The Assyrians and The

Chaldeans

Target

Identify and describe the leaders, cities,

contributions of the Assyrian and Chaldean

civilizations.

The Assyrians

Greatly influenced by the

Sumerian and

Babylonian civilizations

Were able to destroy

Babylon

Led by Assurnasirpal

Helps Assyrian power

spread

Rule of the Assyrians

885 B.C. To 612 B.C.

Assyrian capital

Nineveh

Sennacherib (Sen ack rib)

Son of Sargon II

Established capital of

Nineveh

Built a magnificent palace

Sargon II

Sennacherib

Military Rulers

Brutal warriors

Great military capabilities

Military Contributions

1. Adaptation of Iron

weapons

2. armor is introduced

for the first time

3. Chariots

Military contributions con’t

3. Calvary units

4. Armies commanded

by nobility

5. Use of military

specialists

Assault units to attack city

walls

Siege towers

Battering rams

Military contributions con’t

6. network of roads

7. brutality toward

conquered people

Assurnasirpal II I built a pillar against his city gate, and I flayed (skinned) all of the chief

men…and I covered the pillar with their skins. Some I walled up within

the pillar, some I impaled upon the pillar on stakes…and I cut off the

limbs of the officers” And again: “Many captives from among them I

burned with fire…From some I cut off their hands and their fingers, and

from others I cut off their noses, their ears…of many I put out the

eyes…Their young men and maidens I burned in the fire…

Sennacherib “With the corpses of its inhabitants, I filled the city squares…The city

and houses, from its foundations to its top, I destroyed, I devastated, I

burned with fire. The wall and outer wall, temples and gods, temple

towers of brick and earth, as many as there were, I

[destroyed]…Through the midst of that city I dug canals [from the

Euphrates River], I flooded its site with water…That in days to come the

side of that city, and [its] temples and gods, might not be recognized. I

dissolved it in water….annihilated it, making it like a meadow.”

The last Assyrian King

Assurbanipal

His kingdom extended

from Egypt to Iran

668-626 B.C.

Assurbanipal’s Contributions

1. A Great Library

2. Artwork

War and hunting scenes

Ornaments of gold, silver,

glass and ivory

The End of the Assyrians

The end of the Assyrians

came with the “rebirth” of

the Babylonians or Chaldeans

The Chaldeans fought the

Assyrians for 6 years starting

in 612

Captured and pillaged

Nineveh

Destroyed Assyrian capital

The Chaldeans

Led by King

Nabopolassar

He began to restore the

city of Babylon

Began to create an

Empire

Babylon

Fully restored under

King Nebuchadnezzar

(526-562 B.C.)

659 ft ziggurat to

Marduk

Babylon con’t

Hanging Gardens of

Babylon

Other Contributions of the

Chaldeans

Neo-Babylonians

1. Studies of the Heavens (Sun, Moon, Planets)

2. Studies of Astronomy

3. 1st to forecast an eclipse

4. The Study of Science was the key to the

future

Babylonian Captivity

597 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem

and Judah

Brought the Hebrews to Babylon

587 B.C. – 538 B.C. know as the Babylonian

captivity

Diaspora

Scattering of a group of people from their ethnic

homeland

Target

Identify and describe the leaders, cities,

contributions of the Assyrian and Chaldean

civilizations.