ATS 3 - Assyria

Question 1

Who were the Phrygians?

Answer 1

• Early Iron Age kingdom
• West-central Anatolia
• Capital at Gordion (Gordium; Yassihöyük)
• Indo-European origins
• Monumental burial tumuli
• Skilled in metallurgy and carpentry

_{ATS 4am}

Question 2

What was the Phoenician alphabet’s significance?

Answer 2

• Phoenician popularised the alphabet but did not invent it.
• Took Proto-Canaanite script derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs and adapted it to their language

_{ATS 4ab}

Question 3

Characteristics of Assyrian Empire

Ideology of state

Answer 3

• Structure of history based on military campaigns

_{ATS 4ah}

Question 4

Who was Gordias?

Answer 4

King Gordias, the founder of Gordion, the capital of the Phrygian kingdom

Said to have married goddess Lybele

_{ATS 4au}

Question 5

Did Assyrian control Phoenicians?

Answer 5

• Assyrians assumed direct control of the Levant
• Cities like Tyre and Sidon were allowed to trade and heavy taxes were then collected

_{ATS 4aa}

Question 6

When was the earliest Phoenician identified?

Answer 6

From 1,000 BCE on the Ahiram sarcophagus

_{ATS 4ac}

Question 7

How was Nineveh destroyed?

Answer 7

It was destroyed by a coalition of Medes and Babylonians in 612 BCE.

_{ATS 4al}

Question 8

What was the Gordian knot?

Answer 8

Whoever could untie the knot would become ‘master of all Asia’

Alexander was said to cut the knot

_{ATS 4av}

Question 9

What was Khorsabad?

Answer 9

A completely new city built by Sargon II at an unoccupied site

It was about tice the size of Melbourne

The palace was lined with hundreds of reliefs.

Letters showed difficulty in government

After Sargon’s unexpected death Sennacherib abandoned the project, and relocated the capital to Nineveh, 20 km south

_{ATS 4ak}

Question 10

Which were the most powerful cities of the Phoenicians?

Answer 10

Tyre & Sidon

Incredibly fierce competition between them - both countries coins claimed they were the mother of the other.

_{ATS 4ar}

Question 11

When was Gordion excavated?

Answer 11

• First excavated by Alfred and Gustav Körte in 1900
• Rodney Young (1950-72)
• Mary Voigt, Kenneth Sams, Brian C. Rose (1988 ongoing)

_{ATS 4an}

Question 12

What happened to the Phonecians?

Answer 12

• They were conquered by the Persians
• Later conquered by Alexander the Great, where he created a land bridge to Tyre when he was attacking it.

_{ATS 4ad}

Question 13

What was Gordion?

Answer 13

It was a late Bronze Age settlement

Gordion was repopulated by a different group in early Iron Age

Gordion Citadel had a 10m tall gate building

Berraie in citadel complex was a construction area likely for textile production

Citadel was burned down and reconstructed very similarly

Evidence of Persian siege works can be found near Gordion

Gordion served as an important city in Persian Empire aft it was conquered.

_{ATS 4ao}

Question 14

Describe Phrygian pottery

Answer 14

• Very distinctive with very intricate fine work
• Painted usually with red and white
• Some pottery was burnished to look like metal
• Greek pottery is found in Phrygia

_{ATS 4ap}

Question 15

What was Phoenician trade?

Answer 15

Phoenicians were incredibly prollific traders

At first the Phoenicians were focussed on gold, silver & tin.

Over time they started trading agricultural production particularly salted fish.

_{ATS 4ag}

Question 16

What were the Assyrian capitals?

Answer 16

• Nimrud
• Khorsabad
• Mineveh

_{ATS 4at}

Question 17

Who were the Phoenicians?

Answer 17

• There was not a distinct group that called themselves Phoenicians
• Greeks invented the term referring to the Tyrian purple dye
• Tyrian purple dye was not new, but incredibly valuable
• No poltical group, but instead a series of city states.

_{ATS 4aq}

Question 18

What was the timing of the Assyrian empire?

Answer 18

Greeks and Italians were still small chiefdoms when Assyrians were in power.

_{ATS 4ae}

Question 19

What are the characteristics of Empire?

Answer 19

• Ideology of Territorial Expansion
• Control of diverse ethnic/political/religious groups
• Direct political control of conquered territories

_{ATS 4as}

Question 20

Characteristics of Assyrian Empire

Direct political control of conquered territoris

Answer 20

• Establishment of Assyrian governors
• Letters from governors to king
• Forts and residences in conquered teritories
• Taxes and tributes

_{ATS 4aj}

Question 21

Characteristics of Assyrian Empire

Control of diverse groups

Answer 21

• Massive population exchanges via deportation (hundreds of thousands)
• Letters recording transport of prisoners
• Reliefs depicting prisoners

_{ATS 4ai}

Question 22

Who was the founder of the empire?

Answer 22

Ashurnasirpal II & Shalmaneser III carried out extensive campaings.

Established the ideology of empire

Moves capital to Nimrud

_{ATS 4af}