The Iron Age

While the use of iron predates the period depicted here, widespread knowledge of iron founding supplanted bronze in the period between 1200-600 B.C., though this distribution was considerably hampered by the collapse of numerous societies for the first half of this period (the so-called Ancient Dark Age). With the restoration of civilisation in the Mediterranean circa 850-650, a very different world came into being, as the global focus of power moved west from the Fertile Crescent to the Aegean.

Greece

Following the collapse of the Bronze Age civilisation of Mycenae (c.1100 B.C.) and the destruction of palaces and cities, the Hellenic peninsula and islands was ravaged by famine, leading to depopulation. Amongst the political instability, raiding of coastal settlements from the sea became commonplace. Education and writing ceased and vital trade links were lost, while towns and villages were abandoned. Greece became isolated and backward for three centuries.

For a century prior to the collapse, Arcadian and Achaean peoples had already settled in the central Peloponnese; occupying Mycenae, they used the coast as a base for raiding Crete, Anatolia and the Levant. Ionians occupied Attica and Euboea, while the Boeotians settled in central Greece. The Thracians seized the north coast of the Aegean. Aeolians spread throughout the islands of the Aegean, notably Lesbos and Chios. Far to the north, the Illyrians occupied the east coast of the Adriatic. The greatest of these people were the Dorians, who were a backward warlike people who had first settled in Epirus. Between 1100-1000 B.C., the Dorians spread outwards to the south, diplacing peoples in the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Megara and the Argolid. The most powerful Dorian tribe would settle in Lacedaemon and Laconia, where they would later become the Spartans. From these places they built ships and raided Crete, Cos, Rhodes and Cyprus, destroying as they went and settling the lands with their own numbers. The many tribes, each occupying a small valley, plain or coastal part of the Greek peninsula, would dispute one another over territory ceaselessly for the next eight hundred years.

Aristocracy & Colonisation

By 900 B.C., monarchies were increasingly replaced throughout Greece by aristocracies, as kings vanished or were reduced to a titular office (save in Sparta). The nobles became the dominant power in the state through the possession of iron weapons and the acquisition of property, at the expense of poorer farmers. This led to renewed food shortages and distress, so that after 800 B.C., colonisation — encouraged first by the aristocrats to get rid of discontent — by Greek city states scattered Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean. Important colonies were founded in along the Anatolian coast, in Libya, on the Nile (Naucratis, 640 B.C.), and even on the Gaulish and Iberian coasts, and along the northern shore of the Black Sea. Trade from these colonies reunited the Mediterranean, while at home there grew a culture surrounding myths and legends voiced by bards such as Homer (c.750-800 B.C.).

The import of luxury goods (oils, wine, ivories, gold and silver) encouraged greater skill in technological processes like metallurgy and pottery; this enabled the Greeks to compete favorably with the Phoenicians and encouraged the growth of a cultivated, educated populace. Slavery increased and coinage was introduced from Lydia; minting by individual city states also became a competitive practice. Lyric poetry flourished; geometric art was replaced by the oriental, or animal style. Philosophy began with the Milesian School: Thales, Anaximenes and Anaximander investigated mathematics and expanded an understanding of logic.

The Early Peloponnese

By 800 B.C., Sparta had consolidated its control over the central peninsula and had colonized the coast of Messenia. She warred with Teges, chief city of the backward and disunited Arcadians, who maintained a loose religious union centering about the primitive worship on Mt. Lycaeum. Corinth had become commercially important and, until 720, dominated its smaller neighbour Megara. Argos, though claiming the hegemony of Greece as heir of Mycenae, remained a weak state.

In the First Messenian War (736-716 B.C.), Sparta, led by King Theopompus, conquered Messenia and divided the rich plain into lots, which the Messenians, as helots (serfs), worked for their Spartan masters. Besides helots and Spartans, there was a third class of Laconians, the periocci, who were free but not possessed of citizen rights. Sparta still, however, had an artistic and intellectual life equal to any in Greece, especially in respect to choral poetry.

King Pheidon of Argos (c.680 B.C.) made Argos powerful, for a brief time. He defeated the coalition of Sparta and Tegea in the battle of Hysiae (669) and, in support of rebellious Aegina, crushed Epidaurus and her ally Athens. Pheidon introduced coinage into Greece with a mint at Aegina. After his death, the powers held by rulers was curtailed. The city-state of Argos declined.

During the Second Messenian War, Sparta — with difficulty — crushed her rebellious subjects, who were led by Aristomenes, master of Arcandia, who afterwards took refuge on Mt. Eira. By the so-called Eunomia, the Spartans, fearing further revolts, completely reorganized the state to make it more severely military.

Rise of Tyranny

By 650 B.C., the aristocracies felt the pressure of landless traders and artisans, who wished a say in their political futures. To maintain their authority, and supported by the rich, various tyrants arose; in some cases, ambitious individuals, bent on overthrowing their masters, organized rebellions and installed themselves as tyrants also. On the whole, these tyrants were successful with the population, as they kept the people happy with festivals and public works. Nevertheless, the power of the nobility diminished, class and racial distinctions were abolished and many city states moved towards a more democratic model of government. Important tyrants included Theagenes of Megara (640 B.C.), Thrasybulus of Miletus (620); and Cleistenes of Sicyon (600).

Athens

The nobles in Athens gradually restricted the power of the king, first by giving his military functions to a polemarch and then his civil functions to an archon. The hereditary kingship was abolished (683 B.C.) and made into an annual office. Nine archons were chosen from the nobles by the areopagus, a council of nobles which was the greatest power in the state. The ecclesia, or assembly of all freemen, had either gone out of use or was completely without power.

Cylon, a noble related to the tyrant Theagenes attempted to establish a tyranny in Athens (632 B.C.), but was foiled. Many of his followers were tricked into surrendering and then slaughtered by Megacles of the Alcmaeonid clan. In 621, Drako replaced the prevailing system of oral law and blood feud by a written code to be enforced only by a court of law; though it laid the foundation for Athens' democracy, the harshness of these laws displeased the citizens and led to the use of "draconian" to describe an unforgiving set of rules.

Phrygia & Lydia

The Phrygians (as well as the Mysians) occupied a minor vassal state of the Hittites, in central Anatolia upon the Sakarya River. The capital was located at Gordium, that was founded by King Gordius (c.1250 B.C.). Gordius' son, Midas, is remembered in mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. They participated on the side of Troy in the Trojan War; King Priam of Troy married a Phrygian princess, Hecuba. With the collapse of the Hittite Empire, the Phrygians established their independence (c.1175 B.C.). The kingdom, acting as a barrier between Greece and the east, would steadily expand, reaching its height in the 8th century B.C.. By this time, it would dominate most of central and western Anatolia. The Phrygians developed a system of writing, maintained close trade with the Greeks and produced a distinctive pottery called Polished Ware. The chief deities of the Phrygians were Cybele (the Great Mother riding in a chariot drawn by lions), whose orgiastic cult would long outlive the kingdom; and Attis, the god who died by castration but came back to life; his priests, Galli, were eunuchs.

However, the kingdom was overwhelmed by the Cimmerians, a nomadic people from the north, related culturally to the Scythians. In 714 B.C., the Cimmerians invaded the Assyrian state of Urartu; following a defeat by the Assyrians under Sargon II in 705, they turned west and completed the conquest of Phrygia by 696-695 B.C..

Lydia had also been a vassal of the Hittites, achieving its independence in 1192 B.C.. Located between Phrygia in the east and the Aegean, Lydia became a link between east and west, culturally and commercially. The Lydians were great merchants and expert craftsmen; they reinvented coinage as an alternative to the use of precious metals for exchange and were fond of horsemanship. Later, they contributed to the development of music and the dance. The writer Aesop was a Lydian. They worshipped the gods Santas and Bacchus. The capital was Sardis.

Lydia was ruled by 22 successive generations of the Heraclid Dynasty; the last, Candaules, was assassinated (687 B.C.) and succeeded by his former friend Gyges, founder of the Myrmnadae Dynasty. Gyges would form an alliance with the Assyrians, defeat the Cimmerians (685 B.C.) and extend the borders of Lydia. But after sending Carian and Ionian mercenaries to the aid of Psamtik, who drove the Assyrians out of Egypt, the Cimmerians invaded Lydia. Gyges fell in battle against them in 652, after which Sardis was razed. His son, Ardys, would wage an ongoing war with the Cimmerians, who occupied the former lands of Phrygia and eastern Lydia, for 33 years. After the Cimmerians were defeated by the Assyrians in the 620s B.C., Ardy's annihilated them in 619. Nothing else would be heard of the Cimmerians afterwards. Between 619 and Ardys death in 603, the Lydians would occupy Phrygia and carry forth a conquest of Greek cities (begun by Gyges) on the Anatolian coast.

Rome

The early Italian peoples, the Terramare, expanded into the Italian Peninsula from the Rhone and upper Danube valleys, coming into contact with the maritime people of the Aegean world. These included the Samnite, Sabine and Latin tribes. A more advanced culture, the Umbrians and Oscans, entered northeastern Italy from the middle Danube basin, bringing with them a knowledge of iron.

Etruscans

The earliest evidence of an Etruscan culture begins about 900 B.C. Influenced by the Greeks, the Etruscan civilisation reached its height around 750, during Rome's foundational period. The culture flourished in Etruria, the Po Valley and Campania, although these were not united under a single ruler. Writing based on Greek script, the ability to work iron and a political system that favoured authority distributed among individual small cities and prominent important families were important contributions to later Roman civics. The peasant of today identifies with his neighboring city, as did generations of Italians before him. Italian history has always been municipal. Thereafter they declined, leaving little evidence that would withstand the dramatic violence that would take hold of the peninsula over two thousand years.

Foundation of Rome

Destined to rule the ancient Mediterranean world, Rome showed no early promise of greatness. Though the Italian peninsula was populous in prehistoric times, the site of Rome was without inhabitants before the 1st millennium B.C. Even after the first settlement was made, the future imperial city was little more than a hamlet situated at a ford on the Tiber River, traditionally founded by Romulus, the son of a princess of Alba Longa. The kings of Alba Longa, in turn, were descended from Aeneas, a fugitive of the Trojan War. During the 8th and following centuries, small settlements on the Palatine, Esquiline, Quirinal and Capitoline hills, united into the one "Rome," with a common meeting-place in the valley between the Forum. These peoples were of different racial stocks, chiefly Latin but partly Sabine, Etruscan and pre-Italic. The importance of Rome is less likely to have been economic than military — an outpost of the Latins against the encroaching Etruscans.

Romulus was Rome's first king (753-715 B.C.), who thereafter became elective rather than hereditary. The king's power was limited by a senate of 100 elders (patres), which was advisory, not compulsory, and by a popular assembly of the clans (curiae), the comitia curiata, which conferred upon the newly elected king his powers. There were two classes in the state, patricians, who alone could belong to the senate, and plebians. Most probably the patricians were simply the most prosperous farmers, who for their own advantage organized themselves in curiae, set themselves up as a superior class and usurped privileges for themselves.

Numa Pompilius (715-673 B.C.) succeeded Romulus. A Sabine, he organized the religious and political institutions: the Roman Calendar; Vestal Virgins; the cults of Mars, Jupiter and Romulus; and the office of Pontifex Maximus. Tullius Hostilius (673-641) defeated Alba Longa, which became Rome's vassal state. Ancus Marcius (641-616) waged war successfully against the Latins, resettling those he conquered onto lands surrounding the Aventine Hill.

Egypt

Following the collapse of Dynasty XX, the growing power of the high priests of Amon wrested the power away from the descendants of Ramses II, establishing Dynasty XXI amid the collapse of Egyptian power over its empire. Hrihor (1080-1074 B.C.) established his capital at Thebes, striving for authority against the nobles led by Smedes. This initiated what is called the 3rd Intermediate Period, an era of decline and political instability coinciding with the collapse of other civilisations in the Near East.

The Libyan Sheshonk would raze Egypt in 945 B.C., founding Dynasty XXII. This brought stability to the country for more than a century after a long factional power struggle. The capital was established at Bubastis; however, after the reign of Osorkon II (837 B.C.), the country had split into two states, with the priestly family of Amon founding an independent southern Nubian kingdom with its capital at Napata (Dynasty XXIII). Anarchy and civil war prevailed through the unification of the kingdom (718) and during the brief interim period between 718-712 B.C., during which time the Nubian king Kashta marched north and defeated the combined might of several native Egyptian rulers.

Shabaka, king of Napata, conquered Egypt in 712 and founded Dynasty XXV. Pharoahs of the dynasty built or restored monuments throughout the Nile Valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa and Jebel Barkal. The prestige of Egypt had declined considerably by this time, with an ever-present threat from the Assyrian Empire in the east. Essarhaddon of Assyria defeated the pharoah Taharka, occupying the country as far as Thebes over the period of 670-663 B.C., killing Taharqa while his successor Tantamani withdrew to the south. In 664 the Assyrians delivered a mortal blow, sacking Thebes and Memphis.

In 663, Tantamani launched a full-scale invasion of Lower Egypt, but the campaign was short-lived; the Kushite king withdrew to Nubia, while Assyrian influence faced quickly in Upper Egypt. The new leader of the Egyptians was Psammeticus of Sais (663-609 B.C.), in the western Delta, who had been appointed governor by the Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal. After the Assyrian yoke had been cast off (652), Psammeticus unified Egypt once more and became the first ruler of the XXVI, inaugurating the Saitic revival.

Phoenicia

Following the collapse of societies surrounding the eastern Mediterranean, there arose various great cities of Phoenicia, a disunited collective culture arising from traders, expert seafarers and colonist explorers. An expansive sea trade network had existed for more than a millennium, becoming the dominant commercial power in antiquity. Tyre, Sidon, Beirut and Byblos flourished as independent kingdoms for centuries after the collapse of Egyptian power along the Levant coast after 1225 B.C. Ugarit was destroyed in 1200 from the sea; Beirut fell to the Assyrians (c.1100 B.C.).

Hiram I (969-936) established the Hegemony of Tyre, subjugating the colony of Utica and employing his craftsmen to provide King Solomon with a fleet for his operations on the Red Sea. Ittobaal of Tyre (887-856) would found a dynasty and his descendants would rule the Phoenician Kingdom independently until 774 B.C.. The last king, Pygmalion (820-774), was famous for founding Carthage in 814. Thereafter, Phoenicia would become first a vassal state of the Assyrians and afterwards subjugated territory.

Israel & Judah

In the 11th century B.C., the ten tribes of Israel were living in Palestine among the Canaanites, without unity — though they continued to regard themselves as Israelites. Three other tribes, Simeon, Levi and Judah, were living in the extreme south of Palestine. Jabin, the king of Canaan, oppressed the ten tribes, six of whom answered the summons of the prophet Deborah (1107 B.C.) and fought victoriously against the Canaanites in the Valley of Jezreel. The Judges, victorious tribal leaders, ruled over the tribes. Gideon was followed by seventy sons who ruled jointly; Ehud killed Eglon, King of Moab; Jephtah, a Gileadite, defeated the Ammorites; but these Judges founded no dynasty. The tribe of Benjamin was nearly destroyed in a civil war (1170 B.C.). Samson of Dan, a heroic figure of legend, defined the beginning of the conflict with the Philistines in the 1140s B.C., the result of which would be the migration of the tribe of Dan to the extreme north of Palestine.

First Kings

Pressure from Philistine domination induced the Israelites to name a king, Saul (1028-1013 B.C.), after his spectacular deliverance of Jabesh in Gilead. Saul defeated the Philistines at Michmash, but took his own life after his defeat at the Battle of Gilboa. Following his death, the kingship split in twain, with Ishbaal the son of Saul ruling in Mahanaim, east of the Jordan, and David ruling as King of Judah (1013-973). David united the two kingdoms in 1006; he conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital, broke the power of the Philistines and fought successfully against the Ammonites and Edomites. However, the jealousy between Judah and Israel provoked the rebellions of Absalom (son of David) and of Queen Sheba (Bathsheba).

King Solomon (973-933 B.C.), son of Sheba, in alliance with the Pharoah of Egypt (Dynasty XXI) and with Hiram, King of Tyre, undertook far-reaching trading operations by land and sea. He introduced taxation and forced labour, built a great temple, the royal palace and the city wall of Jerusalem, along with public buildings elsewhere. The magnificence of his reign became proverbial. Solomon's son, Rehoboam, refused the demand of the northern tribes for relief from taxation and they seceded, making Jeroboam their king. Israel and Judah would remain split thereafter.

Kingdom of Israel

Jeroboam I (933-901 B.C.) chose Shechem as his capital. His son Nadab (912-911) was slain by Baasha (911-888), who made himself King of Israel and resided at Tirzah. Baasha had been a captain in Nadab's army; he fought against Judah and endeavoured to strangle Judah's trade by fortifying Ramah, a city north of Jerusalem. His son Elam (888-887) was murdered by his chariot commander Zimri, whose reign lasted only one year (887).

The troops abandoned Zimri and named Omri King (887-875 B.C.). He built a new capital, Samaria, inaugurating a period of expansion and power of the northern kingdom. He placed northern Moab under tribute, but failed to subdue the Arameans of Damascus. His son, Ahab, allowed his wife Jezebel to establish the religion of Baal in Samaria, provoking a reaction from the prophets Elijah and Elisha. As king, Ahab failed against Mesha, King of Moab, but imposed peace terms on Ben-Hadad II of Damascus and allied with him at Qarqar (854) against Shalmaneser III of Assyria. His sons Azahiah of Israel (853) and Joram (852) would be the last kings of Omri's dynasty.

Jehu (843-816 B.C.), son of Jehoshaphat of Judaea, exterminated the last vestiges of Omni's line, as well as those of Judah that were within his reach. For a time, until 837, Jehu ruled both Israel and Judaea. He paid tribute to the Assyrians and cleansed Israel of the worship of Baal, putting its worshippers to death. In revenge, Hazael of Damascus raided his Transjordanian provinces. Succeeded by his son Johoahaz (816-800) and grandson Joash (800-785), Israel was likewise helpless against Damascus. However, Jeroboam II (785-744), the son of Joash, reconquered the lost provinces while Damascus was under assault by Assyria (773). Jeroboam rules over the kingdom at the height of its power and prosperity, though the prophets Amos and Hosea foresaw the impending rule of Israel. The last king of the dynasty of Jehu, Zechariah, would be assassinated by Shallum, a captain from his own army.

While Shallum would become king, he would reign for one month before being put to death by another captain of Zechariah's army, Menahem (744-738 B.C.). During his reign, and that of his son Pekahiah (738-735), Israel would be forced to pay tribute to Assyria, even hopelessly allying themselves with Damascus as the kingdom was devastated. Pekah (735-732), a usurper who was captain of Pekahiah's army, was overthrown by Hoshea (732-722), the last king of Israel. Hoshea refused to pay tribute to the Assyrians, holding out against them as well as he could. After a siege of three years (725-722), the last province, Samaria, fell and Israel ceased to exist.

Kingdom of Judah

Following the succession of northern Israel, Reheboam (933-917 B.C.) would fight against the Israel with small success. In the 5th year of his reign, the Libyan Sheshonk of Egypt would bring a huge army and take many cities in the west. His son Abijah (917-915) and grandson Asa (915-875) would continue the struggle against Israel. Asa turned back the army of Zerah the Kushite in the Valley of Zephathah (905) and imposed strict national observance to the Laws of Moses, so that he was considered a righteous man at his death.

His son, Jehoshaphat (875-851 B.C.) made peace with Ahab of Israel and destroyed a confederacy of the Moabites, preserving Judaea. He was succeeded by Jehoram of Judaea (851-844), son of Jehoshaphat and Athaliah, daughter of Jezebel. Jehoram failed to put down the rebellion of the Edomites and was forced to acknowledge their independence. Jehoram was succeeded by Ahaziah of Judah (844); but Ahaziah was killed by his brother Jehu, a daughter of Jezebel. Jehu held control in Judaea and Israel until he was driven out by a palace revolution.

Jehoash (837-798 B.C.) he abandoned Judaism and turned instead to idols. For this, he was rebuked by the prophet Zechariah, which ended in Jehoash ordering the execution of Zechariah by stoning. When Damascus marched on Jerusalem, Jehoash was said to have emptied the royal treasuries to pay off King Hazael and end the attack; but the Syrians took the city, executed the leaders of the people and marched away with the spoils. Jehoash would be assassinated by his own servants.

Amaziah (798-780 B.C.) was the son of Jehoash. In his fifth year he named his son Uzziah as his co-ruler. Amaziah revenged his father and made an attempt to reconquer Edom; after an initial success, his pride inflated, he rushed into a disastrous battle with Joash of Israel at Beth-shemesh. The humiliating defeat ended in his capture, the destruction of 400 cubits of the wall of Jerusalem and the looting of the city, temple and palace. Anger for bringing such disasters upon the kingdom resulted in a conspiracy that ended in Amaziah's assassination. Uzziah would rule from 780-740 B.C., enjoying a prosperous reign owing to Israel's revival under Jeroboam II.

Uzziah's son Jotham (740-735 B.C.) would fight a war against the kings Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Damascus. His son Ahaz (735-720), contrary to the advice of the prophet Isaiah, turned to the Assyrian Tiglath-pileser III for aid. This would contribute to the destruction of Israel as a kingdom. Ahaz's son Hezekiah (720-692) woudl defy the Assyrian Sennacherib, but after a disastrous war and the siege of Jerusalem in 701, Hezekiah came to terms. His son Manasseh (692-630) would remain a faithful vassal of Assyria throughout his reign, even to the point of encouraging the people to worship Assyrian gods. Amon (639 B.C.), the son of Manasseh, would fully indulge in idolatrous practices, leading to his assassination.

Reforming the Kingdom of Judah, Amon's son Josiah (638-609 B.C.) would reform the Jewish worship, centralizing it in the temple at Jerusalem. He was able to do this largely due to the rapid decline of Assyrian power during his reign, leading to the destruction of Ninevah in 612 B.C.

Syria

After the destruction of the Hittite capital of Hattusa in 1180 B.C., Syria saw a dispersal of settlements and ruralisation, with the appearance of large numbers of hamlets, villages and farmsteads. Some former Hittite principalities continued to preserve their identity in the midst of the flood of Aramaic migrations, bringing Arameans, Amorites, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites and Israelites to the Levant. Chief among these principalities was Carchemish, a lost city in the vicinity of present-day Jarabulus.

Carchemish

The city became an important trading center. Kuzi-Tesup I, son of the last Hittite king Talmi-Teshub, founded a dynasty that ruled over a small kingdom surrounding the West Bend of the Euphrates. The city held sway over the northern Fertile Crescent from 1175-975 B.C., when it began to lose control over its farther possessions. Steadily, by the 9th century, Carchemish was reduced to little more than a city state (849), when it was forced to pay tribute to the kings of Syria. It would be conquered by Sargon II in 717 B.C., during the reign of the last Carchemish king, Pisiri. The city would be turned into an important Assyrian capital.

Aramean Kingdoms

The emergence of Aramean kingdoms in Syria and upper Mesopotamia arose after 1000 B.C.. East of the Euphrates, these included Beth-Eden, with Til Barsip as its capital; the city-state of Gozan; and Hadippe with its capital Suru, among others. These eastern lands would be forced to pay tribute to the Assyrians in the early 9th century B.C.. Til Barsip would be devastated by the Assyrian Shalmaneser III (857).

West of the Euphrates, the small kingdoms of Gargum (capital, Marash), Samal, Hattin, Hamath, Zobah and Aram-Damascus. Of these, the most important was Aram-Damascus; the remainder would exist as vassal states until they, too, were conquered by Sargon II between 720 and 719 B.C..

Damascus

Settled first under the Hittites, the region was occupied by the Arameans (1000-965 B.C.), discovering the agricultural potential of what was a sparsely populated area. A dynasty was founded in 970 by Rezon, whose father Eliada had been a general under Hadadezer, King of Zobah. The new state of Damascus would expand southward, preventing the northward spread of the Kingdom of Israel. The two kingdoms would clash repeatedly for more than a century. King Ahab of Israel would ally with Ben-Hadad II of Damascus against the Assyrians at the battle of Qarqar (854). Religiously, Damascus worshipped Baal; Israel's repudiation of the god would remain a source of contention between the two states.

However, the growing presence of Assyria would prevent a resolution being reached between the two states. In 805 B.C., the Assyrians would besiege Damascus during the reign of Ben-Hadad III. Further in-fighting between the Aramean states, such as the failed coalition led by Damascus against Zakir of Hamath, would weaken the divided states of Syria. King Rezin of Damascus would be executed by Tiglath-pileser III in 732 B.C.. Thereafter, Damascus would lose all importance and remain subject to the Kings of Assyria until 625, and thereafter Babylonia.

Assyria

Assyria lay in the highlands north of Babylon, along the upper Tigris River and the waters of the Great and Little Zab Rivers. It's culture was deeply indebted to the Babylonian, to the Hittite and to the Hurrian. Except for the Assyrian roayl annals, which are historical sources of the greatest value and are inspired by Hittite models, for the most part Assyrian literature consisted of new editions of the ancient Babylonian works. In sculpture (particularly in the bas-reliefs depicting realistically religious scenes, hunts and military operations) and in architecture (influenced by the Hittite styles) the Assyrians surpassed the Babylonians, as also in the fields in which they made their greatest contribution: military equipment and imperial administration. In religion the Assyrians worshipped their national god, Ashur, along with Ishtar of Nineveh.

Consolidation

By 1232 B.C., Assyria had become a strong kingdom, occupying what remained of the old Mitanni Kingdom. The fall of the Hittites hurt their trade, in particular diminishing their source of wrought iron. Additionally, Kassite power (1220-1116 B.C.) threatened their southern frontier. Assyria recovered slowly, learning to work iron themselves. Surrounded by the Urartu to the north (Lake Van), Elamites to the east and the Kassites to the south, the Assyrians fought their enemies in order to secure their borders. After the fall of the Kassites, the native Babylonians in the south established the Middle Babylonian kingdom under Nebuchadnezzer I (1146-1123). After an attempt by the Babylonians to engage Assyria (1125 B.C.), king Assurresh I of Assyria (1133-1116) turned him back.

The great king Tiglath-pileser I (1116-1093 B.C.), son of Assurresh, fought successful campaigns against Mushku and Mulatia, overrunning the upper Euphrates and penetrating into the northern mountains south of Van; razed the Aramaeans east of the Euphrates; and secured the trade route to the Mediterranean, granting him access to Byblos and Sidon. This control over trade, held jointly with Carchemish, produced much wealth, which Tiglath-pileser used to restore the temples of Ashur and Hadad at the Assyrian capital of Assur.

Hard pressed between 1093 and 911 B.C. by the Aramaean kingdoms to the west and its other enemies, Assyria's survival was put to the test. The kingdom remained a well-defended state, however, whose warriors were the best in the world, with a stable monarchy. In many ways, Assyria was more secure than its potential rivals; this military and political foundation would help establish the later empire when it rose.

The First Assyrian Expansion

The reduction of pressure by its neighbours encouraged Assyria to strike outwards, using the iron weapons and advanced military tactics that had been designed to withstand attacks for so long. Adad-ninari II (911-891 B.C.) regained former Assyrian territory that had been been seized by the Aramaeans (910) at the junction of the Khabur and Euphrates. After subduing Tabal and Kammunu (former Hittite provinces) to the north, Adad-ninari turned and twice attacked King Shamash of Babylonia, annexing a large area of land norther of the Diyala River and the towns of Hit and Zanqu. Campaigning in the west, he subjugated the Aramean cities of Kadmuh and Nisbin. Along with vast amounts of treasure acquired, he restored Phoenician trade routes to Assyria. His son Tukulti II (891-893 B.C.) continued his father's conquests, reducing the Hurrians to the northeast and the Urartians of Van.

Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C.), son of Tukulti, embarked on a vast program of expansion. He was ruthless in war. An army using heavy & light cavalry and chariots was organized, including foreigners pressed into service. Advanced military equipment, such as battering-rams and siege engines, greatly increased the Assyrians' power. Ashurnasirpal campaigned successfully in the northeast and in Phyrgia. He reached the Mediterranean and compelled the Phoenician cities (siege of Tyre) to pay him tribute. Aram and the land between the Khabur and Euphrates rivers were conquered. Under him, the provincial administration was improved and the palace at Calah was adorned with remarkable bas-reliefs. With his death, the First Empire had been firmly established.

Shalmaneser III (859-824), son of Ashurnasirpal II, fought against the kingdom of Urartu and against Ben-Hadad of Damascus and his allies. He campaigned against Ahab of Israel, fighting the battle of Qarqar against eleven kings, at which no clear victory was achieved by either side. He reduced Carchemish (849), forcing the city to pay tribute. Defeating Hazael of Damacus (841), he spared the city rather than plunder it. Shalmaneser forced Tyre and Sidon to pay tribute, and exacted tribute from King Jehu of Israel also. This gave control of the Mediterranean trade to the Assyrians, making the empire very wealthy.