CHAPTER 8 Causes of the Decline of the Khazars It seems obvious 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 Bulgars and Georgians who suffered from them or

The Assyrian state is considered the first empire in the history of mankind. Power, where the cult of cruelty flourished, lasted until 605 BC. until it was destroyed by the combined forces of Babylon and Media.

Birth of Ashur

In the II millennium BC. the climate in the Arabian Peninsula worsened. This forced the natives to leave their original territory and go in search of " a better life". Among them were the Assyrians. They chose the valley of the Tigris River as their new homeland and founded the city of Ashur on its banks.

Although a fertile place was chosen for the city, the presence of more powerful neighbors (Sumerians, Akkadians and others) could not but affect the life of the Assyrians. They had to be the best at everything in order to survive. Merchants began to play a key role in the young state.

But political independence came later. First, Ashur was under the control of Akkad, then Ur, captured by the Babylonian king Hammurabi, and after that the city became dependent on Mitania.

Ashur remained under the rule of Mitania for about a hundred years. But under King Shalmaneser I, the state was strengthened. The result is the destruction of Mitania. And its territory, accordingly, went to Assyria.

Tiglath-Pileser I (1115 - 1076 BC) managed to bring the state to a new level. All neighbors began to reckon with him. It seemed that the "finest hour" was close. But in 1076 B.C. the king is dead. And among the contenders for the throne, there was no worthy successor. The Aramean nomads took advantage of this and inflicted several crushing defeats on the Assyrian troops. The territory of the state was sharply reduced - the captured cities came out of power. In the end, Assyria was left with only its ancestral lands, and the country itself was in the deepest crisis.

Neo-Assyrian power

It took Assyria more than two hundred years to recover from the blow. Only under King Tiglapalasar III, who ruled from 745 to 727 BC. the rise of the state began. First of all, the ruler dealt with the Urartian kingdom, having managed to conquer most of the cities and fortresses of the enemy. Then there were successful trips to Phoenicia, Syria, Palestine. The crowning activity of Tiglapalasar III was the ascent to the Babylonian throne.

The military success of the king is directly related to the reforms he is carrying out. So, he reorganized the army, which used to consist of landowners. Now, soldiers were recruited into it who did not have their own sector, and all the expenses for material support taken over by the state. In fact, Tiglapalasar III became the first king who had at his disposal regular army. In addition, the use of metal weapons played a big role in the success.

The next ruler Sargon II (721-705 BC) was destined for the role of the great conqueror. He spent almost the entire time of his reign on campaigns, annexing new lands, and also suppressing uprisings. But the most significant victory of Sargon is final defeat Urartian kingdom.

In general, this state has long been considered the main enemy of Assyria. But the Urartian kings were afraid to fight directly. Therefore, they in every possible way pushed certain peoples dependent on the country of Ashur to revolt. Unexpected help to the Assyrians was provided by the Cimmerians, even if they themselves did not want it. The Urartian king Rusa I suffered a crushing defeat from the nomads, and Sargon could not fail to take advantage of such a gift.

Fall of the god Khaldi

In 714 B.C. he decided to put an end to the enemy and moved inland, but crossing the mountains was not easy. In addition, Rusa, thinking that the enemy was heading for Tushpa (the capital of Urartu), began to gather a new army. And Sargon decided not to risk it. Instead of the capital, he attacked the religious center of Urartu - the city of Musasir. Rusa did not expect this, because he was sure that the Assyrians would not dare to desecrate the sanctuary of the god Khaldi. After all, he was honored in the northern part of Assyria. Rusa was so sure of this that he even hid the state treasury in Musasir.

The result is sad. Sargon captured the city and its treasures, and ordered the statue of Khaldi to be sent to his capital. Rusa could not survive such a blow and committed suicide. The cult of Haldi in the country was greatly shaken, and the state itself was on the verge of death and no longer posed a threat to Assyria.

The death of an empire

The Assyrian empire grew. But the policy pursued by its kings in relation to the captured peoples led to constant revolts. The destruction of cities, the extermination of the population, the cruel executions of the kings of the defeated peoples - all this caused hatred for the Assyrians. For example, the son of Sargon Sennacherrib (705-681 BC), after the suppression of the uprising in Babylon, executed part of the population, and deported the rest. He destroyed the city itself and flooded the Euphrates. And this was an unjustifiably cruel act, because the Babylonians and Assyrians are kindred peoples. Moreover, the former always considered the latter to be their younger brothers. This may have played a role. Sennacherrib decided to get rid of the arrogant "relatives".

Assarhaddon, who came to power after Sennacherrib, rebuilt Babylon, but the situation escalated every year. And even a new surge in the greatness of Assyria under Ashurbanipal (668-631 BC) could not stop the inevitable collapse. After his death, the country plunged into endless strife, which Babylon and Media took advantage of in time, enlisting the support of the Scythians, as well as Arab princes.

In 614 B.C. The Medes destroyed the ancient Ashur, the heart of Assyria. The Babylonians did not participate in the capture of the city; according to the official version, they were late. In fact, they simply did not want to participate in the destruction of the shrines of a kindred people.

Two years later, the capital, Nineveh, also fell. And in 605 BC. in the battle of Karchemish, Prince Nebuchadnezzar (who would later become famous for his hanging gardens) finished off the Assyrians. The empire died, but its people did not die, who retained their self-identity to this day.

Early Assyria. 3000-727

Around 3000 ASSYRIA APPEARED. The Assyrian people appeared on the plateaus in northeastern Mesopotamia, along the upper reaches of the Tigris River. Plain Assyria, which has no natural boundaries, was constantly under the threat of invasion by its neighbors, especially the Hittites, in the northwest and Sumero-Babylonia in the southeast.

Around 2000-1200 MILITARY DEVELOPMENT. Engaged in an endless struggle to maintain independence, the Assyrians became the most warlike people in the Middle East (about 1400). They initially relied on an irregular militia system, although constant campaigning gave these demi-soldiers exceptional military skill. But due to the long absence of the militias in the fields and in the workshops, the Assyrian economy was under serious strain. Having reached a large size and considerable power, Assyria simultaneously fell into decline (1230-1116).

In the middle of the XIII century. BC e. The Assyrian armies even invaded the borders of the Hittite state - one of the strongest at that time, regularly made campaigns - not so much for the sake of increasing territory, but for the sake of robbery - to the north, to the lands of the Nairi tribes; to the south, more than once passing through the streets of Babylon; to the west - to the flourishing cities of Syria and Phoenicia.

1116-1093 REIGN OF TIGLAT-PILASAR I. Assyria became the leading power in the Middle East, a position it held almost uninterrupted for five centuries. Tiglath-Pileser expanded Assyrian power to the heart of Anatolia and - through Northern Syria- to the Mediterranean Sea.
In honor of his triumph after the conquest of Phoenicia, Tiglath-Pileser I undertook a demonstrative exit on Phoenician warships to the Mediterranean Sea, showing the still formidable rival - Egypt, who in fact is a great power.

About 1050 PERIOD OF REDUCTION. Another wave of migration poured through Mesopotamia - this time Aramaic nomads. Eventually the Assyrians repulsed or absorbed these migrating nomadic tribes and regained control of all the major roads of the Middle East.

883-824 THE REIGN OF ASSHURNASIRPAL II AND SALMAHACAPA III. They marched with fire and sword through Mesopotamia to the Kurdish mountains and into Syria. There was then a brief hiatus in Assyrian expansion, as weak rulers proved unable to hold onto the fruits of their predecessors' northern conquests. The Aramaic tribes inhabiting Mesopotamia also became restless and unruly.

745-727 REIGN OF TIGLAT-PILASAR III. With a firm hand he restored internal order throughout Mesopotamia, and then undertook a series of systematic military expeditions, restoring the borders of Assyria on the Armenian highlands north of Lake Van and Mount Ararat, and then conquered Syria, Palestine and the lands lying east of the Jordan. In later years he campaigned again along these lines he had established, maintaining order by intimidation and effectively asserting Assyrian dominance. His last major operation was the capture of Babylon.

DURING the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III, the Assyrian army was reorganized, which previously consisted of warriors who had land allotments. Since then, the army began to be recruited mainly from impoverished farmers, arming them at the expense of the state. Thus arose a permanent army, called the "royal detachment", which included prisoners. In addition, there was a special detachment of soldiers guarding the king. The number of standing troops increased so much that Tiglathpalasar carried out some campaigns without resorting to tribal militias.

Assyria. 722-612 BC

722-705 THE REIGN OF SARGO II. He was confronted by a powerful alliance of the rebellious northern provinces and the neighboring tribes and peoples of Armenia, the Caucasus and Media. In a series of campaigns, he resubdued the rebellious provinces and extended his rule further north, as well as into central and southern Anatolia. Then he returned to Mesopotamia and brutally crushed another rebellion in Babylon. Sargon was crowned king of Babylon.

705-681 THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. He faced similar uprisings in Syria, Babylon, and Palestine (in the latter he suffered his famous defeat at Jerusalem in 701, or perhaps during a later campaign in 684; see 2 Kings, ch. XVIII and XIX This defeat was probably the result of an epidemic that struck his army). But in the end, he won back the lost provinces, and his military successes culminated in another defeat of Babylon in 689.

681-668 REIGN OF ASHARHADDON. He was able to maintain a better internal order than his predecessors. After repulsing the attacks of the Cimmerians, the Indo-European people who lived in Southern Russia and in the Caucasus, - Esarhaddon conquered Egypt (671). Three years later he died while putting down an uprising in that country.

688-625 THE KINGDOM OF ASSHURBANAPAL (SON OF ASARHADDON). He put down Egyptian rebellions (in 668 and 661) and launched several successful campaigns along the northern borders. Babylon rebelled once again - in 698 - under the leadership of his half-brother Shamashumukin. After a difficult four-year struggle, Ashurbanipal, with typical Assyrian barbarism, crushed the rebellion. Meanwhile, Egypt again rebelled and drove out the Assyrian garisons, while the Arabs and Elamites took advantage of the Assyrian difficulties to fall from the north, west and east. Ashurbanipal defeated the Arabs, then turned east to crush and practically exterminate the Elamites. Despite his successes, a desperate struggle exhausted the country, almost destroying the staunch Assyrian peasantry - the main backbone of the army. Having reached the zenith of its power and splendor, Assyria was now forced to rely on mercenaries, mostly from wild Scythian tribes, who had replaced the Cimmerians along the northern borders. After the death of Ashurbanipal, their hordes poured across the eastern borders, roaming almost unhindered through the decaying empire.

In addition, the ruling elite, in order to consolidate their power, gradually freed the ruling class from the “blood tax”. All this led to an increase in the proportion of mercenaries in the Assyrian army. The number of warriors recruited from the conquered tribes increased dramatically, and soon they began to make up the bulk of the Assyrian army. The combat effectiveness of such an army in the context of victorious wars was high. But when Assyria was weakened by internal uprisings of slaves and enslaved tribes and began to suffer defeats, the Assyrian army quickly began to lose combat effectiveness.

645 DESTRUCTION OF ELAM.Ashurbanipal devastated and brutally plundered Elam, achieving the defeat of the age-old enemy of Assyria. But Assyria itself was already on the brink of destruction.

626 BABYLON REVOLUTION. The leader of the rebels, satrap Nabupalasar, entered into an alliance with the Median king Cyaxares, who also rebelled against Assyria.

616-610 AD. FALL OF ASSYRIA. Median and Babylonian allies (their armies included many Scythians) invaded Assyria.

In 615 BC. e. FIRST SEIZURES. The Medes appeared at the walls of the capital of the state - Nineveh. In the same year, Nabopolassar laid siege to the ancient center of the country - Ashur.

In 614 BC. e. THE CAPTURE OF ASSHUR. The Medes again invaded Assyria and also approached Assur. Nabopolassar immediately moved his troops to join them. Ashur fell before the arrival of the Babylonians, and at its ruins the kings of Media and Babylon entered into an alliance sealed by a dynastic marriage.

612 FALL OF NINEVIA. Allied forces laid siege to Nineveh and took it just three months later. The city was destroyed and plundered, the Medes returned to their lands with a share of the booty, and the Babylonians continued to conquer the Assyrian inheritance.

610 B.C. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE LAST ASSYRIAN TROOPS. The remnants of the Assyrian army, reinforced by Egyptian reinforcements, were defeated and driven back across the Euphrates. Five years later, the last Assyrian detachments were defeated. Thus ended the existence of the first "world" power in the history of mankind.

We know very little about the reign of Ashhurbanapal's successor, Ashhuretilani. See of Babylonia in 626 BC e. captured Nabopolassar (Nabuapalusur), who was the 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.

Ashurateliani made a very hesitant attempt to win over the Chaldeans. By this time, the process of merging the Chaldean and Babylonian nobility had gone too far, because, despite the fact that it had been possible to do this before, now all attempts to oppose the Chaldean and Babylonian nobility to each other were unsuccessful.

Babylonia remained in the hands of Nabopolassar.

Apparently as a result palace coup, which took place soon in the Assyrian state, Ashhuretilani was overthrown from the throne.

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

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

The Assyrian state, obviously, by this moment was already powerless to keep under administrative control most of the regions remote from it, and not only them, but also the Syrian regions, also in this regard, it was forced to conclude an alliance with Egypt and even with the kingdom of Man at 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 the troops of Sarak.

Endless and stubborn wars exhausted the strength of the Assyrian state. The successors of Ashurbanipal 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 invasion of the Scythians, but, according to Herodotus, the Medes managed to subdue the warlike nomads and even attract their detachments, famous for their horse-rifle 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 already formed during the war. Around 615 BC e. a decisive offensive against Assyria began from two sides.

Hostilities between the Assyrians and the Babylonians during 616-615. BC e. went with varying degrees of success. In November 615 BC. e. The Medes did not break through the passes of the Zagra mountains and penetrated into Arrapha, in the neighborhood of the indigenous region of Assyria. They succeeded 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 Media, and the Medes, without much effort in July 614, already penetrated into Assyria itself. The Assyrians could not withstand such an onslaught and began to retreat in a panic. The Medes, constantly pursuing them, reached Assur. The city was taken by storm and then sacked.

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

An alliance was concluded (or renewed) between Nabopolassar and Cyaxares on the ruins of Assur. Cyaxares, in order to strengthen these relations, probably at the same time gave his daughter (or granddaughter) to Nebuchadnezzar, who was the heir to the aged king Nabopolassar.

Even after the fall of Ashur, Sarak never lost hope. He managed to raise the tribes of the Euphrates Arameans against Babylonia, which for some time allowed Nabopolassar to divert the attention of the Assyrian state, and in 613 BC. e. defeat him.

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

In the spring of 612, the king of Media Cyaxares, whom from that moment the Babylonian chronicle calls not “king of Media”, but “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 set off to Nineveh, which since the time of Sennacherib was the capital of the Assyrian state.

The siege of the city lasted for a long time: from May to the end of July. The united 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 underwent all the horrors that preceded death. Sarak himself apparently acted in the same way 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 were shattered into pieces as they fell from the shelves. They lay in the ground for two and a half thousand years, until in the middle of the XIX century. n. e. they were not found by English archaeologists.

The remnants of the Assyrian army led by Ashshuruballit (apparently the brother of Asshurbanapal) retreated west to Harran, where Asshuruballit 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 Hexao. Fear of new great powers united former rivals: dying Assyria and Ancient Egypt, trying to resume its policy of conquest.

B 605 BC e. in the battle of Karchemish, the Babylonian prince Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar (the future famous king), with the support of the Medes, defeated the combined Egyptian-Assyrian army. After this blow, the resistance of the Assyrians ceased. Deprived of their political and cultural centers, they could no longer regain their independence and assimilated with other tribes, mainly 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 they were not exterminated during the destruction of the Assyrian state. The descendants of the Assyrians continued to live in the same places, however, without having a native language.

Assyria at the end of its history. Ashurbanapal (669 - c. 635/27 BC) came to power. He had an excellent knowledge of cuneiform and, in addition to Akkadian Sumerian, possessed a literary talent, got acquainted with the art of architecture, acquired mathematical and astronomical knowledge, studied politics and public affairs. “I,” Ashurbanipal himself says in the chronicle, “comprehended the wisdom of the god Na-bu, all the art of scribes, learned the knowledge of all the masters, how many there are.”

In the Assyrian capital of this time - Nineveh - he created the most extensive Ancient East a library with more than 30,000 clay tablets: a collection of mythological and literary works, oracles, prayers and magic formulas, medical and mathematical texts, geographical and botanical reference books, dictionaries, etc. Detailed and colorfully written chronicles remained from the time of Ashurbanipal.

Ashurbanipal also became famous as a builder. He was often depicted as a Sumerian "ensi" with a construction basket on his head. By his order, the magnificent Northern Palace in Nineveh was erected, decorated with beautiful reliefs. Nineveh itself became a beautiful city, the capital of the vast Assyrian empire. Numerous temples were restored and built in Babylon, Borsippa, Uruk, Haran, Kalhu.

Relief images depict Ashurbanipal as a passionate hunter, he himself praises his ability to ride horses, drive a chariot, shoot from a bow. Along with this, he was a prudent, energetic, hypocritical and treacherous politician and diplomat, an imperious ruler and a cruel warrior.

During the reign of Ashurbanipal, two stages can be traced in the foreign policy of Assyria.

The first (from 669 to 654 BC) is characterized by the still strong dominance of Assyria in the Middle East. But it was by no means a peaceful period. Assyria has to wage wars in all traditional directions. Almost continuously campaigns are made in rebellious Egypt. The actions of the cities of the Eastern Mediterranean coast and Cyprus, the Palestinian kingdoms (Judea, Moab, Edom, Ammon) are mercilessly suppressed. Relations with northern neighbors are aggravated. Between 664-660 vols. BC e. the state of Urartu and Manna take military action against Assyria. A stubborn struggle against it is waged by Elam, acting in alliance with the Chaldean and Aramaic principalities of southern Mesopotamia (war of 665 and 655 vols.). Subject Indian rulers rise up.

For a time, Assyria managed to suppress all the uprisings and maintain its dominance. However, towards the end of this period (about 655 BC), Egypt finally fell away.

In the middle of the 7th century BC e. the second phase begins foreign policy Assyria. It is characterized by the growing political crisis of the state. Its striking manifestation was the largest uprising of the peoples conquered by Assyria, which reached its climax around 652-648, during the rebellion of Ashurbanapal's brother, Shamash-shum-ukin, king of Babylonia. The performance of Babylon against Assyria was the spark that kindled the discontent of many states conquered by her. Numerous allies joined Babylon: Elam, the Chaldean-Aramaic principalities of Primorye, Arab tribes and principalities. Some Syrian and Phoenician provinces of Assyria were involved in the uprising. He was supported by Lydia, Egypt, and Media, who had freed themselves from Assyrian power. However, Assyria found the strength to drown the uprising in blood, using the contradictions between the allies, the diversity of actions, the disunity of forces, and often the different goals of performances, also relying on the hordes of the Scythians and Cimmerians.

At the cost of enormous efforts, Assyria succeeded in 642-640. BC e. bring to submission the Arab principalities of the Syrian-Mesopotamian steppe and the northwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula and during three wars, by 639 BC. e., to defeat Elam, but these were her last military successes.

The huge Assyrian state, despite its external legendary power, was, in essence, a loose and fragile political association, torn apart by internal contradictions.

The fall of the Assyrian state and the collapse of the great power. The one-sided development of the economy, social conflicts that shattered Assyrian society, the lack of political unity, miscalculations in the organization of the control system of a huge power, the ever-increasing struggle of the conquered states and peoples were the main reasons that Assyria sat down to death. The loss of leading positions in military affairs by Assyria and the weakening of its army at the end of the 7th century also played a role. BC e., when all the best military achievements of Assyria were borrowed by a number of ancient Eastern states (Media, Egypt, Babylon), and new ones were not created. It took, however, a strong push from the outside to overturn the Assyrian state, undermined from the inside.

Events developed rapidly. In 626 Babylonia fell away, in 625 the independence of the Median kingdom was restored. The war against Assyria, begun by Babylon and Media, at first separately, and then continued in close alliance, led to the military defeat of Assyria, the capture and destruction of its largest centers: Ashur (614 BC), Nineveh (612 BC). e.), and finally ended with the death of the last Assyrian detachments in the battle of Harran (690 BC). The Assyrian nobility was exterminated, the cities were wiped off the face of the earth, the ordinary population scattered over the mountains, villages, surrounding areas, mixed with other peoples.

The largest ancient Eastern power, which for the first time united almost all of Asia Minor, exercised its dominance with fire and sword for a century and a half, was destroyed, sunk into oblivion of history.