2300 BC: IMPERIAL ERA & THE AKKADIAN EMPIRE
Sargon of Akkad invades Ashur and many other Mesopotamian city-states (Carr 2010)
Sargon forges the first Mesopotamian Empire; first time the entire country is united under one King(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Sargon’s primary empire is Akkad and Sumer(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Ashur is an important Centre throughout Akkadian Empire (UNESCO 2002)
2150 BC – 2100 BC
King Naram-Sin is murdered (Hall & Kirk 2002)
Akkad falls to ruins and is never re-occupied; remains unidentified/un-located to this day(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Middle Bronze age begins and lasts through 1600 BC(Hall & Kirk 2002)
2050 BC: NEO-SUMERIAN RENAISSANCE
All Sumerian states united under Ur-Nammu, Governor of Ur, who creates a time of peace(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Neo-Sumerian renaissance reaches Ashur bringing royal generosity, votive art and religious architecture(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Amorites (Nomadic tribes of Semitic speaking people) are drawn to the river cultures(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Shulgi of Ur continually attacks the Northeast Frontier(Hall & Kirk 2002)
His victories re-open trade routes and create an economic revival(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Everything is under state control a great bureaucracy develops(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Best Bookkeeping in all of Mesopotamian history - Tens of thousands of cuneiform texts from this period have been recovered Many of those texts come from Ashur and help archaeologists reconstruct the components of international trade, prices of commodities, processes of manufacture in metal and textile and the trade routes/goods that were available.(Hall & Kirk 2002)
2000 BC
Ashur is forced to pay taxes to Ur’s central administration in the south (UNESCO 2002)
Governors of city-states are increasingly of Amorite stock (Hall & Kirk 2002)
Amorites bring many lasting cultural changes in linguistics, literature, and law(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Fight for status and independence of their cities; particularly trade cities like Ashur(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Amorites begin to invade and eventually overtake Ur(Hall & Kirk 2002)
This brings collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Ashur is, once again, an independent city-state(Novak 2010)
Ashur becomes a well-known an important center for trade(Novak 2010)
Establishes trade routes in distant lands such as Turkey, Kanesh, and Cappidocia, buying and selling goods such as cloth, tin, copper, gold, silver, lapis, lazuli and other precious metals and stones (Carr 2010)
1820 BC – 1800 BC
King Shamhi-Adad makes Ashur capital of his realm, then later changes the capital(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Builds new temples in Ashur(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Hittites take over Turkey and trade with Ashur begins to collapse. (Carr 2010)
1800 BC – 1700 BC
King Hammurabi of Babylon unites Mesopotamia again conquering all of its 65 kings(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Last trade caravan to Turkey is in 1780 BC – trade routes are closed(Carr 2010)
Ashur conquers the Amorites (Carr 2010)
1600 BC – 1700 BC: DARK AGES OF THE NEAR EAST
Middle Bronze Age ends with the Capture of Babylon by the Hittites(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Within a few years the Kassites control Babylon(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Start of the Dark Age of the Near East(Hall & Kirk 2002)
There are almost no cuneiform texts from this time(Hall & Kirk 2002)
1500 BC – 1400 BC: THE FEUDAL ERA
Horse-drawn light chariot is invented (increasing mobility/efficiency in warfare)(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Defensive tactics improve and fortifications become very strong(Hall & Kirk 2002)
The Numerous small/medium sized Amorite states are replaced with a few large Semitic royal houses which are easier to defend(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Semitic population temporarily reduced to semi-free peasantry or roving mercenaries(Hall & Kirk 2002)
The Mitanni, Indo-Arians who embrace Indian deities & practice Indian culture rule the Hurrian state.(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Mitanni take advantage of the chaos and claim sovereignty over Ashur, Arrapjha, Mukish and Yahmad(Hall & Kirk 2002)
1360 BC – 1115 BC: PRE-ASSYRIAN ERA
Mitannian power is declining(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Ashur has been ruled by foreign masters for a thousand years, almost without exception(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Assur-ubalit, governor of Ashur, begins calling himself the King of Assyria(Carr 2010)
Ashur wars victoriously against the Mitannians and the Kassites of Babylonia to gain its independence(Carr 2010)
Babylon ceases royal marriages with Egypt, begins with Ashur, acknowledging Assyrians’ growing power(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Ashur becomes the first capital of Assyria (UNESCO 2002)
Sea People (Mycenaeans from Greek mainland) conquer and settle wherever they land(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Many peoples including Hittites, Hurrians & Jews are displaced ending the Hittitie & Kassite empires(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Ashur (the only kingdom not destroyed in west Asia) finds itself in a good position to take over(Carr 2010)
King Tukulti-Ninurta I conquers the City of Babylon(Hall & Kirk 2002)
But he Enrages the people with his excessive military campaigns, unreasonable building programs, and the sacrilegious act of taking a statue of the Babylonian God(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Moves the capital from Ashur to a city cross the Tigris which he names after himself(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Tukulti’s own son leads the people in revolt, imprisons the King in his new capital and sets fire to it, killing Tukulti-Ninurta and freeing the Kassites(Carr 2010)
Tukulti-Nunurta’s actions postpone Ashur’s true rise to power for almost a century(Hall & Kirk 2002)
Ashur remains the capital until the time of the King Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE)(UNESCO 2002)
1115 BC – 652 BC: ASSYRIAN EMPIRE’S GOLDEN AGE
King Tiglath-pileser I expands the Assyrian Empire to Babylon and to the west(Carr 2010)
Plundering expeditions begin: Each Spring the Assyrian armies travel south down the Tigris river, then cross the Tigris to the Euphrates, following that upstream until they arrive back in Ashur at the end of Summer(Carr 2010)
Army takes whatever it wants (cloth, artworks, gold, slaves). This “Tribute”, as Ashur calls it, is made to avoid attack but often times, Assyrians attack first and then demand the Tribute.(Carr 2010)
Assyrian army is feared by everyone(Carr 2010)
Plundering expeditions continue every year until 827 BC(Carr 2010)
Shalmaneser III desires to expand the empire and takes expeditions west to the Jewish kingdoms including Israel and Judah(Carr 2010)
Places pro-Assyrian Kings on the thrones of both kingdoms(Carr 2010)
A great revolt at Nineveh forces all armies to return to the core cities of Assyria(Carr 2010)
Conquests in the west are abandoned(Carr 2010)
Tiglath-pileser II usurps the throne and restarts the yearly expeditions conquering Israel, the Phoenicians, and many small kingdoms to the west(Carr 2010)
All lands near enough to rule have been conquered, including Egypt(Carr 2010)
Yearly plundering campaigns have ceased(Carr 2010)
Assyria concentrates on providing services for its people and keeping them from revolt(Carr 2010)
Highways, bridges, water systems, and legal courts established(Carr 2010)
Art and scholarship are encouraged and great libraries are built within the palaces(Carr 2010)
Time of The Great Kings of Assyria - Esarhedden rules; his two sons are Kings in the empire(Carr 2010)
Assurbanipal is King of Neneveh and Shamis-shum-ukin is King of Babylon(Carr 2010)
600 BC – 652 BC: FALL OF ASSYRIA & THE RISE OF BABYLONIA
Assurbanipal and Shamis-shum-ukin begin a civil war with each other (Carr 2010)
After four years Assurbanipal wins but by this time they have drastically weakened the empire(Carr 2010)
Territories including Israel, Judah, Babylon, and Phoenicia begin to revolt(Carr 2010)
The Jews, the Medes, and the Babylonians combine forces to destroy the Assyrian Empire(Carr 2010)
Egypt (last territory loyal to Assyria) tries to send help but is stopped at the battle of Megiddo(Carr 2010)
Both Assyria and Egypt surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon(Carr 2010)
Babylon takes control of West Asia(Carr 2010)
The Temple of Nabu is built atop the ancient Temple of Ishtar(Bear)
331 BC – 224 AD: THE HELLENISTIC & PARTHIAN PERIODS
Ashur Flourishes in the Hellenistic and Parthian Periods(UNESCO 2002)
Becomes the seat of the Parthian Governor(Assyrian Kings List)
New temples and palace structures are built including the Parthian Palace(Assyrian Kings List)
Dead are buried beside the old fortification walls(Assyrian Kings List)
Ancient religions of Mesopotamia are put to end being replaced by Iranian Cults, Hellenistic and Oriental mystery religions, and later, Judaism(Guisepi)
Parthian Period ends in war and the Sassanid Dynasty begins(Invictus 2006)
All Mesopotamians become incorporated into Sassanid Empire(Invictus 2006)
This is the last known occupation of Ashur (although there is some evidence of possible occupation during is Islam period)(Invictus 2006)
