The I RON AGE
Marshall High School Mr. Cline Western Civilization I: Ancient Foundations Unit Two EA * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Assyrians
• Around 935 BC, the ancient civilization of Assyria had begun to stir once more.
• Due to its distance from the main centers of invasion and its own military might, Assyria had weathered the Bronze Age collapse better than most.
• In the interim, they had mastered the art of iron working.
• Iron tools enabled an explosion of building, in which the Assyrians made use of their ample supply of stone and began to establish their own artistic style.
• They continued to build ziggurats and to plan their cities along much the same lines as the Sumerians, with gardens and zoos, palaces and temples, and walls, of course. But stone allowed the Assyrians to build larger, more enduring structures, and their choice in decor was distinctly Assyrian. * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Assyrians
• Yet the Assyrians were not as interested in architecture as they were in conquest.
• Their mastery of iron made Assyrian soldiers some of the most dangerous in the world.
• They had also begun the full-scale construction of siege equipment, which allowed their tide of conquest to flow quickly, without getting held up at fortified cities.
• Perhaps the most ruthless aspect of Assyrian conquest was their system of deportation.
• Under Assyrian rule, conquered peoples were forcibly relocated from their lands to other parts of the empire, while Assyrian colonists settled the newly conquered territory. * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Assyrians
• By breaking people from their lands, the Assyrians smashed resistance before it could start and sought to assimilate the new peoples into their empires.
• Following the Bronze Age collapse, the ancient world was in constant turmoil for nearly four centuries. Amid this chaos, kingdoms quickly rose and fell.
• Perhaps the most famous of these short-lived kingdoms was the Kingdom of Israel.
• Within a century, the Assyrians had conquered most of the Fertile Crescent, and had begun to push against the Levant.
• Through alliance with their neighbors, the Israelites fought off the invading Assyrians for a while, but the closest they ever came to victory was a stalemate at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC. * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Assyrians
• Emboldened by instability in the Assyrian homeland, the Israelites spent the next century trying to throw off their Assyrian overlords, until 744 BC, when Assyria finally found a leader to match their imperial ambitions.
• His name was Tiglath-Pileser III.
• Tiglath staged a military coup, reunited the Assyrian empire and recovered the lost territories.
• He reorganized these territories into imperial provinces which paid a set tribute and provided soldiers in war time.
• Well-organized and rich with tribute, Tiglath organized his soldiers into the world's first proper standing army and began a war of expansion.
• The kingdom of Israel managed to hold off the Assyrian expansion until in 738 BC, the King of Judah betrayed the Kingdom of Israel, allying his kingdom with the conquerors. * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Assyrians
• With Judah's help, Tiglath wiped the Kingdom of Israel off the map, expelling its inhabitants from the land and spreading them within the empire.
• However, with the aid of allies as far flung as Egypt, the Israelites continued to resist Assyrian rule and refused to pay tribute.
• Infuriated by this perpetual insurrection, Tiglath's successors would continue the practice of displacing the rebellious Israelites.
• His son Shalmanaser seems to have done little else in his three-year reign.
• He died besieging the Israelite capital of Samaria.
• His top general Sargon seized power and established himself by completely destroying Israel. * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Assyrians
• Within 20 years, ten tribes of Israel were lost forever. Only the two tribes of the Kingdom of Judah remained.
• We call this mass displacement the First Israelite Diaspora and the ten tribes the Lost Tribes of Israel.
• With the Israelites finally quelled, Sargon turned east to smash the Elamites and bring the Babylonians back into the Assyrian empire.
• At home, he built a new capital at Dur Sharrukin, near the ancient city of Nineveh.
• His successors would do much the same, spending half their lives conquering and the other half erecting temples and palaces to commemorate their conquests.
• The Sargonid dynasty would rule the Assyrian empire until its fall nearly a century later. * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Assyrians
• Each successive generation added new lands to the empire, even conquering Egypt in 675 BC.
• At its height, the Assyrian Empire spanned two continents and covered about 550,000 square miles.
• Assyrian rule was incredibly savage. Assyrian Kings boast of their vicious cruelty in inscriptions and even commemorated some of their more vicious exploits in engravings.
• Though this excessive cruelty served the Assyrians well as they grew their empire, these same shock-and-awe tactics would bring about the downfall of the Assyrians.
• When the Babylonians decided to throw off Assyrian rule, they found ready allies throughout the empire.
• Medes, Scythians, Cimmerians and Judeans all rose up. * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Assyrians
• The only land that remained faithful to Assyria was Egypt, at the other extreme of the empire.
• Between the two, lands broke into rebellion, until at last a combined force sacked the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 BC.
• Neo-Babylonians
• One thousand years after Hammurabi built the first Babylonian empire, Babylon had not forgotten its former primacy in all that time.
• Throughout Assyrian reign, Babylon was always the first to rebel - the first to take advantage of every weakness. Now, with the Assyrians out of the picture, Babylon attempted to reclaim its former glory.
• After defeating Assyria, the Babylonian leader, Nabopolassar, became the King of an empire that covered most of the modern middle eastern countries, from Turkey to the Persian Gulf, and from the Red Sea to the Tigris. * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Babylonians
• He and his son, Nebuchadnezzer rebuilt Babylon in lavish style, making it the most magnificent city of the ancient Near East.
• At the head of this expansion was the ambitious king Nebuchadnezzar II.
• Nebuchadnezzar conquered much of the previous Assyrian Empire, though he didn't make it all the way to Egypt.
• While the Babylonians were focused on fighting the Assyrians, the Egyptians had made great territorial expansions into the Levant. This led to war between Nebuchadnezzar and Egypt, and in the end there developed a stale mate between the two.
• In his conquest he made use of the same imperial bureaucracy, road system, and military tactics that had made the Assyrians so successful.
• Like the Assyrians, he struggled with the descendants of Abraham. * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Babylonians
• During this period, the Egyptians attempted to incite revolts amongst Babylonian dependent kingdoms, including the Jews in Palestine.
• To bring them to heel, he did to Judea what the Assyrians had done to Israel.
• He drove out their inhabitants and began what his victims called the Babylonian Captivity.
• When Nebuchadnezzer put the revolt in Judah down, he deported most of the population, as previously mentioned.
• They also sacked Jerusalem. * The Iron Age Empires
• Neo-Babylonians
• As a result, their reputation has suffered, because The Bible has cast the Babylonians as evil gluttons, and Babylon as a den of luxurious decadence and unnatural vice, a reputation which it deserves no more than any other ancient city.
• At home, Nebuchadnezzar restored Babylon to its former glory, with ambitious new building projects including the famous Hanging Gardens and the massive ziggurat Etemenanki, whose sheer massiveness may have made it the inspiration for the Biblical Tower of Babel.
• Though none of these fabulous buildings survive, the beauty of the Babylonian style can still be seen in the restored Ishtar Gate.
* The Iron Age Empires
• Nebuchadnezzer rebuilt Babylon, and in doing so added what is considered to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Gardens, a zigguraut bedecked in flowing waters, waterfalls, and lavish floral gardens, said to have been built so his wife would not miss her mountain home. As its location has not ever been verified, many consider it to be purely legendary, and not real.
• He also reinforced the city building brick walls, and monumental gateways. * The Iron Age Empires
• This period of Babylonian glory proved to be brief, after Nebuchadnezzer’s death the throne passed to his son, brother in law, and grandson in quick succession. When his grandson was murdered, a man named Nabodinus became king.
• Nabonidus’s mother, who lived to be 104, was a priestess of the Moon God, and Nabonidus was equally as devoted. This however, made him unpopular with the population that still worshipped Marduk.
• As a result, Narbodinus fled into exile, leaving his son, Bel-shar-usur (the biblical Belshazzar) as ruler. This made Nabonidus even more unpopular, as the popular, and important to Babylonian society, New Year festival could not be celebrated without the king.
• Absorbed in their religious controversies, the Babylonians had ignored the rising power of the Persians under Cyrus the Great. In September 539, Cyrus invaded Babylonia, there was little opposition, and the city of Babylon fell without a fight.
• Thus, very anti climatically, ended the 2,000 year history of the Mesopotamian imperial tradition, and only one empire, the greatest of them, would command the ancient near east from that time. * The Iron Age Empires
• The Persian (Archemeneid) Empire
• To the east, Babylon’s old allies, the Medes, were having trouble with a group of invaders from the Bronze Age collapse, the Persians.
• The Persians had been vassals - first of the Assyrians, then of the Medes.
• They were to become the greatest and the last of the empires in the ancient near east, and were located in what is today modern Iran.
• The empire of Persia extended from the Indus River in the east, to the Aegean Sea in the west, and this vast realm was created in little under a decade by Cyrus the Great.
• Cyrus came to the throne around 559 B.C. when Persia was a vassal state of the Median empire, of which not much is known, but in 550 B.C. Cyrus rebelled against them and King Astayages of Media invaded Persia to put down the revolt.
• Astayages was not very popular, however, and once he met in Cyrus in battle, his tropps abandoned him and joined Cyrus, who obviously won, and then became King of Persia and the Medes. * The Iron Age Empires
• The Persian (Archemeneid) Empire
• With this new might, Cyrus went on to conquer the Babylonian Empire
• His conquest is remarkable for its speed and its genius.
• Confronted by the walled city of Babylon, Cyrus diverted the Euphrates River, which fed the city its water.
• Dying of thirst, Babylon capitulated without a fight.
• Yet Cyrus did not build his empire on pure military might.
• Like Assyria, Babylon had not been friendly to its provinces, and as a result, Cyrus exploited the discontent of Babylon's vassals.
• Assyria was the first to switch to the Persian side at the promise of semi-autonomy.
• Yet Cyrus was just as kind to the little guys as the big players. * The Iron Age Empires
• The Persian (Archemeneid) Empire
• He allowed all the peoples displaced by the Babylonians to return to their homes with their gods.
• Under Cyrus, the Babylonian Captivity ended, and Israel was re-established as a kingdom.
• Soon the Persians became known as liberators, and province after province welcomed them with open arms.
• Cyrus enacted laws of religious tolerance, rebuilt temples, and founded new cities, eventually earning the respect even of the Babylonians he had conquered.
• With this combination of military might and deft diplomacy, Cyrus built the largest empire ever known to man.
• So, Cyrus’s success had as much to do with diplomacy as generalship as he was merciful to defeated rulers, did not burden conquered peoples with excessive demands for tribute, and did not interfere with local customs, laws and religions. * The Iron Age Empires
• The Persian (Archemeneid) Empire
• He was also aided by the imperial traditions of the near east, which had broken down local identities and accustomed people to foreign rule
• Cyrus’s successors continued to expand the empire. His son Cambyses conquered Egypt and Libya, and Darius I conquered the Indus valley before turning west to capture Thrace in south east Europe (modern day Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania)
• But even with Cyrus’ leniency and fair mindedness, not everyone was lining up to join the Persian Empire.
• The Egyptians, having only recently regained their autonomy, were loath to relinquish it again.
• Cyrus' son, Cambyses, would settle the issue with the sword, adding Egypt to the empire in 525 BC.
• Cambyses was not the enlightened leader his father had been, and heavy taxation led to unrest in the empire.
* The Iron Age Empires
• The Persian (Archemeneid) Empire
• While Cambyses was away in Egypt, a group of Zoroastrian priests called the Magi staged a coup, putting one of their own number on the throne.
• He reigned for all of seven months before himself being overthrown by Cambyses' cousin, Darius.
• The Persian Empire under Darius
• Like Cyrus, Darius showed amazing foresight.
• He rebuilt and reconnected the chaotic system of roads left by previous empires.
• He encouraged religious freedom, while incorporating himself into the religions of his subjects.
• He gave the kingdoms of the empire a certain degree of autonomy, and he came up with a fair system of imperial taxation. * The Iron Age Empires
• The Persian (Archemeneid) Empire
• The Persian Empire under Darius
• His new capital at Persepolis was one of the most magnificent cities ever built, full of beautiful palaces, glorious temples and beautiful artwork.
• Persepolis' position as the seat of a powerful empire can best be seen in the Gates of All Nations.
• Even more remarkable than his work at home was Darius' expansion abroad.
• Darius expanded the empire in all directions.
• To the east he pressed into India.
• To the south, he extended Persian power from Egypt into Libya.
• To the north, he crossed the Dardanelles and began an invasion of Europe. • The Iron Age Empires
• The Gate of All Nations in Persepolis * The Iron Age Empires • When Darius built a new palace at Susa, he deliberately incorporated materials and styles from across the empire to display its size, wealth, and diversity. This diversity was celebrated in a frieze at the ceremonial capital of Persepolis and depicted the empire’s different ethnic groups in their distinctive costumes lining up to present exotic gifts to Darius
* The Iron Age Empires
• The Persian (Archemeneid) Empire
• The Persian Empire under Darius
• In the course of 30 years, the Persians had gone from an obscure tribe of nomadic pastoralists to the leaders of the most powerful empire in history.
• The seemingly limitless expansion of the Persians would be only be checked by another hitherto unimportant people, living in obscurity in their mountainous country.
• Those were the Greeks.
• Greek cities on the Aegean Sea coast of modern day Turkey revolted against the Persians, and were aided by their cousins in Greece itself, including the city of Athens.
• This led to an enmity between the Greeks and Persians that would last for 250 years * The Iron Age Empires
• The Persian (Archemeneid) Empire
• The Persian Empire under Darius
• Though the Greeks depicted the Persian Empire as a ruthless tyranny, it was actually a well organized and tolerant melting pot of cultures
• Darius had reorganized the empire into 20 Satrapies (provinces).
• Tax was assessed based on half of what it was felt each satrapy could pay.
• The power of governors was limited by dividing the civil and military authorities, the old Assyrian postal system was upgraded, and internal communication were speeded by the building of the 1600 mile long Royal Road, linking Susa (the administrative capital) to Sardis on the Aegean Sea. * The Iron Age Empires
• The Persian (Archemeneid) Empire
• The Persian Empire under Darius
• When all the world seemed ready to bend knee to the Persian Empire, the Greeks stood against the rising tide and won their independence.
• This victory of a tiny people over so massive an empire inspired the Greeks to think very highly of themselves, encouraging an explosion of culture that remains Greece's legacy to this day.
• That Greek culture would eventually cover all the Persian Empire, spread by the imperial ambitions of Alexander the Great.