50A Flashcards
Who is Tighlath-pileser III?
745 -727 BCE : Tiglath‐Pileser III began Levantine campaigns, part of Assyrian onslaught
Starts moving into Israel conquers Damascus (syria),, Phoeonicia (Lebanon), Galilee (northern Israel)
- -incorporated foreign land into Assyrian empire
- increased number of provinces
- made military and admin. less powerful
- created policy of territorial expansion
- reorganized army
- local states were slowly abolished and incorporated into the empire.
- the three stages toward full incorporation
- regained access to Med. Sea
Ashur
god of entire land of Assyria , every province provided food to support him, god of storm, mash of enlil and marduk.
Phoenicia
city taken over by TP III, also known as Lebanon
Shalmaneser V
727-722 BC, ACTUALLY conquers and exiles Samaria right before his death ! (capital of northern kingdom) responsible for the fall of Samaria aka “Israel”
Sargon II
Assyrian king, 722-705 BC,
- claims to be responsible for the fall of Samaria, turned Israel into Samaria
- deals with Ugarit in 714, it turns into a weaker state and into the Persian Empire later.
Sennacherib
705-681 BC Conquers Philistia, Judah Attempts to control Babylonia and sieges it -however, fails to control Babylon. Son of Sargon II -War with Judah (Hezekiah) -Royal Annals -not many military accomplishments.
Esarhaddon
681-669 BCE
Conquers Egypt (memphis) 671
-appoints vassals along the nile river
Begins rebuilding Babylon upon ascension to throne
“unifier of babylon and assyria”
appoints son Ashurbanipal to Assyria
appoint other son Shamash to Babylonia, who later rebels against his brother, Babylonia never full integrated into empire, despite efforts
Ashurbanipal
668–627: Son of Esarhaddon, designated by him to rule over Assyria
Captures Thebes in 664
-vassals in Egypt only lasted for a short time
-failed to capture Egypt for long
Constant civil war between Assyria and Babylon
Sieges Babylon and kills Shamash-shuma-ukin, but does not destroy the city, after many attempts, does not integrate Babylonia into empire.
Seas Peoples
group of people next to southern kingdom
David
King of united Monarchy
C. 1000 BCE
Biblical King
Solomon
King of United Monarchy 960 BC biblical king
Jerusalem
Capital of Judah
Samaria
Northern Kingdom in the Levant
Philistines
group of people next to southern kingdom
Nabonidus
562–539: King of Persian Empire before Cyrus;
conquered several oasis in the north of the Arabian Desert.
–mother who worshiped the moon god Sin
-Moved out to the desert
-Cyrus uses Nabonidus’ negative image to support his kingship
Nabonidus does not participate in this celebration of Akitu Festival and chills in the desert for 10 years and leaves others in charge fighting with the Marduk priesthood, Cyrus is negotiating with the Marduk Preisthood, celebrates the moon god, last Babylonian king, .
Thebes
City of Egypt conquered by Ashurbanipal in 664
Merneptah Stele
Stele tells us there are problems in Canaan.
is an inscription by the Ancient Egyptian king Merneptah. The text is largely an account of Merneptah’s victory over the Libyans and their allies, but the last 3 of the 28 lines deal with a separate campaign in Canaan, then part of Egypt’s imperial possessions.
Baal
( the lord)- the young upstart storm god
Canaan
as a Semitic-speaking region in the Ancient Near East, roughly corresponding to the Levant
Mitanni
•Rise of new powers; Club of the Great Powers
After fall of Babylon 1595
Mitanni(Hurrians) control northern Meso., Syria, and southern Turkey
Aram-Damascus
Able to form a coalition against Shamaneser’s forces. Fielded a huge army to push Assyrians back in the battle of Qarqar. Coalition eventually fell apart.
Battle of Qarqar
Shalmaneser III assyrian king battling against the Levant coalition (Syria under Damascus’ leadership)=coalition against Shalmaneser III. Able to push the Assyrians back. Shalma. able gain control back later whn king of Damascus dies.
Nineveh
Capital of Assyria during Sennacherib’s reign
Royal Inscription
ways of communicating actions of the kings/ruler of Assyria. Informs of events and campaign accounts. most eloquent of us today.
Jericho
Joshua leads people through city, walls fall down in Jericho, pathway to Jerusalem
Sennacherib Prism
describes Sennacherib of his campaign against the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah, giving a different perspective on these events from that of the Book of Kings in the Bible.
Hazor
during time of Joshua as well, north of jerusalem
Joshua
Israelite military leader, book in bible, brought Israelites over Jordan River.
Moses
Led Israelites out of Egypt, Biblical character
Nabonidus Chronicle
deals primarily with the reign of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, covers the conquest of Babylon by the Persian king Cyrus the Great, and ends with the start of the reign of Cyrus’s son Cambyses, spanning a period from 556 BC to some time after 539 BC. It provides a rare contemporary account of Cyrus’s rise to power and is the main source of information on this period
Nebuchadnezzar II
605–562: Babylonian king, sacked Jerusalem
led the Babylonian forces to defeat Egypt and ascended the throne.
deported a large portion of Judah after a rebeliion.
- great military leader of Neo-Baby.
- created one of the seven wonders of the world.
Yahweh
the national god of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Battle of Carchemish
Last battles of the Assyrian Empire
605 BC
The Egyptians met the full might of the Babylonian army led by Nebuchadrezzar II at Carchemish where the combined Egyptian and Assyrian forces were soundly destroyed.
Neo-Babylonian Empire
Once Assyria’s control slipped after death of Assurbanipal, Nabopolassar takes over and finds this dynasty in Babylonia. Deported many people, very harsh, did not rebuild. Mostly known for the building projects.
- 12 centuries of great $$$ prosperity
- great irrigation, labor, canals, finances
- exchange of goods between foreign lands
- very successful system, long distance trade, loans, detailed recordkeeping,.
- concentrated in cities, a lot of urbanization
- cities were self-governing organizations centered at temples
- social structure
- deportation caused a melting pot of languages, ethnics, and customs.
-LAST native Meso, dynasty in ancient near east dynasty.
Book of Joshua
Joshua describes the Israelites conquering the land of Canaan ca 1400 BCE, burning cities, ridding the land of the native inhabitants
Emphasizing the destruction of three main cities
Jericho- burn it to the ground
Ai- 2nd city they burn to the ground, means “ruin”
Hazor- north of Israel, destroyed it
Memphis
Esarhaddon Captures Memphis, city in Egypt.
El
(“God” and Athirat/Asherah-Divine couple rule pantheon
Yamm
Powerful children of El and Athirat, god of the sea
Late Bronze Age
1500-1200) Period very clear that the scribal schools trained scribes to be trilingual or bilingual to communicate international texts for their kings. Scribal sophistication
Anat
Baal sister, goddess of war, the
hunt, and love (loosely parallel w/
Sumerian Inanna)
Divided Monarchy
Divided monarchy 900-587 BCE o Israel divides into 2 states north and south kingdoms o North (Samaria) destroyed by assyrians in 722 o South (Jerusalem) destroyed by Babylonians in 587
Mass Deportation
Nabopolassar,Sennacherib, etc after taking over Jerusalem performed Mass deportation, large movements of people out of their homeland and into Babylon/Assyria.
-Tig III, Sargon II
Hezekiah
Biblical king c. late 8th century, 7th centuries BCE, Assyrian sleigh of Jerusalem.
Province
provinces, foreign land under assyrian empire, ruled by a governor directly under Assyria’s control.
maximizes control and reduces direct confrontation
3rd stage after vassal and puppet
Nabopolassar
626–605: Babylonian king, revolted against Assyria. United entire area under his rule.
-founded the Neo-Babylonian dynasty
Cyrus
559: Achamenid Dynasty, Conquered Babylon, 6th century, Persian king
Akitu Festival
Babylonian new year festival, celebration/pilgrimage of Marduk, pledging allegiance to Marduk priesthood, Nabonidus does not participate in = angry Marduk= Cyrus as king!
United Monarchy
o United monarchy 1000-900 BCE
o Saul first king of united tribes of Israel
o David establishes Jerusalem as capital of Israel
o Solomon builds temple in Jerusalem ca 960
Judah
state established in the southern levant. Known as the southern kingdom.
Cyrus Cylinder
Cyrus lists his accomplishments on the cyrus cylinder and why he has the right to kingship. 539-530 BC
written in babylonian cuneiform
Shalmaneser III
Assyrian King, 859-824 BC
-Battle of Qarqar,Levantine coalition against the Assyrians. Assyrians are moving through the Levant.
- many military campaigns
- crossed Euphrates to gain access to med. sea
- Assyria did not expand much under his reign
- only maintaines Assurnasirpal’s old borders and obtained booty from north cities.
Saul
First Israelite King, Bibblical King
Book of Kings
present the biblical view of history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of his successor Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years
Ugarit
was an ancient port city at the Ras Shamra headland in northern Syria. Ugarit had close connections to the Hittite Empire, sent tribute to Egypt at times, and maintained trade and diplomatic connections with Cyprus,
• Discovery of some of the earliest alphabetic writing
Asherah
Divine couple rule pantheon, mother goddess.
Mot
Powerful children of El. You must control Yamm because he’s malevolent.
Baal “Cycle”
Ugaritic cycle of stories about the Canaanite god Baal.
- conflict with Yamm, god of sea
- kills Yamm with advanced weapons
- wants more power
- wants a house(asking for kingship)
- goes to mountain Syphone and opens and shouts
- brings rain when he shouts = good king=brings peace
- conflict with Mot, god of death, baal dies and reappears. continual struggle with death.
- Shapshu then divides the earth into two realms for Mot and Baal
main message: kings can live on even after death. what the after life looks like for Ugarit kings.
-lineage can live on through dynasty.
1200
Start of the Iron Age (dark age to be specific)
Fall of Hatti
Sack of Ugarit
1000
Iron Age II: 1000-600( Assyrian Empire)
960
Solomon builds temple in Jerusalem
930
931 BC—Solomon died in Jerusalem, Israel. The country split into two kingdoms: Israel (including the cities of Shechem and Samaria) in the north and Judah (containing Jerusalem) in the south.
853
Battle of Qarqar between Shalm. III and western coalition
745
TP III began Levantine campaigns, aka the Assyrian incursion into Israel begins in 745 BC.
Period of Assyrian Decline.
722
Destruction of Samaria,
701
701 BCE, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of Judah, laying siege on Jerusalem, but failed to capture it
689
Sennacherib sacks Babylon
671
Esarhaddon Captures Memphis 671, designates sons as heirs in Assyria and Babylon.
664-3
Ashurbanipal Captures Thebes
626
independent dynasty in Babylonia
612
Sack of Nineveh by Medes and Babylonians
605
Nabopolassar defeats Egyptians at Carchemish
587
Sack of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II
539
Babylonian empire falls to the Persians (Cyrus)
Shapshu
Sun goddess who overseas the cosmos,
and thus travels between the heavens
and the Underworld
Ba’lu
the young upstart storm god
Kothar-wa-Hasis
Divine craftsman who is asked to
build palaces and constructs the special weapons used by Baal to defeat Yamm
The Structure of the Baal Myth
6 tablets total
Tablets 1–2:
Baal’s conflict with the Sea (called “Yamm”
Tablets 3–4:
Baal acquires kingship and a “house [=palace and dynasty]
Tablets 5–6
Baal’s conflict with Death (called “Mot”)
The End of the Bronze Age
1200–1000 BCE: Collapse of the Bronze Age system Decline of Egyptian power Decline of Hittites
Power vacuum in the Levant
Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
• Three main sections – Torah
– Prophets – Writings
• Written between 1000–100 BCE
• Later collected and canonized by Jewish and Christian communities as “Scripture” (ca. 100– 200 CE)
Davidic-Solomon Kingdom
Splits into the “northern” and “southern” kingdom at ca. 930 aka Samaria = north and Jerusalem =south
Vassal
Assyrian Imperial Policy:
“Invitation” to accept terms (i.e., “of surrender”) and pay tribute
in the yoke of assur,
rulers of independent land outside empire, local ruler remained in charge but had to pay tribute
-required to pay tribute to the Assyrian empire
-had to adhere to treaties
-if they don’t comply, assyrians attack them.
-needed to obey, but not be a part of Assyria
Late Bronze Age (1500–1200)
Why it ends?
“Club of the Great Powers”
• Fall of Babylon, 1595 (end of Old Babylonian Empire)
• Rise of new powers
– Hittites (central Anatolia, Turkey)
– Egyptians control portions of Syria-Palestine
– Mitanni (Hurrians) control northern Mesopotamia, Syria and southern Turkey
Collapse of the Bronze Age system:
Decline of Egyptian power
Decline of Hittites
Power vacuum in the Levant
Iron Age (1200–332)
Dark Age, Assyrian Empire, Babylonian + Persian(coexist)
What happened to the Assyrians in the 12th - 10th century?
Assyria surrender control over the north-east Syrian area.
What happened in the last third of the tenth century…930-900?
in terms of expansion and rebuilding.
Assyrians initiated a policy of regular military campaigns to expand to the west (where the Arameans resided) They resettled into these western cities and turned them into centers with palaces & administrative buildings. Created road system and canals.
-gain of territorial state they had back in the 2nd millennium.
Assurnasirpal
Assyrian ruler from 883-59:
got control over Zargos mountain region to the Euphates, Taurus-> babylonian borders
Systematic conquest in all directions in regions just around Assyria. Upper valleys of Diyala and Lesser Zab. Start of the growth of Assyrian Empire.
Land of Assur
a type of assyrian territory.
Zargos - Euphrates
-men appointed by the king were reps. of provinces and lived in palaces at the capital.
-provinces were equal in status
-recreated territory regained by Assyrians
Yoke of Assur
Outside of Zargos-Euphrates, Assyrians also dominated other states that were “independent”
-rulers = vassals
Internal Assyrian Decline
- So much centralized power in Assyria
- yoke of Assyria stopped paying tribute
- royal power slipped, local gov. began to stop being reliable and began to campaign on their own will without king’s approval
- initial success overwhelmed administrative capacities
- did not function properly under a weak ruler
- extracting goods from surrounding areas did not work anymore when the central power weakened
745-612 ASSYRIAN POWER
ALMOST ALL OF THE NEAR EAST + PARTS OF EGYPT
- centrally controlled admin
- no opposition
Beginning of 800-700 reign
not a lot of military power
-rebellions
-no access to Med. sea
Under Tiglath and Sargon
The 3 stages toward full incorporation
- disobedience = next level*
1. vassal states: local ruler remained in charge but had to pay tribute
2. puppet states where local man considered faithful to Assyria was on throne
3. provinces ruled by a governor directly under Assyria’s control
What did they do to Israel?
turned it into Samaria.
- deported around 25,000 people
- developed it economically
- redid the administration and capital
Why did Assyrians leave some states alone?
to create a buffer between their empire and Egyptians, Arabs.
- maintain a trade with foreign states
- fully exploited economic assets of regions to maximize the resources around itself
The Great Powers Around Assyria
South-Babylonia (very powerful, hard to control, marshy areas in south, sense of respect for them due to the culture, never knew how to control them)
South East- Elam
North -Urartu
Beyond the Syro-Palestinain- Egypt
Attempts to control Babylonia
- Sennacherib in 704-681, he became king of Babylonia; like those before him did
- he lost the kingship to a native babylonian
- Sennacherib then campaigned to regain the south
- gained and placed Bel-ibni to the throne
- Babylonia was turned into a puppet kingdom
- Sennacherib’s son put on throne
- Elamites took his son
- Chaldean coalition with Elamites, Babylonians, etc vs. Assyria
- Coalition fails and Sennacherib sieges Babylon, takes treasure, deports people, razing temples.
-Babylonia never truly taken over by Assyrians
Administration of Assyrian Empire
poorly known
- no separation of duties among officials: positions were administrative, military, and religious
- pyramid like structure, king on top, officers middle, mass pop on bottom.
- relationship between official and king = good and based on loyalty
- everyone in the land took a “loyalty oath”
- in provinces, the governor was like a king too.
- in cities, they had majors, rep the people.
What did the king represent?
the king was a representative of the god assur, who represented order for the world–> justified military actions/expansion. Everyone else was non-human and the king must take their territory to bring them peace! the city itself with big walls was a place of safety and order to everyone. The main idea was that military campaigning was necessary for order and peace and safety.
