The Assyrians: The History of the Most Prominent Empire of the Ancient Near East

by Charles River Editors

*Includes pictures *Discusses Assyrian military tactics, religious practices, and more *Includes ancient Assyrian accounts documenting their military campaigns and more *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents “I fought daily, without interruption against Taharqa, King of Egypt and Ethiopia, the one accursed by all the great gods. Five times I hit him with the point of my arrows inflicting wounds from which he should not recover, and then I laid siege to Memphis his royal residence, and conquered it in half a day by means of mines, breaches and assault ladders.” - Esarhaddon “I captured 46 towns...by consolidating ramps to bring up battering rams, by infantry attacks, mines, breaches and siege engines.” - Sennacherib When scholars study the history of the ancient Near East, several wars that had extremely brutal consequences (at least by modern standards) often stand out. Forced removal of entire populations, sieges that decimated entire cities, and wanton destruction of property were all tactics used by the various peoples of the ancient Near East against each other, but the Assyrians were the first people to make war a science. When the Assyrians are mentioned, images of war and brutality are among the first that come to mind, despite the fact that their culture prospered for nearly 2,000 years. Like a number of ancient individuals and empires in that region, the negative perception of ancient Assyrian culture was passed down through Biblical accounts, and regardless of the accuracy of the Bible’s depiction of certain events, the Assyrians clearly played the role of adversary for the Israelites. Indeed, Assyria (Biblical Shinar) and the Assyrian people played an important role in many books of the Old Testament and are first mentioned in the book of “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech, and Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Ashur and built Nineveh and the city Rehoboth and Kallah.” (Gen. 10:10-11). Although the Biblical accounts of the Assyrians are among the most interesting and are often corroborated with other historical sources, the Assyrians were much more than just the enemies of the Israelites and brutal thugs. A historical survey of ancient Assyrian culture reveals that although they were the supreme warriors of their time, they were also excellent merchants, diplomats, and highly literate people who recorded their history and religious rituals and ideology in great detail. The Assyrians, like their other neighbors in Mesopotamia, were literate and developed their own dialect of the Akkadian language that they used to write tens of thousands of documents in the cuneiform script (Kuhrt 2010, 1:84). Furthermore, the Assyrians prospered for so long that their culture is often broken down by historians into the “Old”, “Middle”, and “Neo” Assyrian periods, even though the Assyrians themselves viewed their history as a long succession of rulers from an archaic period until the collapse of the neo-Assyrian Empire in the 7th century BCE. In fact, the current divisions have been made by modern scholars based on linguistic changes, not on political dynasties (van de Mieroop 2007, 179). The The History of the Most Prominent Empire of the Ancient Near East traces the history and legacy of Assyria across several millennia. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the history of the Assyrians like never before, in no time at all.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Ancient

61 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2014

About the author

Charles River Editors is an independent publisher of thousands of ebooks on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBookstore & provider of original content for third parties.

Reviews

[Rob Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a survey, rather than in-depth analysis, yet it well serves its purpose. It quickly puts perspective on the Assyrian Empire and its relations and wars with its neighbors. If you only vaguely remember them from school, this book is an excellent refresher.

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent overview that provides a basis for knowledge about Assyria.

[james montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read.

A short synopsis of Assyrian history that is a quick and entertaining read; and it is free! Penguin is a good outfit.

[Joe Cavanaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice and short history of the Assyrians. Nothing to get too excited about, but nice work to give you a general overview of the civilization.

[Katie J Dvorak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight

Loved story telling narrative. Enjoyed pictures very much. Explains a lot of biblical stories. Have read it three times in past few years hate to return it

[Ramona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief, gave some basics

[Samuel Bierig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure on the reputability of of the James River stuff, but for my purposes to just jog the mind on the Assyrian world-time-space it was good.

[Iago · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un libro flojillo. No es que se narren mal las etapas del Imperio Asirio, sino que hay aspectos que apenas se mencionan. Por ejemplo, habla de que los Asirios inventaron múltiples máquinas y técnicas de asedio, pero sólo explica una y de manera muy insuficiente. Y habla de pasada de algunas deidades adoradas en este imperio sin pararse a exponer su panteón. A mí me parecen más importantes estos detalles que extenderse en detalles historiográficos de tipo académico (cosa que no desprecio, pero que considero prescindible).

[Neale Aslett · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy read, with great detail which illuminates an important and little known empire. All empires pass away.

[Tom Clawser · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read, well written overview of a fascinating empire of the Ancient world. I highly recommend it.

[Sumit · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comprehensive start to an understanding of the fabled and feared Assyrians.

[LeeTravelGoddess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short on key places & events in history!