian resources. Assyrian brutality and exploitation aroused the hatred of conquered peoples. At the same time, changes in the ethnic composition of the army and the population of the homeland had reduced popular support for the Assyrian state.
The Neo-Babylonian Kingdom
Neo-Babylonian kingdom
Under the Chaldaeans (nomadic kinship groups that settled in southern Mesopotamia in the early first millennium b. c.e.), Babylon again became a major political and cultural center in the seventh and sixth centuries b. c.e. After participating in the destruction of Assyrian power, the monarchs Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar took over the southern portion of the Assyrian domains.
Two new political entities spearheaded resistance to Assyria. First, Babylonia had been revived by the Neo-Babylonian, or Chaldaean (chal-DEE-uhn), dynasty (the Chaldaeans had infiltrated southern Mesopotamia around 1000 B. c.E.). Second, the Medes (MEED), an Iranian people, were extending their kingdom on the Iranian Plateau in the seventh century b. c.e. The two powers launched a series of attacks on the Assyrian homeland that destroyed the chief cities by 612 B. c.E. The destruction systematically carried out by the victorious attackers led to the depopulation of northern Mesopotamia.
The Medes took over the Assyrian homeland and the northern plain as far as eastern Anatolia, but most of the territory of the old empire fell to the Neo-Babylonian kingdom (626-539 B. c.E.), thanks to the energetic campaigns of kings Nabopolassar (NAB-oh-poe-lass-uhr) (r. 625-605 B. c.E.) and Nebuchadnezzar (r. 604-562 B. c.E.). Babylonia underwent a cultural renaissance. The city of Babylon was enlarged and adorned, becoming the greatest metropolis of the world in the sixth century B. c.E. Old cults were revived, temples rebuilt, festivals resurrected. The related pursuits of mathematics, astronomy, and astrology reached new heights.
World History
