Ashur-Banipal
CONQUEROR OF EGYPT. FROM AN ASSYRIAN RELIEF TABLET Elam (Susiana) and Dabylon. He defeated the King of Hamath, who, with other princes, had revolted, took him prisoner, and flayed him alive; advanced through Philistia, and captured Ashdod; then, pushing southward, totally defeated the forces of Egypt and Gaza, at Raphia (719). The revolted Armenians had also more than once to be put down. In 710 Merodach-baladan was driven out of Babylonia by Sargon, after holding it for 12 years as an independent king, and being supported by the Kings of Egypt and Palestine; his allies were also crushed, Judah was overrun, and Ashdod leveled to the ground. Sargon afterward crossed over and took Cyprus, where he left an inscription telling of his expedition. He spent the latter years of his reign in building, in the midst of which he was murdered during a revolt of the the throne. Esar-haddon took the title King of Sumer and Akhad. The most important event of this reign was the conquest of Egypt, about 670. It was reduced to a state of vassalage, the Ethiopian ruler, Tirhakah, was driven out and the land was divided into 20 separate kingdoms, the rulers of which were the vassals of Esar-haddon. He associated the eldest of his four sons, Asshur-banipal, with him in the government of the kingdom (669), and, one year later, this prince (the Sardanapalus of the Greeks) became king.
Beginning of the Decline. In 652 a general insurrection broke out. Egypt declared her independence, Syria was in revolt, Elam and the N. E. provinces refused tribute, and Kandalanu, the new Viceroy of Babylon, proclaimed himself King, while his successor, Nabopolassar, ASSYRIA father of Nebuchadnezzer, openly threw off all semblance of his allegiance and declared himself king. The last Assyrian King was Esar-haddon II. (the Sarakos of Ctesias), in whose reign Babylon definitely threw off the Assyrian yoke .
There are some tablets relating to this prince which show that during his rule the N. E. provinces were invaded by a powerful confederation of Aryan and Turanian tribes, Medes, Cimmerians, and Armenians, under the command of Cyaxares. The meager character of the inscriptions about this date, and the apparent number of claimants to the throne, the throne , indicate that after the death of Asshur- ASSYRIA the Ottoman Turks from 1638, at which period it was wrested from the Persians.
People and Language -The Assyrians belonged to the northern branch of the Semitic family, a race of people who spread over the country and mingled with or supplanted the original inhabitants, while their language took the place of the Akkadian, the latter becoming a dead language. Their language differed little from the Babylonian, and both retained traces of the Akkadian.
Religion. The religion of Assyria, though essentially of Babylonian origin, was much simpler, sim and although polytheistic in character, was free from ASSYRIAN SCULPTURE. THE SACRED TREE, WITH EAGLE-HEADED DEITIES banipal a period of disruption and anarchy set in, in, followed, about 606 в. C. , by the siege and destruction of Nineveh by the combined forces of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar. Assyria became a Median province in 606 B. C., and afterward, in conjunction with Babylonia, formed one of the satrapies of the Persian Empire .
In 312 B. C. Assyria became part of the kingdom of the Seleucide, whose capital was Seleucia, on the Tigris. It was afterward subject to the Parthian kings, whose capital was Ctesiphon, and was more than once temporarily in possession of the Romans. When the Persian monarchy of the Sassanide, which succeeded that of the Parthians, was destroyed by the Mohammedans, Assyria was subject to the caliphs, whose seat was at Bagdad from 762 A. D. till 1258. It has been under multitudinous pantheon of the more ancient empire. At the head of the pantheon was the god Assur, the national deity. He was symbolically represented by a winged circle inclosing the figure of an archer. The Assyrian pantheon contained two principal triads , with numerous minor deities. A number of spirits, good and evil, presided over the minor operations of nature. There were set forms of regulating the worship of all the gods and spirits, and prayers to each were inscribed on clay tablets with blanks for the names of the persons using them. The morning and evening sacrifice, the offering of cakes, wines, milk, and honey, are found in the liturgies of the temple. Art and Industry. - The Assyrians were far advanced in art and industry, ASSYRIA and in civilization. They constructed large buildings, especially palaces, of an imposing character. The palaces were raised on high terraces; there were no windows, light being obtained by carrying the walls up to a certain height and then raising on them pillars to support the roof and admit light and air. The Assyrian sculptures, as a rule, were in relief, figures in the full round being the exception. In many cases, however, as in those of winged bulls and other monsters, a compromise was attempted between the full round and relief, the heads being worked free and the body in relief, with an additional leg to meet the exigencies of different points of view.
The Assyrians understood and applied the arch; constructed tunnels, aqueducts, and drains; used the pulley, the lever, and the roller; engraved gems in a highly artistic way; understood the arts of inlaying, en g, enameling, and overlaying with metals; manufactured porcelain, transparent and colored glass, and were acquainted with the lens; and possessed vases, jars, and other dishes, bronze and ivory ornaments, bells, gold earrings and bracelets of excellent design and workmanship. They had also silver ornamental work. Their household furniture also gives a high idea of their skill and taste.
Assyrian Astronomy. The cities of Nineveh, Assur, and Arbela had ea their royal observatories, superintended by astronomers-royal, who had to send in their reports to the king twice a month. At an early date the stars were numbered and named; a calendar was formed, in which the year was divided into 12 months (of 30 days each) called after the zodiacal signs, but as this division was found to be incorrect, intercalary month was added every six years. The Assyrians employed both the dial and the clepsydra. Eclipses were recorded from a very remote a epoch, and their recurrence roughly determined. The principal astronomical work, called the "Illumination of Bel," was inscribed on more than 100 tablets.
Literature and Civilization. One of the most important results of the explorations has been the discovery in the palace of Asshur-banipal at Nineveh, of a large library consisting of many thousand tablets of baked clay inscribed with minute characters; large numbers of these are now stored in the British Museum. This library, in all probability, owes its origin to the keen political insight of Esar-haddon, but was completed by his son Asshur-banipal, whose ASTERACEÆ name most of the tablets bear. Its educational character is shown by the discovery of a number of syllabaries, dictionaries, and text-books for instruction in the ancient Akkadian and Sumirian languages. There have been found also works on mathematics, tables of square and cube roots, ts, as well as lists of plants, metals, and and precious stones, animals, and birds; records of eclipses and other astral phenomena, brief lists of laws and various contract tables.
The geographical works are limited to lists of countries with their products, such as "Lebanon, cedar"; "Elam, horses"; "Cilicia, tin and silver"; and "Arabia, camels." The section most prolific in discoveries has been that of poetic and mythological literature. In 1872 the late George Smith, of the British Museum, discovered a series of poetic legends relating to the great Chaldean hero Gilgamesh (Gizdubar, or Izdubar), the 11th tablet of which contained a legend of the deluge, very closely resembling the Hebrew account. Chronology. The chronology of the Assyrian empire now rests upon a firm basis, being founded on several carefully prepared chronological inscriptions. The most important of these is the "Eponym Canon," a tablet containing containing a list of the archons, or eponyms of Nineveh, or Calah, giving an exact chronology from 913-659 B. C. As each of these officials was in office only one year, the year was named after them; and, as the date of the Bursagalu is fixed by a solar eclipse, the dates of all the officials can be ascertained.