Assyrian Culture

Assyrian Culture 

by Sage Hatch

Assyria (2400-600 B.C.E) was located in northern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) along the Tigris River. Due to Assyria’s location, they were under constant threat of invasion from surrounding Semitic tribes, as a result of their location in Northern Mesopotamia, which was a prime trade route between the Middle East and the Western worlds. Due to the constant threat of enemy incursions, the Assyrians developed a powerful military, perfecting a method of smelting, and utilizing iron, in their military; they armored their chariots and themselves, used iron tipped spears and arrows, which was devastating in a time when most civilizations were still working with much softer bronze armor and weaponry. Not only were their weaponry advanced, so were their tactics, being among one of the first civilizations to adopt the concept of an integrated army, using a mixture of chariot warfare, a strong infantry, skilled bowmen, and a powerful cavalry which utilized both horses, and camels, the Assyrians also developed the first siege equipment and were far more advanced than neighboring empires at defeating highly fortified cities at a terrifyingly fast pace. Some scholars argue that the Assyrians were mostly built up in the minds of future generations due to their portrayal in The Old Testament, as well as extensive battle scenes depicted on their ruins.

While the militaristic aspect of the Assyrian culture is a main focus for scholarly research, Ancient Assyria had many interesting practice; their economy functioned mainly off of livestock and herding; however, they also practiced a neo-tributary empire, receiving a large portion of their income from surrounding provinces. While not being avid tradesmen, they

Utilized their placement along the important trade route, and taxed passersby according to their shipment, who was sending it, and where it was going.

The Assyrian culture unfortunately is not responsible for creating many thing(at least outside of the battlefield); however, they did adopt many aspects of their life, such as, their religion and writing style from their Semitic predecessors; the Sumerians and transmitted it to the modern world. Most notable among the adoption of culture by the Assyrians was the Library of Ashurbanipal, named after Ashurbanipal, the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, is a collection of thousands of clay tablets and fragments containing texts of all kinds from the 7th century B.C.E; Among its holdings was the famous Epic of Gilgamesh and many other writing left from the ancient world.

Unfortunately circa 620 B.C.E the empire came into decline, due to their treatment of their subjects, high taxes, and possibly weak leadership, mainly in the form of conflicts between the ruling king Ashurbanipal, and his brother, leaving the empire open to outside aggression, finally being conquered by a coalition of Neo-Babylonians and Medes. The capital Nineveh fell in 612 B.C.E. and would not rise again.

The Assyrians left behind a confusing strange legacy, of brutality, ingenuity, and innovative tactics; and for a time were the strongest military force of the known world, and while they themselves may have not contributed much in the way of art, poetry or science; they were responsible for transmitting for future generations the knowledge and records from their predecessors; in the form of the Library of Ashurbanipal, and a large portion of their battle field tactics remained viable in the ancient world.

            In my opinion the topic of the Assyrian culture is an under discussed portion of World History in the United States, due to its location in the Middle East, the U.S. seems ashamed to discuss the contributions made to the modern world, at least, if those contributions are coming out of anywhere East of Greece or south of Romania. Contributions made as far back as 2,400 B.C.E like establishing the use of Iron in so many different facets of life, and the importance of transmitting written word for future generations, while the Assyrian culture may not be a part of the Islamic portion Middle Eastern History, they share in their desire to preserve knowledge of their predecessors, in their interest in trade, and tax collection, and defend what they understood to be rightfully theirs.  

Work cited

Ascalone, Enrico. Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians. University of California press. 2007.

Bjorkman, Judith and Pleiner, Radomir. The Assyrian Iron Age: The History of Iron in the Assyrian Civilization. American philosophical society. 1974

Nardo, Don. The Assyrian Empire. San Diego press. 1998Olmstead, A.T. History of Assyria. Chicago press. 1923.

Schomp, Virginia. Ancient Mesopotamia: The Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. New York Scholastic library press. 2005