The Assyrian Emperor 's Resume : Ferocious Conquests A Specialty By Ashur Nasir Pal II

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 Assyrian and Babylonian Empire are two of the oldest, and arguably the most influential empires in history. The neighboring Mesopotamian countries culture and practices has been adopted by many nations around the world, such as war tactics, religion, and culture to name a few. Although the neighboring countries had many similarities like religion practices, culture, political systems, and social hierarchy, they differ in the way they grew their economies and military.

When discussing the differences between the Assyrian and Persian empires, it is important to discuss the military, how each empire ruled, and their cultures.

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.

Alexander the so-called ‘Great’ was a legendary conqueror who in his short lifetime was able to overthrow the Persian Empire, the most powerful kingdom at that time. He was born in 356 BCE to King Philip and Queen Olympia of Macedonia. Alexander’s warring career jumpstarted at the age of 20 in the year 336 BCE, due to the assassination of his father in which he inherited his father’s kingdom. Over the span of 11 years, Alexander and his small fleet of men of about 40,000 took over and ruthlessly conquered the Persian Empire. Sadly, this conquest was short-lived by Alexander’s sudden death in the year 323 BCE, in which his unstable kingdom with a lack of a structured governmental system quickly broke apart in the period of 10 years. Therefore, because of the cruel and the disorganized nature of the way Alexander the ‘Great’ conquered and maintained the Persian Empire, he does not deserve to be referred as ‘Great’.

There were several differences and similarities within the Persian Empire that emerged under Cyrus the great and earlier Mesopotamian Empires. Not all empires flourished as well as Cyrus the great’s did due to his moral virtues and way of ruling. One king by the name of Tiglath had some similar values but his empire did not prosper in such ways as Cyrus’s. Not only were there differences and similarities between these different Empires but there were also different ways that Cyrus and his successors coopt earlier religious, political, and social traditions and i'll give several examples of them within this essay.

In 701 BCE, the Assyrian king Sennacherib led a campaign across the ancient Near East to gain tribute from the people living therein, as well as to punish Judah’s King Hezekiah for supporting an insurgency by Egypt and Babylonia. In order to get what he wanted, Sennacherib laid siege to 46 cities between Assyria and Jerusalem. A prime example of this is Lachish, the second largest city in Judah after Jerusalem. The sacking of Lachish is considered to be Sennacherib’s biggest feat, and he vividly describes his accomplishments in taking Lachish on the walls of his Assyrian palace. Town to town, he made his way towards Jerusalem, leaving a trail of death and destruction in his wake.

Envy of the Gods is a book written by John Prevas about Alexander the Great’s journey after he conquered Persia. The author has a degree in history, psychology, forensics, and political science. He has worked as a professor for the last fifteen years and has written two books, Hannibal Crosses the Alps and Xenophon’s March. Alexander the Great has always been a fascinating topic, but something that had always bothered me is the fact that even though I know his name, I had no idea what he had done, why he was famous, and why he is called “Great”, therefore I chose this book to know what Alexander did, what made him famous, and why he is important.

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.

Darius the great created an empire, he ruled thousands of miles. He ruled more people than 20 nations. This Ruler of the Roman Empire created rules that then offered the people peace and cooperation between the each other. The people had different languages in different parts of Rome. Instead of using language he used images to get his point across that he was a powerful leader. Statues and carvings were created and used as a way to have the people be happy to serve him in this art work. When the people viewed this they were happy to serve him because that’s what they seen on the wall as if he expected the people to go along with it. Darius invented the political logo on small stones, creating unification a great empire. He was the first person

When the first civilizations took place, inequality and hierarchy became normal and natural. The upper classes enjoyed greater wealth or salaries and were able to avoid physical labor. They had the finest of everything and occupied the top positions in political, military and religious life. In Mesopotamia, the punishments prescribed by the social status. If a highly common status man struck another highly common status man he would have a small fine. If a common man struck a man of higher status, he would receive sixty strokes with an oxtail whip in public. The vast majority consisted of farmers that supported the upper classes.

The Assyrians were able to conquer so much land because they were superior in tactics and organization. They were also superior in weapons and their army was enormous consisting of half a million troops fighting for glory.

Mursili's notable authority and control over Anatolia in response to the crisis during his youth and inexperience validates his resolute and disciplined character satisfying the potentials of a virtuous king. The Comprehensive Annals, AM 18-21 record the enemy’s reactions to Mursli’s accession, You are a child; you know nothing and instill no fear in me. Your land is now in ruins, and your infantry and chariotry are few…Your father had many infantry and chariotry. But you, who are a child how can you match him. The annals signify to us Mursili’s ‘incompetence’ disputing that he is young and inexperienced to rule especially at a turbulent time in Hittite history. It also gives us insight into how Hittite enemies viewed Mursili’s character at the time, demeaning him as

In the year 356 BCE, a man named Alexander was born. However, in the modern era he is no ordinary Alexander, but he is known as Alexander the Great. He achieved this nickname by conquering one of the largest empires to ever exist, the Persian Empire. Alexander also had numerous victories against enemies such as Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Bactria, and Punjab. Despite all of these accolades, is Alexander really great? This essay argues that Alexander is not deserving of the title “the Great” because he always puts himself first, his nation collapsed just 10 years after he died, and his number of friends was next to none.

The British Museum in London holds many ancient pieces of art. There are so many galleries and exhibits inside the museum that several pieces do not get the attention they deserve. One such piece resides in the Assyrian exhibit inside the museum. It is a collection of three alabaster panels that act as registers of a narrative story. The expertly carved reliefs illustrate the great lion hunt performed by an Assyrian king in an arena. So much emotion is portrayed in the brutal imagery of the lion hunt. These great alabaster slabs once resided in an Assyrian palace in present day Nineveh. The reliefs were excavated in the 1840’s by Hormuzd Rassam, employed by Austen Henry Layard of the British Museum. Rassum found the palace by secretly digging at night because the site was originally claimed by French archeologist Victor Place. Since the excavation, the lion hunt reliefs have been displayed in the British Museum. The lion hunt reliefs features so many qualities ranging from historical to artistic. In this report the topic of why the reliefs were made, how they represented the king, the symbolism of the lion, and artistic prowess of the piece will be exposed.