Chapter 8 Reasons for the Decline of the Khazars It seems clear that at one time the Khazars were much more powerful than all their neighbors, with the exception of the Byzantine Greeks and the Arabs of the caliphate. However, national groups such as the Bulgars and Georgians who suffered from them or

We know very little about the reign of Ashurbanipal's successor, Ashuretelilani. Throne of Babylonia in 626 BC. e. captured Nabopolassar (Nabuapalusur), who was a Chaldean leader. Until that moment, this place was occupied by the Assyrian protege Kandalanu.

Nabopolassar began his career as a governor in the Assyrian service.

Ashuratellani made a very tentative attempt to win over the Chaldeans to his side. By this time, the process of merging the Chaldean and Babylonian nobility had gone too far, therefore, despite the fact that it had been possible to do this before, now all attempts to pit the Chaldean and Babylonian nobility against each other were unsuccessful.

Babylonia remained in the hands of Nabopolassar.

Apparently, as a result of a palace coup that soon took place in the Assyrian state, Ashuratellani was overthrown from the throne.

About events before 616 BC. e. we can only guess -

to worry, since they are unknown to us, and starting from this year, another son of Ashurbanipal - Sarak (Sinsharrishkun) was on the Assyrian throne.

The Assyrian power, obviously, by this time was already powerless to keep most of the regions remote from it, and not only them, but also the Syrian regions, under administrative control; also in this regard, it was forced to enter into an alliance with Egypt and even with the kingdom of Mana near Lake Urmia, which the Assyrians did not previously consider an equal power.

There is an assumption that in many Assyrian territories at that time the Scythians felt quite confident. However, the central regions of the state were held by Sarak's troops.

Endless and stubborn wars exhausted the strength of the Assyrian power. Ashurbanipal's successors had to think about saving the country.

The position of Assyria and its allies deteriorated sharply after a powerful coalition was formed against it, consisting of Babylonia (led by Nabopolassar) and Media (led by Cyaxares). It should be noted that Media managed to become the main and most dangerous enemy, which in the 7th century. BC e. united the fragmented tribes of Iran and, using the death of Elam, became the most powerful power east of Mesopotamia.

True, Media also suffered some damage from the Scythian invasion, but, as Herodotus reports, the Medes managed to subdue the warlike nomads and even attract their troops, famous for their cavalry and infantry military tactics, to their side.

It should be said that we were never able to find out whether there was this union concluded from the very beginning or it was formed during the war. Around 615 BC e. A decisive offensive against Assyria began on both sides.

Hostilities between the Assyrians and Babylonians during 616-615. BC e. went with varying degrees of success. In November 615 BC. e. The Medes broke through the passes of the Zagra mountains and penetrated into Arrapkha, adjacent to the indigenous region of Assyria. They succeeded in this due to the fact that at that time the main forces of the Assyrians fought against Babylonia.

The Kingdom of Mana, obviously, by this time was already under the rule of the Medes, and the Medes, without much effort, in July 614 penetrated into Assyria proper. The Assyrians could not withstand such an onslaught and began to retreat in panic. The Medes, constantly pursuing them, reached Ashur. The city was taken by storm and then plundered.

Habopolassar went with his army to help the Medes, but was late for the assault, apparently deliberately, not wanting his name to be mentioned in the desecration of Ashur shrines.

An alliance was concluded (or renewed) between Nabopolassar and Cyaxares on the ruins of Ashur. Cyaxares, in order to strengthen this relationship, perhaps at the same time married his daughter (or granddaughter) to Nebuchadnezzar, who was the heir of the elderly king Nabopolassar.

Even after the fall of Ashur, Sarak remained hopeful. He managed to raise the tribes of the Euphrates Arameans against Babylonia, which for some time made it possible to divert the attention of Nabopolassar from the Assyrian power, and in 613 BC. e. defeat him.

But even after such success, it became obvious that the Assyrian power would not be able to hold out for long, since its death was inevitable.

In the spring of 612, the king of Media Cyaxares, whom from that moment the Babylonian chronicle calls not the “king of Media”, but the “king of Ummanmanda,” which means the king of the northern “barbarians” in general, and Nabopolassar met at the Tigris, after which, having united their troops, they headed to Nineveh, which since the time of Sennacherib had been the capital of the Assyrian state.

The siege of the city lasted for a long time: from May to the end of July. The combined army faced fierce resistance from the Assyrians. Despite this, Nineveh was taken and the palace of the Assyrian kings was burned.

Having fallen into the hands of the victors, the Assyrian nobility endured all the horrors that preceded death. Sarak himself, obviously, did the same as his uncle Shamash-shumukin, throwing himself into the fire of his burning palace.

The library of King Ashurbanipal, however, survived, buried under a pile of ruins. The fire did not damage the clay books, although many of them broke into pieces when they fell from the shelves. They lay in the ground for two and a half thousand years, until in the middle of the 19th century. n. e. English archaeologists did not find them.

The remnants of the Assyrian army, led by Ashuruballit (apparently the brother of Ashurbanipal), retreated west to Harran, where Ashuruballit declared himself king of Assyria, and then to Karchemish on the Euphrates, where he managed to hold out for several more years.

They had an unexpected ally - egyptian pharaoh Hexao. Fear of new great powers united former rivals: the dying Assyria and Ancient Egypt, which was trying to resume its policy of conquest.

B 605 BC e. In the Battle of Karchemish, the Babylonian prince Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar (the future famous king), with the support of the Medes, defeated the united Egyptian-Assyrian army. After this blow, the Assyrian resistance ceased. Deprived of their political and cultural centers, they could no longer regain independence and assimilated with other tribes, mainly the Arameans, adopting their language (close to Assyro-Babylonian).

Thus ended the existence of the Assyrian state. From that moment on, Assyria never again played its former political role.

As for the Assyrian people, their fate changed, but in an insignificant way, since during the destruction of the Assyrian state they were not exterminated. The descendants of the Assyrians continued to live in the same places, but did not have a native language.

In the first half of the 7th century, Assyria was at the height of its power. Egypt was conquered, Lydia was humiliated, Elam was defeated. The kingdom of Van is devoid of aggressive policies and is driven into natural boundaries. In parallel with this, internal brilliance and cultural development reached unprecedented heights. But the stress that a relatively small people had to endure for five centuries already strained its strength. It was only possible temporarily to keep in obedience a multitude of diverse cultural peoples who were not interested in maintaining a common state body, even by resorting to horrific cruelties, and when a new fresh element appeared on the horizon, the dilapidated building began to threaten to fall. We have seen what an impression the Aryan hordes made, forcing Esarhaddon to resort to other means of defense than troops and campaigns. Assurbanipal used another means - intrigue. In this way, he maneuvered in Egypt, acted in Lydia, facilitated the defeat of Elam, and consequently the victory over his most dangerous enemy - Shamash Shumukin. However, the fight against the latter required such tension that from now on any offensive policy of Assyria becomes impossible, and Assurbanipal had to calmly watch as Gyges of Lydia came out from under his influence and even assisted Psametichos in expelling the Assyrian garrisons from the Nile Valley. Defensive actions were still successful, and the invasion of the Medes was repelled, albeit with the help of the Scythians. However, the devastation they caused was serious, and ancient capital- the fortified Kalakh died in the flames. The Scythian invasion of 626, which spread throughout Asia, proved that Nineveh had ceased to play the role of a stronghold of the cultural world against the northern barbarians, that its role had ended. The subject peoples, of course, understood this. In 625, Assurbanipal died, and from the same year the Ptolemaic canon begins the reign in Babylon of Nabupalassar, the famous founder of the Chaldean Babylonian kingdom and one of the participants in the Assyrian catastrophe.

This world event is not known to us with as much detail as it deserves. For a long time we knew about him only from the stories of Herodotus and quotes that came through several hands from Berossus. Then two curious wedge-shaped inscriptions were added to this: the so-called. the chronicle of Nabonidus and the memorable barrel cylinder of Nabupolassar himself, found by German archaeologists in 1901. The first of these inscriptions is interesting as the oldest example of a kind of pragmatic history: the pious king speaks of the defeat of Assyria as the revenge of Marduk for the desecration of his city by Sennacherib, and considers further destinies of his state from the point of view of the providence of the deity. If we add to this the prophet Nahum and several fragments that have come down from the last Assyrian kings, then our material will be exhausted and will turn out to be insufficient to present with the necessary clarity the course of the great catastrophe.

Its first herald was the prophet Nahum, perhaps himself born on Assyrian soil and descended from captive and resettled Israelites (originally from Elkosh, perhaps Alqush, north of Nineveh, on east coast Tiger). In any case, his small creation reveals a good acquaintance with the contemporary capital of the world. In beautiful poetic language, figuratively and vividly, but at the same time with undisguised malice and hatred, the Jewish prophet confidently speaks about the inevitable death of the “oppressor,” the theft of her wealth and the complete destruction of her very name. This book was even called a political pamphlet, and it provided Colonel Billerbeck, a famous researcher of the military history of antiquity, with material for a special work on Nineveh as a fortress and object of siege. The Jewish poet saw clearly the loss of vitality of Assyria, and the advancing hordes of Aryans made its fall only a matter of time. Indeed, the son of Assurbanipal, Assur-ethil-ilani-ukinni is known to us only because he tried to maintain the combat readiness of the fortifications and carried out repairs in the Kalakh palace. Layard, who discovered his buildings, was struck by their rudeness and squalor compared to the buildings of better times. From his brother Sinsharukin (Sarak in Greek transmission; 620-607) fragments of inscriptions came down that told about buildings and repairs, as well as about enemies from whom the gods delivered him. By the way, on one fragment there even seemed to be a mention of the Medes: “I feared the commands of the great gods, took care of their temples and prayed to their dominion... They overcame the Medes, gave me merciful help, heard my prayer, overthrew my enemies... ... they tied up my adversaries, swept out the enemies of Assyria, hostile to my kingdom. "... We have no data to decide how to understand this news. This failure of the Medes was, in any case, the last. Abydenus reports the following from Berossus: “Sarak (i.e. Sinsharukin), having received news that an army, as numerous as locusts, emerging from the sea, was preparing to attack, immediately sent the commander Busalassor to Babylon. The same, having decided on indignation, wooed Amuhea, daughter of Astyages, prince of the Medes, for his son Nebuchadnezzar. Then, hastily leaving, he seeks to attack Nineveh. Notified of all this, King Sarak burned the palace "... (in the text of Syncellus from Alexander Polyhistor, Astyages is called a satrap, probably according to the official Assyrian nomenclature adopted by Berossus, which did not recognize the Indian kingdom). What kind of army is this that came out of the sea? According to Babylonian terminology, “Maritime Country” means the south, Chaldea. The “sending” of Nabupalassar to Babylon is consistent with this. Probably, this is about a new uprising of the Chaldeans. Astyages is named king (“satrap”) of the Medes in all versions. Of course, we cannot talk here about the famous last king of the Media. It remains to assume either the negligence of Berossus (perhaps the compilers), or, together with Prashek and Huizinga, to assume Astyages I, although hardly considering him identical with Herodotus’ Phraortes - this is difficult in chronological terms.

Thus, according to this brief excerpt, Nabupolassar, sent by the Assyrian king to Babylon, fell away, entered into an alliance with Media and was the main culprit in the death of Assyria. Herodotus, on the contrary, attributes the destruction and conquest of Assyria only to the Medes. The cuneiform text of Nabonidus helps to get out of this difficulty.

His starting point is the fury of Sennacherib: “He planned evil against Babylon; he destroyed its temples, destroyed its images, desecrated its sanctuaries. He touched the hands of Marduk and took him to Assyria. He dealt with the country like God's wrath. The god Marduk did not soften his anger: he stayed in Assur for 21 years. The days were fulfilled, the time passed, he calmed the anger that the king of the gods, the lord of lords, had towards Esagila and Babylon. The king of Assur, who destroyed the country during the wrath of Marduk, was struck with a sword by his son, a branch of his flesh... (lost). An assistant was given to him (Nabupalassar) by Marduk, the king of the Ummanmands (Medes), who had no equal, he subordinated him to his commands and came to his aid. From above and below, right and left, he overthrew the country like a flood, avenged Babylon... King Ummanmandos is fearless - he destroyed the temples of all the gods of Assur and cities in the Akkadian region, hostile to the king of the country of Akkad (obviously, those who did not submit to Nabupolassar and were still holding on to the Assyrians ), who did not come to his aid. The king of Babylon was depressed by the position of Marduk... he did not lay hands on the sanctuaries of all the gods,” thus, the pogrom of the Assyrian temples is attributed only to the infidel barbarians.

From here, first of all, it follows that in Babylonia itself there were cities “hostile to the king of Akkad,” that is, Babylonian, and therefore remained loyal to Assyria. These were the same ancient privileged cities that had always sided with Assyria against the Chaldeans. Indeed, in Nippur, Sippar and Erech, documents were found dating from the reigns of Assuretililani, Sintum-lishir, and then Sinsharukin, at least until 613. Then it is clear that Nabupalasar got into some kind of difficulty, so that he could not even punish himself of these cities, hostile to themselves in their area, and had to turn to the “king of the Ummanmands,” i.e., the Medes, so that he would “revenge Babylon” on both Nineveh and these cities. Messerschmidt, who was the first to thoroughly process this interesting inscription, believes that the Babylonian king, taking advantage of the weakness of Assyria and enlisting the Medes (perhaps also wanting to warn the pharaoh), went to conquer Mesopotamia (as one of his early inscriptions tells). Then he met an unexpected rebuff, cutting off his communication with the base, and had to call the Medes, who carried out the work of destruction. The latter was carried out so radically that Nabonidus considered himself obliged to clear Nabupolassar’s memory of participation in it: this participation was indirect; the main role belonged to Cyaxares, unfortunately not named anywhere. Holy Harran was also destroyed at this time; The Medes gave the idols of the gods to their ally and they were transferred to Babylon. Nabupolassar himself, however, in two of his inscriptions boasts that he “conquered Assyria and turned the country of his enemies into a heap of rubbish and heaps of ruins,” but besides this general phrase, understandable in his mouth, he left us a more detailed testimony in his inscription telling about buildings in Babylonian temples and found by a German expedition in the fall of 1901.

“Nabupalassar, the king of truth, the shepherd called by Marduk... Since I, in my humility, being the son of an insignificant one, constantly honored the sanctuaries of Nabu and Marduk, my lords, and thought about the steadfastness of their commandments and the fulfillment of their commands, I directed my thoughts towards the truth and justice, then God, the knower of the heart, who knows the hearts of the gods of heaven and earth and constantly watches the paths of the peoples, penetrated into the heart of me, insignificant, unnoticed among people, and put me at the head of the country in which I was born, calling me to rule over the country and people. He sent me a guardian spirit to accompany me and assisted me in all my endeavors. He made Nergal, the most powerful among the gods, my companion, conquered my enemies, defeated my adversaries. The Assyrians, who from ancient times ruled over all nations and subjugated the people of (my) country to their heavy yoke, I, weak and humble, honoring the lords of lords, with the help of the formidable power of Nabu and Marduk, my lords, repulsed the feet from the country of Akkad and overthrew their yoke "...

This inscription, beautiful in tone and spirit, reminiscent of a manifesto, says nothing about the offensive actions of the author himself and the Nineveh pogrom. Unfortunately, it does not provide any factual details, and it seems risky to conclude, together with Weisbach, from the mention of the assistance of Nabu and Marduk that the Babylonian king initially controlled only Babylon and Borsippa, and from the mention of Nergal that the victory was facilitated by the plague in the Assyrian army. In any case, it is clear that Assyria was not crushed as easily as they like to say; Even on the eve of the collapse, it repulsed its enemies, not without success, and it took an exceptionally favorable combination of circumstances and outstanding personalities to overthrow it. It is characteristic that Nabupolassar refers to the heavy yoke of the Assyrians, who dominated all nations, in almost the same terms as Herodotus and the Bible. The lands of Assyria were divided among the allies, with Babylonia receiving the region west of the Tigris.

Nineveh and Assyria did not disappear from the face of the earth, as they like to say, referring to the superficial reports of Xenophon, who does not mention the place of Nineveh in Anabasis. Assyria, retaining its name (“Athuria”), was a Persian province, and the city of Nineveh arose under the Roman emperors as a military colony, Niniva Claudiopclis. Classical writers often called the entire region of the Tigris and Euphrates Assyria, and today we call the science of Assyro-Babylonian philology Assyriology. But the people could no longer play a political role. Literature and science apparently died out, since they were artificially supported by the court, while the Aramaic language and writing had long been dominant among the people. From now on, ancient Babylon remained the only carrier of Babylonian culture, and it had to share the role of a great power not only with its ally Media, but also with the revived Egypt and Lydia.

The year of the fall of Nineveh is determined by Eusebius in the 1st year of the 43rd Olympiad - 609/8, by Jerome - a year earlier. In the Bible, in the year of the death of King Josiah (608), Necho still goes to fight with the king of Assyria. Nabonidus says that he restored the temple of Sin at Harran (in 553) 54 years after the destruction - this takes us to 607, which is probably the exact date of the destruction of Assyria.

Inscriptions: Messerschmidt, Die stele Nabunaids. Mitteil. Vorderasiat. Gesellsch. I. 1. Weissbach, Babyl. Miscellaneous. 20. Research: Billerbeck und Ieremias, Der Untergang Ninives. Beitrage Z. Assyriologie, III. Winсkler, Kimmerier, Ashguzaer, Skythen. Altorient. Fortune. I. Zur medischen und altpers. Oeschichte. Untersuch. Lineke, Assyrien und-Ninive in Geschichte und Sage. Berl., 1894. M. Streсk, Assurbanipal und die letzte assyrisoh. Konige bis z. Untergange Niniveh "s. Vorderasiat. Bibl. VII, 1915.

The fall of Assyria was sudden, like the fall of other great empires of antiquity, but there is plenty of evidence that the collapse of the empire was inevitable, the only question remaining was the timing of this sad event.

Assyria began as a state on the territory of modern Iraq. The Romans, not without reason, considered Assyria the first "world empire." The Romans also often called the Assyrian Empire the predecessor of the Roman Empire, but the principles of conquering new lands between these two superpowers of antiquity were strikingly different. If the Romans carefully tried to settle every conquered piece of land, tried to better strengthen themselves in the new territory, then the Assyrians were like an avalanche: they quickly captured new lands, as if they were trying to embrace the immensity. Probably, this speed of conquests subsequently determined such a rapid fall of Assyria, since the lands were united too hastily.

In those days, no army could compare with the Assyrian. It was a state that lived by war for war's sake. There is hardly a second state in world history that has waged wars of various scales continuously for 700 years. The fall of Assyria was predicted by many of its neighbors, but it occurred only about a thousand years after the founding of the first Assyrian city, Ashur. However, it was a state with a highly developed culture, whose representatives knew the Pythagorean theorem long before he himself, and the library in Nineveh preserved priceless and numerous collections of clay tablets with ancient texts, which made it possible to learn so much about Ancient Mesopotamia.

The history of Assyria is traditionally divided into three periods. During the Old Assyrian period (XX-XVI centuries BC), the main city of Assyria was Ashur - it was very small in size. At that time, Babylon was already a large and famous city, and the star of Ashur was just shining in the historical sky. Initially it was a city of merchants, and only over time Assyria became famous for its military power. Quite influential cities of the Old Assyrian period can be called Nineveh and Arbela. The fall of Assyria in the 23rd century BC, along with the whole of Northern Mesopotamia, under the onslaught of the Akkadian kingdom, was followed by Assur gaining independence, after the fall of the Akkadian kingdom in the 22nd century due to the invasion of the Gutians (mountain people).

At first, Ashur had many customs borrowed from Babylon. One of the most interesting is the renewal of the king. The essence of the ritual was as follows: for one day a year, the king left his post, appointing someone in his place, and he himself went to the city, where everyone could pour water on the king, curse or even spit on him. This was considered a rite of purification for the king, after which he, renewed, returned to his duties. Sometimes the kings appointed some commoner in their place, and he, instead of the king, withstood all the insults, and in the end the king was considered renewed. But this could lead to extremely funny situations. History has preserved the story of a king who appointed his gardener in his place and sent him to the city to be desecrated, while he hid in the palace. Trouble happened when the king choked on porridge while he was in the palace and died, but the gardener remained to reign. As Assyria's military power strengthened and the influence of its rulers increased, such a custom faded into oblivion.

During the Middle Assyrian period (XV-XI centuries BC), Assyria declared itself as a military power. Already in the 13th century BC. The kingdom of Mittani fell under the onslaught of Assyria. Under Tikultininurt I, successful military campaigns begin and an invasion of Syria occurs. The same ruler captured Babylon and began to intensively expand the territory of his country. Phenicia, Northern Syria, and some provinces of Asia Minor were captured, and trade routes from West to East came under the complete influence of Assyrian merchants. Considering the small size of the indigenous part of Assyria, one can imagine how warlike the Assyrians were, who expanded the borders of their lands so significantly. The most important turning point In the Assyrian history of military affairs, the development and use of iron began (they were the first to use it): iron armor was invulnerable to bronze weapons, while iron weapons easily defeated bronze protection. The second fall of Assyria occurred after the death of Tiglath-pileser I, especially after the invasion of the nomadic Arameans. An attempt to conclude an alliance between Assyria and Babylon ended in complete failure and Assyria lost many of its conquered lands, the political and economic spheres fell into complete decline, because practically no documents from the period from the late 11th to the late 10th centuries BC have reached us. e.

The New Assyrian period (X-VII centuries BC) originates from the fact that Assyria recovered from the invasion of the Arameans. Assyria reached its greatest power in the period from the 8th to the 7th centuries BC. It was at this time that Assyria became an empire, which is considered the first in human history. The fall of Assyria again seemed impossible - the once small country had become such a powerful and influential power. Under Tiglath-pileser III, the Assyrian army numbered more than 120 thousand people; it had no equal either in numbers or in military power. In addition to chariots, the Assyrians introduced military cavalry - essentially creating cavalry as a separate branch of the army. The siege technologies of the Assyrians achieved unprecedented mastery: fortress cities, which were more early times could withstand a 15-20 year siege, the Assyrians captured in 20 days, building walls level with the fortresses, depriving cities of water, diverting rivers, or flooding cities, destroying or building dams. If even after this the city did not surrender, then its walls were simply broken down with improved battering guns, which were more like movable fortress towers with archers on top and roofs that protected the warriors breaking the wall. Endless robberies of conquered territories, tribute and taxes from them, countless slaves - all this became the driving force of the Assyrian economy of that time. Mass relocations of conquered peoples were also practiced; it was believed that this would prevent riots and uprisings in the regions.

As for the uprisings, Babylon was a painful and unhealing wound on the body of the mighty empire of Assyria. It is noteworthy that the Assyrians seemed to be trying to appease the Babylonians by leaving captured Babylon the status of an independent city, instead of making it just a colony. As a result, Babylon became the focus of revolts and uprisings, some Assyrian kings (for example, Sennacherib) razed Babylon after another uprising, while others (for example, Esarhaddon) restored the city.

For a whole century, the Assyrian Empire flourished and expanded its borders, Israel, Media, Egypt, Urat and other territories were captured. It seemed that nothing threatened the power of Assyria. However, internal conflicts caused by the desire of the Assyrians to embrace the immensity led to such a rapid fall of Assyria. Suddenly, the Assyrians seemed tired of the war. King Ashurbanipal launched many campaigns, but they were no longer as successful as those of his predecessors. Even the images of the king changed: he began to be depicted more as a builder with a basket on his shoulders, rather than as a warrior on a war chariot. It was Ashurbanipal who initiated the restoration of the temple of Marduk in Babylon, as well as the creation of a library in Nineveh. The king himself knew the ancient Sumerian language and contributed to the restoration of many temples and palaces, which probably influenced his image. At the same time, he fought a lot, but these wars rather weakened the empire than brought income. And then the empire began to fall apart like a house of cards. The rebellion of Babylon (once again) shook all of Assyria, followed by Babylon's breakaway from Egypt. And when the Scythians entered the war, the Assyrian army, which had never known defeat before, succumbed to the conquerors, since the Assyrian army of many thousands was already weakened by internal strife and the struggle for power between military leaders. After Media and Babylon launched a joint attack on Assyria, Largest cities the empires - Nineveh, Ashur, Karchemish and Harrasan - simply ceased to exist, the Assyrian nobility was exterminated, and the population fled to neighboring lands and mixed with local peoples. The final fall Assyria occurred in 609 BC, when the Babylonians dealt the final blow to the remnants of the Assyrian power.

The fall of Assyria clearly shows that even the most seemingly powerful state can fall apart due to internal conflicts that undermine the well-being of the country. The rapid seizure of territories was replaced by an equally rapid split of the empire, and only thanks to written sources that have come down to us from the depths of centuries, we can imagine the once huge empire of Assyria.

Elizaveta Lz

Around 660, the Assyrian state was strong and powerful. Even the fact that some areas previously owned by Tiglath-pileser and Sargon were lost by her could not convince her otherwise, because she made a major acquisition - Egypt.

However, it was from this moment that events unfolded that then pushed the Assyrian state to destruction.

The Assyrian state was inhabited by many people who were one way or another interested in the destruction of this state. The peoples of Western Asia considered their main enemies to be the Assyrian nobility (which included administration officials and the high priesthood), the military and city merchants - a small group of people who made countless fortunes by the scale of that time and exploited the rest of the population of the Middle East in their own interests.

Thus, the entire East was interested in the death of Assyria, calling Assyria a “den of lions,” wanting the fall of Nineveh, the “city of blood.”

Representatives of outlying, not yet conquered tribes, captives resettled to new lands, exploited community members, and representatives of slave-owning circles located outside Assyria proper - all supported this idea.

Within the privileged elite of slave owners at the same time, as mentioned above, between the military and service nobility on the one hand, and the slave-owning nobility of temples and cities, in particular Babylonian, on the other hand, the internal struggle did not stop.

Farmers, artisans and slaves showed their dissatisfaction by fleeing from their owners and by killing individual slave owners. Thus, the broad masses of the people did not yet represent a real independent political force, ready to lead class struggle for your interests. But still, these masses were that hidden force and already quite enormous in size, which in the event of military defeat or weakening state power could quickly move.

Under such conditions, the discussion will be not so much about why the Assyrian power perished, but about what contributed to the fact that its existence dragged on for such a relatively long period.

As for the reason for this, it is that the opponents of the Assyrian power did not have strong unity, and also lacked the necessary military forces.

The constant military successes of Assyria contributed to the fact that the ruling class began to underestimate the external danger, while disagreements between its individual factions began to clearly manifest themselves.

Things were not going well in the Assyrian army. No information has reached us that would clearly indicate that Assyria resorted to mercenary troops (the only exception is the mention of the commander of the Cimmerian regiment under Esarhaddon), but this army consisted of a large number of foreign elements recruited from among various conquered peoples. They were attracted by the opportunity to make money during military campaigns, especially when success accompanied the Assyrian army, and they became an obedient tool of the Assyrian slave owners.

One way or another, the attitude of the population towards the army was hostile, which gradually undermined its combat effectiveness.

But on the other hand, the opponents of Assyria accumulated considerable combat experience during the long struggle. The perfection of military organization and weapons, high siege technology could not for a long time be the monopoly of the Assyrians alone. Assyrian tactics and military technology were adopted by the Babylonians, Urartians, Medes, and Elamites.

It was also of no small importance that cavalry infantry detachments of the Cimmerians and Scythians, who had special tactics, appeared in Western Asia. Apparently, local residents from the outskirts of the Assyrian possessions adjoined the Cimmerians and Scythians.

Thus, in the current conditions, to destroy Assyria it was only necessary to create a sufficiently powerful military alliance of its opponents. At one time, Mardukapaliddin tried to create such an association. Since the 50s VII b. BC e. Various coalitions begin to take shape again against the Assyrian power. Now the only question was which of these coalitions would be strong enough to overthrow the Assyrian yoke.

Complicating international situation

Necho's son, Psammetichus, who at that time was the ruler of one of the regions of Egypt, between 657 and 655. BC e. enters into an alliance with the Lydian king Guggu. At that time, the Lydian king managed to temporarily repel the onslaught of the Cimmerians, and therefore he mistakenly believed that he no longer needed the help of the Assyrian power.

Psammetichus, relying on the created alliance with Guggu, takes the throne of the pharaohs, obviously defeating the Assyrian garrisons. Assyria lost Egypt.

The Assyrian king was unable to organize a new campaign to subjugate Egypt, because his attention and forces were directed to fighting enemies who threatened the main core of the state.

The war between the Assyrian Empire and Elam began in 655 BC. e. Assyrian troops managed to defeat the Elamites and their Aramaic Chaldean allies. After this, having crossed the Karun River, the Assyrians captured the capital of Elam, Susa, destroying the city. The Elamite king Teumman was captured and beheaded in full view of the surrendered Elamite army.

Despite this successful turn of events, the situation still became extremely tense. There was a time when the Assyrians expected an invasion by the Cimmerians, who, around 654, captured Sardis, the capital of Lydia, as well as the Urartians. But this was not destined to happen, since the Cimmerians had to stay for a long time in Asia Minor, where Lydia continued to resist.

As for the state of Urartu, it also refused to clash with the Assyrian power.

In 653–652 BC e. The Babylonian king, Ashurbanipal's brother Shamash-shumukin, subordinate to Assyria, rebelled. Shamash-shumukin was related to the Babylonian nobility; in addition, he had supporters in Assyria, on whom he could rely if something happened. Wanting to achieve complete independence, Shamash Shumukin created a powerful army in Babylonia, and also attracted the Babylonian and Chaldean nobility to his side, achieving their favor.

In addition to these measures, Shamash Shumukin secretly concluded an alliance with the Arabs, with the Aramaic tribes, obviously with Media, possibly with Egypt and, undoubtedly, with an indispensable participant in all existing anti-Assyrian coalitions - Elam.

Everything that Shamashshumukin managed to do did not save his situation, since luck was on his side.

Ashurbanipal himself went at the head of the Assyrian army to Babylonia. Perhaps he had never had the opportunity to do this before, since he preferred studying in his library and personally participating in the torture and execution of prisoners to military campaigns.

The Assyrians managed to prevent the union of the Elamites with the Babylonians. Shamash-shumukin was defeated and retreated to Babylon, where he was besieged.

Arab auxiliary detachments hastened to assist Shamashshumukin, but were defeated in terrain crossed by canals, which turned out to be unusual for them. After which they were forced to seek shelter behind the walls of Babylon, where by that time famine was already raging.

Western groups of Arabs, meanwhile, were attacked by the king of Moab (states east of Jordan) loyal to Ashurbanipal.

Elam was rocked by another palace coup, which led to long-term turmoil. The position of the besieged Babylonians was hopeless. Some Assyrian data has reached us, by which we can judge this. Exhausted people reached the point of cannibalism. The corpses of the dead Babylonians became prey for dogs, pigs and birds of prey.

Shamash Shumukin burned himself in his palace, preferring such death to captivity. Assyrian troops burst into the city and carried out a bloody massacre on the surviving supporters of Shamash-shumukin.

However, after this the war was never over, since Elam remained, where the anti-Assyrian faction of the nobility again gained the upper hand. The Assyrian troops had to retake Susa. In 646 BC. e. The Assyrians again placed their protege on the throne.

The years of turmoil that followed this event were spent in the struggle for the Elamite throne of several claimants, as well as in the organization of war against the Assyrian power.

There was no reliable unity among the Elamites, so everything could lead to complete defeat.

Around 639 BC e. Susa was taken by the Assyrians for the third time. The city was barbarously destroyed, the ashes of the Elamite kings were thrown out of the tombs, the statues of the Elamite gods were taken away, and numerous valuables looted by the Elamites for many centuries in Babylonia returned to Babylon.

Thus, the independent existence of Elam ended.

Apparently around 633 BC. e. Ashurbanipal died. It was from this time that a new period began, which was characterized by internal unrest in the Assyrian state, which brought its final collapse closer. We cannot say specifically what exactly caused these unrest, since we do not have sufficient information.

Death of the Assyrian Empire

We know very little about the reign of Ashurbanipal's successor, Ashuretelilani. Throne of Babylonia in 626 BC. e. captured Nabopolassar (Nabuapalusur), who was a Chaldean leader. Until that moment, this place was occupied by the Assyrian protege Kandalanu.

Nabopolassar began his career as a governor in the Assyrian service.

Ashuratellani made a very tentative attempt to win over the Chaldeans to his side. By this time, the process of merging the Chaldean and Babylonian nobility had gone too far, therefore, despite the fact that this had previously been possible, now all attempts to pit the Chaldean and Babylonian nobility against each other were unsuccessful.

Babylonia remained in the hands of Nabopolassar.

Apparently, as a result of a palace coup that soon took place in the Assyrian state, Ashuratellani was overthrown from the throne.

About events before 616 BC. e. we can only guess, since they are unknown to us, and starting from this year, another son of Ashurbanipal - Sarak (Sinsharrishkun) was on the Assyrian throne.

The Assyrian power, obviously, by this time was already powerless to keep most of the regions remote from it, and not only them, but also the Syrian regions, under administrative control; also in this regard, it was forced to enter into an alliance with Egypt and even with the kingdom of Mana near Lake Urmia, which the Assyrians did not previously consider an equal power.

There is an assumption that in many Assyrian territories at that time the Scythians felt quite confident. However, the central regions of the state were held by Sarak's troops.

Endless and stubborn wars exhausted the strength of the Assyrian power. Ashurbanipal's successors had to think about saving the country.

The position of Assyria and its allies deteriorated sharply after a powerful coalition was formed against it, consisting of Babylonia (led by Nabopolassar) and Media (led by Cyaxares). It should be noted that Media managed to become the main and most dangerous enemy, which in the 7th century. BC e. united the fragmented tribes of Iran and, using the death of Elam, became the most powerful power east of Mesopotamia.

True, Media also suffered some damage from the Scythian invasion, but, as Herodotus reports, the Medes managed to subdue the warlike nomads and even attract their troops, famous for their cavalry and infantry military tactics, to their side.

It should be said that we were never able to find out whether this alliance was concluded from the very beginning or whether it was formed during the war. Around 615 BC e. A decisive offensive against Assyria began on both sides.

Hostilities between the Assyrians and Babylonians during 616–615. BC e. went with varying degrees of success. In November 615 BC. e. The Medes broke through the passes of the Zagra mountains and penetrated into Arrapkha, adjacent to the indigenous region of Assyria. They succeeded in this due to the fact that at that time the main forces of the Assyrians fought against Babylonia.

The Kingdom of Mana, obviously, by this time was already under the rule of the Medes, and the Medes, without much effort, in July 614 penetrated into Assyria proper. The Assyrians could not withstand such an onslaught and began to retreat in panic. The Medes, constantly pursuing them, reached Ashur. The city was stormed and then plundered.

Nabopolassar went with his army to help the Medes, but was late for the assault, apparently deliberately, not wanting his name to be mentioned in the desecration of Ashur shrines.

An alliance was concluded (or renewed) between Nabopolassar and Cyaxares on the ruins of Ashur. Cyaxares, in order to strengthen this relationship, perhaps at the same time married his daughter (or granddaughter) to Nebuchadnezzar, who was the heir of the elderly king Nabopolassar.

Even after the fall of Ashur, Sarak remained hopeful. He managed to raise the tribes of the Euphrates Arameans against Babylonia, which for some time made it possible to divert the attention of Nabopolassar from the Assyrian power, and in 613 BC. e. defeat him.

But even after such success, it became obvious that the Assyrian power would not be able to hold out for long, since its death was inevitable.

In the spring of 612, the king of Media Cyaxares, whom from that moment the Babylonian chronicle calls not the “king of Media”, but the “king of Ummanmanda,” which means the king of the northern “barbarians” in general, and Nabopolassar met at the Tigris, after which, having united their troops, they headed to Nineveh, which since the time of Sennacherib had been the capital of the Assyrian state.

The siege of the city lasted for a long time: from May to the end of July. The combined army faced fierce resistance from the Assyrians. Despite this, Nineveh was taken and the palace of the Assyrian kings was burned.

Having fallen into the hands of the victors, the Assyrian nobility endured all the horrors that preceded death. Sarak himself, obviously, did the same as his uncle Shamashshumukin, throwing himself into the fire of his burning palace.

The library of King Ashurbanipal, however, survived, buried under a pile of ruins. The fire did not damage the clay books, although many of them broke into pieces when they fell from the shelves. They lay in the ground for two and a half thousand years, until in the middle of the 19th century. n. e. English archaeologists did not find them.

The remnants of the Assyrian army, led by Ashuruballit (apparently the brother of Ashurbanipal), retreated west to Harran, where Ashuruballit declared himself king of Assyria, and then to Karchemish on the Euphrates, where he managed to hold out for several more years.

They had an unexpected ally - the Egyptian pharaoh Necho. Fear of new great powers united former rivals: the dying Assyria and Ancient Egypt, which was trying to resume its policy of conquest.

In 605 BC. e. In the Battle of Karchemish, the Babylonian prince Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar (the future famous king), with the support of the Medes, defeated the united Egyptian-Assyrian army. After this blow, the Assyrian resistance ceased. Deprived of their political and cultural centers, they could no longer regain independence and assimilated with other tribes, mainly the Arameans, adopting their language (close to Assyro-Babylonian).

Thus ended the existence of the Assyrian state. From that moment on, Assyria never again played the same political role.

As for the Assyrian people, their fate changed, but in an insignificant way, since during the destruction of the Assyrian state they were not exterminated. The descendants of the Assyrians continued to live in the same places, however, without having a native language.

4. Ideology and culture of Assyria. Literature and science

Assyria's own contribution to the culture of the ancient world was insignificant. It is known that in the field of literature, nothing of her own belongs to her except the royal military annals. But these annals also represented remarkable works, vivid in their expressiveness of rhythmic language, with an amazing system of images.

A characteristic feature of these Assyrian works was that they were always written not in the dialect native to the Assyrians, but in Akkadian, which was quite different from it by that time literary language(Babylonian).

Literary monuments were carefully collected in the library of the Nineveh palace by order of King Ashurbanipal, as well as in the libraries of temples. All of these monuments exclusively represented monuments of Babylonian literature or imitations of them, such as hymns and prayers to the gods composed by Ashurbanipal himself.

Works of Babylonian and more ancient Sumerian literature were copied and studied in Assyrian palace and temple libraries and schools. Of course, independent features were often introduced.

The Assyrian chronicles are especially unique. Some of them resemble historical novels. Such techniques as literary landscape and literary portrait are widely used in them. The mountain peaks piercing the sky like the tips of daggers, steep ledges and mountain streams are described very artistically.

An educated scribe in Assyria was required to have knowledge of several languages: in addition to his native dialect and the Babylonian dialect in two forms (living, used in business correspondence with Babylonia, and the old literary one), also the Sumerian language, because some knowledge of this language made it possible to fully master cuneiform writing .

In official offices, in addition to the Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language, they used another language - Aramaic, which was the most common among the multilingual population different parts powers.

In the everyday life of the population, the Aramaic language gradually replaced Akkadian.

The clerical staff included special Aramaic scribes who wrote on leather, papyrus or clay shards.

Unfortunately, due to the extremely poor preservation of the material used for writing, we have almost nothing from Aramaic literature, which was also created in Assyria.

The famous Aramaic story about the wise Ahi Kara dates back to Assyrian times, the action of which takes place at the court of the Assyrian kings Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. The oldest version of this story has come down to us in a copy of the 5th century. BC e. It is known that this story underwent some changes over the many centuries of its existence, survived until the late Middle Ages, and was translated in Europe into many languages, including Russian.

When talking about the activities of the kings, the chroniclers did not stop at obvious exaggerations, depicting the unusual courage of their overlords and contrasting their generosity with the deceit and cowardice of their enemies.

Science in the Assyrian state was at the stage of primary accumulation of facts. Those works of scientific content that have come down to us are of a purely utilitarian nature - these are all kinds of lists, reference books, recipes. However, some of these reference books contain certain preliminary generalizations.

Still, most of the scientific works that have come to us from Assyria are of Babylonian origin.

Also presented are dictionaries and collections of language and legal exercises, medical and chemical prescription reference books, summaries of botanical and mineralogical terms, astrological and astronomical records, etc.

It is known that scientific knowledge in such writings were intertwined with witchcraft, since much was still unknown or could not yet be revealed scientific explanation. So, for example, the profession of a doctor was considered a priestly profession.

As noted earlier, quite high level developments were military equipment, as well as other branches of technology that were closely related to military affairs - the construction of bridges, roads, aqueducts, fortresses, etc.

Art and architecture

Assyrian architects achieved unprecedented success in the field of architecture. The most important buildings were erected on high brick platforms. For the construction of all kinds of structures, mud brick was used (burnt brick and stone were used, and not always, and in many cases only for cladding).

Since mud brick is a material that did not allow complex architectural forms, Assyrian architects could use a somewhat limited number of techniques: straight lines, alternating ledges and niches, open porticoes with pillars and two towers on the sides - the so-called “Hittite bit-hilani "

The buildings had blank walls; the rooms, like in Babylonia, opened onto the courtyard.

The arched vault was already known, but basically, as a rule, the ceilings were beamed, rolled up. Through small holes made directly in the ceiling or in the walls under the ceiling, light passed into the room.

In Assyria, at the temples of the main deities, stepped towers (ziggurats) of a characteristic design were erected, which had a number of differences from the Babylonian ones.

A large Assyrian city, as a rule, had a main building, which was the royal palace, which was located on a significant part of its area. Such a palace was a fortified structure located on a high platform.

Reliable walls were made mainly of mud brick. They had protruding rectangular towers, topped with stepped battlements. The entrances were arched, decorated with stone sculptures of winged bulls and lions with human birds - the guardian deities of the palace.

These were the external decorations of the buildings; we do not have the necessary data about others.

As for the interior spaces, they were mainly decorated artistically and with the subtle taste characteristic of Assyrian craftsmen. The narrow and long state halls of the palaces were especially beautifully decorated, where painted reliefs, paintings and colored tiles were used. Particularly famous are the Assyrian reliefs, which were carved on large stone slabs. These slabs were used to cover the lower parts of the walls in the interiors of palaces.

The Assyrian craftsmen borrowed the method of making relief slabs from Mitanni or from the Hittites. It should also be noted that in fine arts The Assyrian state has a large number of different elements that go back to Hurrian and Hittite art.

The reliefs of an earlier period (including the 9th century BC) are distinguished by a greater coherence of figures and a lack of dynamism. There is also another feature, which is that they exaggerately emphasize physical strength.

However, already starting from the 8th century. BC e. Assyrian artists approached a more truthful depiction of reality, and landscape also appeared at this time. In this regard, especially noteworthy are the images of animals and hunting scenes that date back to the time of Ashurbanipal.

All of the above, however, was a very limited achievement of Assyrian art.

Assyrian art is characterized by the artisanal, albeit skilled, use of pre-designed stencils. In the case of hunting scenes, the artist manages to skillfully combine them, while achieving vitality in the image.

The subject matter of Assyrian art is limited to military, cultic and hunting scenes. Regarding the ideological content, one can literally say the following: it comes down to praising the power of the Assyrian king and the Assyrian army, as well as shaming the enemies of Assyria.

Assyrian artists still lacked interest in depicting a specific image of a person and his environment. In the existing images that have come down to us, the stencil type of face, the conventional turn of the body, etc. are preserved.

Thus, the achievements of the Assyrians in the visual arts were comparatively small, but, despite this, it greatly influenced the official art of a later state of the same type - the Persian state, whose development followed the same paths as those blazed by Assyrian artists. At the same time, the elements of stenciling and decorativeness of the images were only strengthened.

Religion

Religion determined the ideological content of both art and literature, and the entire culture of the Assyrian state as a whole. The same can be said about other countries of the ancient East.

In the religion of the Assyrians great importance devoted to rituals and rites of a magical nature. As a rule, the gods were represented as strong, envious and formidable creatures in their anger, while at the same time, the role of man in relation to them was reduced to just the role of a slave who constantly feeds them with his victims.

Any god was the patron god of a certain community, and if not a community, then a certain territory. There was also a distinction between “our own” and “foreign” gods, but, despite this name, “foreign” gods were also still recognized as deities.

The patron god of the state was declared the king of the gods; he was also the most powerful god. The life of the gods was judged by the image of the hierarchy of the royal court, and the main task of religion was primarily to illuminate the existing despotic monarchy.

The official rituals, mythology and all the scientists of the Assyrian religion were almost entirely borrowed from Babylon, with the only difference being that the local god Ashur was placed above all the gods, and therefore above the Babylonian Bel-Marduk.

However, among the masses there were also myths and beliefs in circulation that remained unknown to the Babylonians, but in their origin went back to Hurrian mythology. Evidence of this is the images on cylindrical stone seals that free Assyrians could afford to wear.

Those myths and cults that were associated with agriculture have survived to this day in the form of remnants in the life of the mountaineers who live in the territory of the former Assyria.

Naive religious ideas, which originated from ancient times, as well as beliefs that re-emerged on the basis of social oppression of the masses, fettered the slightest movement of the Assyrians: countless superstitions, belief in dozens of types of demons and ghosts, from which they protected themselves with amulets, prayers, and magical figurines heroes Gilgamesh and Enkidu, thousands of omens for all occasions, which were observed with great care, all kinds of rituals, etc.

The king also had to strictly perform complex obligatory ritual ceremonies, since he was considered the magical bearer of the country's well-being. Such duty was universally used by the priesthood in order to have political influence against the king, and also so as not to lose his participation in various state affairs.

At the end of the 2nd millennium, Assyria was pushed back to its former territories by the Aramaic invasion.

At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Assyria did not have the opportunity to wage wars of conquest. In turn, this has led to increasing discord between various factions of the ruling class. We have some information about some kind of internal restructuring in the Assyrian state, which may have been associated with the struggle between the king and the military nobility, on the one hand, and the city of Ashur, led by the priesthood, on the other.

The military nobility of Assyria succeeded by the end of the 10th century. BC e. take over. Naturally, this circumstance immediately affected foreign policy, which immediately resumed its aggressive character. In addition, it should be noted that Assyria was successful in this.