Ancient world. Brief history of Assyria

Assyria - an ancient state in the Northern Mesopotamia (on the territory of modern Iraq). The Assyrian Empire existed for almost two thousand years, starting from the 24th century BC. and until its destruction in the 7th century BC. (about 609 BC) Media and Babylonia.
Created by the Assyrian My state with its capital in the city of Nineveh (a suburb of the present city of Mossul) existed from the beginning of the 2nd millennium until about 612 BC, when Nineveh was destroyed by the united armies of Media and Babylonia.

Ashur, Kalah and Dush-Sharrukin ("Sargon's Palace") were also major cities.The kings of Assyria concentrated almost all power in their hands - they simultaneously held the position of high priest and military leader, and for some time even treasurer. The royal advisers were privileged military leaders (managers of the provinces, who necessarily served in the army and paid tribute to the king). Farming was done by slaves and dependent workers.

Assyria reached the summit creatures during the reign of the Sargonid dynasty (late 7th-7th centuries BC). Sargon II, the founder of a new dynasty, seized the kingdom of Israel and resettled its inhabitants, destroyed the Hittite fortresses and pushed the boundaries of the kingdom to Egypt. His son Sinnacherib is remembered for the fact that after the uprising in Babylon (689 BC) he razed this city to the ground. He chose Nineveh as his capital, rebuilding it with the greatest pomp. The territory of the city was significantly enlarged and surrounded by powerful fortifications, a new palace was built, temples were renovated. To supply the city and the gardens around it with good water, an aqueduct 10 m high was built.

The Assyrians began aggressive military campaigns in the second half of the 8th century BC. e., resulting in the formation of a huge empire. The Assyrians captured all of Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Cyprus, the territories of modern Turkey and Syria, as well as Egypt (which, however, they lost 15 years later). On the conquered lands, they formed provinces, imposing an annual tribute on them, and the most skilled artisans were resettled in Assyrian cities (this is probably why the influence of the cultures of the surrounding peoples is noticeable in the art of Assyria). The Assyrians ruled their empire very harshly, deporting or executing all rebels.

There are three periods in the history of Assyria:
Old Assyrian (XX-XVI centuries BC)
Middle Assyrian (XV-XI centuries BC)
Neo-Assyrian (X-VII centuries BC)

Old Assyrian period

The deterioration of the climate on the Arabian Peninsula in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC caused the migration of Semitic tribes from there to the middle reaches of the Euphrates and further to the north and east. The northern group of these Semitic migrants were the Assyrians, closely related in origin and language to the tribes that settled in that part of Mesopotamia where the Euphrates approaches the Tigris and were called Akkadians. The Assyrians spoke a northern dialect of the Akkadian language.
The first city built by the Assyrians (probably on the site of a Subarean settlement) - they called Ashur, after the name of their supreme god Ashur.

Cities that later formed the core of the Assyrian state (Nineveh, Ashur, Arbela, etc.), until the 15th century BC. e. At first, Ashur was the center of a relatively small, nome, predominantly trading state, in which merchants played a leading role. Assyrian state until the 16th century BC. e. was called "alum Ashur", that is, the people or community of Ashur. Using the proximity of their city to the most important trade routes, the merchants and usurers of Ashur penetrated into Asia Minor and founded their trading colonies there, the most important of which is the city of Kanish.
From the 3rd millennium BC - Nome state Ashur on the middle Tigris.
In the 21st century BC. - was part of the power of the III dynasty of Ur.
Around 1970 BC - power passes to the native Asshhurians.
Around 1720 BC - A ruler from the family of the Amorite leader Shamshi-Adad restores independence.

Middle Assyrian period

In the XIV-IX centuries BC. Assyria repeatedly subjugated all of Northern Mesopotamia and the surrounding areas.
Mid 15th century BC e. - dependence on Mitanni.
Ashur-uballit I (1353-1318 BC) - the beginning of the formation of the empire.
Adad-nirari I (1295-1264 BC) - completed the formation of the empire.
Second half of the 14th-13th centuries BC. - wars with the Hittites and Babylonians.
12th century BC e. - a period of decline in the fight against the Balkan tribes of the Mushki.
Tiglath-pileser I (1114-1076 BC) - a new rise.

Around 1000 BC. e. - intervention of nomadic Aramaeans, another decline. After the death of Tiglath-pileser I, the Assyrians not only failed to gain a foothold to the west of the Euphrates, but even to defend the territory to the east of it. The attempts of subsequent Assyrian kings to conclude an alliance with the kings of Babylon against the ubiquitous Aramaeans also did not bring any benefit. Assyria was thrown back to its indigenous lands, and its economic and political life fell into complete decline. From the end of the XI to the end of the X centuries. BC e. almost no documents or inscriptions have survived from Assyria to our time.

Neo-Assyrian period

Neo-Assyrian kingdom. A new period in the history of Assyria began only after she managed to recover from the Aramaic invasion. The period of the highest power of Assyria - VIII-VII century BC. The new Assyrian Empire (750–620 BC) is considered the first empire in human history.

Adad-nirari II (911-891 BC) - brought the country out of the crisis, subsequent rulers were mostly conquerors.
Adad-nirari III (810-783 BC) - initially ruled under the care of his mother Shammuramat.
First half of the 8th century BC. - loss of possessions under the blows of Urartu.
Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BC) - a new rise of Assyria, the defeat of Urartu.
Shalmaneser V (c. 727 - 722 BC) - the conquest of the kingdom of Israel.
671 BC e. - Assarhaddon (680-669 BC) - the conquest of Egypt.
Ashurbanapal (668-627 BC) - the expansion of the power of Assyria to Lydia, Phrygia, Media, the defeat of Thebes.
630s BC. - an attack by the Medes, who had previously been in an alliance.
609 BC - the last territory - Harran in the west of Upper Mesopotamia - was conquered by Babylonia.

Assyrian army

During the reign of Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 BC) it was reorganized. The Assyrian army, formerly consisting of warriors who had land allotments. Since then, the basis of the army consisted of impoverished farmers, armed at the expense of the state. Thus arose a permanent army, called the "royal detachment", which included prisoners. There was also a special detachment of warriors guarding the king. The number of permanent troops increased so much that Tiglath-Palassar carried out some campaigns without resorting to tribal militias.
In the Assyrian army, monotonous weapons were introduced. The soldiers used bows with metal tips on arrows, slings, a short spear with a bronze tip, a sword, a dagger, and iron clubs. The protective armament was also improved: the helmet had a suspension that covered the back of the head and the sides of the head; the warriors conducting siege work were dressed in solid long shells made of fiber sheathed with oblong bronze plates; the shields of the Assyrian warriors were diverse both in shape and material, and in purpose - from light round and quadrangular to high rectangular ones with a canopy that protected the warrior from above. The warrior carried a bronze pickaxe with a long wooden handle, which was used in laying roads, constructing defensive structures, destroying conquered fortresses, which were usually destroyed to the ground, as well as an iron axe. Stocks of weapons and equipment were stored in the royal arsenals.

Kisir was considered the main army. Kisir was divided into fifties, which were subdivided into tens. Several kishirs made up an emuku (strength).
The Assyrian infantry was divided into heavy and light. Heavy infantry were armed with spears, swords and had protective weapons - armor, helmets and large shields. The light infantry consisted of archers and slingers. The combat unit usually consisted of two warriors: an archer and a shield bearer.
Along with this, there were also combat units, consisting only of heavily armed warriors. The Assyrian infantry operated in close formation of archers, fighting under the cover of heavy infantrymen with shields. The infantrymen threw arrows, darts and stones at the enemy.
An important part of the Assyrian army were war chariots, which began to be used from 1100 BC. e. Two or four horses were harnessed to them, and a quiver with arrows was attached to the body. Its crew consisted of two warriors - an archer and a charioteer, armed with a spear and a shield. Sometimes the crew was reinforced by two shield-bearers who covered the archer and the charioteer. War chariots were used on level ground and were a reliable means of action against irregular troops.
In addition, the beginnings of completely new types of troops appeared in the Assyrian army - cavalry and "engineering" troops. Riders in large numbers first appeared in the Assyrian army in the 9th century BC. e. At first, the rider sat on a bare horse, and then a high saddle without stirrups was invented. The horsemen fought in pairs: one was armed with a bow, the other with a spear and a shield. Horsemen were sometimes armed with swords and maces. However, the Assyrian cavalry was still irregular and did not displace the war chariots.
To carry out various kinds of digging, road, bridge and other works, the Assyrian army had special detachments, which laid the foundation for the development of engineering troops. The troops were armed with rams and catapults for the destruction of fortress walls, siege towers and assault ladders, as well as crossing facilities - wineskins (individual warriors crossed rivers on them, they also made rafts and floating bridges). Phoenician craftsmen built for Assyria warships like galleys with a sharp nose for ramming enemy ships. Rowers in them were located in two tiers. Ships were built on the Tigris and Euphrates and descended into the Persian Gulf.

Alphabet Library of Ashurbanipal

Army. Attitude towards conquered peoples. The Assyrian army was divided into cavalry, which, in turn, was divided into chariot and simple cavalry, and into infantry - lightly armed and heavily armed. The Assyrians in a later period of their history, unlike many states of that time, were influenced by Indo-European peoples - for example, the Scythians, who were famous for their cavalry (it is known that the Scythians were in the service of the Assyrians, and their union was sealed by marriage between the daughter of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon and the Scythian king Bartatua), began to widely use simple cavalry, which made it possible to successfully pursue the retreating enemy. Due to the presence of metal in Assyria, the Assyrian heavily armed warrior was relatively well protected and armed. In addition to these military branches, for the first time in history, auxiliary engineering troops (recruited mainly from slaves) were used in the Assyrian army, who were engaged in laying roads, building pontoon bridges and camps-fortresses. The Assyrian army was one of the first (and perhaps the very first) to use various siege weapons, such as a battering ram and a special device, somewhat reminiscent of an ox-vein ballista, which fired stones weighing up to 10 kg at a besieged city at a distance of 500-600 m. The kings and generals of Assyria were familiar with frontal and flank attacks and a combination of these attacks. The system of espionage and intelligence was also quite well established in countries where military operations were planned or there was a danger to Assyria. Finally, a warning system, like signal beacons, was quite widely used. The Assyrian army tried to act unexpectedly and quickly, not giving the enemy the opportunity to come to their senses, often making sudden night raids on the enemy camp. When necessary, the Assyrian army resorted to "starvation" tactics, destroying wells, blocking roads, and so on. All this made the Assyrian army strong and invincible. In order to weaken and keep the conquered peoples in greater subordination, the Assyrians practiced the resettlement of the conquered peoples in other regions of the Assyrian empire, uncharacteristic of their economic activity. For example, sedentary agricultural peoples were resettled in deserts and steppes suitable only for nomads. So, after the capture of the state of Israel by the Assyrian king Sargono II, 27,000 thousand Israelis were resettled in Assyria and Media, and Babylonians, Syrians and Arabs settled in Israel itself, who later became known as the Samaritans and entered the New Testament parable of the “good Samaritan”. It should also be noted that in their cruelty the Assyrians surpassed all other peoples and civilizations of that time, which also did not differ in particular humanity. The most sophisticated tortures and executions on a defeated enemy were considered normal for the Assyrians. One of the reliefs shows how the Assyrian king feasts in the garden with his wife and enjoys not only the sounds of harps and tympans, but also a bloody spectacle: the severed head of one of his enemies hangs on a tree. Such cruelty served to intimidate enemies, and also partly had religious and ritual functions.

Political system. Population. Family Initially, the city-state of Ashur (the core of the future Assyrian Empire) was an oligarchic slave-owning republic, governed by a council of elders, which changed every year and was recruited from the most prosperous inhabitants of the city. The tsar's share in the administration of the country was small and was limited to the role of commander in chief of the army. However, gradually the royal power is strengthened. The transfer of the capital from Ashur for no apparent reason to the opposite bank of the Tigris by the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurt I (1244–1208 BC) apparently testifies to the king’s desire to break with the Ashur council, which became only the council of the city. The main basis of the Assyrian states were rural communities that were the owners of the land fund. The fund was divided into plots owned by individual families. Gradually, as successful conquests and accumulation of wealth, rich communal slave-owners stand out, and their poor fellows in the community fall into debt slavery to them. So, for example, the debtor was obliged to provide a wealthy creditor neighbor with a certain number of reapers in return for paying interest on the loan amount. Also, a very common way to get into debt slavery was to give the debtor into temporary slavery to the creditor as collateral. Noble and wealthy Assyrians did not perform any duties in favor of the state. The differences between the rich and poor inhabitants of Assyria were shown by clothing, or rather, the quality of the material and the length of the “kandi” - a short-sleeved shirt that was widespread in the ancient Near East. The more noble and richer a person was, the longer his candi was. In addition, all ancient Assyrians grew thick long beards, considered a sign of morality, and carefully looked after them. Only eunuchs did not wear beards. The so-called “Middle Assyrian laws” have come down to us, regulating various aspects of the daily life of ancient Assyria and, along with the laws of Hammurabi, are the oldest legal monuments. In ancient Assyria, there was a patriarchal family. The power of the father over the children differed little from the power of the master over the slaves. Children and slaves alike were counted among the property from which the creditor could take compensation for the debt. The position of the wife also differed little from that of a slave, since a wife was acquired by purchase. The husband had a legally justified right to use violence against his wife. After the death of her husband, the wife went to the relatives of the latter. It is also worth noting that the external sign of a free woman was wearing a veil that covered her face. This tradition was subsequently adopted by the Muslims.

Assyrians (Arm. 됬րիներ, self-names - aturai, surai, there are also the names of Aysors, Suriani, Chaldeans, Syro-Chaldeans, Syrians, Armenian Ասորիներ, Georgian ასურელები) - a people originating from the ancient population of Asia Minor. The origin is traced to the inhabitants of the Assyrian Empire. The immediate ancestors of the modern Assyrians are the Aramaic-speaking inhabitants of Mesopotamia, who adopted Christianity in the 4th century.
Modern Assyrians speak the northeastern New Aramaic languages, which are part of the Semitic family. In the places of their original residence, almost all Assyrians were two-, three-, and sometimes four-lingual, knowing, in addition to their native language, the languages of the environment - Arabic, Persian and / or Turkish. In the diaspora, where most Assyrians are now, many have switched to the languages of the new surrounding population. In the second or third generation, many Assyrians no longer know their ethnic language, as a result of which many New Aramaic languages are endangered.
Assyrians live in Iran, Northern Iraq, Syria, Turkey. There are also Assyrian communities in Lebanon, Russia, Ukraine, USA, Sweden, Georgia, Armenia, Germany, Great Britain and other countries. There are no reliable data on the number of Assyrians. The total number, according to different sources ranges from 350 thousand to 4 million people.

Assyria is one of the first empires in the world, a civilization that originated on the territory of Mesopotamia. Assyria dates back to the 24th century and has existed for almost two millennia.

Assyria in antiquity

Assyria was one of the most powerful empires in the 1st millennium BC. e., its heyday and golden age fall precisely on this period. Until that time, it was a simple state in the north

Mesopotamia, which was mainly engaged in trade, since it was located on important trade routes.

Assyria was then subjected to attacks by nomads, such as the Arameans, who led to the decline of the state in the 11th century BC. e.

In total, historians conditionally divide into three periods:

Old Assyrian;
Middle Assyrian;
Neo-Assyrian.

In the latter, Assyria becomes the first empire in the world. In the VIII century, the golden age of the empire begins, then it is ruled by King Tiglath-Pileser III. Assyria crushes the state of Urartu. At the end of the 8th century, she subjugates Israel, and in the 7th century she also captures Egypt. When Ashurbanipal becomes king, Assyria subdues Media, Thebes, Lydia.
After the death of Ashurbanipal, Assyria could not resist the onslaught of Babylon and Media, the end of the empire comes.

Where is ancient Assyria now

Now Assyria as a state does not exist; in the 21st century, countries have settled on the territory of the former empire: Iraq, Iran and others. The peoples of the Semitic group live on its territory: Arabs, Jews and some others. The dominant religion in the territory of the former Assyria is Islam. The largest territory belonging to Assyria is now occupied by Iraq. Now Iraq is on the brink of civil war. On the territory of Iraq there is a diaspora of those ancient Assyrians who founded the world's first empire that conquered almost the entire Arabian Peninsula (Mesopotamia).

What does Assyria look like today?

Now the world, according to some data that is not confirmed, is inhabited by about a million Assyrians. In the modern world, they do not have their own state, they inhabit Iran, Iraq, the USA, Syria, there are also small diasporas in Russia and Ukraine. Modern Assyrians mainly speak Arabic and Turkish. And their ancient, native language is on the verge of extinction.
Modern Assyria is not a state, but only one million descendants of the ancient Assyrians, who carry a unique Assyrian culture and folklore.

How did the first empire rise and fall? History of the Assyrian state

Assyria - this name alone terrified the inhabitants of the Ancient East. It was the Assyrian state, having a strong combat-ready army, that was the first of the states to embark on the path of a broad policy of conquest, and the library of clay tablets collected by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal became the most valuable source for studying science, culture, history, and ancient Mesopotamia.

The Assyrians, who belonged to the Semitic language group (this group also includes Arabic and Hebrew) and who came from the arid regions of the Arabian Peninsula and the Syrian Desert, along which they wandered, settled in the middle part of the Tigris River Valley (the territory of modern Iraq).

Ashur became their first major outpost and one of the capitals of the future Assyrian state. Due to the neighborhood and as a result of acquaintance with the more developed Sumerian, Babylonian and Akkadian cultures, the presence of the Tigris and irrigated lands, the presence of metal and wood, which their southern neighbors did not have, due to the location at the intersection of important trade routes of the Ancient East, the foundations of statehood were formed among the former nomads , and the settlement of Ashur turned into a rich and powerful center of the Middle East region.

Most likely, it was the control over the most important trade routes that pushed Ashur (this was the name of the Assyrian state originally) on the path of territorial conquest (in addition to the seizure of slaves and booty), thereby predetermining the further foreign policy of the state.

The first Assyrian king to launch a major military expansion was Shamshiadat I. In 1800 B.C. he conquered all of Northern Mesopotamia, subjugated part of Cappadocia (modern Turkey) and the large Middle Eastern city of Mari.

In military campaigns, his troops reached the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and Assyria itself began to compete with powerful Babylon. Shamshiadat I himself called himself "the king of the universe." However, at the end of the 16th century BC. for about 100 years, Assyria fell under the rule of the state of Mitanni, located in the northern Mesopotamia.

A new surge of conquests falls on the Assyrian kings Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BC), who destroyed the state of Mitanni, capturing 9 cities with the capital, Tukultininurta I (1244-1208 BC), which significantly expanded the possessions of the Assyrian state , who successfully intervened in Babylonian affairs and made a successful raid on the powerful Hittite state, and Tiglath-Pileser I (1115-1077 BC), who made the first sea voyage in the history of Assyria in the Mediterranean Sea.

But, perhaps, Assyria reached its highest power in the so-called Neo-Assyrian period of its history. The Assyrian king Tiglapalasar III (745-727 BC) conquered almost the entire powerful Urartian kingdom (Urartu was located on the territory of modern Armenia, up to present-day Syria), except for the capital, Phoenicia, Palestine, Syria, and the fairly strong Damascus kingdom.

The same king, without bloodshed, ascended the throne of Babylon under the name of Pulu. Another Assyrian king Sargon II (721-705 BC), spending a lot of time in military campaigns, capturing new lands and suppressing uprisings, finally pacified Urartu, captured the state of Israel and subjugated Babylonia by force, taking the title of governor there.

In 720 BC Sargon II defeated the combined forces of the rebellious Syria, Phoenicia and Egypt that joined them, and in 713 BC. makes a punitive expedition to Media (Iran), captured before him. The rulers of Egypt, Cyprus, the Sabaean kingdom in South Arabia fawned over this king.

His son and successor Sennacherrib (701-681 BC) inherited a huge empire, in which rebellions had to be suppressed periodically in various places. So, in 702 BC. Sennacherrib in two battles at Kutu and Kish defeated the powerful Babylonian-Elamite army (the Elamite state, which supported the rebellious Babylonia, was on the territory of modern Iran), capturing 200,000 thousand prisoners and rich booty.

Babylon itself, whose inhabitants were partly exterminated, partly resettled in various regions of the Assyrian state, Sennacherib flooded the Euphrates River with the discharged waters. Sennacherib also had to fight with a coalition of Egypt, Judea and the Arab tribes of the Bedouins. During this war, Jerusalem was besieged, but the Assyrians failed to take it because, as scientists believe, a tropical fever that crippled their army.

The main foreign policy success of the new king Esarhaddon was the conquest of Egypt. In addition, he rebuilt the destroyed Babylon. The last powerful Assyrian king, during whose reign Assyria flourished, was the already mentioned library collector Ashurbanipal (668-631 BC). Under him, the hitherto independent city-states of Phenicia, Tire and Arvada, were subordinated to Assyria, and a punitive campaign was carried out against the longtime enemy of Assyria, the Elamite state (Elam then helped his brother Ashurbanipal in the struggle for power), during which in 639 BC. e. its capital, Susa, was taken.

During the reign of three kings (631-612 BC) - after Ashurbanipal - uprisings raged in Assyria. Endless wars exhausted Assyria. In Media, the energetic king Cyaxares came to power, expelled the Scythians from his territory and even, according to some statements, managed to win them over to his side, no longer considering himself to be indebted to Assyria.

In Babylonia, a longtime rival of Assyria, King Nabobalasar, the founder of the New Babylonian kingdom, comes to power, who also did not consider himself a subject of Assyria. These two rulers made an alliance against their common enemy Assyria and began joint military operations. Under the circumstances, one of the sons of Ashurbanipal - Sarak - was forced to enter into an alliance with Egypt, by that time already independent.

Military actions between the Assyrians and the Babylonians in 616-615. BC. went with varying degrees of success. At this time, taking advantage of the absence of the Assyrian army, the Medes broke through to the indigenous regions of Assyria. In 614 BC they took the ancient sacred capital of the Assyrians Ashur, and in 612 BC. the combined Median-Babylonian troops approached Nineveh (the modern city of Mosul in Iraq).

Nineveh from the time of King Sennacherib was the capital of the Assyrian state, a large and beautiful city of gigantic squares and palaces, the political center of the Ancient East. Despite the stubborn resistance of Nineveh, the city was also taken. The remnants of the Assyrian army, led by King Ashshuruballit, retreated to the Euphrates.

In 605 BC in the battle of Karchemish near the Euphrates, the Babylonian prince Nebuchadnezzar (the future famous king of Babylon), with the support of the Medes, defeated the combined Assyrian-Egyptian troops. The Assyrian state ceased to exist. However, the Assyrian people did not disappear, retaining their national identity.

What was the Assyrian state like?

Army. Attitude towards conquered peoples.

The Assyrian state (approximately XXIV BC - 605 BC) at the highest peak of its power owned vast territories by then standards (modern Iraq, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Armenia, part of Iran, Egypt). To capture these territories, Assyria had a strong, combat-ready army that had no analogues in the then ancient world.

The Assyrian army was divided into cavalry, which in turn was subdivided into chariot and simple cavalry, and into infantry - lightly armed and heavily armed. The Assyrians in a later period of their history, unlike many states of that time, were influenced by Indo-European peoples, for example, the Scythians, famous for their cavalry (it is known that the Scythians were in the service of the Assyrians, and their union was sealed by marriage between the daughter of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon and the Scythian king Bartatua) began to widely use simple cavalry, which made it possible to successfully pursue the retreating enemy. Due to the presence of metal in Assyria, the Assyrian heavily armed warrior was relatively well protected and armed.

In addition to these types of troops, for the first time in history, the Assyrian army used engineering auxiliary troops (recruited mainly from slaves), who were engaged in laying roads, building pontoon bridges and fortress camps. The Assyrian army was one of the first (and perhaps the very first) to use various siege weapons, such as a battering ram and a special device, somewhat reminiscent of an ox-vein ballista, which fired stones weighing up to 10 kg at a besieged city at a distance of 500-600 m The kings and commanders of Assyria were familiar with frontal and flank attacks and a combination of these attacks.

Also, the system of espionage and intelligence was quite well established in countries where military operations were planned or were dangerous for Assyria. Finally, a warning system, like signal beacons, was quite widely used. The Assyrian army tried to act unexpectedly and quickly, not giving the enemy the opportunity to come to their senses, often making sudden night raids on the enemy camp. When necessary, the Assyrian army resorted to "starvation" tactics, destroying wells, blocking roads, etc. All this made the Assyrian army strong and invincible.

In order to weaken and keep the conquered peoples in greater subordination, the Assyrians practiced the resettlement of the conquered peoples in other regions of the Assyrian empire, uncharacteristic of their economic activity. For example, sedentary agricultural peoples were resettled in deserts and steppes suitable only for nomads. So, after the capture of the 2nd state of Israel by the Assyrian king Sargon, 27,000 thousand Israelis were resettled in Assyria and Media, and Babylonians, Syrians and Arabs settled in Israel itself, who later became known as the Samaritans and included in the New Testament parable of the "good Samaritan".

It should also be noted that in their cruelty the Assyrians surpassed all other peoples and civilizations of that time, which also did not differ in particular humanity. The most sophisticated torture and execution of a defeated enemy was considered normal for the Assyrians. One of the reliefs shows how the Assyrian king feasts in the garden with his wife and enjoys not only the sounds of harps and tympans, but also a bloody spectacle: the severed head of one of his enemies hangs on a tree. Such cruelty served to intimidate enemies, and also partly had religious and ritual functions.

Political system. Population. Family.

Initially, the city-state of Ashur (the core of the future Assyrian Empire) was an oligarchic slave-owning republic, governed by a council of elders, which changed every year and was recruited from the most prosperous inhabitants of the city. The tsar's share in the administration of the country was small and was limited to the role of commander in chief of the army. However, gradually the royal power is strengthened. The transfer of the capital from Ashur for no apparent reason to the opposite bank of the Tigris by the Assyrian king Tukultininurt 1 (1244-1208 BC) apparently testifies to the king’s desire to break with the Ashur council, which became only the council of the city.

The main basis of the Assyrian state was the rural communities, which were the owners of the land fund. The fund was divided into plots owned by individual families. Gradually, as successful conquests and accumulation of wealth, rich communal slave-owners stand out, and their poor fellows in the community fall into debt slavery to them. So, for example, the debtor was obliged to provide a wealthy creditor neighbor with a certain number of reapers in return for paying interest on the loan amount. Also, a very common way to get into debt slavery was to give the debtor into temporary slavery to the creditor as collateral.

Noble and wealthy Assyrians did not perform any duties in favor of the state. The differences between the rich and poor inhabitants of Assyria were shown by clothing, or rather, the quality of the material and the length of the "kandi" - a short-sleeved shirt, widespread in the ancient Near East. The more noble and richer a person was, the longer his candi was. In addition, all ancient Assyrians grew thick long beards, considered a sign of morality, and carefully looked after them. Only eunuchs did not wear beards.

The so-called “Middle Assyrian laws” have come down to us, regulating various aspects of the daily life of ancient Assyria and, along with the “laws of Hammurabi”, are the oldest legal monuments.

In ancient Assyria, there was a patriarchal family. The power of the father over the children differed little from the power of the master over the slaves. Children and slaves alike were counted among the property from which the creditor could take compensation for the debt. The position of the wife also differed little from that of a slave, since a wife was acquired by purchase. The husband had a legally justified right to use violence against his wife. The wife after the death of her husband went to the relatives of the latter.

It is also worth noting that the external sign of a free woman was the wearing of a veil that covered her face. This tradition was subsequently adopted by the Muslims.

Who are the Assyrians?

Modern Assyrians are Christians by religion (the majority belong to the "Holy Apostolic Assyrian Church of the East" and to the "Chaldean Catholic Church"), speaking the so-called northeastern New Aramaic language, continuers of the Old Aramaic language spoken by Jesus Christ, consider themselves direct descendants of the ancient Assyrian state, which we know from school history books.

The ethnonym “Assyrians” itself, after a long oblivion, appears somewhere in the Middle Ages. It was applied to the Aramaic-speaking Christians of modern Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey by European missionaries, who declared them descendants of the ancient Assyrians. This term successfully took root among the Christians of this region, surrounded by alien religious and ethnic elements, who saw in it one of the guarantees of their national identity. It was the presence of the Christian faith, as well as the Aramaic language, one of the centers of which was the Assyrian state, that became ethno-consolidating factors for the Assyrian people.

We practically know nothing about the inhabitants of ancient Assyria (the backbone of which was occupied by the territory of modern Iraq) after the fall of their state under the blow of Media and Babylonia. Most likely, the inhabitants themselves were not completely exterminated, only the ruling class was destroyed. In the texts and annals of the Persian state of the Achaemenids, one of the satrapies of which was the territory of the former Assyria, we find characteristic Aramaic names. Many of these names contain the Assyrian sacred name Ashur (one of the capitals of ancient Assyria).

Many Aramaic-speaking Assyrians occupied quite high posts in the Persian Empire, such as, for example, a certain Pan-Ashur-lumur, who was the secretary of the crowned princess of Cambysia under Cyrus 2, and Aramaic itself under the Persian Achaemenids was the language of office work (imperial Aramaic). There is also an assumption that the appearance of the main deity of the Persian Zoroastrians Ahura Mazda was borrowed by the Persians from the ancient Assyrian god of war Ashur. Subsequently, the territory of Assyria was occupied by successive states and peoples.

In the II century. AD the small state of Osroena in western Mesopotamia, inhabited by the Armai-speaking and Armenian population, with the center in the city of Edessa (the modern Turkish city of Sanliurfa, 80 km from the Euphrates and 45 km from the Turkish-Syrian border), thanks to the efforts of the apostles Peter, Thomas and Jude Thaddeus, the first in history adopted Christianity as the state religion. Having adopted Christianity, the Arameans of Osroene began to call themselves “Syrians” (not to be confused with the Arab population of modern Syria), and their language became the literary language of all Aramaic-speaking Christians and was called “Syriac”, or Middle Aramaic. This language is now practically dead (now used only as a liturgical language in the Assyrian churches), became the basis for the emergence of the New Aramaic language. With the spread of Christianity, the ethnonym "Syrians" was adopted by other Aramaic-speaking Christians, and then, as mentioned above, the letter A was added to this ethnonym.

The Assyrians were able to preserve the Christian faith and not dissolve in the surrounding Muslim and Zoroastrian population. In the Arab caliphate, Assyrian Christians were doctors and scientists. They did a great job of spreading secular education and culture there. Thanks to their translations from Greek into Syriac and Arabic, ancient science and philosophy became available to the Arabs.

The real tragedy for the Assyrian people was the First World War. During this war, the leadership of the Ottoman Empire decided to punish the Assyrians for "treason", or rather, for helping the Russian army. During the massacre, as well as from forced exile in the desert from 1914 to 1918, according to various estimates, from 200 to 700 thousand Assyrians died (presumably one third of all Assyrians). Moreover, about 100 thousand Eastern Christians were killed in neighboring neutral Persia, whose territory the Turks invaded twice. 9 thousand Assyrians were exterminated by the Iranians themselves in the cities of Khoi and Urmia.

By the way, when the Russian troops entered Urmia, they created detachments from the remnants of the refugees, at the head of which they put the Assyrian general Elia Agha Petros. With his small army, he managed for some time to hold back the attacks of the Kurds and Persians. Another black milestone for the Assyrian people was the 1933 murder of 3,000 Assyrians in Iraq.

A reminder and day of remembrance of these two tragic events for the Assyrians is August 7th.

Fleeing from various persecutions, many Assyrians were forced to flee the Middle East and scattered throughout the world. To date, the exact number of all Assyrians living in different countries cannot be established.

According to some data, their number is from 3 to 4.2 million people. Half of them live in their traditional habitat - in the countries of the Middle East (Iran, Syria, Turkey, but most of all in Iraq). The other half settled throughout the rest of the world. The United States ranks second after Iraq in terms of the Assyrian population in the world (here, most Assyrians live in Chicago, where there is even a street named after the ancient Assyrian king Sargon). Assyrians also live in Russia.

Assyrians first appeared on the territory of the Russian Empire after the Russian-Persian war (1826-1828) and the signing of the Turkmenchay peace treaty. According to this agreement, Christians living in Persia had the right to move to the Russian Empire. A more numerous wave of emigration to Russia falls on the already mentioned tragic events of the First World War. At that time, many Assyrians found salvation in the Russian Empire, and then in Soviet Russia and Transcaucasia, such as, for example, a group of Assyrian refugees who marched along with Russian soldiers retreating from Iran. The influx of Assyrians into Soviet Russia continued further.

It was easier for the Assyrians who settled in Georgia, Armenia - there the climate and natural conditions were more or less familiar, there was an opportunity to engage in familiar farming and cattle breeding. The same is true in the south of Russia. In the Kuban, for example, Assyrian immigrants from the Iranian region of Urmia founded the village of the same name and started growing red bell pepper. Every year in May, Assyrians from Russian cities and from the Near Abroad come here: the Khubba (friendship) festival is held here, the program of which includes football matches, national music, and dances.

It was more difficult for the Assyrians who settled in the cities. Former mountaineers-farmers, who were mostly illiterate and did not know the Russian language (many Assyrians did not have Soviet passports until the 1960s), found it difficult to find employment in urban life. The Moscow Assyrians found a way out of this situation by cleaning shoes that did not require special skills, and practically monopolized this area in Moscow. The Moscow Assyrians settled compactly, according to tribal and one-village characteristics, in the central regions of Moscow. The most famous Assyrian place in Moscow was the house in 3rd Samotechny Lane, inhabited exclusively by Assyrians.

In 1940-1950, an amateur football team "Moscow Cleaner" was created, consisting of only Assyrians. However, the Assyrians played not only football, but also volleyball, as Yuri Vizbor reminded us in the song "Volleyball on Sretenka" ("The son of an Assyrian Assyrian Leo Uranus"). The Moscow Assyrian diaspora continues to exist today. There is an Assyrian church in Moscow, and until recently there was an Assyrian restaurant.

Despite the great illiteracy of the Assyrians, the All-Russian Union of Assyrians "Hayatd-Atur" was created in 1924, national Assyrian schools also operated in the USSR, and the Assyrian newspaper "Star of the East" was published.

Hard times for the Soviet Assyrians came in the second half of the 1930s, when all Assyrian schools and clubs were abolished, and the few Assyrian clergy and intelligentsia were repressed. The next wave of repressions hit the Soviet Assyrians after the war. Many were exiled to Siberia and Kazakhstan on trumped-up charges of espionage and sabotage, despite the fact that many Assyrians fought alongside the Russians on the fields of the Great Patriotic War.

Today, the total number of Russian Assyrians is between 14,000 and 70,000. Most of them live in the Krasnodar Territory and in Moscow. Quite a lot of Assyrians live in the former republics of the USSR. In Tbilisi, for example, there is the Kukia quarter, where the Assyrians live.

Today, the Assyrians scattered all over the world (although in the thirties a plan for the resettlement of all Assyrians to Brazil was discussed at a meeting of the League of Nations) have retained their cultural and linguistic identity. They have their own customs, their own language, their own church, their own calendar (according to the Assyrian calendar, it is now 6763). They also have their own national dishes - for example, the so-called prahat (which means “hand” in Aramaic and symbolizes the fall of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh), round cakes based on wheat and corn dough.

Assyrians are cheerful, cheerful people. They love to sing and dance. Assyrians all over the world dance the national dance "Sheikhani".

Assyria is a country located in the middle reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates. These rivers here are stormy and have a very deep channel. Their spill was expressed in Assyria much less clearly, so that a significant part of the country's territory was not affected at all. Most of the river valley is dry. The harvest was largely dependent on the rains, which fell more than in Babylonia. Artificial irrigation did not play a big role. In addition, Assyria was characterized by a mountainous terrain. The mountains that bordered the country from the east, from the north and from the west were partially covered with forests. On the plains of Assyria there were lions, elephants, leopards, wild donkeys and horses, wild boars, in the mountains - bears and fallow deer. Hunting for lions and leopards was a favorite pastime of the Assyrian kings. In the mountainous regions, various types of stone were mined, including marble, metal ores (copper, lead, silver, iron). In addition to agriculture, hunting and cattle breeding played an important role in the economy. Favorable geographical position at the crossroads of caravan routes contributed to the early development of trade.

At the beginning of the III millennium BC. e. the main population of northeastern Mesopotamia were subarei, associated with one of the most ancient peoples of Western Asia, the Hurrians, whose main settlement area was northwestern Mesopotamia. From here the Hurrians later spread to Syria, Palestine and Asia Minor. In the second half of the III millennium BC. e. there is an intensified Semitization of Northern Mesopotamia. An ethnos is being formed Assyrians speaking their dialect of Akkadian. Nevertheless, the Hurrian traditions were preserved for a long time on the eastern outskirts of Assyria, beyond the Tigris.

Speaking about the sources on Assyrian history, it is necessary to single out among them the monuments of material culture from the excavations of the largest cities. A turning point in the study of Assyrian antiquities was the discovery by an English diplomat G. O. Layard in 1847 during the excavations of the Kuyunjik hill, northeast of Mosul (modern Iraq), the Assyrian capital Nineveh. In it, Layard opened the ruins of the palace of King Ashurbanipal, which died in a fire, with a huge library of books written on clay tablets. It was Layard's findings that formed the basis of the richest collection of Assyrian antiquities in the British Museum. Botta's French diplomat 1843 discovered the fortress and the royal residence of Dur-Sharrukin, built by Sargon, near the village of Khorsabad II. These findings laid the foundation for a new science - Assyriology.

The main group of written sources are cuneiform texts from the library of Ashurbanipal and other palace complexes. These are diplomatic documents, letters and reports of priests and military leaders, administrative and economic documentation, etc. The so-called Middle Assyrian laws stand out from legal monuments (middle II thousand BC BC): 14 tablets and fragments found during excavations in Ashur. Actually, historical literature did not exist in Assyria, however, “royal lists” and chronicles of individual kings were compiled, in which they praise their exploits.

Information about Assyria is also preserved by sources originating from other countries (for example, the Old Testament of the Bible). Ancient authors (Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo) also write about Assyria, but they know little about its history, and the information they report is often semi-legendary.

Periodization of the history of ancient Assyria

1. Old Assyrian period (XX-XVI centuries BC).
2. Middle Assyrian period (XV-XI centuries BC).
3. Neo-Assyrian period (X-VII centuries BC).

OK. 2000 BC e. Assyria becomes a kingdom.
OK. 1000-663 BC e. - Assyrians create a powerful state.
883-859 BC e. reign of King Ashurnasirpal II. Built by Nimrud.
704-681 BC e. King Sennacherib builds the city of Nineveh.
668-627 BC e. - The reign of King Ashurbanipal.
612-609 BC e. Babylonians and Medes attack Assyria. The collapse of the Assyrian empire.

After a successful siege of the city, the Assyrian warriors tore down the city walls to the ground, and the houses and orchards in the city were set on fire. The rebels were executed, and the captives were taken away.

The punishment of the rebels

Often the captured city was destroyed, the inhabitants were taken prisoner or killed. Many were brutally tortured before they died. The Assyrians hoped that this would teach other cities to meekly obey the conquerors. However, these measures only embittered the conquered population against them.

The Assyrian kings believed that the gods had chosen them to rule Assyria and conquer new lands. They appropriated grandiose titles, such as the King of the Universe. Serving the gods, the king built temples and led religious festivities.

Between wars, the Assyrian kings hunted lions to show their skill and courage. Lions were kept in the cages of special parks only so that the king, when he pleases, could arrange a hunt for them. During the hunt, the warriors blocked the way for the lion to escape with shields.

Ashurbanapal

When Ashurbanipal, the last great Assyrian king, ascended the throne, the capital had already been transferred to a new city, Nineveh.

Most of the population of Assyria was engaged in agriculture. The Assyrians dug canals to bring water to their fields and grew barley, sesame, grapes and vegetables. The farmers also raised sheep, goats, cows and bulls.

With the help of a structure called shaduf, water was raised to the fields. Shaduf consisted of a leather tub for water on one side and a stone for weights on the other. They were connected by a wooden pole.

Religion

The Assyrians believed that their lands belonged to Ashur, the supreme god. The Assyrians had many other gods and goddesses, and, in addition, they were convinced of the existence of evil spirits. material from the site

Cities

The Assyrians built majestic cities with beautiful palaces and temples. Their first capital - Ashur - was named after the supreme god. Later, King Ashurnasirpal II founded a new capital, in the city of Nimrud.

palaces

Ashurnasirpal Palace

The entrance to the throne room of Ashurnasirpal's palace in Nimrud was guarded by two statues. They have human heads and the bodies of winged lions. Light entered the hall through a hole in the ceiling.

Around the palace was a huge beautiful garden and ponds. Here King Ashurnasirpal rested on a bed, which grapes protected from the sun's rays. The bed was decorated with gold and ivory. Musicians played for the king and queen, and the servants created coolness with fans and drove away flies. Of the delicacies were cakes made from honey and figs. The air in the garden was filled with smoking incense.

Libraries

Library in Nineveh

In Nineveh, there was a library in the palace, where hundreds of clay tablets were kept, which King Ashurbanapal collected throughout the country. All tablets are covered with letters: they contained information on history, religion, mathematics and medicine.