ASSYRIA--A POWERFUL EMPIRE.
A dynasty of weak kings followed and seemed to be leading Assyria on to
ruin, but in 746 B.C. the people rose up in rebellion, driving them out
and crowning a ruler selected by themselves. It is supposed that the one
they chose had already proven his worth and capacity either at the head
of a large division of the army, or possibly in the management of some
Assyrian province. In any event, he was firmly established at once and
spent no time trying to inspire his subjects with awe. His own name has
not been recorded but he took the crown name of Tiglath-Pileser III.,
seeking to emulate him who had borne it first. He is the Pul of the Old
Testament.
Babylonia demanded first attention. The Armenians had established
themselves in the southern part of the kingdom and threatened to crush
out the old life and culture by their rapidly increasing numbers.
Tiglath-Pileser III. was hailed by the native Babylonians as a
deliverer. Forcing the usurpers back, he divided the former kingdom into
four provinces, placing Assyrian governors over each. He also brought
many captives into these provinces to make their homes, hoping in this
way to weaken the national spirit which tried every little while to gain
back old-time freedom for the state.
The Medes on the east required some curbing, but their independence was
not destroyed. These matters attended to, Tiglath-Pileser III. was free
to give attention to the west.
The city of Arpad stood in the way of Assyrian progress and since it
refused tribute, it was besieged. The plucky town held out for two long
years, but when finally taken, was laid waste with great slaughter. All
neighboring tribes hastened to send tribute, and were incorporated into
the Assyrian empire.
Heretofore we have seen people brought under tribute and some faint
efforts made to hold them. Now we have reached the imperial period of
Assyrian development when the government, established at home, sought
to increase its actual possessions abroad, and to bind them to the
original kingdom with strong ties.
An alliance had been made among the sea-coast states, with Judah at the
head. This had been formed, of course, to stay the western tide of
Assyrian power. Notwithstanding, the king of Samaria yielded the moment
the Assyrian army drew near, paying the tribute with no display of
force. Judah alone seems to have remained unyielding and undisturbed.
Thirty thousand captives were brought into these districts to find new
homes, while many of the natives were deported to make room for them.
Several methods were employed by Assyria to make conquests lasting. If a
tribe or city acknowledged the Assyrian king as conqueror, no recourse
was made to arms; an annual tribute was usually imposed and an Assyrian
governor placed in the territory to hold revolts in check and to
generally represent the empire, of which the province was now a part.
The native king was frequently allowed to rule over the people, even
though his main duty in some instances seems to have been to raise the
required tribute. If, on the other hand, a tribe or city resisted, a war
or siege followed. One battle might reduce a tribe to submission; in the
case of a city, all supplies were shut off, and eventually the
inhabitants would be starved into surrender, whereupon, the city was
often made "land for the plough" by the exasperated king, and the people
subjected to all sorts of cruel punishments.
When a kingdom was conquered, it was thought desirable to destroy its
old patriotism by removing all chances for its development. With that
end in view, some of its citizens would be sent out of the country to
seek homes in other lands, while those from distant regions would be
brought in to take their places. Naturally the newcomers knew nothing of
the traditions of their newly found country and cared not at all to
fight for them. In this way, nations ceased to retain their venerated
customs, but as the kings often record: "I made them all to speak one
language"--and that Assyrian. One far-reaching effect of this policy was
that when a revolt did break out in some district, it no longer spread
like wildfire in all directions, but the governor of the province was
himself able to put down any uprising, and the colonists recently
imported, caring nothing for the older inhabitants, could be depended
upon to help him.
Tiglath-Pileser III. turned now to Gaza, whose king fled to Egypt there
to get aid in behalf of his state. Deserted, the city soon surrendered
and the Assyrian king, having sent the old gods home to Assyria,
installed Assyrian gods in the temples. Thence he marched to Palestine.
He who had held out against Assyria before was dead and a weak king now
ruled in Judah. Had the kings of Samaria and Damascus formed an alliance
with Judah, the power of Assyria might yet have been broken; instead
they united their forces to invade Judah and appropriate the territory
of the weak king for themselves. Isaiah, the great statesman of the
Hebrews, counselled the ruler in vain. To protect himself against his
aggressive neighbors he appealed to Assyria for help. This drew
Tiglath-Pileser III. to Samaria and Damascus, while Judah, sending
gifts, was not at this time molested. The Samarians themselves rose up
against their king. Having killed him, they asked the Assyrian ruler to
allow Hoshea to rule over them as an Assyrian vassal. This sifted the
opposition down to Damascus, which city prepared for a siege. Some five
hundred outlying towns were laid waste and their inhabitants sent into
other districts. Not all the army being constantly required to guard the
besieged town, part of the troops marched into Arabia, demanding tribute
and receiving it. In 732 B.C. Damascus fell and became an Assyrian
province.
By this time, Babylonia was in a state of turmoil. Under Assyrian
government the people had at first been free to develop their arts of
peace, and literature had flourished. Then the Chaldeans to the south,
established originally in the region around the gulf, known once as
Chaldea--tried again to rule the land. In 726 B.C. Tiglath-Pileser III.
marched into Babylonia, where, taking the hands of the god Marduk, he
was crowned king of Babylonia. According to the ancient custom, he who
wore this crown must return each year and celebrate this same ceremony.
Two years later Tiglath-Pileser having again performed the rites, died
before the year elapsed.
During the short reign which followed interest again reverted to the
west. Hoshea refused to pay tribute in 725 B.C., looking to Egypt for
help. He was taken captive and Samaria made ready for a siege. Strange
to say, the town held out for three years and the king of Assyria died
before it was taken. Sargon II. at once succeeded. (722-705 B.C.) He
again was not of royal blood and he too chose a popular crown name.
Samaria soon fell, and quite possibly neither the besieging army or the
stricken town knew of any change in rulers. Twenty-seven thousand two
hundred and ninety of the inhabitants of Samaria--the flower of the
land,--were deported to the Median mountains, while colonists were
brought in from Babylonia and other provinces to take their places. This
loss it was impossible to retrieve. Assyrian governors were set over the
land, now merely an Assyrian province.
In 721 B.C. attention focused once more in Babylonia, where the
Chaldeans had again usurped the crown. In the battle Sargon waged, the
result was so indecisive that neither side gained much. The usurpers
were simply checked.
Suddenly an alliance was formed in the west, made up of stricken
Samaria, Damascus and Gaza. Sargon marched rapidly west before their
armies were ready, and defeated them separately and carried "the ten
tribes into captivity." Now again more strangers were brought in, and
more citizens sent out. It is little wonder, after all these mixtures of
peoples, that in later years the Jews regarded the Samarians as not of
their kin, but an inferior race, so that in the time of Christ one could
say: "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a
woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans!"
It was during this campaign that the Hittite king was taken prisoner and
his kingdom, once so powerful, was merged into the Assyrian Empire.
Not long after, Hezekiah, king of Judah, attempted to stir up an
opposition to the Assyrian tribute payment. Isaiah, the far-seeing
statesman, again counselled against it,--vainly to be sure, yet
constantly, for this was an unfavorable moment. As might have been
foreseen, the coalition was short-lived.
Sargon's work in time of peace was extensive. He built a palace, like
his predecessors, but outdoing them, he constructed a royal city for
its location. This was a custom new in Assyria, but we have seen that it
was usual in Egypt, during the Middle and New Empires. Choosing a spot
not far from Nineveh, at the base of a mountain, he had a rectangular
area laid out, its corners pointing to the four cardinal points. First
temples were built to the gods, whose favor he sought in every possible
way, even going to the length of paying for the site of the city, and
compensating those who asked no money. After the temples, the palace
itself arose--built of ivory, palm-wood, cedar, cypress, having gates of
wood overlaid with bronze. The eight gates of the city were named for
the eight leading divinities, the walls for Asshur, and the ramparts for
Niveb. An invocation was inscribed to the gods: "May Asshur bless this
city, and this palace! May he invest these constructions with an eternal
brightness! May he grant that they shall be inhabited until the remotest
days! May the sculptured bull, the guarding spirit, stand forever before
his face! May he keep watch here night and day, and may his feet never
move from this threshold!" The palace is said to have contained
"twenty-four bulls in relief and two miles of sculptured slabs." Since
the work was only begun in 712 B.C., and he came to reside within in 707
B.C., he was apparently able to command a large army of workmen. This
was the palace whose ruins Botta unearthed in 1846, and each part
remaining appeared to be as perfect as workmanship could make it.
The new city was peopled in a unique way. "People from the four quarters
of the world, of foreign speech, of manifold tongues, who had dwelt in
mountains and valleys, ... whom I, in the name of Asshur my lord, by the
might of my arms had carried into captivity, I commanded to speak one
language and settled them therein. Sons of Asshur of wise insight in all
things, I placed over them, to watch over them; learned men and scribes
to teach them the fear of God and the King."
It is supposed that Sargon II. was murdered in 705 B.C. and his son
Sennacherib succeeded to the throne. He had observed his father's
difficulties in keeping order in Babylonia, and had concluded before
ever he came to the throne that to indulge the pride of Babylon by
longer conforming to her venerated custom of crowning her king each
year--thus requiring his annual appearance,--was mere folly. He believed
that Babylonia, whatever her history, was now an Assyrian province, and
hence the king of Assyria was her king. So he himself did not go at all
to Babylon, but was merely crowned in Nineveh as King of Assyria. Now
the Babylonians, far from submitting to this train of logic, in course
of a brief time, crowned their own king. Thereupon the Chaldeans, ever
watchful for an opportunity to re-establish their power, set up a ruler
in the same country, farther south. In 702 B.C., because of this
confusion, Sennacherib marched to Babylon, laid waste many Chaldean
cities, deported 200,000 people and crowned as king a young nobleman,
Babylonian by birth but educated at the Assyrian court. Having so
vigorously asserted his strength, he was soon needed in the west.
The situation there was critical. Hezekiah, king of Judah, had
successfully conducted a war against the Philistines, and was therefore
regarded by his subjects as a great and mighty warrior. There was a
strong faction in the kingdom who opposed the annual payment of tribute
to Assyria and who believed that against them also Hezekiah might assert
himself and free them from this hated tribute service. Isaiah,
understanding the vast difference in the resources of the two countries,
counselled against a war, but it remained for future generations to
discern the clear, far sighted reasoning of this statesman, and the
king, even had he chosen to heed good counsel, was shortly plunged into
a war which was the popular demand of his people. Jerusalem prepared for
a siege, and water was brought into the city from some distance by an
aqueduct. Egypt promised aid, for the Ethiopian king who ruled that
country and the native princes who were struggling to regain the throne,
all felt that an opportunity opened in this way to win glory in Asia
which should serve as a lever to them at home. Judah had yet to learn
how fallen was this ancient state and how incapable of giving material
assistance.
The rebellion spread, for freedom was dear to nations in those days when
submission meant at least heavy tributes, and often deportation and a
dismantled country. In the city of Ekron the people, stirred by a hope
of independence, seized the Assyrian governor and led him captive to
Hezekiah. As usual, the Assyrian king made forced marches and appeared
before he was expected and before the armies were massed, so he had the
less difficult task of defeating each nation separately. Tyre, one of
the rebel cities, was first attacked. It was not possible to materially
injure her, since her defenses on the sea were strong; Sidon surrendered
and an Assyrian ruler was set over the city; now many of the allies were
consumed with fear and dropped out of the coalition, sending tribute
with all haste. In Ekron those who had led the rebellion were killed or
deported. As had long been the case, the Assyrian king was meeting with
brief resistance. Judah held out, however. Hezekiah watched for
re-enforcements from Egypt, but before they drew near, Sennacherib
opened battle, winning with heavy losses. Hezekiah withdrew his forces
into Jerusalem to undergo a siege, while the Assyrian army turned to
meet Egyptian allies and captured the leaders. Forty-six cities around
Jerusalem were taken, and when it seemed futile to longer hold out,
Hezekiah sent an embassy to Sennacherib to ask for terms of peace. A sum
of money approaching $1,000,000 in our money, was demanded, and although
it was raised with difficulty in Judah, it was paid over to the
conqueror. However, Hezekiah did not come out to meet Sennacherib and
acknowledge him as overlord, and the Assyrian king, feeling that his
victory was yet indecisive, dispatched his most trusted generals to
demand the surrender of Jerusalem. Meanwhile he marched with the great
mass of Assyrian forces to intercept more Egyptian armies now
approaching. Encamping at Pelusium, a place noted for its plagues before
that day and since, the army was stricken in the night. In a few days
only a remnant of the great force remained and a homeward march was
begun at once.
The Hebrews, according to their custom, interpreted this issue to
signify direct intervention of Providence in their behalf. Instead of
being led captives of Assyrian provinces and having their land
devastated, they gained fame and glory by the expedition. The Egyptians
also claimed a victory--all because of the pestilence.
The two accounts of the campaign, the Hebrew version of the story as
chronicled in the Old Testament, and the Assyrian version, as translated
from their tablets, are both so interesting that we quote them at
length. Such differences as they show are easily explained in view of
the standpoints of each writer.
Returning home, Babylonia was found to be in a state of insubordination,
having once more asserted her independence. Sennacherib now placed his
own son on the throne, but still difficulties multiplied. At last the
Babylonians united with the Chaldeans, their long-sworn enemies, against
Assyria. At this juncture, in 689 B.C., Sennacherib determined to strike
at the root of the trouble. He marched into the land and set fire to the
city of Babylon, after plundering its temples and palaces. Over the
desolate site of the city he then turned a canal, converting the region
into a swamp.
It is almost staggering even at this remote time to think of the pride
and glory of Babylonian life, the splendor of its palaces, the wonder of
its temples, being thus wantonly destroyed. Long periods of peace in the
kingdom had given opportunity for art and literature to develop, and
there can be no question that countless records of priceless worth
were destroyed by the deed of this fierce Assyrian. The culture of
Babylonia had indeed succumbed to the barbarism of Assyria. The
inhabitants--scholars, artists, artisans, were taken captives, and
deported to various points of the empire.
The following reign saw all that was possible done to atone for this
reckless act, but far beyond what we can now calculate, the loss was
irreparable.
HEBREW ACCOUNT OF THE WAR WITH ASSYRIA.
"Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah did Sennacherib, king of
Assyria, come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.
And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish,
saying, 'I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me
will I bear.' And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah, king of
Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
"And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the
Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house. At that time did
Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and
from the pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid, and gave
it to the king of Assyria.
"And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from
Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they
went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up they came and
stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the
fuller's field. And when they had called to the king, there came out to
them Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and
Shebna the scribe, and Joan the son of Asaph, the recorder.
"And Rab-shakeh said unto them: Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the
great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this wherein thou
trusteth? Thou sayest (but they are vain words) I have counsel and
strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest
against me?
"Now, behold, thou trusteth upon the staff of this bruised reed, even
upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce
it: so is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, unto all that trust on him.
"But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God: is not that he,
whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away and hath
said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in
Jerusalem?
"Now, therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of
Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on
thy part to set riders upon them. How then wilt thou turn away the face
of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust
on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Am I now come up without the
Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up
against this land, and destroy it.
"Then said Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joan, unto
Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language;
for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the
ears of the people that are on the wall. But Rab-shakeh said unto them,
Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words?
hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall? Then Rab-shakeh
stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake,
saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: Thus saith
the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to
deliver you out of his hand. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the
Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not
be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria: Harken not to
Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me
by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own
vine and every one of his own fig-tree, and drink ye every one the
waters of his cistern: Until I come and take you away to a land like
your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a
land of oil, olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and
harken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will
deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his
land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of
Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? Who are they among all the
gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine
hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand? But the
people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's
commandment was, saying, Answer him not....
"And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, ... O Lord our God, I
beseech thee save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the
earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only.... Therefore
thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come
into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with
shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same
shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For
I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my
servant David's sake.
"And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out, and
smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five
thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all
dead corpses.
"So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed, and went and returned and
dwelt at Nineveh."--_II. Kings, 18 and 19._
CONCERNING THE REVOLT OF JUDAH: FROM AN ASSYRIAN TABLET.
"But as for Hezekiah of Judah, who had not submitted to my yoke,
forty-six of his strong walled cities and the smaller cities round about
them, without number, by the battering of rams, and the attack of
war-engines, by making breaches by cutting through, and the use of axes,
I besieged and captured. Two hundred thousand, one hundred and fifty
people, small and great, male and female, horses, mules, asses, camels,
cattle and sheep, without number, I brought forth from their midst and
reckoned as spoil. (Hezekiah) himself I shut up like a caged bird in
Jerusalem, his royal city. I threw up fortifications against him, and
whoever came out of the gates of his city I punished. His cities, which
I had plundered, I cut off from his land and gave to Mitinti, King of
Ashdod, ... and made his territory smaller. To the former taxes, paid
yearly, tribute, a present for my lordship, I added and imposed on him.
Hezekiah himself was overwhelmed by the fear of the brilliancy of my
lordship, and the Arabians and faithful soldiers whom he had brought in
to strengthen Jerusalem, his royal city, deserted him. Thirty talents of
gold, eight hundred talents of silver, precious stones, ... couches of
ivory, thrones of elephant skin and ivory, _ushu_ and _urkarinu_ woods,
of every kind, a heavy treasure, and his daughters, his palace women,
male and female singers, to Nineveh, my lordship's city, I caused to be
brought after me, and he sent his ambassador to give tribute and to pay
homage."