Assyria

By: Michelle Tan, Sarah Lo, Anastasia Snegireva

AssyriaThe Assyrians were very strong in many ways, but a failure in other ways. Their civilization at the time was strong, controlling all of the Fertile crescent…

The Assyrians were great people because they expanded throughout their time, causing people to fear them. Their location and their social levels affects them the most.

-mt, sl

Who were the Assyrians?

The Assyrians was people who lived at the northern part of Mesopotamia. Their name was named after their god; Aššur. They had no natural barriers like mountains or a

desert to protect them. They lived on a flat farming surface, making them an easy target, with irrigation to

enable agriculture.

They were Semitic people whose culture is distantly similar to Arabic and Jewish people. Their warlike culture

which inspire their arts, becoming very famous throughout the time period. The arts that decorate for their homes were made with mud bricks and stones. Their sculptures and wall cravings, which was a great

deal of their culture, showed high mastery.

Their learning of mathematics and science was far greater than others. This also may lead to the obsession of war and their excellent military forces. They invented the shape of a circle into 360 degrees and the longitude

and latitude on the navigation.

-Sl

Where was their location?

The Assyrians came from the northern area of Mesopotamia. Now it is the present northern Iraq. There were two great rivers that ran over throughout this strong empire and supported their farming. The Tigris and the Euphrates River. Later on during their rise of power, in the end Assyria stretched from the east and north of the Tigris River all the way to the central of Egypt. Between 850 and 650 B.C., the rulers of this empire had conquered Syria, Palestine and Babylonia. They reached beyond the Fertile Crescent, they went into North Africa. But after Ashurbanipal died, Assyrians themselves started growing weaker. The enemies took notice and started taking advantage. In 612 B.C., Medes and Chaldeans and some others decided to join together, to defeat the Assyrians.

-Sl

Social Levels

While conquering the cities of other empires, the Assyrians took in slaves to do all the work for them, usually doing work in the palaces and temples. Otherwise, slaves who were in debt were the debtors or the children of the debtors. The wealthy and the elderly were respected. There were farmers who planted crops outside of the walls and came in for the night. Artisans and merchants were not rare in Assyria. The education was mainly for the higher class which the scribes and priests.

In the Ancient times, the kings would be the priests and the representative of their god, Ashur.

-Sl

Assyrians AchievementsAssyrians have a range of cultural traditions and social expectations.

One of Assyria’s greatest cultural achievements was using Cuneiform, which later evolved into Aramaic Script, for recording various things like literature, legal issues, history, and medical discoveries.

Cuneiform, the Egyptian original alphabet, was what influenced the Assyrian Aramaic. -As

More Of Their Achievements.Cylinder seals were also a big part of Assyrian culture,

and showed that the Assyrians had much free time and were a part of an advanced civilization. Assyrians used anything from clay tablets to papyrus and parchment as the civilization developed to write on.

Another cultural achievement of the Assyrians was their sculptures and carvings.

Assyrians greatly valued warfare and military strength, as could be clearly seen in their various sandstone reliefs and stone carvings. Many of these depicted battle scenes, such as in this image.

-As

Assyrians Military ForceAs well as being advanced as a civilization and having many ways of expressing art, Assyrians were very strong as a military force.

Assyrians were warlike people, as they came from the northern part of Mesopotamia, where the flat and exposed farmland made them an easy target. Their need for survival is probably the concept that led them to be a powerful military society.

Assyrian leaders used tactics and advanced weapons to gain an advantage over their opponents.

Assyrian troops used iron tipped spears, daggers, and swords, as well as arrows, and were protected by shields and armor.

Assyrian engineers had the knowledge and technology to build bridges using inflated animal skins when water blocked their path.

The Assyrian kings were also cruel and ruthless, as one “told how ‘all the chiefs who had revolted I flayed, with their skins I covered the pillar, some in the midst I walled up, others on stakes I impaled, still others I arranged around the pillar on stakes…’”(McDougal Littell p.89)

As

Assyrians Created a Good Civilization

The Assyrians was very advanced and educated. They also were advance in weapons, the Assyrians themselves were like a military machine.. They were able to create a powerful empire and work to maintain it for many years even though eventually the empire did fall.

A way they use to maintain the civilization was through the use of religion and using religion as a way of life helped. The Assyrians had provided themselves with a belief system, and they intended to follow it all the way through. This belief system followed Assyrians through their way of life and in a way created a ordered and good civilization.

-Mt

Assyrians ReligionThe Babylonian religion was a “continuation” of the Sumerian religion, and it was greatly affected by Sumerian religion.

The Babylonian Gods, for example, were represented by humans, but had superhuman powers.

Assyrians built many temples throughout the Assyrian empire and spread their religion through the places they conquered.

One important Assyrian God was Ashur, who was preferred by Assyrians to worship.

Every major city and province had a temple in which to worship Gods.

-As

The End of Assyria’s Empire.

Assyria had a lot of control but they had earned themselves a numerous amount of enemies. Many of the people/ citizens hated them for their cruel actions shown upon them.

After Ashurbanipal's death, Nineveh fell and everything was disastrous.

In the year 612 BC the Medes, Chaldeans, and other armies combined and open Assyria's gate to attack and try to conquer.

The armies burned Assyria. Nothing was left ,but only mounds. That made the powerful kingdom fall and gave the chance for others to control.

-Mt

After the Fall.Chaldeans made Babylon their capital.

The king Nebuchadnezzar controlled Babylon and to let everyone know who the ruler was he inscribed on the walls “I am Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.”

They even kept records of stars and planets which started the base for astronomy and astrology.

After the kings death the empire fell as well but many were also interested in controlling this empire.

The Persians then took control.

To stabilize the region they used the organization developed by the Assyrians.

-Mt

Assyria

The end of the Assyrian empire and the start of another. -Mt

Bibliographyhttp://wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/ASSYRIA.HTM    

http://www.aina.org/aol/peter/brief.htm       

http://www.bible-history.com/assyrian-social-structure/index.html

http://http://i-cias.com/e.o/bab-ass_rl.htm

http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/ancient-assyrians/images/ancient-assyrians-5.jpghttp:

http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/assyrians/images/assyrians-1.jpg

http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/assyrians/images/assyrians-2.jpg

http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/assyrian-empire/images/assyrian-empire-2.jpg

http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/assyrian-empire/images/assyrian-empire-4.jpg