Editing Assyria (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of the Assyrians}}
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  from:-2025 till:-1808 text:Assur city-state
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=== Early history ===
{{main|Early Assyrian period|Old Assyrian period}}
[[File:Female head from Assur, Iraq, 2400-2100 BCE. Pergamon Museum.jpg|thumb|The head of a female statue, dating to the [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian period]] ({{Circa}} 2334–2154 BC). Found at [[Assur]], on display at the [[Pergamon Museum]] in Berlin]]
Agricultural villages in the region that would later become Assyria are known to have existed by the time of the [[Hassuna culture]],{{Sfn|Liverani|2014|p=208}} {{Circa}} 6300–5800 BC.{{Sfn|Liverani|2014|p=48}} Though the sites of some nearby cities that would later be incorporated into the Assyrian heartland, such as [[Nineveh]], are known to have been inhabited since the [[Neolithic]],{{Sfn|Garfinkle|2007|p=61}} the earliest archaeological evidence from [[Assur]] dates to the [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic Period]], {{Circa}} 2600 BC.{{Sfn|Lewy|1971|p=|pp=729–730}} During this time, the surrounding region was already relatively urbanized.{{Sfn|Liverani|2014|p=208}} There is no evidence that early Assur was an independent settlement,{{Sfn|Roux|1992|p=187}} and it might not have been called Assur at all initially, but rather Baltil or Baltila, used in later times to refer to the city's oldest portion.{{Sfn|Lewy|1971|p=731}}

The name "Assur" is first attested for the site in documents of the [[Akkadian Period|Akkadian period]] in the 24th century BC.{{Sfn|Lewy|1971|p=745}} Through most of the [[Early Assyrian period]] ({{Circa}} 2600–2025 BC), Assur was dominated by states and polities from southern Mesopotamia.{{Sfn|Garfinkle|2007|p=63}} Early on, Assur for a time fell under the loose [[hegemony]] of the Sumerian city of [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]]{{Sfn|Foster|2016|loc=chapter 3}} and it was later occupied by both the [[Akkadian Empire]] and then the [[Third Dynasty of Ur]].{{Sfn|Roux|1992|p=187}} In {{Circa}} 2025 BC, due to the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur, Assur became an independent [[city-state]] under [[Puzur-Ashur I]].{{Sfn|Lewy|1971|p=|pp=739–740}}

[[File:KültepeUnterstadt1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The ruins of the [[Old Assyrian period|Old Assyrian]] trading colony at [[Kültepe]]]]
Under the Puzur-Ashur dynasty, Assur was home to less than 10,000 people and likely held very limited military power; no military institutions at all are known from this time and no political influence was exerted on neighboring cities.{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=62}} The city was still influential in other ways; under [[Erishum I]] ({{Reign}}{{circa}} 1974–1934 BC), Assur experimented with [[free trade]], the earliest known such experiment in world history, which left the initiative for trade and large-scale foreign transactions entirely to the populace rather than the state.{{Sfn|Lewy|1971|pp=758–759}}

Royal encouragement of trade led to Assur quickly establishing itself as a prominent trading city in northern Mesopotamia{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=61}} and soon thereafter establishing an extensive long-distance trade network,{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=34}} the first notable impression Assyria left in the historical record.{{Sfn|Garfinkle|2007|p=63}} Among the evidence left from this trade network are large collections of Old Assyrian cuneiform tablets from Assyrian trade colonies, the most notable of which is a set of 22,000 clay tablets found at [[Kültepe]], near the modern city of [[Kayseri]] in Turkey.{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=34}}

As trade declined, perhaps due to increased warfare and conflict between the growing states of the Near East,{{Sfn|Garfinkle|2007|p=67}} Assur was frequently threatened by larger foreign states and kingdoms.{{Sfn|Radner|2015|p=2}} The original Assur city-state, and the Puzur-Ashur dynasty, came to an end {{Circa}} 1808 BC when the city was conquered by the [[Amorites|Amorite]] ruler of [[Ekallatum]], [[Shamshi-Adad I]].{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=65}} Shamshi-Adad's extensive conquests in northern Mesopotamia eventually made him the ruler of the entire region,{{Sfn|Garfinkle|2007|p=67}} founding what some scholars have termed the "[[Old Assyrian period#Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia|Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia]]".{{Sfn|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=115}} The survival of this realm relied chiefly on Shamshi-Adad's own strength and charisma and thus collapsed shortly after his death {{Circa}} 1776 BC.{{Sfn|Garfinkle|2007|p=68}}

After Shamshi-Adad's death, the political situation in northern Mesopotamia was highly volatile, with Assur at times coming under the brief control of [[Eshnunna]],{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=66}} [[Elam]]{{sfn|Veenhof|Eidem|2008|p=30}}{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=68}} and the [[Old Babylonian Empire]].{{sfn|Veenhof|Eidem|2008|p=30}}{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=68}} At some point, the city returned to being an independent city-state,{{Sfn|Garfinkle|2007|p=69}} though the politics of Assur itself were volatile as well, with fighting between members of Shamshi-Adad's dynasty, native Assyrians and [[Hurrians]] for control.{{sfn|Yamada|2017|p=112}} The infighting came to an end after the rise of [[Bel-bani]] as king {{Circa}} 1700 BC.{{Sfn|Chen|2020|p=198}}{{Sfn|Bertman|2003|p=81}} Bel-bani founded the [[Adaside dynasty]], which after his reign ruled Assyria for about a thousand years.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=191}}

Assyria's rise as a territorial state in later times was in large part facilitated by two separate invasions of Mesopotamia by the [[Hittites]]. An invasion by the Hittite king [[Mursili I]] in {{Circa}} 1595 BC destroyed the dominant Old Babylonian Empire, allowing the smaller kingdoms of [[Mitanni]] and [[Kassite Babylonia]] to rise in the north and south, respectively.{{Sfn|Düring|2020|pp=41–42}} Around {{Circa}} 1430 BC, Assur was subjugated by Mitanni, an arrangement that lasted for about 70 years, until {{Circa}} 1360 BC.{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=42}} Another Hittite invasion by [[Šuppiluliuma I]] in the 14th century BC effectively crippled the Mitanni kingdom. After his invasion, Assyria succeeded in freeing itself from its suzerain, achieving independence once more under [[Ashur-uballit I]] ({{Reign}}{{Circa}} 1363–1328 BC) whose rise to power, independence, and conquests of neighboring territory traditionally marks the rise of the Middle Assyrian Empire ({{Circa}} 1363–912 BC).{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=43}}

=== Assyrian Empire ===
{{main|Middle Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian Empire}}{{Multiple image
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| footer = Maps of the borders of the [[Middle Assyrian Empire]] (left) and the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (right) at their respective heights in the 13th and 7th centuries BC
}}Ashur-uballit I was the first native Assyrian ruler to claim the royal title ''šar'' ("king").{{Sfn|Radner|2015|p=2}} Shortly after achieving independence, he further claimed the dignity of a great king on the level of the Egyptian [[pharaoh]]s and the [[Hittite kings]].{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=43}} Assyria's rise was intertwined with the decline and fall of the Mitanni kingdom, its former suzerain, which allowed the early Middle Assyrian kings to expand and consolidate territories in northern Mesopotamia.{{sfn|Jakob|2017a|p=117}} Under the warrior-kings [[Adad-nirari I]] ({{reign}}{{circa}} 1305–1274&nbsp;BC), [[Shalmaneser I]] ({{reign}}{{circa}} 1273–1244&nbsp;BC) and [[Tukulti-Ninurta I]] ({{reign}}{{circa}} 1243–1207&nbsp;BC), Assyria began to realize its aspirations of becoming a significant regional power.{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=45}}

These kings campaigned in all directions and incorporated a significant amount of territory into the growing Assyrian Empire. Under Shalmaneser I, the last remnants of the Mitanni kingdom were formally annexed into Assyria.{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=45}} The most successful of the Middle Assyrian kings was Tukulti-Ninurta I, who brought the Middle Assyrian Empire to its greatest extent.{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=45}} His most notable military achievements were his victory at the [[Battle of Nihriya]] {{Circa}} 1237&nbsp;BC, which marked the beginning of the end of Hittite influence in northern Mesopotamia,{{sfn|Jakob|2017a|p=122}} and his temporary conquest of Babylonia, which became an Assyrian vassal {{circa}} 1225–1216&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Jakob|2017a|pp=125, 129–130}}{{sfn|Chen|2020|pp=199, 203}} Tukulti-Ninurta was also the first Assyrian king to try to move the capital away from Assur, inaugurating the new city [[Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta]] as capital{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=57}} {{Circa}} 1233 BC.{{sfn|Gerster|2005|p=312}} The capital was returned to Assur after his death.{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=57}}

Tukulti-Ninurta I's assassination {{Circa}} 1207 BC was followed by inter-dynastic conflict and a significant drop in Assyrian power.{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=46}} Tukulti-Ninurta I's successors were unable to maintain Assyrian power and Assyria became increasingly restricted to just the Assyrian heartland,{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=46}} a period of decline broadly coinciding with the [[Late Bronze Age collapse]].{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=46}} Though some kings in this period of decline, such as [[Ashur-dan I]] ({{reign}}{{circa}} 1178–1133&nbsp;BC), [[Ashur-resh-ishi I]] ({{reign}}1132–1115&nbsp;BC) and [[Tiglath-Pileser I]] ({{reign}}1114–1076&nbsp;BC) worked to reverse the decline and made significant conquests,{{sfn|Jakob|2017a|p=|pp=133–135}} their conquests were ephemeral and shaky, quickly lost again.{{sfn|Jakob|2017a|pp=136–138}} From the time of [[Eriba-Adad II]] ({{reign}}1056–1054&nbsp;BC) onward, Assyrian decline intensified.{{sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=165}}

The Assyrian heartland remained safe due to its geographical remoteness.{{sfn|Frahm|2017b|pp=166–167}} Since Assyria was not the only state to undergo decline during these centuries, and the lands surrounding the Assyrian heartland were also significantly fragmented, it would ultimately be relatively easy for the reinvigorated Assyrian army to reconquer large parts of the empire. Under [[Ashur-dan II]] ({{reign}}934–912&nbsp;BC), who campaigned in the northeast and northwest, Assyrian decline was at last reversed, paving the way for grander efforts under his successors. The end of his reign conventionally marks the beginning of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (911–609 BC).{{sfn|Frahm|2017b|pp=165–168}}

[[File:Tilglath pileser iii.jpg|thumb|A partial relief of [[Tiglath-Pileser III]], {{reign}}745–727&nbsp;BC, under whom the Neo-Assyrian Empire was consolidated, centralized and significantly expanded]]
Through decades of conquests, the early Neo-Assyrian kings worked to retake the lands of the Middle Assyrian Empire.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=161}}{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=136}} Since this ''reconquista'' had to begin nearly from scratch, its eventual success was an extraordinary achievement.{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=144}} Under [[Ashurnasirpal II]] ({{reign}}883–859&nbsp;BC), the Neo-Assyrian Empire became the dominant political power in the Near East.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|pp=167, 169}} In his ninth campaign, Ashurnasirpal II marched to the coast of the [[Mediterranean Sea]], collecting tribute from various kingdoms on the way.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=169}} A significant development during Ashurnasirpal II's reign was the second attempt to transfer the Assyrian capital away from Assur. Ashurnasirpal restored the ancient and ruined town of [[Nimrud]], also located in the Assyrian heartland, and in 879 BC designated that city as the new capital of the empire.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=169}} Though no longer the political capital, Assur remained the ceremonial and religious center of Assyria.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=170}}

Ashurnasirpal II's son [[Shalmaneser III]] ({{reign}}859–824&nbsp;BC) also went on wide-ranging wars of conquest, expanding the empire in all directions.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=170}} After Shalmaneser III's death, the Neo-Assyrian Empire entered into a period of stagnation dubbed the "age of the magnates", when powerful officials and generals were the principal wielders of political power rather than the king.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=173}} This time of stagnation came to an end with the rise of [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] ({{reign}}745–727&nbsp;BC), who reduced the power of the magnates,{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=177}} consolidated and centralized the holdings of the empire,{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=161}}{{Sfn|Elayi|2017|p=2}} and through his military campaigns and conquests more than doubled the extent of Assyrian territory. The most significant conquests were the vassalization of the [[Levant]] all the way to the Egyptian border and the 729 BC conquest of [[Babylonia]].{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=|pp=177–178}}

The Neo-Assyrian Empire reached the height of its extent and power under the [[Sargonid dynasty]],{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=187}} founded by [[Sargon II]] ({{reign}}722–705&nbsp;BC). Under Sargon II and his son [[Sennacherib]] ({{reign}}705–681&nbsp;BC), the empire was further expanded and the gains were consolidated. Both kings founded new capitals. In 706 BC, Sargon II relocated the capital to the newly constructed city of [[Dur-Sharrukin]].{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=183}} The following year, Sennacherib transferred the capital to [[Nineveh]], which he extensively expanded and renovated. He may even have been responsible for the construction of the [[Hanging Gardens of Babylon|Hanging Gardens]] there—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|pp=183–184}}<ref>Dalley, Stephanie (2015). The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon.</ref> The 671 BC [[Assyrian conquest of Egypt|conquest of Egypt]] under [[Esarhaddon]] ({{reign}}681–669&nbsp;BC) brought Assyria to its greatest ever extent.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=187}}

After the death of [[Ashurbanipal]] ({{reign}}669–631&nbsp;BC), the Neo-Assyrian Empire swiftly collapsed. One of the primary reasons was the inability of the Neo-Assyrian kings to resolve the "Babylonian problem"; despite many attempts to appease Babylonia in the south, revolts were frequent all throughout the Sargonid period. The revolt of Babylon under [[Nabopolassar]] in 626 BC, in combination with an invasion by the [[Medes]] under [[Cyaxares]] in 615/614 BC, led to the [[Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire]].{{Sfn|Na'aman|1991|p=266}} [[Fall of Assur|Assur was sacked]] in 614 BC and [[Battle of Nineveh (612 BC)|Nineveh fell]] in 612 BC.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=192}} The last Assyrian ruler, [[Ashur-uballit II]], tried to rally the Assyrian army at [[Harran]] in the west but he was defeated in 609 BC, marking the end of the ancient line of Assyrian kings and of Assyria as a state.{{Sfn|Radner|2019|p=141}}{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=193}}

=== Later history ===
{{main|Post-imperial Assyria}}
[[File:Detail._Parthian_stele_from_Ashur,_Iraq._1st_century_BCE_to_1st_century_CE._Museum_of_Archaeology,_Istanbul,_Turkey.jpg|thumb|Detail of a stele in the style of the Neo-Assyrian royal steles, erected in Assur in the 2nd century AD under [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] rule, by the local ruler [[Rʻuth-Assor]]{{Sfn|Radner|2015|p=20}}<!--The name given in the Wikimedia Commons description, Re'n-tayar, is either erroneous or an alternate transliteration; Radner identifies this figure R'uth-Assor.-->]]

Despite the violent downfall of the Assyrian Empire, Assyrian culture continued to survive through the subsequent [[Post-imperial Assyria|post-imperial period]] (609 BC – {{Circa}} AD 240) and beyond.{{sfn|Hauser|2017|p=229}} The Assyrian heartland experienced a dramatic decrease in the size and number of inhabited settlements during the rule of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] founded by Nabopolassar; the former Assyrian capital cities Assur, Nimrud and Nineveh were nearly completely abandoned.{{sfn|Hauser|2017|p=232}} Throughout the time of the Neo-Babylonian and later [[Achaemenid Empire]], Assyria remained a marginal and sparsely populated region.{{sfn|Hauser|2017|p=236}} Toward the end of the 6th century BC, the Assyrian dialect of the [[Akkadian language]] went extinct, having toward the end of the Neo-Assyrian Empire already largely been replaced by Aramaic as a [[vernacular]] language.{{sfn|Luukko|Van Buylaere|2017|p=314}}

Under the empires succeeding the Neo-Babylonians, from the late 6th century BC onward, Assyria began to experience a recovery. Under the Achaemenids, most of the territory was organized into the province{{efn|Though often referred to as a [[satrapy]] by modern historians,{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=18}} Assyria appears in Achaemenid royal inscriptions as a ''dahyu''; a term of uncertain implications used to refer to both peoples and geographical locations (not necessarily synonymous with the formal satrapies of the empire).{{sfn|Waters|2014|p=97}}}} [[Achaemenid Assyria|Athura]] (''Aθūrā'').{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=18}} The organization into a single large province,{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=19}} the lack of interference of the Achaemenid rulers in local affairs,{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=18}} and the return of the cult statue of Ashur to Assur soon after the Achaemenids conquered Babylon facilitated the survival of Assyrian culture.{{sfn|Hauser|2017|p=230}} Under the [[Seleucid Empire]], which controlled Mesopotamia from the late 4th to mid-2nd century BC, Assyrian sites such as Assur, Nimrud and Nineveh were resettled and a large number of villages were rebuilt and expanded.{{sfn|Hauser|2017|p=238}}

After the [[Parthian Empire]] conquered the region in the 2nd century BC, the recovery of Assyria continued, culminating in an unprecedented return to prosperity and revival in the 1st to 3rd centuries AD. The region was resettled and restored so intensely that the population and settlement density reached heights not seen since the Neo-Assyrian Empire.{{sfn|Hauser|2017|p=238}} The region was under the Parthians primarily ruled by a group of vassal kingdoms, including [[Osroene]], [[Adiabene]] and [[Hatra]]. Though in some aspects influenced by Assyrian culture, these states were for the most part not ruled by Assyrian rulers.{{Sfn|Parpola|2004|p=20}}{{sfn|Drower|Gray|Sherwin-White|2012}}

Assur itself flourished under Parthian rule.{{Sfn|Parpola|2004|p=20}}{{Sfn|Harper|Klengel-Brandt|Aruz|Benzel|1995|p=18}} From around or shortly after the end of the 2nd century BC,{{Sfn|Schippmann|2012|pp=816–817}} the city may have become the capital of its own small semi-autonomous Assyrian realm,{{Sfn|Parpola|2004|p=20}} either under the suzerainty of Hatra,{{sfn|Radner|2015|p=19}} or under direct Parthian suzerainty.{{Sfn|Harper|Klengel-Brandt|Aruz|Benzel|1995|p=18}} On account of the resemblance between the stelae by the local rulers and those of the ancient Assyrian kings,{{Sfn|Parpola|2004|p=20}} they may have seen themselves as the restorers and continuators of the old royal line.{{Sfn|Radner|2015|pp=19–20}} The ancient Ashur temple was restored in the 2nd century AD.{{Sfn|Parpola|2004|p=20}}{{Sfn|Harper|Klengel-Brandt|Aruz|Benzel|1995|p=18}} This last cultural golden age came to an end with the sack of Assur by the [[Sasanian Empire]] {{circa}} 240.{{Sfn|Radner|2015|p=7}} During the sack, the Ashur temple was destroyed again and the city's population was dispersed.{{Sfn|Radner|2015|p=19}}

Starting from the 1st century AD onward, many of the Assyrians became [[Christianized]],{{Sfn|Donabed|2019|p=118}} though holdouts of the old [[ancient Mesopotamian religion]] continued to survive for centuries.{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=21}} Despite the loss of political power, the Assyrians continued to constitute a significant portion of the population in northern Mesopotamia until religiously motivated suppression and massacres under the [[Ilkhanate]] and the [[Timurid Empire]] in the 14th century, which relegated them to a local ethnic and religious minority.{{sfn|Jacobsen|2021|p=141}} The Assyrians lived largely in peace under the rule of the [[Ottoman Empire]], which gained control of Assyria in 16th century.{{sfn|Murre-van den Berg|2021|pp=27–28}}{{sfn|Yapp|1988|p=139}}{{sfn|Mack|2017|loc=From the Millet to the Sword}}

In the late 19th and early 20th century, when the Ottomans grew increasingly nationalistic, further persecutions and massacres were enacted against the Assyrians, most notably the ''[[Sayfo]]'' (Assyrian genocide),{{Sfn|Donabed|2019|p=119}} which resulted in the deaths of as many as 250,000 Assyrians.{{sfn|Gaunt|Atto|Barthoma|2017|p=10}}{{efn|The precise number is far from certain since the massacres were poorly documented by the Ottoman government. The Assyrian population prior to the genocide amounted to about 500,000–600,000 people and the generally accepted estimate is that about 50 % of the Assyrian people were killed.{{sfn|Gaunt|Atto|Barthoma|2017|p=10}}|name=gen}} Throughout the 20th century, many unsuccessful [[Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq|proposals]] have been made by the Assyrians for autonomy or independence.{{Sfn|Donabed|2019|pp=119–120}} Further massacres and persecutions, enacted both by governments and by terrorist groups such as the [[Islamic State]], have resulted in most of the Assyrian people living in [[Assyrian–Chaldean–Syriac diaspora|diaspora]].{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=22}}