Editing Assyria (section)

== Government and military ==

=== Kingship ===
{{See also|List of Assyrian kings}}
[[File:Erishum I of Assyria.png|thumb|upright=1.35|A line-drawing of a royal seal of the Old Assyrian king [[Erishum I]], {{Reign}}{{circa}} 1974–1934 BC. The seated ruler is thought to represent the god [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]], with Erishum being the bald figure being led toward him.{{sfn|Eppihimer|2013|p=43}}]]
In the Assur city-state of the Old Assyrian period, the government was in many respects an [[oligarchy]], where the king was a permanent, albeit not the only prominent, actor.{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=38}} The Old Assyrian kings were not [[Autocracy|autocrats]], with sole power, but rather acted as stewards on behalf of the god Ashur and presided over the meetings of the city assembly,{{Sfn|Radner|2015|p=3}}{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=37}} the main Assyrian administrative body during this time.{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=70}} The composition of the city assembly is not known, but it is generally believed to have been made up of members of the most powerful families of the city,{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=38}} many of whom were merchants.{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=61}}

The king acted as the main executive officer and chairman of this group of influential individuals and also contributed with legal knowledge and expertise.{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=70}} The Old Assyrian kings were styled as ''iššiak Aššur'' ("governor [on behalf] of [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]]"), with Ashur being considered the city's formal king.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=143}} That the populace of Assur in the Old Assyrian period often referred to the king as ''rubā’um'' ("great one") clearly indicates that the kings, despite their limited executive power, were seen as royal figures and as being ''[[primus inter pares]]'' (first among equals) among the powerful individuals of the city.{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=71}}

Assur first experienced a more autocratic form of kingship under the Amorite conqueror Shamshi-Adad I,{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=38}} the earliest ruler of Assur to use the style ''šarrum'' (king){{Sfn|Chavalas|1994|p=117}} and the title '[[king of the Universe]]'.{{Sfn|Bertman|2003|p=103}} Shamshi-Adad I appears to have based his more absolute form of kingship on the rulers of the Old Babylonian Empire.{{sfn|Eppihimer|2013|p=49}} Under Shamshi-Adad I, Assyrians also swore their oaths by the king, not just by the god. This practice did not survive beyond his death.{{sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=74}} The influence of the city assembly had disappeared by the beginning of the Middle Assyrian period. Though the traditional ''iššiak Aššur'' continued to be used at times, the Middle Assyrian kings were autocrats, in terms of power having little in common with the rulers of the Old Assyrian period.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=143}}

As the Assyrian Empire grew, the kings began to employ an increasingly sophisticated array of royal titles. Ashur-uballit I was the first to assume the style ''šar māt Aššur'' ("king of the land of Ashur") and his grandson [[Arik-den-ili]] ({{reign}}{{circa}} 1317–1306&nbsp;BC) introduced the style ''šarru dannu'' ("strong king"). Adad-nirari I's inscriptions required 32 lines to be devoted just to his titles. This development peaked under Tukulti-Ninurta I, who assumed, among other titles, the styles "king of Assyria and [[Karduniaš|Karduniash]]", "[[king of Sumer and Akkad]]", "king of the [[Mediterranean Sea|Upper]] and the [[Persian Gulf|Lower]] Seas" and "[[King of All Peoples|king of all peoples]]". Royal titles and epithets were often highly reflective of current political developments and the achievements of individual kings; during periods of decline, the royal titles used typically grew more simple again, only to grow grander once more as Assyrian power experienced resurgences.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=144}}

[[File:Alabaster_Stela_of_the_Asirian_King_Ashurnasirpal_II_(884-859_BC)_-_British_Museum.jpg|thumb|A [[stele]] of the Neo-Assyrian king [[Ashurnasirpal II]], {{reign}}883–859&nbsp;BC]]
The kings of the Middle and Neo-Assyrian periods continued to present themselves, and be viewed by their subjects, as the intermediaries between Ashur and mankind.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=145}} This position and role was used to justify imperial expansion: the Assyrians saw their empire as being the part of the world overseen and administered by Ashur through his human agents. In their ideology, the outer realm outside of Assyria was characterized by chaos and the people there were uncivilized, with unfamiliar cultural practices and strange languages. The mere existence of the "outer realm" was regarded as a threat to the cosmic order within Assyria and as such, it was the king's duty to expand the realm of Ashur and incorporate these strange lands, converting chaos to civilization.{{Sfn|Parker|2011|pp=363–365}}

Texts describing the coronation of Middle and Neo-Assyrian kings at times include Ashur commanding the king to "broaden the land of Ashur" or "extend the land at his feet". As such, expansion was cast as a moral and necessary duty.{{Sfn|Parker|2011|pp=363–365}} Because the rule and actions of the Assyrian king were seen as divinely sanctioned,{{Sfn|Parker|2011|p=365}} resistance to Assyrian sovereignty in times of war was regarded to be resistance against divine will, which deserved punishment.{{Sfn|Bedford|2009|p=22}} Peoples and polities who revolted against Assyria were seen as criminals against the divine world order.{{Sfn|Bedford|2009|p=29}} Since Ashur was the king of the gods, all other gods were subjected to him and thus the people who followed those gods should be subjected to the representative of Ashur, the Assyrian king.{{Sfn|Bain|2017}}

The kings also had religious and judicial duties. Kings were responsible for performing various rituals in support of the cult of Ashur and the Assyrian priesthood.{{Sfn|Parker|2011|p=367}} They were expected, together with the Assyrian people, to provide offerings to not only Ashur but also all the other gods. From the time of Ashur-resh-ishi I onward, the religious and cultic duties of the king were pushed somewhat into the background, though they were still prominently mentioned in accounts of building and restoring temples. Assyrian titles and epithets in inscriptions from then on generally emphasized the kings as powerful warriors.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=145}} Developing from their role in the Old Assyrian period, the Middle and Neo-Assyrian kings were the supreme judicial authority in the empire, though they generally appear to have been less concerned with their role as judges than their predecessors in the Old Assyrian period were.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=146}} The kings were expected to ensure the welfare and prosperity of the Assyria and its people, indicated by multiple inscriptions referring to the kings as "shepherds" (''re’û'').{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=145}}

=== Capital cities ===
[[File:Iraq; Nimrud - Assyria, Lamassu's Guarding Palace Entrance.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Ruins of one of the entrances of the [[Northwest Palace]] at [[Nimrud]], the Assyrian capital 879–706 BC, destroyed by the [[Islamic State]] in 2015|alt=View of a grey stone wall and archway, with the statues of three lamassu (protective deities with wings, the head of a human and the body of a lion or bull).]]
No word for the idea of a capital city existed in Akkadian, the nearest being the idea of a "city of kingship", i.e. an administrative center used by the king, but there are several examples of kingdoms having multiple "cities of kingship". Due to Assyria growing out of the Assur city-state of the Old Assyrian period, and due to the city's religious importance, Assur was the administrative center of Assyria through most of its history. Though the royal administration at times moved elsewhere, the ideological status of Assur was never fully superseded{{Sfn|Reade|2011|p=109}} and it remained a ceremonial center in the empire even when it was governed from elsewhere.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=170}} The transfer of the royal seat of power to other cities was ideologically possible since the king was Ashur's representative on Earth. The king, like the deity embodied Assyria itself, and so the capital of Assyria was in a sense wherever the king happened to have his residence.{{Sfn|Reade|2011|p=109}}

The first transfer of administrative power away from Assur occurred under Tukulti-Ninurta I,{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=57}} who {{Circa}} 1233 BC{{sfn|Gerster|2005|p=312}} inaugurated Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta as capital.{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=57}} Tukulti-Ninurta I's foundation of a new capital was perhaps inspired by developments in Babylonia in the south, where the [[Kassite dynasty]] had transferred the administration from the long-established city of Babylon to the newly constructed city of [[Dur-Kurigalzu]], also named after a king. It seems that Tukulti-Ninurta I intended to go further than the Kassites and also establish Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta as the new Assyrian cult center. The city was however not maintained as capital after Tukulti-Ninurta I's death, with subsequent kings once more ruling from Assur.{{sfn|Düring|2020|p=57}} 
{{Location map many
| Iraq
| relief = yes
| width      = 300px
| border     = no
| caption = A map of the capital cities of ancient Assyria
| label2 = [[Assur]]
| coordinates2    = {{coord|35|27|24|N|43|15|45|E}}
| pos2 = left
| label1 = [[Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta]]
| coordinates1    = {{coord|35.494685|N|43.270008|E}}
| label3 = [[Nimrud]]
| coordinates3    = {{coord|36|05|53|N|43|19|44|E}}
| label4 = [[Dur-Sharrukin]]
| coordinates4    = {{coord|36|30|34|N|43|13|46|E}}
| pos4 = top
| label5 = [[Nineveh]]
| coordinates5    = {{coord|36|21|34|N|43|09|10|E}}
| pos5 = left
| label6 = [[Harran]]
| coordinates6    = {{coord|36|52|39|N|39|02|02|E}}
}}
The Neo-Assyrian Empire underwent several different capitals. There is some evidence that [[Tukulti-Ninurta II]] ({{reign}}890–884&nbsp;BC), perhaps inspired by his predecessor of the same name, made unfulfilled plans to transfer the capital to a city called [[Nemid Tukulti-Ninurta]], either a completely new city or a new name applied to Nineveh, which by this point already rivalled Assur in scale and political importance.{{Sfn|Reade|2011|p=112}} The capital was transferred under Tukulti-Ninurta II's son Ashurnasirpal II to Nimrud in 879 BC.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=169}} An architectural detail separating Nimrud and the other Neo-Assyrian capitals from Assur is that they were designed in a way that emphasized royal power: the royal palaces in Assur were smaller than the temples but the situation was reversed in the new capitals.{{Sfn|Reade|2011|p=114}}

In 706 BC, Sargon II transferred the capital to the city of Dur-Sharrukin, which he built himself.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=183}} Since the location of Dur-Sharrukin had no obvious practical or political merit, this move was probably an ideological statement.{{Sfn|Reade|2011|p=118}} Immediately after Sargon II's death in 705 BC, his son Sennacherib transferred the capital to Nineveh,{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|pp=183–184}}{{Sfn|Reade|2011|p=120}} a far more natural seat of power.{{Sfn|Reade|2011|p=120}} Though it was not meant as a permanent royal residence,{{Sfn|Radner|2019|p=|pp=140–141}} Ashur-uballit II chose Harran as his seat of power after the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC. Harran is typically seen as the short-lived final Assyrian capital. No building projects were conducted during this time, but Harran had been long-established as a major religious center, dedicated to the god [[Sin (mythology)|Sîn]].{{Sfn|Reade|2011|p=123}}

=== Aristocracy and elite ===
[[File:Stele of Bel-harran-beli-usur, from Tell Abda, 8th century BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul, Turkey.jpg|thumb|Stele of [[Bel-harran-beli-usur]], a palace herald, made in the reign of the Neo-Assyrian king [[Shalmaneser IV]] ({{reign}}783–773&nbsp;BC)]]
Because of the nature of source preservation, more information about the upper classes of ancient Assyria survives than for the lower ones.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=155}} At the top of Middle and Neo-Assyrian society were members of long-established and large families called "houses". Members of this aristocracy tended to occupy the most important offices within the government{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=155}} and they were likely descendants of the most prominent families of the Old Assyrian period.{{Sfn|Fales|2017|p=402}}

One of the most influential offices in the Assyrian administration was the position of [[vizier]] (''sukkallu''). From at least the time of Shalmaneser I onward, there were grand viziers (''sukkallu rabi’u''), superior to the ordinary viziers, who at times governed their own lands as appointees of the kings. At least in the Middle Assyrian period, the grand viziers were typically members of the royal family and the position was at this time, as were many other offices, hereditary.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|pp=146–147}}

The elite of the Neo-Assyrian Empire was expanded and included several different offices. The Neo-Assyrian inner elite is typically divided by modern scholars into the "magnates", a set of high-ranking offices, and the "scholars" (''ummânī''), tasked with advising and guiding the kings through interpreting omens. The magnates included the offices ''masennu'' (treasurer), ''nāgir ekalli'' (palace herald), ''[[Rabshakeh|rab šāqê]]'' (chief cupbearer), ''rab ša-rēši'' (chief officer/eunuch), ''sartinnu'' (chief judge), ''sukkallu'' (grand vizier) and ''[[turtanu]]'' (commander-in-chief), which at times continued to be occupied by royal family members.{{Sfn|Parker|2011|pp=368–370, 377–378}}

Some of the magnates acted as governors of important provinces and all of them were deeply involved with the Assyrian military, controlling significant forces. They owned large tax-free estates, scattered throughout the empire.{{Sfn|Parker|2011|pp=368–370, 377–378}} In the late Neo-Assyrian Empire, there was a growing disconnect between the traditional Assyrian elite and the kings due to eunuchs growing unprecedently powerful.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=190}} The highest offices both in the civil administration and the army began to be occupied by eunuchs with deliberately obscure and lowly origins, since this ensured that they would be loyal to the king.{{Sfn|Radner|2017|p=213}} Eunuchs were trusted, since they were believed incapable of having any dynastic aspirations of their own.''{{Sfn|Oates|1992|p=172}}''

From the time of Erishum I in the early Old Assyrian period onward,{{Sfn|Veenhof|2017|p=58}} a yearly office-holder, a ''[[limmu]]'' official, was elected from the influential men of Assyria. The ''limmu'' official gave their name to the year, meaning that their name appeared in all administrative documents signed that year. Kings were typically the ''limmu'' officials in their first regnal years. In the Old Assyrian period, the ''limmu'' officials also held substantial executive power, though this aspect of the office had disappeared by the time of the rise of the Middle Assyrian Empire.{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=38}}

=== Administration ===
{{See also|Middle Assyrian Empire#Government|Neo-Assyrian Empire#Government}}
[[File:Stele of Ili-ittija governor of Libbi-ali, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, Ekallatum, Itu, and Ruqahu. From Assur, Iraq. 804 BCE. Pergamon Museum.jpg|thumb|A stele of [[Ili-ittija]], governor of [[Libbi-ali]], [[Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta]], [[Ekallatum]], [[Itu (Mesopotamia)|Itu]], and [[Ruqahu]], {{Circa}} 804 BC]]
The success of Assyria was not only due to energetic kings who expanded its borders but more importantly due to its ability to efficiently incorporate and govern conquered lands.{{Sfn|Parker|2011|p=359}} From the rise of Assyria as a territorial state at the beginning of the Middle Assyrian period onward, Assyrian territory was divided into a set of provinces or districts (''pāḫutu'').{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|pp=149–150}} The total number and size of these provinces varied and changed as Assyria expanded and contracted.{{Sfn|Llop|2012|p=107}} Every province was headed by a provincial governor (''bel pāḫete'',''{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|pp=149–150}} bēl pīhāti{{Sfn|Yamada|2000|p=300}}'' or ''šaknu''){{Sfn|Yamada|2000|p=300}} who was responsible for handling local order, public safety and economy.

Governors stored and distributed the goods produced in their province, which were inspected and collected by royal representatives once a year. Through these inspections, the central government could keep track of current stocks and production throughout the country. Governors had to pay both taxes and offer gifts to the god Ashur, though such gifts were usually small and mainly symbolic.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|pp=149–150}} The channeling of taxes and gifts were a method of collecting profit and served to connect the elite of the entire empire to the Assyrian heartland.{{Sfn|Parker|2011|p=369}}

In the Neo-Assyrian period, an extensive hierarchy within the provincial administration is attested. At the bottom of this hierarchy were lower officials, such as village managers (''rab ālāni'') who oversaw one or more villages, collecting taxes in the form of labor and goods and keeping the administration informed of the conditions of their settlements,{{Sfn|Parker|2011|pp=360, 370–371}} and [[corvée]] officers (''ša bēt-kūdini'') who kept tallies on the labor performed by forced laborers and the remaining time owed.{{Sfn|Parker|2011|p=360}} Individual cities had their own administrations, headed by mayors (''ḫazi’ānu''), responsible for the local economy and production.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|pp=149–151}}

Some regions of the Assyrian Empire were not incorporated into the provincial system but were still subjected to the rule of the Assyrian kings. Such vassal states could be ruled indirectly through allowing established local lines of kings to continue ruling in exchange for tribute or through the Assyrian kings appointing their own vassal rulers.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|pp=149–151}} Through the [[Ilkum|''ilku'' system]], the Assyrian kings could also grant arable lands to individuals in exchange for goods and military service.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=154}}

To overcome the challenges of governing a large empire, the Neo-Assyrian Empire developed a sophisticated [[State communications in the Neo-Assyrian Empire|state communication system]],{{sfn|Radner|2012|loc=Road stations across the empire}} which included various innovative techniques and [[Stage station|relay stations]].{{sfn|Radner|2015b|p=64}} Per estimates by [[Karen Radner]], an official message sent in the Neo-Assyrian period from the western border province [[Quwê]] to the Assyrian heartland, a distance of 700 kilometers (430 miles) over a stretch of lands featuring many rivers without any bridges, could take less than five days to arrive. Such communication speed was unprecedented before the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and was not surpassed in the Middle East until the [[telegraph]] was introduced by the Ottoman Empire in 1865, nearly two and a half thousand years after the Neo-Assyrian Empire's fall.{{sfn|Radner|2012|loc=Making speed}}{{sfn|Radner|2015b|p=64}}

=== Military ===
{{See also|Middle Assyrian Empire#Military|Neo-Assyrian Empire#Military|Military history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire}}
[[File:Assyrian spearman · HHWI469.svg|thumb|A 20th-century illustration of a Neo-Assyrian spearman]]
The Assyrian army was throughout its history mostly composed of levies, mobilized only when they were needed (such as in the time of campaigns). Through regulations, obligations and sophisticated government systems, large amounts of soldiers could be recruited and mobilized already in the early Middle Assyrian period.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=152}} A small central standing army unit was established in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, dubbed the ''kiṣir šarri'' ("king's unit").{{Sfn|Dalley|2017|pp=526, 528}} Some professional, though not standing, troops are also attested in the Middle Assyrian period, dubbed ''ḫurādu'' or ''ṣābū ḫurādātu'', though what their role was is not clear due to the scarcity of sources. Perhaps this category included archers and [[chariot]]eers, who needed more extensive training than normal [[foot soldiers]].{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=152}}

The Assyrian army developed and evolved over time. In the Middle Assyrian period, foot soldiers were divided into the ''sạ bū ša kakkē'' ("weapon troops") and the ''sạ bū ša arâtē'' ("shield-bearing troops") but surviving records are not detailed enough to determine what the differences were. It is possible that the ''sạ bū ša kakkē'' included ranged troops, such as slingers (''ṣābū ša ušpe'') and archers (''ṣābū ša qalte''). The chariots in the army composed a unit of their own. Based on surviving depictions, chariots were crewed by two soldiers: an archer who commanded the chariot (''māru damqu'') and a driver (''ša mugerre'').{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=152}} Chariots first entered extensive military use under Tiglath-Pileser I in the 12th–11th centuries BC{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=152}} and were in the later Neo-Assyrian period gradually phased out in favor of cavalry{{Sfn|Dalley|2017|p=|pp=526–527}} (''ša petḫalle'').{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=152}} In the Middle Assyrian period, cavalry was mainly used for escorting or message deliveries.{{Sfn|Jakob|2017b|p=153}}

Under the Neo-Assyrian Empire, important new developments in the military were the large-scale introduction of cavalry, the adoption of [[iron]] for armor and weapons,{{Sfn|Dalley|2017|p=|pp=523, 525, 529–531}} and the development of new and innovative [[siege warfare]] techniques.{{Sfn|Aberbach|2003|p=4}} At the height of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Assyrian army was the strongest army yet assembled in world history.{{Sfn|Aberbach|2003|p=4}} The number of soldiers in the Neo-Assyrian army was likely several hundred thousand.{{Sfn|Dalley|2017|p=531}} The Neo-Assyrian army was subdivided into ''kiṣru'', composed of perhaps 1,000 soldiers, most of whom would have been infantry soldiers (''zūk'', ''zukkû'' or ''raksūte''). The infantry was divided into three types: light, medium and heavy, with varying weapons, level of armor and responsibilities.{{Sfn|Dalley|2017|pp=526, 528}} While on campaign, the Assyrian army made heavy use of both interpreters/translators (''targumannu'') and guides (''rādi kibsi''), both probably being drawn from foreigners resettled in Assyra.{{Sfn|Dalley|2017|p=|pp=528, 531}}