The Assyrians were the most ferocious and feared warriors of antiquity. From their residence in Mesopotamia (northern Iraq), Assyrian Kings carved out an empire that stretched from the Persian Gulf in the east to Egypt in the west. The Assyrian Empire lasted for 300 years until Nineveh, their capital, fell in 612 BCE during a war with the cruel Babylonians and the cunning Medes.
Archeologists and historians know about the Assyrian conquests from the dramatic stone carving illustrations excavated from their cities, and from the Holy Scriptures. Assyria kings ruled their conquered peoples with a heavy oppressive iron fist and had them swear absolute obedience to Assyria and had them regularly pay large sums of currency and tribute to Assyria. Captured cities were usually ransacked, plundered, and sometimes destroyed by Assyrian troops. Often all the citizens were removed and resettled in other areas of the Assyrian Empire.
Assyrian Warfare, Tactics, and Weapons
The reason for Assyria’s military success was its excellent army. All adult males, from the ages of 15 to 55, could be called up for military service, where Assyrian kings could put 50,000 troops into battle. Soldiers were divided into squads of 10; where 20 squads made up a company of fighting warriors. The infantry consisted primarily of spearmen and archers, who could accurately fire many lethal iron tipped arrows. Slings and swords were also employed for distance combat. The widespread employment of Assyrian iron weapons gave them an advantage over their enemies, who mostly depended on the weaker bronzes weapons.
Assyrians employed fast moving, two wheeled chariots, which created gaps and chaos in the enemy’s military formation because of the speed and weight of their attack. Supporting the chariots were the cavalry, which was an elite group of noble horsemen. The Assyrians were also the masters of ancient siege warfare, employing gigantic iron-headed battering rams to bring down stone walls and wooden towers, which allowed their archers to fire on the cities residents. The Assyrian army’s organization, discipline, and versatility made it a powerful and awe-inspiring during battle. Tiglath-Pileser III employed these tactics, techniques, and procedures to build his Assyrian Empire.
Tiglath-Pileser III
The mighty Assyrian king, Tiglath-Pileser III (745-725 BCE) began the military expansion that resulted in Assyria’s vast empire, and he is considred by many military historians to be one of the most successful commanders in antiquity. The Holy Scriptures record a long list of his violent conquests. According to II Kings 15:29, “In the days of Pekah King of Israel came Tiglath-Pileser King of Assyria, and he conquered Ijon, Gilead, Calilee, and all the land of Napthali and carried them away as captives for Assyria.
The Lachish Siege
In 701 BCE, King Sennacherib (705-680 BCE) captured the Judean city of Lachish. Assyrian soldiers employed battering rams to hammer the city’s walls, while Judean defenders on the walls rained arrows and other missiles on the Assyrian warriors. As Assyrian archers and slingers kept up a steady stream of fire support, spearmen climbed wooden ladders to reach the top of the walls. Some prisoners were led away into captivity, other captives were beheaded, and other groups were flayed, burned alive, or impaled on stakes.
Archaeology and Assyrian Empire
During the 1840s, archaeologist Austen Henry Layard began his excavations on the banks of the River Tigris in Iraq. Emerging from the primeval ashes were Nineveh’s ruins; this was a biblical pagan city described with extreme hatred in the Holy Scriptures. According to Nahum 3:1, the prophet said woe to the bloody city. The people of Nineveh were famous for human sacrifices to their pagan gods. Layard uncovered gigantic winged bulls, weighing about 9, 072 kilograms (10 tons) each, accompanied by beautiful bas-reliefs displaying vivid scenes of the ancient Assyrian lifestyle, such as the violent battle scenes depicting the Lachish siege.
Sources:
- Battles; R.G. Grant; 2010.
- The Bible; Stan Campbell and James S. Bell, Jr.; 2000.
- The Book of War; Dwight Jon Zimmerman; 2008.
- The Book of Weapons; Dwight Jon Zimmerman; 2009.
- The Complete Guide Through The Bible; Stephen Miller; 2007.
- Warrior; R. G. Grant; 2010.
- Weapon; Sunita Gahit and Sharon Spencer; 2010.
Eliot Elwar - This author enjoys studying ancient military history, reading biblical eschatology, analyzing Greek mythology, and illustrating military ...
