Kings were responsible for the care and feeding of the gods. They had to build, rebuild and improve temples in order to maintain their connection with the divinity. They also were responsible for waging war. There were three types of Assyrian wars: guerilla wars in the mountains; wars of movement in the Jazirah; and wars of position in the Middle Tigris.
| Old Assyrian Era |
|---|
| Middle Assyrian Era | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assyrian Empire | ||
| Collapse | 612 BC |
Sources of Assyrian History
| Limmu lists | Middle Assyria | In Assyria, each year was named after an official (the limmu, aka eponymous magistrate) from ~850-~700 BC. Useful and corrective to the triumphal rhetoric of the royal inscriptions: defeats, internal revolts, famines and diseases are mentioned. |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Inscriptions | Middle Assyria | particularly foundation inscriptions. often fragments, as from a bowl; rarely from a stone. Inscription composed for display in royal palaces and covering material that overlaps with the annals. These inscriptions are briefer and arranged geographically on the four compass points (instead of chronologically, like the royal annals). |
| More Inscriptions | Inscribed stelae, obelisks and rocks are similar to royal inscriptions and royal annals, but are intended for proclamation of royal achievements far and wide by being placed on roads, in or near conquered cities and at the furthest points reached by a king. | |
| Administration | Middle Assyria | Laws and administrative texts. |
| Letters | Middle Assyria | Local and diplomatic letters. For instance, requests for pottery for a dinner party. |
| Babylonian Chronicle | Middle Assyria | The Bablylonian Chronicle span 744-668 BC and are a dispassionate, sober and annual account of political events impacting Babylonia. Three copies are known, written in Akkadian on clay tablets, and provide invaluable thoughts on Assyria from a 3rd-party perspective (only equalled by the Old Testament). The Egyptian chronicle is also somewhat useful, when Assyria conquers Egypt. |
| Annals | Middle Assyria Neo-Assyria |
Tiglath-pileser I (1114-1076 BC) began a tradition of annals, which are written annually by the king scribe to document the king’s most important deeds that year. Variants, especially in prior periods, is a letter from the king to God Assur that was read aloud in various cities. Most Neo-Assyrian evidence comes from the Assyrian court’s royal annals, which are written in Akkadian and found primarily at the main Assyrian sites of Ashur, Kalhu (modern Nimrud), Nineveh and Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad). The royal annals grippingly describe the annual achievements of individual kings, particularly focusing on military achievements and the king’s piety, and span from ~900 BC onward. The annals recounted booties, counts of enemy dead and calendrical data. Also, their descriptions of unfamiliar territory are extremely vivid and rich. Sometimes the annals were possibly read aloud at formal events. The annals were sometimes revised, but Olmstead’s rule of thumb is that the oldest annal is the most reliable (Olmstead, 1916). The annals were often inscribed on special objects (prisms, clyinders) that were deposited in the walls or foundations of memorials, indicating they were meant for the gods as well as future kings. It is known, for example, that Cyrus the Great of Persia (559-530 BC) found Ashurbanipal’s (668-631 BC) building texts in Babylon. |
| Old Testament | Particularly in Isaiah and in Chronicles. |
Glossary
| Sukkallu Rabu | Great vizier. This position was developed by Shalmaneser I. |
|---|---|
| Saknu | Governors in fortified manners across upper Mesopotamia and perhaps in the Upper Tigris. This position was developed by Shalmaneser I. |
| Bel Pihati | District governor responsible to the king (previously Saknu). |
| Turtan | Commander-in-chief |
| Rab Alani | Town commandant. |
| Amel SAG | Chief land registrar |
Smith, Sidney. Early History of Assyria to 1000 BC. London: Chatto & Windus.