Assyrian Empire

AssyrianEmpire

The Assyrian finally became independent when the Hitties destroyed Mitanni. For 250 years, the Assyrians experienced alternating expansion and decline until Tiglath-Pileser took power. The Assyrians were not fearful of mixing with other people. Agriculture formed the principal basis of Assyrian life. Assyrian farms received sufficient moisture from regular rainfall.

Society

Amazing pictures from the period

What gave identity to the Assyrians themselves was their language. Even though that was akin to that of their southern neighbors in Babylonia. The religion wasa cohesive force. Assyria was known as "the land of Ahur", reference to its chief god. The king was the human representation of the god Ashur. The reliefs, depicted two different kinds of subject matter: ritual or ceremonial scenes. The reliefs depict a strongly masculine world, which shared the same values of their military.

Art, Religion, and Writing

They were able to enlist and deploy troops numbering in the hundreds of thousands. The army was very well disciplined and organized. Calvary and horse drawn war chariots. They were the first large army to have iron weapons. At the height of the empire was ruled by kings whose powers were absolute. The empire became well organized. Had a new hierarchy of local officals responsible to the King.

Government and Military

Amazing video