Post-imperial Assyria
Post-imperial Assyria | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 609 BC–c. AD 240 | |||||||||
  Assur Nineveh Arbela | |||||||||
| Common languages | Aramaic, Akkadian, Greek | ||||||||
| Religion | Ancient Mesopotamian religion Hellenistic religion Judaism Syriac Christianity | ||||||||
| Historical era | Classical antiquity | ||||||||
• Fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire | 609 BC | ||||||||
• Conquest by the Achaemenid Empire | 539 BC | ||||||||
• Conquests of Alexander the Great | 330 BC | ||||||||
• Conquest by the Parthian Empire | c. 141 BC | ||||||||
• Flourishing under Parthian suzerainty | 1st–2nd centuries AD | ||||||||
• Sack of Assur by the Sasanian Empire | c. AD 240 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Iraq | ||||||||
| Periodization of ancient Assyria | ||||||||||
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See also: History of the Assyrians |
The post-imperial period
During the fall of Assyria in the Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire 626–609 BC, northern Mesopotamian major cities were extensively sacked and destroyed by Median, Scythian and Babylonian forces. The Babylonian kings, who annexed large parts of Assyria cared little for economically or socially developing the region and as such there was a dramatic decline in population density in most urban regions. Many of the greatest cities of the Neo-Assyrian period, such as Nineveh, were largely deserted and others, such as Assur, temporarily decreased dramatically in size and population, although this did not affect rural regions. The region only began the process of recovery under the rule of the Achaemenid Empire. After his conquest of Babylon in 539, the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great returned the cult statue of the Assyrian national deity Ashur to Assur. The Achaemenid practice of not interfering with local cultures, and the organization of the Assyrian lands into a single province, Athura, allowed Assyrian culture to revive and endure.
Assyrian cities were extensively resettled by Assyrians during the Seleucid and Parthian periods. In the last two centuries or so of Parthian rule, Assyria flourished; the great cities of old, such as Assur, Nineveh and
Terminology
The centuries that followed the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire are characterized by a distinct lack of surviving sources from Assyria. The textual and archaeological evidence is so scant that the period is often referred to as a "dark age" or simply called "post-Assyrian". Because Assyria continued to be viewed by its inhabitants and by foreigners as a distinct cultural and geographical entity, and (though never again fully independent) continued to at times be administrated separately, modern scholars prefer the name "post-imperial" for the period.[1]
History
Neo-Babylonian rule
Significant Assyrian sites in the Neo-Babylonian period
The fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire after its
Archaeological surveys of northern Mesopotamia have consistently shown that there was a dramatic decrease in the size and number of inhabited sites in Assyria during the Neo-Babylonian period, suggesting a significant societal breakdown in the region. Archaeological evidence suggests that the former Assyrian capital cities, such as
Although the Neo-Babylonian kings largely kept the administration of the Assyrian Empire[7] and at times drew on Assyrian rhetoric and symbols for legitimacy,[8] particularly in the reign of Nabonidus (r. 556–539 BC, the last Neo-Babylonian king), they also at times worked to distance themselves from the Assyrian kings that had preceded them and never assumed the title 'king of Assyria'.[9] Throughout the time of the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid empires, Assyria was a marginal and sparsely populated region,[10] perhaps chiefly due to the limited interest of the Neo-Babylonian kings to invest resources into its economic and societal development.[11] Individuals with Assyrian names are attested at multiple sites in Babylonia during the Neo-Babylonian Empire, including Babylon, Nippur, Uruk, Sippar, Dilbat and Borsippa. The Assyrians in Uruk apparently continued to exist as a community until the reign of the Achaemenid king Cambyses II (r. 530–522 BC) and were closely linked to a local cult dedicated to the Assyrian national deity Ashur.[12]
Though it is clear that recovery was slow and the evidence is scant, there was at least some continuity in administrative and governmental structures even within the former Assyrian heartland itself.
Achaemenid rule
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The Persians first entered Assyrian territory in 547 BC, when the founder of the
It is not known how Athura was organized internally. An Aramaic letter sent by the governor of Egypt in the late 5th century BC attests to the presence of Achaemenid officials at the cities of Arbela, Lair, Arzuhin and Matalubaš, which suggests that there was a certain level of administrative organization in the region. At Tell ed-Daim, located on the Little Zab northeast of Kirkuk, an Achaemenid administrative building of substantial size (26 by 22 meters; 85 by 72 feet), probably a palace of a local governor or official, has been excavated.[21]
A few years after the Egyptian governor's letter, Xenophon, a Greek military leader and historian, marched with the Ten Thousand through much of the northwestern Achaemenid Empire, including Assyria, in 401 BC. In his later writings, Xenophon provided an eye-witness account of the region. Xenophon described Assyria, which he thought was a part of Media, as largely uninhabited south of the Great Zab, but dotted with many small and prosperous villages close to the Little Zab and north of Nineveh, especially in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. Xenophon mentioned three Assyrian cities along the Tigris by name, though the names he gave for them appear to be invented by himself; the cities Larissa (Nimrud) and Mespila (Nineveh)[c] are described as ruined and deserted, but Kainai (Assur) is described as both large and prosperous, something that is not apparent from the archaeological record of the site during this time. The use of the strange names is perplexing given that later Greek and Roman authors were aware of the locations of the ancient Assyrian cities and their names; in the writings of figures such as Strabo, Tacitus and Ptolemy, Nineveh is called Ninos and is known to have been a great Assyrian capital and the region around Nimrud is dubbed Kalakēne (after the city's alternate name Kalhu). Arbela is known to have remained an important administrative center under the Achaemenid Empire, as historical accounts of the campaigns of Alexander the Great describe that city as the local base of operations of Darius III, the empire's final king.[21]
Individuals with clearly Assyrian names are known from Achaemenid times, just as they are from Neo-Babylonian times, and they sometimes reached high positions in government. For instance, the secretary of Cyrus the Great's son Cambyses II, before Cambyses became king, was named Pan-Ashur-lumur (a name clearly incorporating Ashur). In terms of geopolitics, the Assyrians are mentioned most prominently in the reign of Darius the Great (r. 522–486 BC). In 520 BC, Assyrians of both Athura and Media joined forces in an unsuccessful revolt against Darius, alongside other peoples of the Achaemenid Empire (including the Medes, Elamites and Babylonians).[20] The Assyrians are then mentioned in the writings of the near-contemporary Greek historian Herodotus as contributing to the construction of the royal palace of Darius at Susa from 500 to 490, with Assyrians from Media contributing gold works and glazing and Assyrians from Athura contributing timber.[20]
Seleucid rule
In the aftermath of the Achaemenid Empire's conquest by Alexander the Great, Assyria and much of the rest of the former Achaemenid lands came under the control of the Seleucid Empire, founded by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander's generals.[10] Though Assyria was centrally located within this empire, and must have been a significant base of power,[10][24] the region is mentioned very rarely in textual sources from the period.[10] This might perhaps be explained by the political and economic centers of the Seleucid Empire being in heavily urbanized Babylonia in the south, particularly in Babylon itself and the new city Seleucia, and in Syria in the west, particularly the empire's western capital Antioch.[10] Though the Seleucids adopted a policy of hellenization and often emphasized their Hellenic origin, they also at times took on or played into the cultures of the people they ruled. Perhaps as a result of this, and of the Seleucid Empire governing virtually all of the Assyrian Empire's old lands (other than Egypt, which was only briefly under Assyrian control), a handful of ancient documents correlate the Seleucid Empire to "Assyria".[24][d]
Though the Seleucids kept the eastern satrapies of their empire largely the same as under the Achaemenid Empire, the surviving evidence suggests that the territories in northern Mesopotamia (i.e. Assyria) were politically reorganized. The historian Diodorus Siculus mentioned in his writings that a satrapy of Mesopotamia (consisting of only the northern part of that region as the southern part formed the satrapy of Babylonia) was created in 323 BC, and mentions both the satrapies Mesopotamia and Arbelitis (i.e. the region around Arbela) in 320.[10] Though Assyria remained in the shadow of Babylonia,[25] the region was far from wholly neglected.[26] Nimrud was occupied throughout the Seleucid period, as the site preserves several levels from this time, and the presence of Seleucid coins and pottery at Assur demonstrates that the ancient Assyrian capital experienced the beginnings of a period of regrowth as well. It is possible that the deserted Nineveh was resettled under the Seleucids as well, given that there are sculptures of Greek mythological figures such as the god Hermes and the demigod Heracles known from the site, as well as inscriptions written by people with Greek names, though much of this evidence dates to the succeeding period of Parthian rule. Because of the distinctive appearance of Seleucid pottery, sites occupied during the Seleucid period are easily identifiable in the archaeological record. Archaeological surveys in northern Mesopotamia have been able to demonstrate that there was a widespread, though not necessarily very dense, resettlement of villages in Assyria under the Seleucids.[26]
The Seleucid Empire fell apart due to internal strife, dynastic conflict and wars with foreign enemies. As the empire collapsed, virtually all of its eastern territories were conquered by Mithridates I of the Parthian Empire between 148 and 141 BC. The exact time when Assyria came under Parthian control is not known, but it was either during these conquests or at some point before 96, when it is securely known that the region was under Parthian rule due to records of border agreements between the Parthians and the Roman Republic.[10]
Parthian suzerainty
Organization and revival
Under Parthian suzerainty, several small and semi-independent kingdoms with Assyrian character and large populations cropped up in northern Mesopotamia, including
Whereas Osroene fell under Roman influence and control, most of Assyria was under Parthian control, though divided between Adiabene, which was based in Arbela, and Hatra. The region remained an integral part of the Parthian Empire until its fall in the 3rd century AD. Though some Roman authors, such as Pliny the Elder, equated Adiabene with Assyria (referring to Assyria as an older synonym of Adiabene), most contemporaries saw Adiabene as only controlling the central part of Assyria.[10] The equation of Adiabene with Assyria would also sometimes be made in the later Sasanian period, when the Sasanian province Adiabene in some cases was called "Athuria".[25]
The slow resettlement and recovery of Assyria under the Seleucid Empire continued under Parthian rule. Helped by favorable climate conditions and political stability, this age of recovery culminated in an unprecedented return to prosperity and a remarkable revival under the last two centuries or so of Parthian rule. Archaeological surveys of sites of the Parthian period in Assyria demonstrate an enormous density of settlements that is only comparable to what the region was like under the Neo-Assyrian Empire.[26][32] Under the Parthians, intense settlement took place throughout Assyria, with new villages being constructed and old villages being expanded and rebuilt.[26]
The Seleucid and Parthian resettlement of Nineveh involved the construction of both residential houses and new sanctuaries and temples, with archaeological evidence having survived of both. Among the temples restored were the "Ezida" temple on the
Parthian Assur
Assur, perhaps now known under the name Labbana[39][40] (derived from Libbali, "heart of the city", the ancient Assyrian name for the city's temple quarter)[40] flourished under Parthian rule, with many buildings being either repaired or constructed from scratch.[27][41][g] Per the historian Peter Haider, "after the Parthian conquest of Mesopotamia, Assur came to life again".[43] From around or shortly after the end of the 2nd century BC,[39] the city may have become the capital of its own small semi-autonomous realm,[27] either under the suzerainty of Hatra,[44] or under direct Parthian suzerainty.[41] Among the buildings constructed was a new local palace,[27][41] dubbed the "Parthian Palace" by historians.[32] All in all, the buildings built under the Parthian period cover about two thirds of the area of the city as it was in Neo-Assyrian times.[32] Stelae erected by the local rulers of Assur in this time resemble the stelae erected by the Neo-Assyrian kings,[27] though the rulers are depicted in Parthian-style trouser-suits rather than ancient garb. The rulers used the title maryo of Assur ("master of Assur") and appear to have viewed themselves as continuing the old Assyrian royal tradition.[45] These stelae retain the shape, framing and placement (often in city gates) of stelae erected under the ancient kings and also depict the central figure in reverence of the moon and sun, an ever-present motif in the ancient royal stelae.[46]
The ancient temple dedicated to Ashur was restored for a second time in the 2nd century AD.[27][41] Though the adornment of the buildings reflect a certain Hellenistic character, their design is also reminiscent of old Assyrian and Babylonian buildings,[39] with some Parthian influences.[47] Personal names in Assur at this time greatly resemble personal names from the Neo-Assyrian period, with individuals like Qib-Assor ("command of Ashur"), Assor-tares ("Ashur judges") and even Assor-heden ("Ashur has given a brother", a late version of the name Aššur-aḫu-iddina, i.e. Esarhaddon).[48] Later Syriac Christian hagiographic sources demonstrate that the Assyrian populace of the Parthian period took great pride in their Assyrian ancestry, with some among the local nobility claiming descent from the Assyrian kings of old.[49]
In 220,
Archaeological evidence
The periods of Babylonian and Achaemenid rule over Assyria are the most scarce when it comes to surviving sources and archaeological evidence.
The archaeological evidence is also scant from the Seleucid period and it consists mainly of coinage and characteristic Seleucid pottery types, such as bowls and fishplates with incurved rims.[26] The most extensive Assyrian archaeological finds from the post-imperial period are from the time of Parthian rule over the region. At Assur, many Aramaic inscriptions have been found from the Parthian period, as well as ruins of sanctuaries and residential areas.[43] Parthian Assur in many ways was a combination of old and new, with several ancient Assyrian temples rebuilt on top of their old foundations, though with stylistic elements combining old native Mesopotamian and new Parthian architectural styles.[52] Exactly on top of the old temple dedicated to Ashur, a tripartite temple was constructed in the Parthian period. In shape and size, this new temple was likely similar to the Great Iwans at Hatra, a mighty temple structure.[32] The ruins of personal houses indicate that they followed Parthian designs. The Parthians rebuilt even the old Assyrian festival house, exactly according to its original plan.[52]
Most of the archaeological finds from Seleucid and Parthian Nineveh are from the Kuyunjik mound,[53] with knowledge of much of the lower city itself only deriving from a small number of chance discoveries.[54] Among these chance discoveries are the remains of an altar dedicated to the strategos Appolonios and a temple dedicated to the god Hermes, as well as traces of graves.[54] The Kuyunjik mound was evidently covered with substantial buildings, traces of which were uncovered in the form of their stone foundations and assorted fragments. Great temples were built and maintained under both the Seleucids and Parthians, and several statues in both Greek and Parthian style, most fragmentary but a handful intact, have been found. Among the most famous discoveries from Kuyunjik is a well-preserved statue of Herakles Epitrapezios (an aspect or epithet of the demigod Heracles). In addition to great temples, the Kuyunjik mound was also covered in smaller residential buildings, evident by the presence of great numbers of small objects, including figurines and pottery.[53] As Nineveh was located closer to the border with the Roman Empire than Assur, it frequently came into contact with the Roman world, both through trade and through Roman expeditions invading or raiding the region. Both Parthian and Roman silver coins are known from the site. Roman military equipment, including a belt fitting and a set of helmets, have also been found at Nineveh, probably lost in the confusion of war.[55]
Language
The official language of the Assyrian Empire was the Assyrian dialect of the
The
Religion
The Assyrians at Assur and other locations in the north continued to follow the
At Assur, both old and new gods were worshipped.
Religious practices at the nearby Nineveh during Parthian times differed considerably from those at Assur. Whereas the deities worshipped at Assur and its surrounds were mostly old Mesopotamian ones (other than Heracles-Nergal), the deities worshipped at Nineveh were nearly all syncretistic (a melding of old Assyrian gods with goreign deities) or outright imported figures. These figures included the syncretistic Apollo-Nabu, Heracles-Gad, and Zeus-Bel, as well as the imported Greek god Hermes and the imported Egyptian deities Isis and Serapis.[36]
It is not clear when exactly the Assyrians were first Christianized, but Arbela was an important early Christian center. According to the later Chronicle of Arbela, Arbela became the seat of a bishop already in AD 100, but the reliability of this document is questioned among scholars. It is however known that Arbela, Mosul and Kirkuk later served as important Christian centers in the Sasanian and later Islamic periods.[29] From the 3rd century onwards, it is clear that Christianity was becoming the major religion of the region,[65] with the Christian god replacing the old Mesopotamian deities, including Ashur, who had just previously experienced a remarkable period of revival.[50] The ancient Mesopotamian religion persisted in some places for much longer, such as at Harran until at least the 10th century (the "Sabians" of Harran) and at Mardin until as late as the 18th century (the Shamsīyah).[65]
See also
Notes
- satrapy by modern historians,[17] Assyria appears in Achaemenid royal inscriptions as a dahyu; a term of uncertain implications used to refer to both peoples and geographical locations (not necessarily synonymous with the formal satrapies of the empire).[19]
- ^ The name Athura derived from the Aramaic Athur, which meant Assyria.[20]
- ^ If not invented by Xenophon, the name Mespila for Nineveh could perhaps be derived from the Akkadian term mušpalum, used for the site in some of Sennacherib's inscriptions, or the Aramaic mšpyl, meaning an area of low-lying terrain.[23]
- ^ The northern mound (of two mounds) in Nineveh and the site of the city's greatest palaces and temples.[33]
- ^ Greek titles such as strategos are also attested to have been used for Parthian-period governors in other cities that were prominent under the Seleucids, such as at Dura-Europos and Babylon.[34]
- ^ The city's history was not entirely peaceful and prosperous throughout the entire period of Parthian rule. Three distinct phases of construction can be observed in the archaeological evidence from the site; all of which ended in large-scale damage and destruction. The first two phases of construction came to their ends in AD 116 and 198 when the city was sacked by Roman emperors Trajan and Septimius Severus, respectively.[42]
References
- ^ a b c d e Hauser 2017, p. 229.
- ^ Frahm 2017, p. 5.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hauser 2017, p. 230.
- ^ a b c Hauser 2017, p. 232.
- ^ Melville 2011, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Hauser 2017, pp. 234–235.
- ^ Sack 2004, p. 84.
- ^ Da Riva 2013, p. 72.
- ^ Stevens 2014, p. 73.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hauser 2017, p. 236.
- ^ Hauser 2017, p. 235.
- ^ a b Frahm 2017b, p. 194.
- ^ a b c Parpola 2004, p. 19.
- ^ a b Dick 2004, p. 15.
- ^ Lewy 1945–1946, p. 406.
- ^ Dalley 2003, p. 177.
- ^ a b c d e Parpola 2004, p. 18.
- ^ Beaulieu 1989, p. 230.
- ^ Waters 2014, p. 97.
- ^ a b c d e Parpola 1999.
- ^ a b c Hauser 2017, p. 231.
- ^ Radner 2015, p. 6.
- ^ a b c Reade 1998, p. 65.
- ^ a b c Parpola 2004, pp. 18–20.
- ^ a b Hauser 2017, p. 237.
- ^ a b c d e f Hauser 2017, p. 238.
- ^ a b c d e f g Parpola 2004, p. 20.
- ^ Drower, Gray & Sherwin-White 2012.
- ^ a b c Hauser 2017, p. 239.
- ^ Marciak & Wójcikowski 2016, p. 81.
- ^ a b Frye 1984, p. 223.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hauser 2017, p. 240.
- ^ Frahm 2008, p. 17.
- ^ Reade 1998, p. 69.
- ^ Haider 2008, pp. 201–203.
- ^ a b Hauser 2017, pp. 202, 206.
- ^ a b c Reade 1998, p. 71.
- ^ Radner 2015, p. 20.
- ^ a b c Schippmann 2012, pp. 816–817.
- ^ a b Radner 2015, pp. 18–19.
- ^ a b c d e Harper et al. 1995, p. 18.
- ^ Haider 2008, pp. 193–194.
- ^ a b c Haider 2008, p. 193.
- ^ a b c d Radner 2015, p. 19.
- ^ Radner 2015, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Andrae & Lenzen 1933, pp. 105–106.
- ^ a b c Haider 2008, p. 200.
- ^ Livingstone 2009, p. 154.
- ^ a b Parpola 2004, p. 22.
- ^ a b c d e Hauser 2017, p. 241.
- ^ Radner 2015, p. 7.
- ^ a b c Haider 2008, p. 194.
- ^ a b Reade 1998, p. 76.
- ^ a b Reade 1998, p. 72.
- ^ Reade 1998, p. 78.
- ^ a b c Luukko & Van Buylaere 2017, p. 314.
- ^ Akkadian influences on Aramaic (Assyriological Studies) by Kaufman, Stephan A.
- ^ Kaufman 1974, p. 164.
- ^ Haider 2008, p. 202.
- ^ Marciak & Wójcikowski 2016, p. 80.
- ^ a b Haider 2008, p. 197.
- ^ Haider 2008, p. 195.
- ^ Haider 2008, p. 196.
- ^ Haider 2008, pp. 197, 200.
- ^ a b Parpola 2004, p. 21.
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