Ancient Civilizations: The Assyrians

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Starting with some small farming communities near the Tigris River, the Assyrians built a great empire that covered a large portion of northern Mesopotamia.

For a long time, the Assyrian people were ruled by different neighbors: the Sumerian, Babylonian, Hittite, and Mittani kingdoms. But, by 1100 BC, they grew stronger and expanded their control, creating the world's first real empire.

• What does the word empire mean?

An empire is a group of peoples or nations that one ruler governs. The Assyrian Empire covered modern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and parts of Iran, Turkey, and Egypt.

• How did the Assyrians build their empire?

Write down the following questions, and answer them as you watch the video below.

• What did the Assyrians do in the city called Ashur?
• Who was Ashur-ubillit I, and what did he do?
• Why did the Assyrians move conquered peoples to different places?
• How did they rule their empire?
• What did they carve on the walls of their palaces?
• What did Assyrian leaders think of Babylonia?
• What important things did Ashurbanipal collect?
• What innovations did they focus on?

Making an Empire

One of the most important parts of making an empire is having a strong army.

As the video suggests, the Assyrians became expert warriors and were probably very cruel and savage warriors. They had thousands of well-trained soldiers that formed a standing army. (A standing army is always on duty and ready to fight, not just gathered together in times of war.)

Sometimes, they used charioteers and had troops on camels, horse cavalry, and expert archers.

They had a series of strong warrior-kings as rulers, whose main goal was to conquer other kingdoms and expand the empire. They attacked large cities, took their property and enslaved people back home, and then made the conquered people pay heavy taxes.

They kept control of these conquered cities by dividing the land into provinces and appointing a governor for each province. They also had soldiers stationed at different locations in the kingdom to keep order.

This was one of the keys to their success because it does no good to conquer a people if you can't control them. The Assyrians proved very good at governing the lands they conquered.

They also created a road network connecting all the cities. This was important because they could send messages back and forth quickly to resolve any problems that came up. They even paved some roads with stones to make the trip easier.

Building Projects and Art

The Assyrians didn't have a lot of experience in building, so they hired experts from other lands to build new cities for them.

They built temples, palaces, city walls, and irrigation systems. They had an aqueduct system to carry water to their cities long before the Romans, and some rich citizens also had running water and indoor toilets.

They built massive gateways and giant stone carvings.

They are also strongly interested in making beautiful outdoor spaces, with large parks and gardens near their palaces.

Some historians now believe the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon — one of the Wonders of the Ancient World — were Assyrian gardens at Nineveh.

• Why do they think this?

Because archaeologists have found evidence of large garden areas in Assyria but have found none in Babylon!

• Would you believe the Assyrians also had a zoo?

King Ashurnasirpal loved to collect animals from foreign lands and add them to the palace gardens and parks!

The Assyrians were also great artists, especially in jewelry-making. Archaeologists have discovered artifacts that show they were experts in working with gold, jewels, ivory, and glass.

One of the best things the Assyrians built was a massive library of ancient documents. King Ashurbanipal ordered his people to collect all the written texts in the kingdom so that he could save them in his library. There were histories, records of medicine and astronomy, literature, and religious texts such as hymns and prayers.

Kings and Capitals

The Assyrian kings, besides expanding their empire, seemed to love to build new capital cities!

As you saw in the video, their first capital was Ashru. Under King Ashurnasirpal II, Kalhu (modern-day Nimrud) became the capital. Then Sargon II built a capital at Dur-Sharrukin (which means Sargon's fortress).

His son, Sennacherib, built another palace at Nineveh. Finally, Ashur-ubillit II established the last capital at Harran.

End of the Assyrian Empire

Although the Assyrians were close relatives of the Babylonians and made themselves the guardians of Babylonian culture, the Babylonians were not happy being a conquered people. They rebelled and conquered the Assyrians in 612 BC.

Now, head over to the Got It? section, where you'll make a map of the Assyrian Empire and write a news article about the Assyrian library!