Assyrian Culture Research Paper

With governmental machinery that brought political and social order to their territories, effective political and military power enabled them to build regional empires and expand their authority to neighboring people. Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were two great civilizations among the earliest to emerge in the Middle east and North Africa. Both made significant contributions in areas such as mathematics, medicine, agriculture, astronomy, technology, architecture, art and writing. They had differences as well, including their political structures. Most importantly is that Egyptians were under a centralized government, and the Mesopotamians had self-controlled city state governments.

From 1567 to 330 B.C. humanity experienced many subsequent development as well as decline in its civilizations. Among these events emerged three colossal empires that had shaken the world and forever changed the course of human history. The Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian Empires have been instrumental in influencing technology, religion, and ideas throughout the world. Various factors have contributed to the success and downfall of these giants. Each of the “World Powers” have similarities as well as distinctions in its government form and organization, religion, and economy that contributed to their triumph.

The Middle Assyrian Laws are a collection of laws that were put together for the people of Mesopotamia, although the author is unknown. These codes of law were originally written in Akkadian, one of the earliest Semitic languages. The excerpts are from the Code the Assyrians, which was made in 1075 BCE. According to the document, They were found during the twentieth century in ancient Assur (currently Northern Iraq) at the site of Qal’ at Shergart. These laws are significant because they implemented structure into their society by setting standards for what women and men can and cannot do. They are important to us today because they give us valuable ideas as to how ancient society was in Mesopotamia, particularly gender roles in 1075 BCE.

Mesopotamians developed specialized crafts and supported private entrepreneurship. They also were involved in foreign and domestic trade.

In the following treatise, the research that will be presented will provide criteria involving similarities and differences in three attributes of life in the four primary river valley civilizations. The river valley civilizations are composed of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China. While each of these civilizations is unique in their habits and traditions, they share many similar qualities. For this work to be as comprehensive as possible, the primary focus will be on comparing and analyzing the cultures and ambiance, or environments, political organization and religious beliefs, and social structures of each society. The following categories are going to be analyzed by utilizing the frameworks of the four river valley civilizations. Without further ado, a juxtaposition of the ancient river valley civilizations.

The Middle Assyrian Laws are a selection of laws also known as the Code of the Assyrians. They are composed in the wedge shaped writing system of ancient Mesopotamia. There are only twenty-eight given in the source but the actual number of codes in the society is uncertain. The codes listed are out of order and many numbers are missing. The documents were written in Akkadian, one of the earliest Semitic languages, in the Middle Assyrian dialect. The particular author of these codes is unknown. The existing copies though were apparently edited during the reign of the Assyrian king Tiglath- pileser I. The texts were found during the excavation of the site of Qal’at Shergat (ancient Assur) in northern Iraq in the early twentieth century. The existing copies number about fifteen tablets, one of which is duplicated by a copy that dates to the Neo – Assyrian period, around 900-612 BCE. The relationship of the document to each other is unclear. The evidence as to why these were written and whom they directly affect is not clear. The laws primarily target the relationship between male and female. The significance of the source is ambiguous, but based off of the time in history and people targeted in the law codes, the people who lived here were men and woman in relationships with one another. The codes explain the consequences, rules, and way of life in this time period.

Because of this, the Mesopotamians were able to take advantage of the natural resources in the Fertile Crescent, and develop a surplus of food. Because of this, no one in the civilization would grow hungry, and they would have more goods to trade, which made Ancient Mesopotamia a very wealthy

It is undeniable that the natural environment of ancient Mesopotamia had a profound effect on the earliest civilizations known to the world. Humankind’s ability to control irrigation waters directly correlates with the rise of mass agriculture. With this mastery of their river environment, early farmers were capable of supporting large urban populations. However, in Mesopotamia the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were both a source of life as well as destruction for early societies. In many ways, the geography of ancient Mesopotamia fostered a sense of catastrophic determinism within the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians. The scarcity of resources as well as the untamable nature of their deluge environment led these early people to

The Persian Empire overtook the weakening Babylonian empire under the rule of Cyrus and then expanded under his successors. The Persian Empire was unique in its ruling over the people that it had conquered, especially under the rule of Cyrus and Darius.1 In order to ensure that the empire would continue to flourish, in spite of its expansion and increasing size, the Persian rulers integrated the local cultures and peoples, which benefitted both the Empire and those they conquered.2 Although they were a conquered people, the Mesopotamian people, including and maybe especially Babylon, profited and prospered economically and culturally and enjoyed greater privileges politically then they could have hoped for under the ruler ship of other conquerors.

The Assyrians were very successful as empire-builders. Although the Sea People destroyed their domain a couple of times, the Assyrians still managed to revive creating the “Neo-Assyrian Empire,” in which their realm expanded especially in the Middle East and took control over Egypt. During the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Assyrians were able to master the skill at using chariots and the proficiency of iron smelting. They developed iron weapons and the first true cavalry force that gave them a huge advantage over their neighbors who still used copper and tin weapons. Consequently, the Assyrians became an unrivaled power over the ancient Near East and began exploring artworks and ways they could adorn their cities. The Assyrians were also famous for building great roads that allowed them to move quickly from place to place. Likewise, they built amazing cities with fortified walls, canals,

Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia present a valuable area of historical research. They are of great importance mostly because of their ethnic kinship (Watson, 2017). In such case, comparison and contrast essay is very promising as causal relationships can be formed based on a mutual starting point. This comparison-contrast essay focuses on differences and similarities in these societies’ economic, political and cultural life in order to make further implications regarding the circumstances the peoples of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia faced.

The Assyrians never developed effective tactics for controlling larger empires, having progressively less control the farther away from the core the population was, never less, the Assyrians Used exceptional techniques for controlling and expanding their empire utilizing all citizens for both their wealth and labor to expand and improve extremely quickly

Geographic differences between these two countries were a major factor in determining stability. Mesopotamia rose out of a

The reliefs from the palace of King Assurnasirpal II at Nimrud play an important role in portraying the power and importance

This change would mean that larger swaths of farmland were needed for the expanding Greek population in the area (Galaty, 2002:121). The Greeks annexation of coastal regions, unfortunately took away prime winter grazing lands from the Illyrians. The changeover in land usage created a ripple effect to the traditional Illyrian way of life (Galaty, 2002:121; Hammond, 1992:37). As colonization of the area progressed, some of the Illyrian population became serfs to the Greeks in the area (Galaty, 2002:119; Hammond, 1992:32; Wilkes, 1992:109). For others instead of remaining as pastoralists moving from one area to another, they began to settle in one location choosing to become miners, farmers, and breeders of livestock (Srejovic,