Editing Assyria (section)

=== 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}}