Sennacherib: The Possible Invasion Of The Assyrians

Horrific violence, terrifying threats and public terrors strike fear into the hearts of thousands who oppose the Assyrian Empire. “An Assyrian Emperor’s Resume: Ferocious Conquests a Specialty” remains a paragon of these unspeakable tragedies transpiring around 875 B.C. Written by Ashur-Nasir-Pal II (or one of his subjects), this anecdote highlights his conquests as he claims ancient cities’ wealth, while brutally murdering foreign people and destroying their lands. Geographically, the story takes place in the Middle East, specifically North Mesopotamia. According to the author, he conquers places like Hudun, Zamua, Zamru, Iritu and Ammaru. The historical value behind this piece portrays prominent aspects of their society and depicts how Assyrians reigned, while hinting at the empire’s values; therefore, this historical account provides evidence, which exhibits the attributes of the Near East during Ashur-Nasir-Pal II’s reign.

In 738BC, the Kingdom of Israel is invaded by Assyria making them a vassal nation in order to control their olive and agriculture trade. Later Pekah, king from 733 to 732BC, attempts to organize an army to revolt against the Assyrian authority but he is soon defeated by Tilgath-Pileser III of Assyria. Hoshea, king from 732BC to 723BC, decides to stop paying tribute to Assyria ending with Shalmaneser IV who in 724 to 729BC begins a long military campaign against the Kingdom of Israel. After the death of Shalmaneser IV, Sargon II becomes king of Assyria and continues the battle eventually winning, capturing, moving and resettling over twenty-seven thousand Israelites within the cities of the Assyrian

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.

Starting from the Northern region of Mesopotamia, the Assyrians came to power in the 19th century. The Tigris River was the Assyrians starting point in building there empire through central Egypt. On the other hand, the Persians rose to power from the base by defeating the Assyrians with coalition of Babylon and an Indo-European people named Medes from Persia, modern day Iran, and build an even larger empire the world had yet seen. There empire started from Tigris goes to Greek cities to Anatolia and kingdom of Lydia. Both empires has used different military, government, artistic, and religious tactics to establish their empire.

The Assyrian and Persian empires were two key empires in early history that became powerful each in their own right. When comparing these two empires, there were similarities and differences.

This research paper is about one aspect of the ancient world that I have analyzed and the topic that I have done this research on is the Assyrian Army. I will give a detailed analysis with precise and concise information with well presented information with credible claims to support my paper and my thesis statement that “.The Assyrian Army was the most organized Army in the Ancient near east; they conquered the Dark Age era with their tactical and physical nature of militant system which makes them the best army of all time”. The Worldview connection is that the Assyrian was into terror and believed that they were immortal which shows how brutal they were. The Assyrians not only viewed themselves as a great army but had a worldview that was set as the foundation of western civilization which was more polytheistic.

Josiah found the copy of the law of God in the temple and when he heard the news that the people were not following the law, gathered all the people and kings to promise to obey the book of law. Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims for keeping the passover. They sacrificed more than 45,000 sacrifices. After the temple was refinished, The king of Egypt and his army gathered with the king of Jerusalem. The king of Egypt told the king of Jerusalem that the Lord had spoken to him telling him that if the king of Jerusalem interferes with him he will destroy the kingdom. In the battle, Josiah was badly hurt and died a few days later. Then, Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, instead of tearing his clothes he tore apart the book and the whole generation changed. Jehoahaz was the king of Judah for three months. When pharaoh defeated his father the kingdom, Judah was handed over to the Egyptians. He allowed the people to go back to practicing idolatry. When he stopped listening to the king of Egypt he imprisoned him and send him to Egypt where he died. Jehoiakim reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years and for the first four years he paid large tribute to Egypt and he reestablished idolatry then in 605 B.C., the Babylonian king, King Nebuchadnezzar, fought with Pharaoh and

There are many ancient and modern interpretations about Sennacherib’s effectiveness as a ruler. Sennacherib was a king from 704 BCE up to 681BCE. He accomplished numerous things for Assyria such as, the expansion of the empire, build water supplies to the city and the gain of support from the gods to the Assyrian people. The ancient and modern interpretations provide many information’s about Sennacherib’s building projects, military and religious role. Sennacherib was a very effective ruler and this will be assessed throughout this essay.

Yahweh is no longer able to protect them because they have broken their covenant with the living God. According to one dictionary Suzerain and Vassal relationship is described as “A form of international relationship where one nation (a vassal) pays tribute to and pledges allegiance to another nation (the suzerain).” This kind of Suzerain-vassal treat is very common in the ANE. “The framework of the Sinai covenant has significant affinities with suzerain-vassal treaties from the ancient Near East, specifically, the Hittite treaties of the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BCE and the Assyrian treaties of the seventh and sixth centuries BCE. Due to breaking the Suzerain-Vassal relationship by Hezekiah, Sennacherib sends a campaign against Judah. Lawson and Younger mentions that “The cuneiform text summarizes the campaign of Sennacherib in 701 BCE, undertaken to quell the revolt of vassal states in the West which had broken out upon the death of Sargon four years earlier.” Breaking the treaty is a serious offense to the suzerain and consider as a “revolt” and brought consequences upon the vassal. Not only that, the vassals faced curses against them for breaking the treaty or covenant. And Hezekiah, the King of Judah relies on Egypt for help and while under suzerain-vassal relationship. (2 Kgs 18:20) Kitchen mentions “Sennacherib held a dunbar or rally of loyal vassals, who dutifully brought or sent their tribute,

It is apparent that the Southern Kingdom would have to face God’s judgment. The northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria because of the sins and idolatries. Assyria tries to destroy Judah as well, but because of God’s intervention, the Assyrian army is slaughtered by an angel before they can enter Jerusalem. King, Hezekiah the righteous king who is supposed to have been one of Judah's very best rule survives. When he became ill and was told by an angel he was going to die the cried and prayed to God for help, and because he was the recipient of divine favor God gave him another fifteen years onto his life and reign after nearly dying. Yet, again, bad follows good, and the wicked king Manasseh starts doing all sorts of idolatrous

Sennacherib mentions nothing of any soldier disappearing or dying; yet 2 Kings 19 states “the angel of the Lord went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians (p. 117).” It’s hard to believe an angel actually came down and slaughtered that many soldiers without it being mentioned on Sennacherib’s side. If Sennacherib saw an angel slaughter some of his army, he’d be singing a different tune about gods. However, something happened for him to decide to go back to Nineveh. It could have been the tribute, but they still disagree on what was in the tribute. The Hebrew version mentions nothing of Hezekiah losing his daughters or his harem, and to go to battle and to stop only after getting a tribute sounds lack luster. It’s hard to believe, and if Sennacherib would have been honest and said a rebel happened somewhere else that needed his attention, it would beneficial to fill in the

Cyrus II, more commonly referred to, as Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire. Cyrus is renowned for being one of the greatest historical conquerors, who in two decades (550-530) conquered all the major empires of the near east, including Media, Lydia and the Neo-Babylonian kingdoms; all these cities united created the largest empire the world had seen to that time . However in many ancient texts, such as the works of Xenophon, a number of sacred Jewish texts and the Babylonian peoples, Cyrus was often described as a ‘liberator’ as apposed to a conqueror . From a number of ancient written sources, including the Cyropaedia, Cyrus is depicted as a very tolerant and generous ruler, this attribute was a very important

During the Maccabees rule as high priests and kings, worldliness set in and Israel was in spiritual decline. As Rome became the most powerful empire at the time, the last Maccabean ruler was replaced in 63 BC. as Antipater became the procurator of Judea and his two sons became governors, the younger being a 25-year-old by the name of Herod the Great who was given the province of Galilee. Herod at first aggressively defeated the rebellion led by Israeli nationalists. He executed its leader and appeared before the great Sanhedrin of Jerusalem arrayed kingly purple to display his power and authority and would have destroyed Jerusalem had not his father interceded.

The land of Ancient Israel happened upon a multitude of kings throughout its time. Two of the major kings who brought Yahwist changes were Hezekiah and Josiah. Hezekiah reigned in Judah from 727 BC to 698 BC while Josiah reigned in Jerusalem from 639 BC to 609 BC. The bible provides a detailed explanation of worship and religious changes that took place under these two kings who trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. The Deuteronomistic reform began under Hezekiah and continued heavily through Josiah.

During the 7th century the Assyrians built a superpower reinforced by their military, political, sociological, and artistic ideologies. The Army consisted of a 100,000-strong active force who trained different divisions to perform certain tactics during wartime. Similar to modern day warfare, some of the personnel wore armor, some were trained for the cavalry, some were foot soldiers, while others were trained to construct equipment used to siege city walls (WeaponsandWarfare.) With each civilization that the Assyrians conquered, they learned and developed new techniques. The Assyrian combined the use of chariots with horses, developed roads, placed forts for security and storage for food along the way. Their logistic strategy allowed for a