A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians by George Stephen Goodspeed

Author:George Stephen Goodspeed [Goodspeed, George Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
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Amazon: B00B5WH5EQ
Publisher: Lecturable
Published: 1906-01-15T03:00:00+00:00

III. THE ADVANCE INTO SYRIA AND THE RISE OF URARTU: FROM SHALMANESER II. TO THE FALL OF HIS HOUSE. 860-745 B.C.

172. For more than a century after the death of Ashurnaçirpal (860 B.C.) his descendants occupied the throne of Assyria. The period is one of great variety in details; new peoples come upon the scene as the empire widens; new political problems appear for solution in the increasing complexity of the field and the factors involved; inner difficulties arise the presence of which is not easily to be accounted for, though of obvious significance; the dynasty at last gives way to a successful revolution. But, in the main features, the historical development of Assyria continues as before, with the same lines of policy, the same unwearied military activity, the same unceasing effort after expansion, the same methods of government, the same relations to peoples without. Accordingly, to trace in repetitious detail the campaigns of the several kings in turn, would be wearisome and unprofitable. Their work may be considered as a whole, its general features described, and its results summarized, while the special achievements of each ruler are properly appreciated. Ashurnaçirpal was succeeded by his son Shalmaneser II., whose thirty-five years of reigning (860-825 B.C.) were one long military campaign. Either under his own leadership, or that of his commanding general, the Turtan, his armies marched in all directions, coercing rebellious vassals, and collecting their tribute, or seeking new peoples to conquer. An obelisk of black basalt records in brief sentences, year by year, thirty-two of these expeditions, and its testimony is supplemented on the other monuments of the king by fuller accounts of particular achievements. His son, Shamshi Adad IV., reigned less than half as long as his father (825-812 B.C.), and has left, as his memorial, a monolith, the inscription of which covers only half of his years. Adadnirari III. followed (812-783 B.C.), ascending the throne of his father, apparently, in early youth, but ruling with great energy and splendor for nearly thirty years. Unfortunately, no satisfactory annals of his reign have been preserved. Royal inscriptions from the next three kings utterly fail. Shalmaneser III. (783-773 B.C.), Ashurdan III. (773-755 B.C.), and Ashurnirari II. (755-745 B.C.) are known to us from the limu list alone, where the brief references to years without campaigns, to pestilence and revolt, tell the melancholy story of imperial decay, until, with the last of the three, the dynasty fell, and a usurper seized the crown.

173. Beyond a few facts, little is known of the political organization and economic development of Assyria during this century. In the time of Shalmaneser II. and his two successors, the spoil of subject peoples continued to flow in abundantly, precious metals and manufactured articles from the west, com, wine, and domestic animals from the north and east. Among the latter, two-humped dromedaries, received from the far northeast, obtained special mention as novelties, and point to the control of a trade route from the upper Iranian plateau. Shalmaneser seems

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