ASSYRIANS. - A people settled on the middle Euphrates, thus named from Aššur (v). It was commonly held that they were originally Subareans, who, first colonized by the Sumerians and then by the Akkadians, merged with the latter, adopting Semitic language, art, and culture. From this fusion arose the Assyrian people, warlike, cruel, the terror of the ancient East (cf. Is. 5:26-29).
Recent authors (Goetze, Gelb, Poebel), however, regard them as originally Semitic nomads, as is stated in the list of Assyrian kings, after the first 17 names. They settled in northern Mesopotamia, where they first suffered an invasion of Akkadians, at the time of the 1st Semitic empire (v. BABYLONIANS), and then, from 1800 onward, the invasion of the Hurrians. The contribution of Hurrian, that is Indo-European, blood from these new peoples who came down from the mountains, gave rise to a new culture, which is fundamentally Semitic, but which owes to these foreigners the traits that distinguish it: the harshness of its laws, its warlike spirit, its art.
It is difficult, however, to trace the unfolding of this evolution among the Assyrians. From 1800 to about 1400 B.C. they were subject to the kingdom of Mitanni, the most important of those founded by the Hurrians, and which lay precisely between the Hittites and the Assyrians.
In the 14th century the kingdom of Mitanni became a vassal of the Hittites; Assyria took advantage of this and made itself independent. Its kings extended their conquests over the ancient Hurrian territory, first with Aššur-Uballi I (c. 1350) and especially with the kings Adad-nirāri I (1330-1290), Šulmānu-ašared I (Shalmaneser, c. 1290-1260), Tukulti-Ninurta I, who around 1247 conquered Babylon, but only for a short time.
Around 1200 new Indo-European waves burst upon Asia Minor and ruined the Hittite empire, whose remnants formed the small principalities of northern Syria. The "peoples of the sea" descended upon Egypt. From these upheavals Assyria drew every benefit, and since the Hittite empire no longer existed, it began its victorious expansion toward the West.
The founder of Assyrian power is Tiglath-Pileser (Tiglat-pilesar) I (1115-1093), who extended his empire from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. The history of this militarist empire, which would always have to defend itself on every side against the various defeated kingdoms, often superior in civilization, is a continuous succession of campaigns against Babel, Urartu, Elam, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Assyria owes it to the valor of its generals and the warlike nature of its soldiers that it was able to impose itself and shine for about five centuries (until 612).
Tiglath-Pileser began that push toward the sea, to the west, which his successors, albeit intermittently, continued almost to the end of the kingdom. They therefore clashed with Israel and Judah. Assurnasipal II (885-859) reached as far as Arwad (Aradus), in Phoenicia, causing alarm. Therefore Ahab (v.) allied himself with Benhadad II king of Damascus (I Kings 20:31-34). Shalmaneser III (859-824), continuing his father's policy, led campaigns against Damascus and its allies (years 854, 848, 841, 838). In the first, among the defeated confederates, he records 2000 chariots and 10,000 soldiers of "Ahab of the land of Israel." In 841 he reduced to dire straits Hazael, the usurper of Damascus, and on the Phoenician shore received the homage of the Syrian kings, among them Ja-u-a mar Hu-um-ri-i, "Jehu successor of Omri" (v. AMRI).
The energetic Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727) spent his life on the battlefields; he defeated the Urartians, destroying Arpad their capital (743-740); cf. II Kings 18:34. In 738 he received the tribute of the kings of Syria, among them: Ra-lu-um mar Dimadqi and Me-ni-hi-im-me ali Sa-me-ri-na-a-a, "Rezin of Damascus and Menahem of Samaria" (ibid. 15:37; 16:5-9; II Chron. 28:5 ff.; Is. 7:1 ff.). In 734 he marched against the Syro-Palestinian kings, once again in rebellion; he took Gezer, Ashkelon, and Gaza.
There he received the rich embassy of Ahaz, king of Judah, who invoked help against Rezin and the king of Israel Pekah (Pegah; II Kings 16:7 ff.). Tiglath-Pileser devastated Israel, deporting to Assyria the inhabitants of many localities; meanwhile Pekah having been killed by the supporters of the Assyrian party, he gave him as successor A-n-si (Hoshea), who paid him a tribute of 10 talents of gold (II Kings 15:29 ff.). Then he took and devastated Damascus (cf. ibid. 16:9; Is. 17:1 ff.), killed the king and deported the population to Kir.
Having subdued the West, he succeeded in entering victoriously the ancient Babel, of which he made himself king under the name of Pu-lu (Pul in II Kings 15:19 ff.).
Sargon II (722-705) took Samaria (722-721), already besieged for three years by Shalmaneser V; he deported 27,290 of its inhabitants, transported there people from other conquered countries (v. SAMARITANS) and made the kingdom of Israel an Assyrian province (II Kings 17:3-6, 24; 18:9 ff.).
At the death of Sargon, Merodach-baladan II seized, once again, the kingdom of Babel, seeking allies in the West (cf. Is. 39). But Sennacherib (v.) or Sin-ahhē-eriba (705-681) subdued Elam and Babel (702) and in 701 turned against Palestine. He took Sidon, subdued the other states, punished Ekron. Having defeated the Egyptians at Alta-qu-u (Hebr. 'Eltēgh, Josh. 19:44; 21:23), he devastated the territory of Judah, shutting up king Hezekiah (Ha-za-qi-a-u) in Jerusalem "like a bird in a cage." Sennacherib relates that Hezekiah made an act of submission, sending him 30 talents of gold and 800 of silver, besides many precious objects and slaves; and he returned to Nineveh. The particulars reported in II Kings 18:13-19:37 (cf. Is. 36-37) are attributed by many to a later campaign, between 690 and 681; but most regard them as in their place here.
In 689 Sennacherib destroyed Babel, which Esarhaddon would rebuild. Sennacherib having been killed by his two elder sons, who fled from northern Mesopotamia, Esarhaddon obtained the kingdom (680-669). He, among his tributaries, mentions "Manasseh king of Judah," who adopted the cults and practices of the rulers (II Kings 21:3).
Egypt having been conquered by Esarhaddon (671), Ashurbanipal his son and successor (668-625) returned there victoriously in 667 and in 663, the year in which he ferociously sacked Thebes (Nō' Āmēn); cf. Nah. 3:8 ff.
The fall of Nineveh (612), through the work of the Medes and the Chaldeans, marks the end of the Assyrian state (v. BABYLONIANS).
Bibliography4 works
Treatments: P. Dhorme, Les pays bibliques et l'Assyrie, Paris 1911; B. Meissner, Babylonien und Assyrien, 2 vols., Heidelberg 1920-25; S. Smith, Early History of Assyria to 1000 B. C., London 1928; J. Plessis, Babylone et la Bible, in DBs. I, coll. 783-95; G. Furlani, La civiltà babilonese e assira, Rome 1929; id., Riti babilonesi ed assiri (L'Oriente, 2). Udine 1940; A. Pohl, Historia orientis antiqui, Rome 1932; id., Historia populi Israel, a divisione regni usque ad exilium, ibid. 1933; J. Lewy, Les textes paléo-assyriens et l'A. T., in Revue d'hist. des Religions, 110 (1934), pp. 29-65; A. Goetze, Hethiter, Hurriter und Assyrier, Oslo 1936; G. Contensu, La civilisation d'Assur et de Babylone, Paris 1937; I. J. Gelb, Hurrians and Subareans, Chicago 1942; A. Poebel, The Assyrian King List from Khoroabad, ibid. 1942-43.
Francesco Spadafora