1. ASSYRIAN EMPIRE By: McKenzie Browning, Sophie Beavin, Rebecca James, and Sarah Crawford

2. Location and Time-frame: 911- 612 BCE

3. Society: 1. Landowning 2. Farmers and artisans 3. Slaves ◦ Could move up ◦ No discrimination against refugees; “human beings” ◦ Most involved in agriculture ◦ Stored food=specialized labor ◦ Artisans in towns made pottery, clothing, and tools ◦ Elites and skilled professionals (priests, diviners, scribes, etc.) ◦ Promised obedience to the king ◦ Lived under fear of punishment ◦ Rewarded

4. Politics: ═ Centralized-money went to capital at Ashur ═ Stretched from Anatolia to western Iran ═ Defeated Elam, Urartu, Babylon, and Egypt ═ King  center of universe Chosen by god Usually passed from father to son (patrilineal) ═ Harsh punishment for those who rebelled Mass deportation

5. Religion: ═ They believed the gods chose the king to act as their representative ═ Whoever the king chose as his successor (normally his son) was confirmed by the divine oracle and the elite ═ The king decided on nothing (about the state) without performing an extravagant ritual to the gods ═ Main god: Ashur

6. Intellectual Endeavors: ═ Painted relief sculpture ◦ usually were hunts, battles, sieges, executions, and deportations these covered the palace walls at Kalhu and Ninevah The king was bigger than everyone else in the art piece to show how much power he had ◦ Humans were rigid and not in action ═ Only Elite boys were educated ═ Some Assyrian temples had libraries

7. Technology: ═ The Assyrians’ unprecedented conquests were made possible by their superior military organization and technology ═ Iron weapons gave Assyrian soldiers an advantage over many opponents, and cavalry provided unprecedented speed and mobility ═ Assyrians engineers developed machinery and tactics for besieging fortified towns ═ Dug tunnels under walls, built mobile towers for archers, and used battering rams ═ Assyrian scholars created and preserved lists of plant and animal names, geographic terms, and astronomical occurrences, and they made original contributions in mathematics and astronomy

8. Economy: ═ got vital resources like iron and silver through international commerce ​ ═ cities thrived on expanded long distance commerce ═ officials oversaw payment of tribute and taxes ═ Assyrians exploited wealth and resources of their subjects ═ wealth was mainly distributed to the kings and nobles ═ some kings used the money to expand capital and build new royal cities ═ individual artisans made pottery, tools, clothing and most trade took place at local level ═ the state managed long distance trade ═ the long distance trade brought in a lot of money because it was of mainly luxury goods like metal, textile, gems, dyes, and ivory ═ silver was basic medium of exchange

9. Important people ═ King Tiglathpileser (TIG-lath-pih-LEE-zuhr): ◦ created a core army of professional soldiers made up of Assyrians and the most formidable subject peoples ═ Ashurbanipal: ◦ Assyrian Ruler ◦ an avid collector of the literary and scientific heritage of Mesopotamia ◦ the son of Esarhaddon (Assyrian king 689-661 BCE) ◦ the last strong king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esarhaddon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashurbanipal

10. Terms ═ Mass deportation: forcibly uprooting entire communities and resettling them elsewhere ═ Neo-Assyrian empire: empire extending from western Iran to Syria-Palestine, conquered by the Assyrians of northern Mesopotamia between the tenth and seventh centuries. They used force and terror and exploited the wealth and labor of their subjects. They also preserved and continued the cultural and scientific developments of Mesopotamian civilization ═ Library of Ashurbanipal: contained official documents as well as literary and scientific texts; a large collection of writings drawn from the ancient literary, religious, and scientific traditions of Mesopotamia. It was assembled by the seventh-century BCE by Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal. The many tablets unearthed by archeologists constitute one of the most important sources of present day knowledge of the long literary tradition of Mesopotamia

11. Big Picture Continuities ◦ Learning was only for the elite (elite boys) ◦ In control of a large diverse empire ◦ Everything revolved around the king (center) Changes ◦ First to use iron to make tools ◦ Library of Ashurbanipal ◦ One of the first really big empires ◦ Wanted to conquer the land around them If conquest stops the world ends