After 648 the Assyrians made a few punitive attacks on the Arabs,
breaking the forward thrust of the Arab tribes for a long time to
come. The main objective of the Assyrians , however, was a final
settlement of their relations with Elam. The refusal of Elam in
647 to extradite an Aramaean prince was used as pretext for a new
attack that drove deep into its territory. The assault on the
solidly fortified capital of Susa followed, probably in 646. The
Assyrians destroyed the city, including its temples and palaces.
Vast spoils were taken. As usual, the upper classes of the land
were exiled to Assyria and other parts of the empire, and Elam
became an Assyrian province. Assyria had now extended its domain
to southwestern Iran. Cyrus I of Persia sent tribute and hostages
to Nineveh, hoping perhaps to secure protection for his borders
with Media. Little is known about the last years of
Ashurbanipal's reign.
Ashurbanipal left more inscriptions than any of his predecessors.
His campaigns were not always recorded in chronological order but
clustered in groups according to their purpose. The accounts were
highly subjective. One of his most remarkable accomplishments was
the founding of the great palace library in Nineveh (modern
Kuyunjik), which is today one of the most important sources for
the study of ancient Mesopotamia. The king himself supervised its
construction. Important works were kept in more than one copy,
some intended for the king's personal use. The work of arranging
and cataloging drew upon the experience of centuries in the
management of collections in huge temple archives such as the one
in Ashur. In his inscriptions Ashurbanipal tells of becoming an
enthusiastic hunter of big game, acquiring a taste for it during
a fight with marauding lions. In his palace at Nineveh the long
rows of hunting scenes show what a masterful artist can
accomplish in bas- relief ; with these reliefs Assyrian art
reached its peak. In the series depicting his wars, particularly
the wars fought in Elam, the scenes are overloaded with human
figures. Those portraying the battles with the Arabian camel
troops are magnificent in execution.
One reason for the durability of the Assyrian empire was the
practice of deporting large numbers of people from conquered
areas and resettling others in their place. This kept many of the
conquered nationalities from regaining their power. Equally
important was the installation in conquered areas of a highly
developed civil service under the leadership of trained officers.
The highest ranking civil servant carried the title of
tartan, a Hurrian word.
Stone panel from the South-West Palace of Sennacherib (BRITISH MUSEUM Room 28,
Panel 9) Nineveh, northern Iraq Neo-Assyrian, around 645 BC
One
of the last Assyrian relief carvings This carved alabaster slab
is part of one of the last series of sculptures carved at Nineveh
to decorate the interior walls of the palace of King Sennacherib
(reigned 704-681 BC). It originally lined a corridor. The scene
depicted on the slab is part of a story that began on one side
with a battle in southern Mesopotamia. The region is known as
Babylonia or Chaldaea, from the local Chaldaean tribal groups.
This slab shows the enemy, who have fled from the Assyrians into
the reed-swamps. Some Assyrians (who can be identified by their
pointed helmets) are boarding their boats while others search
through the marshes. A few old men and women are crouching out of
sight on one of the boats built from bundles of reeds; others are
slipping away along a backwater, while younger men shoot arrows
from hiding places. Some of the prisoners have their heads cut
off, others are ferried back, right, to be escorted on firmer
ground into captivity. They join the rear of a long procession of
deportees. Height: 10.66 m (total) Width: 2.13 m (total) The
palace was excavated by A.H. Layard (1846-51) and by many later
archaeologists
Stone panels from the South-West Palace of Sennacherib (BRITISH MUSEUM Room 28,
nos. 7-9) Nineveh, northern Iraq Neo-Assyrian, about 640-615 BC
One of the last Assyrian relief carvings This carved alabaster
slab is part of one of the last series of sculptures carved at
Nineveh to decorate the interior walls of the palace of King
Sennacherib (reigned 704-681 BC). It originally lined a corridor.
The scene depicted on the slab is part of a story that began on
one side of the corridor, with a battle in southern Mesopotamia.
The region is known as Babylonia or Chaldaea, after the local
Chaldaean tribal groups. This scene was placed on the opposite
wall of the corridor. It shows careful records being kept of
captured goods which the soldiers are piling up. The objects
appear to float in the air, due to the sculptors limitations in
dealing with perspective. The palm trees indicate the southern
landscape. One scribe hold a hinged writing board covered in wax.
Actual examples of the boards have been excavated at the Assyrian
city of Nimrud. Information could be recorded and then the wax
melted and reused. The bearded man is writing in a scroll,
probably in Aramaic - the main spoken language of the Near East.
Alternatively, he may be a war artist, recording details of the
campaign for use by sculptors creating reliefs such as this one
back in Nineveh. It is ironic that these reliefs, among the last
Assyrian sculptures to be made, show the conquest of a people who
would soon be rampaging through the cities of Assyria itself.
Height: 10.66 m (total) Width: 2.13 m (total) The palace was
excavated by A.H. Layard (1846-51) and by many later
archaeologists
Ulteriori dettagli sui bassorilievi assiri del British Museum
The tartans also represented the king during his absence.
In descending rank were the palace overseer, the main cupbearer,
the palace administrator, and the governor of Assyria. The
generals often held high official positions, particularly in the
provinces. The civil service numbered about 100,000, many of them
former inhabitants of subjugated provinces. Prisoners became
slaves but were later often freed.
No laws are known for the empire, although documents point to the
existence of rules and standards for justice. Those who broke
contracts were subject to severe penalties, even in cases of
minor importance: the sacrifice of a son or the eating of a pound
of wool and drinking of a great deal of water afterward, which
led to a painful death. The position of women was inferior,
except for the queen and some priestesses.
As yet there are no detailed studies of the economic situation
during this period. The landed nobility still played an important
role, in conjunction with the merchants in the cities. The large
increase in the supply of precious metals--received as tribute or
taken as spoils--did not disrupt economic stability in many
regions. Stimulated by the patronage of the kings and the great
temples, the arts and crafts flourished during this period. The
policy of resettling Aramaeans and other conquered peoples in
Assyria brought many talented artists and artisans into Assyrian
cities, where they introduced new styles and techniques.
High-ranking provincial civil servants, who were often very
powerful, saw to it that the provincial capitals also benefited
from this economic and cultural growth.
Harran became the most important city in the western part of the
empire; in the neighbouring settlement of Huzirina (modern
Sultantepe, in northern Syria), the remains of an important
library have been discovered. Very few Aramaic texts from this
period have been found; the climate of Mesopotamia is not
conducive to the preservation of the papyrus and parchment on
which these texts were written. There is no evidence that a
literary tradition existed in any of the other languages spoken
within the borders of the Assyrian empire at this time, except in
peripheral areas of Syria and Palestine.
Culturally and economically, Babylonia lagged behind Assyria in
this period. The wars with Assyria--particularly the catastrophic
defeats of 689 and 648--together with many smaller tribal wars
disrupted trade and agricultural production. The great Babylonian
temples fared best during this period, since they continued to
enjoy the patronage of the Assyrian monarchs. Only a few
documents from the temples have been preserved, however. There is
evidence that the scribal schools continued to operate, and
"Sumerian" inscriptions were even composed for Shamash-shum-ukin.
In comparison with the Assyrian developments, the pictorial arts
were neglected, and Babylonian artists may have found work in
Assyria.
During this period people began to use the names of ancestors as
a kind of family name; this increase in family consciousness is
probably an indication that the number of old families was
growing smaller. By this time the process of "Aramaicization" had
reached even the oldest cities of Babylonia and Assyria.
Apparently this era was not very fruitful for literature either
in Babylonia or in Assyria. In Assyria numerous royal
inscriptions, some as long as 1,300 lines, were among the most
important texts; some of them were diverse in content and well
composed. Most of the hymns and prayers were written in the
traditional style. Many oracles, often of unusual content, were
proclaimed in the Assyrian dialect, most often by the priestesses
of the goddess Ishtar of Arbela. In Assyria as in Babylonia, the
beginnings of a real historical literature are observed; most of
the authors have remained anonymous up to the present.
The many gods of the tradition were worshiped in Babylonia and
Assyria in large and small temples, as in earlier times. Very
detailed rituals regulated the sacrifices, and the
interpretations of the ritual performances in the cultic
commentaries were rather different and sometimes very
strange.
On some of the temple towers (ziggurats), astronomical
observatories were installed. The earliest of these may have been
the observatory of the Ninurta temple at Kalakh in Assyria, which
dates back to the 9th century BC; it was destroyed with the city
in 612. The most important observatory in Babylonia from about
580 was situated on the ziggurat Etemenanki, a temple of Marduk
in Babylon. In Assyria the observation of the Sun, Moon, and
stars had already reached a rather high level; the periodic
recurrence of eclipses was established. After 600, astronomical
observation and calculations developed steadily, and they reached
their high point after 500, when Babylonian and Greek astronomers
began their fruitful collaboration. Incomplete astronomical
diaries, beginning in 652 and covering some 600 years, have been
preserved.
Copyright © 1994-1998 Encyclopædia Britannica,
Inc.
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