This resulted in a loot of more than a tonne of gold and about ten tonnes of silver, as well as masses of other treasure. In contrast to see Kalhu , and also the later capital city of Nineveh, this was an entirely new city, constructed on virgin soil in an area quite close to Kalhu which Sargon had identified as the perfect site for the centre of the Assyrian empire.
It was a gigantic building project, intended to be the king's crowning achievement. In the foundation inscriptions excavated at the site, Sargon proudly takes credit for recognising the potential of the sleepy village of Maganubba as the location for his new residence city; he bought the land from its owners, emphasising that he paid the market rate, and started a massive irrigation project which was to provide water for the agriculture needed to sustain the inhabitants of what was to be the largest city in Assyria, with an area of almost three square kilometres.
The two gigantic platforms, one housing the palace and the temples and the other housing the arsenal, were constructed from scratch. The seven monumental city gates penetrated the fortification wall at regular intervals, their locations not dictated by the needs of a pre-existing road network.
Sargon's new palace eclipsed the buildings of all his predecessors in scale and quality. By that time, the most prominent features of the project were finished, although building work still continued elsewhere.
Sargon continued the policy of conquest and annexation that had already characterised the reigns of Tiglath-pileser III and Shalmaneser V, but the effort to control areas that were situated ever farther away from the Assyrian heartland began to weigh heavily. Two provinces in the Zagros Mountains PGP were created in BC but were only held after years of fighting; deportations from the region brought a sizeable Median population to the city of Assur, a fact which may have played a role in the city's fall in BC.
The attempt to establish the province of Tabal PGP in central Anatolia in BC was doomed and had to be terminated after a bloody rebellion in the following year - a first in Assyrian imperialism. However, the annexation of the Philistine kingdom of Ashdod in BC was successful, as were the conquest and integration of the Neo-Hittite states of Gurgum and Kummuhhu Commagene in the same year and in BC respectively.
Ashurbanipal was king of the Neo-Assyrian empire. At the time of his reign —c. This is at a time when the Greek city-states like Athens and Sparta were still in their infancy and Rome was just a small settlement. Stele depicting Ashurbanipal right and his brother Shamash-shum-ukin left. When his eldest brother and the heir to the throne died, his father Esarhaddon passed over the next eldest son Shamash-shum-ukin, and made Ashurbanipal crown prince instead.
This was a bold and perhaps a slightly foolish move. Esarhaddon on the throne! Shamash-shum-ukin, would have been pretty annoyed about the decision to bypass him. As a consolation, Esarhaddon made Shamash-shum-ukin king of Babylon.
Well, not quite. At this time, Babylon was part of the Assyrian empire so he would essentially have to answer to his younger brother! Tensions would later explode into all-out war. At the command of the great gods, [my father] greatly preferred me over the assembly of my elder brothers.
When Ashurbanipal was appointed crown prince, he started his training to be king. He learnt royal etiquette, important military skills and was instructed in scholarship. He shadowed his father in court where he could learn the way of Assyrian kingship. He also worked as a spymaster for his father, gathering information from agents across the empire and compiling intelligence reports. Oil on canvas, As part of his military training, the young crown prince was taught to drive chariots, ride cavalry horses, and develop skills such as archery.
He also learnt how to hunt lions. Relief depicting Ashurbanipal hunting a lion. They were the first in the area to develop iron weapons, which were superior to the bronze weapons their enemies were using. Their skill at ironworking allowed them to make weapons and protective items more cheaply, so more soldiers could use them. In addition, they were the first army to have a separate engineering unit, which would set up ladders and ramps, fill in moats, and dig tunnels to help the soldiers get into a walled city.
They were also among the first to build chariots, which provided greater protection on the battlefield. These technological advancements allowed the Assyrians to go on the offensive and attack neighboring areas for the first time, which led to the expansion of their empire.
The Assyrian Empire maintained power for hundreds of years. But in the s B. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.
Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society. National Geographic Society. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. Why Ashurnasirpal II and his successors chose to distance themselves from Assur, the traditional capital city of Assyria, is a source of debate among scholars.
She said that at Assur the king had to deal with nobles and a council that may have been elected. Assur was also the home of the god Assur and, while that god was of great importance to the ancient Assyrians, he was not the only deity that the Assyrians venerated. Radner notes that in addition to a new capital Ashurnasirpal II and his successors also abolished hereditary governors, replacing them with individuals who owed their position to the king.
The Assyrian kings also relied increasingly on eunuchs, men who had their genitals chopped off. As these men couldn't have offspring, any power a eunuch gained couldn't be passed on through a family line, minimizing the danger they posed to the king and his successors. During the Neo-Assyrian period the kings of Assyria increased their kingdom's size to its largest yet. In addition to retaking Babylon, and part of modern-day Lebanon, the Assyrians launched a series of campaigns into modern-day Israel and Palestine, earning them numerous mentions in the Hebrew Bible.
At the time they encountered the Assyrians the Jewish people were divided into a northern kingdom called Israel and a southern kingdom called Judah.
The two Jewish kingdoms frequently clashed with each other. Sargon II said in an inscription that he "conquered and sacked" all the towns and cities in Israel and "led away as booty 27, inhabitants. His successor Sennacherib reign ca.
However while accounts from both the Hebrew Bible and Assyrian inscriptions say that the siege took place, it's unclear exactly how the battle ended. The Hebrew Bible said that the siege was a complete failure.
It says that the Assyrians had to fight the Egyptians , something that caused the Assyrians to divert some of their forces away from Jerusalem. The remaining Assyrian forces were supposedly destroyed by divine intervention "the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning — there were all the dead bodies! An Assyrian inscription says that Hezekiah , the king of Judah, was trapped in Jerusalem "like a bird in a cage.
Regardless of what happened, the Assyrians did not conquer Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah continued on.
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