Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire

by Eckart Frahm

The first comprehensive account of the rise and fall of what historians consider to be the world's very first empire: Assyria

At its height in 660 BCE, the kingdom of Assyria stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. It was the first empire the world had ever seen.

Here, historian Eckart Frahm tells the epic story of Assyria and its formative role in global history. Assyria's wide-ranging conquests have long been known from the Hebrew Bible and later Greek accounts. But nearly two centuries of research now permit a rich picture of the Assyrians and their empire beyond the battlefield: their vast libraries and monumental sculptures, their elaborate trade and information networks, and the crucial role played by royal women.

Although Assyria was crushed by rising powers in the late seventh century BCE, its legacy endured from the Babylonian and Persian empires to Rome and beyond. Assyria is a stunning and authoritative account of a civilisation essential to understanding the ancient world and our own.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Middle East, World History, Audiobook, Ancient

528 pages, Paperback

First published April 4, 2023

About the author

Eckart Frahm is professor of Assyriology, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University. He lives in New Haven.

Reviews

[Sense of History]

There are two major problems when it comes to the history of Assyria, and especially that of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (ca 925-610 BCE): the oversupply of one-sided sources, and the one-sided focus on military developments. I wrote about it before: archaeologists and historians of antiquity may count themselves lucky that in Ancient Mesopotamia writing was mainly done on clay tablets (in the so-called cuneiform script); as a result, they have been preserved much better than in the period after that, when writing was done on papyrus and parchment, which are much more perishable materials. And Assyriologists may count themselves even luckier, because the kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire were obsessively focused on putting their exploits in writing and preserving them for posterity. For no other ancient culture/civilization so many sources are available. It is not without reason that the study of ancient Mesopotamia for a long time was, - and in some places still is – called Assyriology, while that study area is both geographically and temporally much broader.

However, the preserved exploits relate almost exclusively to military developments: the Assyrian kings wallowed in pride about the many military expeditions they had set up, the cities and regions they had conquered and destroyed, the peoples they had terrorized, enslaved and often also deported. Bloodthirstiness and cruelty – of course not foreign to any leader from antiquity (and long afterwards) – was the main characteristic they prided themselves on. But that, as a consequence, means that we are mainly informed about these kind of things, very much so that Assyrian history turns out to be an almost impossible to follow sequence of campaigns, sieges, atrocities, etc.

Moreover, we are also very one-sidedly informed, because in many cases they are the only sources, and they are anything but reliable due to their propagandistic character. Archaeologists and historians therefore have a big job to – where possible – test the bombastic Assyrian rhetoric against other, external sources and against archaeological finds, or to screen that rhetoric for plausibility and coherence. And they also have to correct the one-sided military focus by zooming in on aspects such as political-administrative organization, economy, social relations, culture and mentality.

The American-German researcher Eckart Frahm scores very high on both points. This book gives a very complete picture of Assyrian history, both in time (more than 1400 years) and thematically. Frahm has succeeded in making it a readable book, in which military exploits inevitably receive a lot of attention, but in a way that still is easy to follow. That was not the case, for example, in the book I had just read by the French historian Josette Elayi (L'Empire assyrien): the reader of that book who still knows where north and south are after 50 pages, will get a prize from me. Moreover, unlike Elayi, Frahm does know what historical criticism is: as is proper, he constantly warns against the one-sidedness of the Assyrian information, and also critically weighs it against other sources. And where that fails, he simply admits that we do not know (for sure). It is that honesty that is sometimes lacking in many histories of antiquity, where preference is given to an interesting, tasty story above the historically correct one. Kudos to Eckart Frahm!

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.5 stars. Eckart Frahm (Yale University) is one of the great experts when it comes to the history of ancient Mesopotamia, and Assyria in particular. And that is also very clear from this book: it is an almost exhaustive overview of 1400 years of Assyrian history, with an emphasis on Neo-Assyrian history (ca 925-610 bce). Frahm does not limit himself to the incessant series of military campaigns and conquests by the Assyrians, but also pays attention to the broader context (the wider Syriac-Mesopotamian space), to economy and daily life. And he is an honest historian: when we are not sure of our knowledge, or can only rely on the one-sided Assyrian (propagandistic) sources, he clearly indicates it. The book is also very up-to-date (very recent archaeological finds are included), and easy to follow, thanks to maps, a chronology and many illustrations. The only – incomprehensible – downside is that title: “Rise and Fall”, I thought we had long passed that stage of cyclic history. More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Ryan Schaller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very comprehensive but approachable read. When there are multiple explanations or theories for an event, Frahm lays them each out, fairly objectively, and then offers his critiques and own theories. I really appreciated this approach. You know why Frahm thinks the way he does and he leaves you with plenty of notes to help explore alternative ideas further.

Lot of unfamiliar names in this book, but Frahm does a splendid job of helping the reader keep them all straight.

[KB · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I just have to take as a whole, because what do I know about Assyria? Nothing, basically. I saw some really cool statues and reliefs at the British Museum, but that's about it. But when the first page of a book has a quote like "I achieved victory over the rulers of the four quarters of the world-and sprinkled the venom of death all over my enemies," you know you're going to be in for a pretty good ride.

The best compliment I can give this book is that it's super accessible and readable. It's not an exhaustive history of Assyria, but I will gladly trade a depth of information to be able to actually get through it. If you do already have some knowledge, there's surely something here for you regardless. Frahm discusses numerous theories that have been put forth about events and people - challenging them, bringing forth new evidence, agreeing with them. And because the book is so new, it's probably as up-to-date as you're going to get.

I tend to not read much ancient history, so one thing that continually hit me was just how old everything Frahm talks about is. Although there are certainly gaps in the history - which Frahm readily acknowledges - it's amazing that we know as much as we do. But that just made the final chapter, focused on the destruction and sale of Assyrian artefacts by ISIS, that much sadder.

I don't know if I can say I came away with a completely solid (if general) picture of Assyria. It was a bit hard to keep track of who was who, because these were pretty much all new names to me. And sometimes the transition between different time periods seemed a tad choppy or unclear. I would've also liked more pictures.

But Assyria is not only a great introductory book if you're looking to get into the topic, it's also just a plain good read.

[Philip of Macedon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a grand introduction to and study of Assyrian history. Assyriologist Eckart Frahm gives a polished and accessible exploration of the lands and peoples and myths and long term impact of ancient Mesopotamia. It’s not heavily academic, but never watered down and simplistic. It presents competing hypotheses about unanswered questions, enticing analyses and narratives of major rulers and events and eras, and Frahm looks at the lesser talked about aspects of Assyrian culture and life.

Early Assyrian history is mostly dark and unknown, but it is evident that the small state that grew from the northern Iraq city of Ashur and for a while was limited to that city, was very different from the what Assyria would become. Through its existence Assyria felt the economic, cultural, literary, religious, and political influence of its older southern neighbor, Babylonia.

Assyria’s coronation ritual for the king was also seen as a theological endorsement of political ruthlessness and military aggression. Babylon early on recognized the danger of this small nation state’s expansionist ideology. This ideology was in part justified by mythological tales about the warrior god Ninurta’s battles against monsters and enemies, like his fight against Anzû, guardian of the private quarters of Enlil, the king of the gods and Ninurta’s father. Anzû steals the Tablet of Destinies, which prevents the gods from maintaining cosmic order. Ninurta battles and ultimately defeats Anzû with the help of the god Ea’s special trick. This is thought to be a model for Assyria’s “Reconquista” efforts, now giving them a sort of cosmological element. Assyrian kings saw themselves as Ninurta, on a civilizing mission to create order by defeating human enemies along the borders of their growing empire.

Assyria’s abilities to endure hardship are in part responsible for their rise to power. Tiglath-Pileser III adapted Assyria to climate changes instead of letting it bring them down, like Rome, Maya, the Khmer Empire, or other civilizations who faced perils related to a changing climate, like plagues and little ice ages. The political strategy of conquest and annexation of foreign lands, extraction of their wealth for Assyrian use, deportation of hundreds of thousands to replenish their workforce enabled the system to thrive. The king centralized power around himself. Repopulation served the purpose of securing economic flourishing, weakened the identity of recently defeated people to reduce their risk of resistance, and added to the labor force.

Sargon II later ascended the throne, likely usurping it from his (plausible) brother, Shalmaneser V, and restored Assyrian power through conquest, attacking Babylon and various rebel forces. Over the forty years from Tiglath-Pileser III’s ascension to the death of Sargon II, who was probably a son of Tigleth-Pileser III, Assyria grew in power to become the first empire. This depends of course on the definition of empire. Frahm uses political scientist Stephen Howe’s definition, which alludes to the political body’s rule over territories outside its original borders, its dominant ethnic or national group being those in its location of central power, the diversity of religions and races and cultures under its rule, the central power having sovereignty over its military and money raising powers, among other things. Frahm says Assyria constitutes the first in history, before Rome, and is more aligned with this definition than the ancient Akkadian or Egyptian kingdoms, which he calls aspirational empires.

Toward the end of the book, Frahm makes the case that Assyria’s model of empire served as a model that, in many ways, all other major world empires followed, from the Persians to the Seleucids to the Romans to the Ottomans to the British. Although they conquered only a small part of the world, their influence was felt far beyond their borders, by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Arabs, and Persians, who organized themselves politically in ways imitating Assyria. These people would go on to conquer much more of the region.

Assyria never conquered these people but influence was a two way street, with each being in some way shaped by their involvement with Assyria, with Assyria also mimicking some of these people’s customs. Arabia’s female rulers for example may have inspired Assyrian women, during the reigns of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, to exercise greater autonomy and play more important roles in government affairs. Aramaic, not Assyrian, became the common language of the Assyrian empire. Assyrian as a label lost any racial or ethnic meaning and described instead all who fell under the yoke of the empire.

Ashur was the original and long standing capital of Assyria, but this center of power moved over time, to Dur-Sharrukin, then after Sargon II’s death and the inability to retrieve and bury his body, to Nineveh, where his son Sennacherib might have felt safe from the potential hauntings of his father. He tried to erase the memory of his father, possibly for fear that his death was a curse for some immense wrongdoing. After Sennacherib is killed in a rebellion, his son Esarhaddon takes the throne and develops rituals and cultural relics designed to explain the devastating deaths of his father and grandfather.

In a text called “The Sin of Sargon”, as it became known by scholars, Sennacherib speaks from beyond the grave about Sargon’s adoration of the Babylonian gods and says his death was punishment by the Assyrian gods for showing too little praise to them. Sennacherib was apparently slain for his inability to correct this mistake. Esarhaddon’s new ritual of repentance, Frahm argues, was intended to break this cycle of violent royal deaths. Frahm then offers a fascinating account of the Biblical book of Isaiah, in which he claims Chapter 14 is written in reference to Sargon’s death. The poetic language describing him as the Bright one, son of Dawn, when read through the lens of the gospel of Luke, as Christian scholar Origen of Alexandria did, alluding to “Satan falling from heaven like a flash of lightning”, turns Sargon into a possible archetype of Satan, a fallen angel. A cosmological metaphor used to characterize an ancient king, likely Sargon, killed on the battlefield could be in part the creation of the Satan myth.

Sennacherib’s attack of Judah has been called “the first world event” for how many players became involved. It is also, as Frahm lays out over one of the chapters, an episode from Sennacherib’s campaign steeped in mystery. The Bible claims that the Assyrians were wiped out by God smiting them all in one night. Herodotus later wrote that mice descended on the Assyrians, ate through the handles on their swords and shields, rendering them useless and causing a retreat. But Assyrian chronicles record a victory, with Jerusalem surrendering and submitting to Assyrian dominance. Many scholars have tried to explain the differences between Assyrian sources and Biblical sources, some taking up current academic fashions to do so, whether through naturalism, feminism, or identitarianism, to name only a few. Frahm discusses these theories and why they leave a lot to be desired.

Assyrian kings and people had a long infatuation with Babylonian culture and mythology, lasting even through the reign of Sennacherib, who conquered Babylon during his rule. Tiglath-Pileser III had conquered the city of Babylon during his reign, but this merely incorporated Babylon into Assyria’s political identity, while keeping Babylon distinct and its own thriving culture. There was still adoration and respect from Assyria toward their neighbors, even emulation of their rituals. This was true after Sargon’s re-conquest later. But Sennacherib’s conquest was more in line with total destruction, almost wiping Babylon from the map.

This was not taken well by Assyrians, who still admired Babylon, and had to grapple with a new world without this cultural superpower whose mythos and writing and customs had shaped much of Assyrian belief. The king attempted to rewrite Babylonian myths with an Assyrian focus, replacing Marduk with Ashur, for example, and turning Babylonian customs into new Assyrian rituals with their gods at the forefront. This lasted only for a while, until Sennacherib’s rule came to a violent end. Babylon would maintain its place in the collective mind of Assyria despite its ceasing to exist as it once had.

Esarhaddon conquered Egypt in 671 BC, and also spent his time trying to re-establish Babylon’s presence after his father’s destruction of the civilization. After a number of grim prophecies predicted the demise of the king, Esarhaddon had a dummy king installed while he hid away, only to kill the fake king after a hundred days, thereby bringing the prophecy true but keeping the real king, himself, safe. He did this on more than one occasion during his rule. Despite his conquests and victories he was apparently a man of personal weakness and frailty. He became afraid and distrustful of his officials, and has many nobles executed out of fear for his and his family’s prosperity. Before his death he installed his oldest son as king of Babylon and his youngest, Ashurbanipal as king of Assyria.

Ashurbanipal developed his own strange legacy as a mix of educated scholar interested in the obscure and arcane, but also brutal and violent, though not a warrior and perhaps, as seen by his own people, even a coward. He portrayed himself as a brave hunter but was in reality a pathetic performer, killing lions in arenas for the spectacle of his people. He was cruel, self-deceiving, and had a constant need for affirmation. Much of his image was a ruse. He failed to maintain control over Egypt, which reasserted its independence from Assyria shortly into Ashurbanipal’s reign.

His older brother, Shamash-shun-ukin, the king of Babylon, had shed his Assyrian identity and embraced his role as Babylonian ruler. But fed up with his brother’s constant oversight and meddling in Babylonian affairs he instigated a rebellion against Assyria, with the help of, among a few others, Babylon’s oldest rival, Elam, whom they had constant toy fought with and even alongside over the past centuries. Assyria ultimately defeated this rebellion of multiple people’s, crushing Babylon once more, and destroying Elam afterward.

Assyria’s dramatic final decades are laid out, and the sequence of their demise is given in a beautiful narrative, climaxing with Babylon and Medes uniting to destroy Assyria once and for all. Nabopolassar of Babylon made it his duty to avenge the Babylon that Assyria had so gravely and brutally defeated. His son, Nebuchadnezzar II, famous for his conquest of Jerusalem, also defeated the Egyptians, and made Babylon a great superpower once more.

Frahm discusses some leading theories on what could have weakened Assyria enough to let them be defeated in the 7th century BC while they had thrived for so long. One theory posits climate change as the culprit, saying that following a century of the “Assyrian” megapluvial”, there was an “Assyrian megadrought” starting in the early 7th century and lasting until the mid 6th century BC is to blame. The south, where Babylon was thriving, was not affected, and continued to do well.

Another theory, appearing only in the Histories by Herodotus, contends that Scythians raided the lands and weakened Assyrian armies to the point that they could be conquered. Perhaps both are partially true: a climate change pushed the Scythians to invade. Neither theory has much evidence to support it. Besides, as discussed earlier in the book, Assyria’s peak was during this supposed megadrought. Other theories point to political problems, the disastrous decisions of certain kings. Assyria’s demise is still heavily cloaked in mystery.

Frahm shares some of the most striking examples of how Assyrian history and mythology bled into modern myth-history, in its impact on numerous Biblical tales and pseudo historical episodes. Even some of the characteristics of God given in the Bible might, he says, have been inspired by the veneration, fear, and image of Assyrian kings.

In the end, this is a stellar book that strikes a balance between satisfying and thoughtful examinations of many aspects of far-reaching Assyrian history, while maintaining a good pace that never dwells too long in any one topic.

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assyria is a name that might ring familiar to modern people, but few really know anything about it. Assyria existed as a city-state from the 21st century BCE to 14th Century BCE. It then transitioned to a territorial state and, eventually, morphed into an Empire 14th Century till the 7th Century BCE. Assyria is often considered the first Empire.

Assyria started in the Mesopotamian heartland. It faced rivals in Babylon, the Medes, and Egypt. During the Neo-Assyrian period, during the 600's and 700's BCE, Assyria became famed for its armies and was the largest Empire of its time.

In time the Assyrians fell to the Babylonians and the Medes Empires, though remnants of the Assyrian peoples continued to exist and eventually converted to Christianity. They were genocided by their Islamic neighbors during the rise of Islam.

Frahm''s book is interesting and insightful. The saddest part was the end where the author details the destruction of priceless historical artifacts and monuments by the silly bastards of ISIS. What a true crime against humanity.

[Reynold Witmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first part of this book; I struggled to follow. Frahm's writing on the ancient Assyrians was hard for me to follow. This was undoubtedly made so worse because I was listening, so many unfamiliar name was lost on me.
Once the book progressed to the Neo-Assyrians, I started really enjoying it! Even without Herodutean biases, the saga of the Assyrian empire is a rollicking tale. Leaders of biblical popularity (Sennacarib, Sargon, Nebuchadnezzar) are portrayed vividly, but fairly, and the final chapters exploring the evolution of Persian, Christian, and Islamic perspectives on the Assyrians were gold to me. I may read this book again.
edit. I return so soon. In the days following, I kept working over names, details, and events in my mind, with unsatisfactory yields. I just didn't feel like I grasped Assyria well. I decided to follow my hunch, and I started this book again, and effortlessly completed it again. I think its a fitting testimony to this books vitality that I listened to it in audiobook form twice, in a month.

[Erik Rostad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting. It’s such a neat time to be alive. Excavations in the past 150+ years have unearthed tablets, artifacts, and artwork that have brought new understanding about the ancient empire of Assyria. This book contains an overall history of Assyria, its kings, and its interactions with neighboring groups. It also looks at the biblical material about Assyria and contrasts that to what we’ve recently learned. The devastating last chapter is about the purposeful destruction of antiquities brought about by ISIS during our lifetime.

[Ahmed al-Hijazi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Assyria, the greatest and largest empire of its time, ruled almost all of Western Asia for 120 years.

The road to becoming a formidable empire took centuries. At its greatest expansion, it stretched from Elam in southwestern Iran to Egypt, and from the Arabian Gulf in the south to parts of southern Turkey.

In the old Assyrian period (around 2000 BC), the city of Ashur was a mere city-state with a mercantile economy. In the middle Assyrian period (1363 BC), it became a kingdom under the rule of Ashur-uballit I, expanding and conquering the cities of Nineveh and Arbela, along with adjoining areas. The greatest expansion occurred in the Neo-Assyrian period starting from Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BC).

The book contains everything you want to know about Assyria: its kings and queens, military campaigns, Assyria's interactions and wars with its neighbors in the region, setbacks and defeats, the army and siege warfare, as well as religion and culture.

It is an excellent read. The only issue I have with the book is that the author portrays Ashurbanipal negatively, without clear evidence to support his theories and speculations.

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite everything you ever wanted to know about the Assyrians, but didn't know where to start, Frahm's virtue is that where our existing knowledge is thin, he is forthright about saying so. What really concerns him is the subtitle, as he works on building up his argument that the Assyrian state was the first empire, and an inspiration to those that followed. Where Frahm might be weak is when it comes to military history, as while the Assyrians very much intended to make war pay, and were ultimately brought down by military action, Frahm does remarkably little to integrate this aspect into his story. Even if the nuts and bolts of army organization and military strategy are not a matter that Frahm is comfortable with, I would have liked to have seen his critique of our existing understanding of what made the Assyrian military special, as they get great credit for creating cavalry units and for their skill at conducting siege warfare. Be that as it may, after the collapse of the Assyrian state, Frahm spends a significant amount of time musing on the long twilight of Assyrian culture and the Assyrian people, and what that means today.

[Jonathan Mckay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adventures in history and the land of Nod

This may be the perfect book to fall asleep to. I know almost nothing about Assyria, but every night am excited to learn. There’s little ability for an author to assemble a plot, since we know so little about the Assyrian empire. Missing a few chapters cannot cause a reader to miss the plot - our historical record is already full of holes. The vignettes What we do have contains the rangu of skullduggery of history and civilization building that you would expect. I fell asleep to this book for a month, read and forgot chapters multiple times, and honestly still don’t remember too much about the Assyrian empire. But I did sleep well!

[Daniel Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good coverage of the Assyrians—who this book argues were the world's first true empire. Tracing back the roots of Assyria to the earliest times, through a resurgence in the 9th-7th centuries B.C. (the period where they show up in the Bible as an expansionist power encroaching on Israel from the east), to their sudden collapse against the Babylonians. It also devotes a section to daily life in Assyria, its influence on later empires, and even it's "second destruction" under ISIS during the recent Iraq war, in which Islamic State forces destroyed a bunch of Assyrian artifacts and monuments.

It's a good overview, with lots of interesting details and anecdotes. Worth a read.

[Michael K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt, this book was one of the best historically researched and written works on the Ancient Near East. So many parallels between Babylonian history and Biblical history merging into one vast book. I was a little taken back by the size of the work to be read, but it became a page turner! By the end of reading this book I was very impressed. IF your are interested in the Ancient Near East, THEN this book may need to be placed on your reading list!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of a subject and civilization I knew by name and reputation but very little else. At times the names get a bit much but at the end of the day, I know way more about the subject and it's people then I ever did before.

Recommended for the history inclined. This fleshes out a rather important society that has been at times vastly underrepresented and or unfairly miligned. Well worth the time commitment.

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrow.

As strong as the sources allow it to be and entirely convincing as the world’s first empire. Particularly powerful is understanding the influence of other cultures upon the Assyrians and the influence they left on their successors.

Sadly missing was any real explanation on how they were able to expand militarily. How did they fight? Why were their soldiers able to overcome their neighbours? Tactics? Weaponry? And so on.

[Jacob Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkably thorough introduction to the Ancient World, woven with lively anecdotes and a dry sense of humor that keeps what should be a dense text book entertaining and informative.

[Coco Smit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best history book I've read. The stories of Sargon II, Sennacherib, Essarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, the last great kings of the Assyrian empire, were the most fascinating. I especially loved Sennacherib, his brutal vengeance for his father and later his son are absolutely horrific. But then you read a passionate engraving to his wife (who later gets put aside for Naqi'a, mother of Essarhaddon,) and you kind of love him again. The loss of his father and loss of his father's body most have really done a number on his sanity as it was seen as a bad omen to not have a proper funeral. A ghost story follows, and Sennacherib erases his father name wherever he can. After the murder of his son, he lays siege and destroys Babylon.

Frahm is witty, honest, and presents you with different theories and points of view. Very readable, I read ± 100 pages a day. And all together this book felt too short. Moan Inc. on YouTube has an interview with Eckart Frahm, A Beginner's Guide to Ancient Assyria, which is worth a watch.

[Tristan Timms · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the first times when a history book has truly drawn me in, where hours of my time vanish without my noticing. It’s one of those skull cracking books, one that reshapes your schema on how you approach not only the idea of empire, but also that of artistic history, the recipes of progress and the rise of monotheism. It’s style and ordering as a work of history are almost faultless, and I consider myself lucky that my current professor was a pupil of Dr Frahm, and can now better understand where her original passions were germinated from.

[Benny Hinrichs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite liked it. Frahm has a good sense of narrative as well, so it's more than just a recitation of discovered texts. Definitely read if you're interested in Assyria.

[Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was unexpectedly riveting. Ever since stumbling upon those detailed bas-reliefs of the Judean exile in the British Museum years ago, I’ve been fascinated with this period. Frahm is a scholar for a general audience yet keenly aware of his readers who, as he says, the "stakes are high" with the Bible’s historical reliability. He still brings their world and the drama of 2 Kings so vividly to life. A delightful page-turner, for sure.

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. A very readable, interesting telling of what we know and what we can surmise about the ancient Assyrians. It really broadens the view of them from the rapacious, violent warriors sense I got from the broad strokes of ancient history, but their history, culture, art, and legacy are pretty interesting.

I think my first fascination for them came from reading translations of Ashurbanipal’s cuneiform inscriptions from the slaps of his temple in the British Museum. They were so dramatic and overwrought it seemed, but I figured it was just how things were at the time, and while that is partly true, it is also true that Ashurbanipal seemed to be quite the poser who wanted to be known as a great warrior—such that he built a proto-coloseum in the middle of Nineveh (I think), and fought lions before his people. He also wanted to be seen as quite the renaissance man of letters but his penmanship apparently belies that.

Anyway, lots of fascinating views of the ancient world and how Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, the Medes, Israel, etc, fought, interacted, and influenced each other in the early days of recorded history.

[Dana Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Likely a 4.5, swings between 4 and 5 depending on what angle I look at it.

Frahm's approach is interesting here, and importantly the book is grounded in archeological evidence. The first quarter of it is a fairly breakneck survey of very early Assyrian city state/kingdom from 2000bce to around 900bce. We get how they fit into the greater regional contex, cultural and religious aspects, architecture, how the list of Kings works, and various key moments leading up to their apex of power. The majority of the book zooms in on the doings of the kings and their entourage during Assyria's height from 900bce to 600bce. We get plenty of detail due to the amount of cuneiform tablets found and writings from other cultures surrounding them such as Babylonia, Greece, Judea, Egypt, even the bible. The presentation here is entertaining and seemingly very accurate, to the point where you feel the tragedy by the time the civilization falls, and even more to in the chapter which discusses the destruction of the city ruins and artifacts by ISIS in 2015.

I knew next to nothing about Assyria going into this and came out really loving what Frahm presented. Throughout, his approach is to present archeologically grounded information, investigate other historians' theories, other cultures' assessments, sometimes present his own, or analyzing legend written in the Bible. This all works well, but my main criticism would be a final chapter where he deep dives into analyzing biblical, Greek and Roman stories and how those may have been influenced by actual Assyrian people. It's interesting, but a bit out of place by being entirely speculative. It's what keeps this from being a true 5.

Otherwise, a great introduction to Assyria which I hope sparks more general interest!

[Matt Blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely sweeping history covering centuries (actually, millennia) of Assyrian history and (tellingly) its afterlife, rediscovery, and its redestruction. A very interesting and engaging read. Quite long (over 400 pages), so not for the historically faint of heart. Buckle in for the long haul, and get ready to be fully immersed in the history and culture of the world’s first empire.

[DW Rowlands · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book was far more focused on elite and, especially, royal experiences and actions than I would have liked, I admit that I did learn a lot from it, and managed to be startled by the amount of continuity between Bronze Age and Iron Age Assyria, including a single dynasty that ruled for over a thousand years.

[Behzad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful read! It’s amazing that we learn more about the past as we progress forward in time!

The narrative connects archeological findings with methodological history in Jewish scripture which makes the book and Assyrian history doubly more interesting. The last chapter was a nice summary for why understanding Assyrian empire is still relevant for us in 21 century.

[Brian Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, comprehensive look at a civilization many have heard of but few truly know. They had people flayed alive, yes, but they could be poets and postal workers, too.

[Dants · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit torn about this book.

On the one hand it opened my eyes to a new topic that really captivated me and made me read with much thirst for more knowledge. On the other hand, I was sometimes a bit confused about the choices the author made while writing this book.

The essential question that was left unanswered to me after reading this book was, why was this book written and what was the scope of the project?

This is because the author takes some moments in history in extended details, and some other points he just hovers over. It is possible that less data is available from some times but I would have liked to know why the choices are made.

For example, at some point the author goes very much in depth about the conquest of Judea with details from the Bible and such. While other moments, for example the wars with Aramaic people after the collapse of the Bronze Age or Urartu passed by very quickly. I understand the impact of this conquest on the Bible and such but the reason was not clarified.

Moreover, there are some things that annoyed me like stating that the Assyrians did participate in practices like the "Roman practice of damnatio memoriae" which is very misleading. Damnatio memoriae is a term given by modern scholars of the practice of washing the memory and the Romans didn't call it that way. And the continuous use of the "Byzantine" which is very stupid and unjust.

All in all, a cool book to start with if anyone is interested in the topic. I surely didn't know shit about this civilization even though I grew up in the area that was part of the Empire at some point. It did open my eyes to different aspects. The names of the kings of emperors if we are to follow the thesis that this kingdom was the first empire, were very hard to read but I got used to it after a while. But I think there must be other books who do this introduction better. No regrets of reading this book, but it could have been written in a much better way.

[Min · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! The book covers the history of Assyria in chronological order. Some books are arranged by theme, but as a newer history reader, the sequential format helps in remembering the important dates and events. The Assyrian King List provided at the start of the book was also a handy resource that I referred to constantly. Assyrian history is colored very much by the personalities and achievements of its rulers, so I pretty much digested it the same way as I understand Chinese history through a dynastic lens. The writing was engaging, and the subject was so riveting that I found it hard to put the book down.

That being said, this is not a five star read for me because there wasn't adequate explanation for the two defining characteristics of Assyrian foreign policy. Eckhart Frahm describes the theological endorsement of Assyria's aggressive expansion through coronation rituals and admits that such aggression was difficult to explain given Assyria's beginnings as a mercantile city-state. I would have liked the book to explore possible explanations for this transformation, but perhaps we can only get a better picture once excavations yield new finds. The origins of Assyria's glorification of violence (even by ancient standards) also remain shadowy. Eckhart Frahm describes the commemoration of such acts as propaganda for both enemies and future Assyrian kings, but how they became accepted by the Assyrian people and their rulers in the first place remains unanswered.

Nevertheless, a very accessible read that offers a good introduction to the ancient Near East. I paired this with Babylonia by Costanza Casati, which really brought the world of Assyria to life.

[Tommy Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an admirable introduction to the Assyrian empire. The author draws on a vast wealth of evidence, from archeological to historical to biblical, to recreate and explain, in as much detail as possible, the whole scope of the history of the rise, flourishing, and fall of the Assyrian empire. At times, this effort leads to the book devolving into a listing of names, places, and dates that is hard to follow by all except experts of the subject. But at its best, this book thinks thematically about important issues, like what is an empire and what are the strengths and weaknesses of the argument that Assyria is one of, if not the first, world empire, and explores important and oft overlooked topics such as women in Assyria and the lives of ordinary period, all set against the epic backdrop of military and political history. Finally, this book explores the lasting legacy of Assyria, in modern world religions, in its influence on later empires like Greece and Rome, and even up to the destruction of Assyrian artifacts by ISIS, acknowledging that the past--even the truly ancient past-- is never past.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to the Ancient Assyrians from a political history perspective. The book comes to life in passages of analysis. Stand out passages were:
- Frahm's breakdown of the misleading nature of Ashurbanipal's imagery
- the chapter on everyday life in Empire
- the discussion of how impressions and knowledge of Assyria has changed over time

Books on ancient history are always constrained by the sources available. Nevertheless, I felt Frahm could have developed more analysis to explain his narrative. For instance, I was left unconvinced by his views of the advantages Assyria had over it's neighbours. What was it that gave Assyria advantages? Climate and geographic explanations only go so far. I was also disappointed by the themes chosen in the chapter on everyday life. There was nothing, for instance, on the experience of soldiers.

Overall, a good narrative with patches of solid analysis.