A team of French archaeologists unearthed the ruins of Nineveh in the 1830s. Astonished as they were by the massive walls and magnificent palace paintings—many of which depict kings, horses, and hunting—the archaeologists were even more impressed by the inscriptions. Translated, these inscriptions brag that the Assyrians had leveled one civilization after another, sometimes committing unspeakable atrocities, such as when they boast of having cut off 11,000 pairs of ears and 8,000 noses.
Are claims such as these to be taken seriously?
Historians have pondered that question ever since. Some have labeled the Assyrians the “Nazis” of the ancient world. In retrospect, however, it does not seem likely that the Assyrians could kill, decapitate, and mutilate so many people.
Killing large numbers of people—as Adolf Hitler found out—is hard work. It is much easier to make captives of them and have them produce something useful for the conqueror. Just as important, however, are the population figures. If the Assyrians really killed tens of thousands of people as they claim, the Middle East would—over time—have been depopulated.
Was there any limit to the Assyrian reach?
Yes. Like most ancient world conquerors, Assyrians faced a perennial problem of supplies. It was one thing to field an army of 50,000 men—as we believe they did—and quite another to keep those men in food and water. Therefore, although the Assyrians eventually conquered most of the Middle East, their hold on certain regions was quite fragile.
The high point of Assyrian conquest came during the late eighth and the early part of the seventh centuries B.C.E. The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria around 732 B.C.E., while the Kingdom of Judah—the southern part of the Hebrew domain—survived. Even as they approached the peak of success, however, the Assyrians began to experience stresses and strains within their empire. They had acquired too many enemies, and toward the end of the seventh century B.C.E., the various peoples turned on them.
How and when did the Kingdom of Assyria fall?
In 615 B.C.E., the Kingdom of Babylonia, 200 miles south of Assyria, established a firm alliance with three or four other peoples—some settlers and some nomadic—to combat Assyria. The fighting was fierce, but the allies overcame the Assyrians and burned their major cities. This was accomplished with such thoroughness that 300 years later, the Greek General Xenephon passed through the region and marveled at the ruins, saying he had no idea who those people had been.
Assyria’s downfall paved the way for a second rise of the Babylonian kingdom. Led by King Nebuchadnezzar II, the Babylonians attacked the Kingdom of Judah in 587 B.C.E. After a hard campaign, they knocked down the walls of Jerusalem and took many of the Hebrews as captives to Babylon. This was the beginning of what the Old Testament describes as the worst of times for the Hebrews and what commentators ever since have referred to as the “Babylonian Captivity.”
How long did the Hebrews stay as captives in Babylon?
They were in captivity for nearly seventy years. Most Old Testament scholars believe this was a pivotal time for the Hebrew people, during which they refined and defined their monotheistic beliefs. Just as important, however, were the military changes that took place in the Middle East.
This view of ancient Babylon as it looks today reveals a stark contrast to how it must have looked in the days of King Nebuchadnezzar II. On this very spot stood the famous Hanging Gardens that were one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Assyria had been on top for about 300 years. Babylon held that position only for about seventy years before two newcomers—the Persians and Medes—swept aside all rivals to become the new super-kingdom.
Who were the Persians and Medes?
They were Aryan peoples—not Semitic—who arrived on the high plateau of what is now Iran sometime around 1000 B.C.E. For some time, they made little impact on the area, largely because they were nomadic peoples cast adrift among groups of settled and civilized folk. In or around 550 B.C.E., however, the Persians and Medes joined hands and carried out a series of conquests that took them to Turkey, the northern part of Arabia, and even to the western part of Afghanistan.
By 550 B.C.E., the Persians and Medes were led by King Cyrus (circa 585-529 B.C.E.), later known as Cyrus the Great. No reliable illustration of his physique exists, and we have to use our imagination to picture the King of Kings. Starting from modest beginnings, Cyrus became king of the Persians and Medes and then led his peoples to conquest. Time and again, he defeated more seasoned, practiced foes by using what we would call guerrilla tactics. Cyrus was more than a warlord, however. He had a vision of universal empire, and to that end, he practiced mercy toward many of the people he defeated.
When and how did Cyrus capture Babylon?
The year was 539 B.C.E., but the means have been debated ever since. Did Cyrus actually dam a section of the Euphrates River so his men could practically walk through a dry river bed? Was there a wholesale massacre of the Babylonian aristocracy? Cyrus, who was perhaps the most clever manager of public relations of his time, prevented the answers from becoming common knowledge.
One thing of which we are certain is that Cyrus announced that all the captives of Babylon—Hebrews, Semites, Assyrians, Aryans, and others—were henceforth free. This action alone makes Cyrus stand out from nearly all other conquerors of his time, and he went out of his way to cultivate that very image: that of the benevolent conqueror.
Where did the Hebrews go?
The only place that made sense. As soon as they were released, Hebrews began the long trudge back to the Kingdom of Judah, which King Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed fifty years earlier. On arriving in their homeland, the Hebrews found most of their cities and towns in wreckage. They began the long, difficult task of rebuilding, and in the process they renamed themselves the Jews.
The name clearly derives from the Kingdom of Judah, which was now rebuilt, but the precise intention of the word is unclear. Did the change from Hebrew to Jew signify that these were the same people who had now returned? Or did it mean they had been transformed by the Babylonian Captivity and would forever look on themselves as a different people? Scholars remain divided on this point, but the nomenclature was now permanent. They were henceforth known as the Jews.
Could Cyrus have conquered the entire Middle East?
He came close. But in around 529 B.C.E., he went on a campaign against the Massegete people in Central Asia and was killed, tradition has it, while engaged in battle against a tribal group led by a woman. Cyrus’ body was brought back to Babylon and then to the desert of southern Iran, where his tomb remains today. In a manner that is somewhat surprising, Cyrus had his epitaph carved above the door to the tomb.
“O Man, wherever thou comes from, and whoever thou art! Know that I was Cyrus and that I conquered the world. Grudge me not, therefore, my monument.”
What were the major city-states of sixth-century Greece?
There were about a dozen, ranging from Thebes in the north to Sparta in the south. Though they all spoke the same language, these peoples were intensely competitive with each other, seeking the glory and well-being of their individual city-states. At the same time, they were quite conscious of being different from all outsiders.
Language defined a Greek, but so did culture, and we might say “culture with an attitude.” The modern word barbarian comes to us from the Greeks, who thought that less civilized people had poor diction and that their conversation resembled the bleating of sheep. By about 500 B.C.E., the Greeks felt a conscious superiority to all their