Near Eastern Institute

Assyriology Primer

Assyriology has revealed that long ago, the political city state of Assyria was located on the banks of the Upper Tigris River in Mesopotamia. The city took its name from the capital at the time, and the term ‘Assyria’ also loosely refers to the geographical area of the whole Empire. Recent excavation at the Tell Hassuna provides exciting evidence of the early Neolithic settlement that once sprang up there. Inscriptions recorded by  the earliest rulers of Assyria date to about 2000 BC,when the state merely consisted of a few  Semitic kingdoms and a number of small, scattered towns.

Traditionally, the Kingdom of Assyria itself is believed by assyriologists to have been founded in 1900 BC by a kinsman of Shalmaneser I, named Zulilu. In those early days the Assyrian state benefited greatly from its healthy connection to Anatolia ,eventually even forming merchant trading colonies in Capadocia. These merchant colonies arose over a long period of mutual trading that existed between Assyria and Capadocia.

There is evidence to suggest that  tin and textiles were traded for precious metals from Capadocia. However, Assyria experienced great difficulty in keeping her trade routes open during the Middle Assyrian Dynasty, due to the trade in metal from Capadocia  falling under control of the Hittite and Hurrian tribes.

Son Of Shem
Little is known of the early history of Assyria, although there are several Judeo-Christian traditions that are very interesting. According to one belief, the city of Ashur, which eventually became known as Assyria, was founded by a man by the name of Ashur. This founding member was apparently the son of Shem himself, who was one of Noah’s sons, and he not only gave the city his name, but was also later deified as its patron god.

In the days of the Old Assyrian period, which dates to the 19th to 15th  BCE, the city of Assyria dominated almost all of upper Mesopotamia. As time passed, its control waxed and waned, although power was eventually regained through a series of battles. During the period,910 – 611 BCE, the Assyrian Empire grew massively in power as it expanded to eventually control not only Egypt, but the entire Fertile Crescent as well. Over time though, it had no choice but to succumb to the expanding Dynasties of Neo Babylon and Persia.

Oligarchy
Following in the traditional footsteps of many city states, the Middle Assyrian kingdom was intrinsically an oligarchy, as opposed to a monarchy. There were three centres of power in Assyria, one of which was a group of elders who worked together for the best interest of the state. There was also a ruler who inherited his position and he had full authority over any decisions made by the elders.
This ruler was not given the title of ‘king’, instead he was designated the term ‘Steward of Assur’. He was also a high priest of the patron god of the city. As a priest of the god Ashur and a major force in Assyrian society, he fulfilled many obligations, which included providing resources to the temples of the patron god. The kingdom was furthermore presided over by an annually elected ‘eponym’ who had a vital administrative role to play. He not only named each New Year, but could detain and imprison citizens at will, and confiscate their property too.

Language And Relocation
The  citizens of Assyria once spoke a dialect of the Akkadian tongue, which is classified as one of the ancient Semite languages. During the Neo Assyrian period, however, scholars tell us that the Aramaic language gained a foothold there, and eventually , due to mass deportation of the  citizens by certain Assyrian rulers, totally ousted the Akkadian language. These deportations consisted of relocating the conquered Aramaic-speaking citizens to various outlying areas of the Empire. The eventual devastation of Nineveh and Assyria by the invading Babylonians led to a complete eradication of the few bilingual elite who still spoke in both the Akkadian and Aramaic tongues.