ASSYRIA 



433 



ASSYRIA 



ways, the Assyrians were the more rugged and 

 warlike; their energy in extending their terri- 

 tory has given them the name "Romans of 

 Asia." The Assyrian kings inflicted the cru- 

 elest torture on prisoners of war. Stone slabs 

 recovered from the ruins of the palaces have 

 sculptured on them pictures of conquered kings 

 with hooks thrust through their lips; other 

 prisoners are being whipped to death, and 

 some are having their tongues torn out. 

 Hunting, also, was the delight of the kings of 

 Assyria, and they were as careful in recording 

 the number of wild beasts slain as the number 

 of cities that were captured. 



The religion of the Assyrians was practically 

 that of the Babylonians, a worship of many 

 gods, but the former had a distinct national 

 deity in Assur, creator of heaven and earth. 

 They were a literary people, using for the most 

 part tablets of baked clay as a writing mate- 

 rial. Assurbanipal, the last great king of 

 Assyria, collected a library of thousands of 

 these tablets, many of which have been un- 

 earthed from the ruins of the king's palace at 

 Nineveh, and placed on view in the British 

 Museum. The characters on these tablets have 

 the shape of a wedge, a form of writing that 

 is known as cuneiform (see CUNEIFORM IN- 

 SCRIPTIONS). Assyrian literature consisted of 

 hymns to the gods, mythological poems, and 

 writings on law, science and history. These 

 people had a well-organized form of govern- 

 ment. The kings exercised unlimited power, 

 but appointed governors to rule over the cities, 

 and were assisted by other officers in various 

 ways. 



Art. The Assyrians made remarkable prog- 

 ress in sculpture. From the ruins of their 

 buildings there have been unearthed two- 

 wiim-.l. human-headed lions and bulls twelve 

 feet in height, besides a large number of stone 

 slabs decorated with raised figures that picture 

 scenes in Assyrian life and history. These 

 show how the soldiers marched, encamped, 

 crossed rivers, attacked cities, cooked, tortured 

 i lies and sacrificed to the gods, or picture 

 tli.- king banqueting with the queen and hunt- 

 lions with his court. Their sculptors 

 worked chiefly in soft limest 



Assyrian architecture was more or less a 



copy of the Babylonian. S brick, as 



in Babylonia, was used in building, but tin- 



Assyrians often faced their foundations and 



walls with stone slabs. Their palaces were 



four-sided, and their temples had the shape of 



i M in id. These buildings were erected on 



M 



great terraces or platforms; that at Nineveh, 

 on which the royal palace stood, covered an 

 area of about one hundred acres and was nearly 

 seventy feet in height. Though only one story 

 high, the palaces of the kings were often of a 

 magnificence that no age has surpassed, and 

 thjcir many courts, chambers and passage-ways 

 sometimes spread over twenty or twenty-five 

 acres. The decorations, consisting of stucco 

 work, panels of precious woods, enameled 

 bricks and sculptured slabs, produced a strik- 

 ing effect. At the gates of the palaces, to 

 guard the approach, were placed the great 

 man-headed bulls and winged lions. The in- 

 dustrial arts were highly developed. The king 

 and his courtiers dressed in richly embroidered 

 and figured stuffs; their arms and armor were 

 highly finished ; the king's throne was of carved 

 ivory and wrought gold, and he was served 

 from superbly decorated gold, silver and bronze 

 vessels. 



History. In the dim light of early Assyrian 

 history, the names of kings begin to appear 

 about 2250 B.C., and the first periods are 

 largely records of military campaigns. In the 

 twelfth century, under the leadership of 

 Tiglath-Pileser I, the Assyrians gained in a 

 large measure control over Babylonia. With 

 this ruler began that devotion to the arts 

 for which Assyrian monarchs were famous. 

 After three centuries there arose a strong ruler 

 named Assurnazirpal, who waged vigorous wars 

 on all sides and made Assyria a great empire. 

 Nineveh, which in the eleventh century had 

 been made the capital, rose to the position 

 of mistress of the Eastern world. The suc- 

 cessors of Assurnazirpal pushed their armies in 

 a westerly direction, making conquests in Syria 

 and Phoenicia. 



Sargon II was the founder of the last and 

 most glorious dynasty of Assyria (722-705 B.C.). 

 He completely conquered Babylonia, over- 

 came the Hittitcs, put an end to the King- 

 dom of Israel and made Judah and the Medi- 

 terranean cities pay tribute. His successors, 

 Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal 

 (Sardanapalus), were kept busy maintaining 

 the supremacy of the Assyrian power over the 

 broad realm. Under Assurbanipal, Assyria rose 

 to the height of its greatness; from the fron- 

 tiers of India to the Mediterranean Sea its 

 rule was supreme. But as the treasures of 

 world poured into the capital, the people 

 became fond of ease and luxury and would not 

 go to war to protect their foreign possessions, 

 vince after province revolted, and after 



