A Companion to Assyria
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As forcefully argued by Otto (2002, esp. 167–94), this rewriting had, in some respects, a profoundly liberating effect, creating, for the first time in human history, a deep sense that human beings were not beholden to follow without fail the will of their political rulers but rather obey a divine law that takes into account the needs of those who lack power. But Otto somewhat minimizes the fact that this theological remodeling provided God himself with some rather despotic qualities and generated, over time, hitherto unknown forms of religious intolerance that became even more pronounced when Christianity and Islam, with their more universal ambitions, adopted central tenets of ancient Judaism. This ambivalence of the role of God and his law in the monotheistic religions, emancipating on one hand and repressive on the other, is to some extent owed to Israel’s and Judah’s encounter with the Assyrian empire and one of the most important legacies of this state until today.
Abbreviations
SAA
= S. Parpola (ed.), State Archives of Assyria, 19 volumes published, Helsinki: Helsinki University Press 1987–.
References
Ackerman, S. 2010. “Assyria in the Bible,” in: A. Cohen and S.E. Kangas (eds.), Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography, Hanover: University Press of New England, 124–42.
Assmann, J. 2002. Herrschaft und Heil, Frankfurt: Fischer.
Aster, S.Z. 2007. “Transmission of Neo‐Assyrian Claims of Empire to Judah in the Late Eighth Century B.C.E.,” Hebrew Union College Annual 78, 1–44.
Carr, D.M. 2011. The Formation of the Hebrew Bible: A New Reconstruction, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Clines, J.A. (ed.) 1993. The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, vol. 1, Sheffield.
Cogan, M. 1974. Imperialism and Religion: Assyria, Israel and Judah in the Eighth and Seventh Centuries B.C.E., Missoula, MT: Scholars Press.
Cogan, M. 1993. “Judah Under Assyrian Hegemony: A Re‐examination of Imperialism and Religion,” Journal of Biblical Literature 112, 403–14.
Cogan, M. 2009. “Sennacherib and the Angry Gods of Babylon and Israel,” Israel Exploration Journal 59, 164–74.
Cogan, M. and Tadmor, H. 1988. 2 Kings, AB 10, Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Cohen, R. and Westbrook, R. (eds.) 2008. Isaiah’s Vision of Peace in Biblical and Modern International Relations: Swords into Plowshares, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cooper, J. 2000. “Assyrian Prophecies, the Assyrian Tree, and the Mesopotamian Origins of Jewish Monotheism, Greek Philosophy, Christian Theology, Gnosticism, and Much More,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 120, 430–44.
Crouch, C.L. 2014. Israel and the Assyrians: Deuteronomy, the Succession Treaty of Esarhaddon, and the Nature of Subversion, Atlanta, GA: SBL Press.
Dalley, S. 2007. Esther’s Revenge at Susa: From Sennacherib to Ahasuerus. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Dietrich, W. 2002. “Ninive in der Bibel,” in: O. Loretz et al. (eds.), Ex Mesopotamia et Syria lux: Festschrift für Manfried Dietrich, AOAT 281, Münster: Ugarit Verlag, 115–31.
Drawnel, H. 2007. “Moon Computation in the Aramaic Astronomical Book,” Revue de Qumran 23, 3–41.
Fales, M. 2012. “After Ta'yinat: The New Status of Esarhaddon’s Adê for Assyrian Political History,” Revue d’Assyriologie 106, 133–58.
Flynn, S.W. 2013. YHWH is King: The Development of Divine Kingship in Ancient Israel, Leiden/Boston: Brill.
Frahm, E. 2000–01. “Wie ‘christlich’ war die assyrische Religion? Anmerkungen zu Simo Parpolas Edition der assyrischen Prophetien,” Welt des Orients 31, 31–45.
Frahm, E. 2009. “Warum die Brüder Böses planten: Anmerkungen zu einer alten Crux in Asarhaddons Ninive A‐Inschrift,” in: W. Arnold et al. (eds.), Philologisches und Historisches zwischen Anatolien und Sokotra: Analecta Semitica In Memoriam Alexander Sima, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 27–50.
Frahm, E. 2011. “Mensch, Land und Volk: Aššur im Alten Testament,” in: J. Renger (ed.), Assur: Gott, Stadt und Land, CDOG 5, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 267–85.
Frahm, E. 2016. “Of Doves, Fish, and Goddesses: Reflections on the Literary, Religious, and Historical Background of the Book of Jonah,” in: J. Baden et al. (eds.), Sibyls, Scriptures, and Scrolls: John Collins at Seventy, Leiden/Boston: Brill, 432–50.
Gallagher, W.R. 1999. Sennacherib’s Campaign to Judah: New Studies, Studies in the History and Culture of the Ancient Near East 18, Leiden: Brill.
Grabbe, L.L. (ed.) 2003. “Like a Bird in a Cage”: The Invasion of Sennacherib in 701 BCE, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series 363, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
Gruenwald, I. 1997. “‘How Much Qabbalah in Assyria?’: Methodological Reflections on the Study of a Cross‐Cultural Phenomenon,” in: S. Parpola and R.M. Whiting (eds.), Assyria 1995: Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Symposium of the Neo‐Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Helsinki, 115–27.
Hays, C.B. 2011. Death in the Iron Age II and in First Isaiah, Forschungen zum Alten Testament 79, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Henkelman, W.F.M. 2006. “The Birth of Gilgamesh (Aelian NA XII.21): A Case Study in Literary Receptivity,” in: R. Rollinger and B. Truschnegg (eds.), Altertum und Mittelmeerraum: Die antike Welt diesseits und jenseits der Levante, FS Peter W. Heider, Oriens et Occidens 12, Stuttgart: Steiner, 807–56.
Holloway, S.W. 2002. Assur is King! Assur is King! Religion in the Exercise of Power in the Neo‐Assyrian Empire, Leiden: Brill.
Hom, M.K. 2012. The Characterization of the Assyrian in Isaiah: Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives, New York: T&T Clark.
Kalimi, I. and Richardson, S. (eds.) 2014. Sennacherib at the Gates of Jerusalem: Story, History and Historiography, CHANE 71, Leiden/Boston: Brill.
Lauinger, J. 2012. “Esarhaddon’s Succession Treaty at Tell Tayinat: Text and Commentary,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 64, 87–123.
Levine, B. 2005. “Assyrian Ideology and Israelite Monotheism,” Iraq 67, 411–27.
Levinson, B.M. and Stackert, J. 2012. “Between the Covenant Code and Esarhaddon’s Succession Treaty: Deuteronomy 13 and the Composition of Deuteronomy,” Journal of Ancient Judaism 3, 123–40.
Machinist, P. 1983. “Assyria and Its Image in the First Isaiah,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 103, 719–37.
Machinist, P. 1997. “The Fall of Assyria in Comparative Ancient Perspective,” in: S. Parpola and R.M. Whiting (eds.), Assyria 1995: Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Symposium of the Neo‐Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Helsinki: The Neo‐Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 179–95.
Malul, M. 1990. The Comparative Method in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Legal Studies, AOAT 227, Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker.
Millard, A.R. 1976. “Assyrian Royal Names in Biblical Hebrew,” Journal of Semitic Studies 21, 1–14.
Morrow, W.S. 2005. “Cuneiform Literacy and Deuteronomic Composition,” Bibliotheca Orientalis 62, 204–13.
Müller, H.‐P. 1977–78. “Die weisheitliche Lehrerzählung im Alten Testament und seiner Umwelt,” Welt des Orients 9, 77–98.
Na’aman, N. 2003. “Updating the Messages: Hezekiah’s Second Prophetic Story (2 Kings 19.9b‐35) and the Community of Babylonian Deportees,” in: Grabbe 2003, 201–20.
Olyan, S.M. 2006. “Was the ‘King of Babylon’ Buried before His Corpse Was Exposed? Some Thoughts on Isa 14,19,” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 118, 423–6.
Otto, E. 1999. Das Deuteronomium: Politische Theologie und Rechtsreform in Juda und Assyrien, BZAW 284, Berlin/New York: De Gruyter.
Otto, E. 2002. Gottes Recht als Menschenrecht: Rechts‐ und literaturhistorische Studien zum Deuteronomium, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte 2, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Parpola, S. 1980. “The Murderer of Sennacherib,” in: B. Alster (ed.), Death in Mesopotamia, Mesopotamia 8, Copenhagen: Akademisk, 171–82.
Parpola, S. 1993. “The Assyrian Tree of Life: Tracing the Origins
of Jewish Monotheism and Greek Philosophy,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 52, 161–208.
Polak, F.H. 2010. Review of Wright 2009, Review of Biblical Literature 05/2010.
Radner, K. 2006. “Assyrische ṭuppi adê als Vorbild für Deuteronomium 28, 20–44?,” in: J.C. Gertz et al. (eds.), Die deuteronomistischen Geschichtswerke: Redaktions‐ und religionsgeschichtliche Perspektiven zur “Deuteronomismus”‐Diskussion in Tora und Vorderen Propheten, BZAW 365, Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 351–78.
Sanders, S. forthcoming. “Aramaic Scribal Culture and the Creativity of Second Temple Judaism,” in: From Adapa to Enoch: Scribal Culture and Religious Vision in Judea and Babylonia, Siebeck.
Spieckermann, H. 1982. Juda unter Assur in der Sargonidenzeit, FRLANT 129, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Steymans, H.U. 1995. Deuteronomium 28 und die adê zur Thronfolgeregelung Asarhaddons, OBO 145, Fribourg/Göttingen: Academic Press Fribourg/Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht.
Sweeney, M.A. 2010. “The Portrayal of Assyria in the Books of Kings,” in R. Heskett and B. Irwin (eds.), The Bible as a Human Witness to Divine Revelation: Hearing the Word of God Through Historically Dissimilar Traditions. Festschrift for Gerald T. Sheppard, Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 469, New York: T. & T. Clark, 274–84.
Uehlinger, C. 1990. Weltreich und “eine Rede”: Eine neue Deutung der sogenannten Turmbauerzählung (Gen. 11, 1–9), OBO 101, Fribourg/Göttingen: Academic Press Fribourg/Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht.
Vanderhooft, D.S. 2008. “Biblical Perspectives on Nineveh and Babylon: Views from the Endangered Periphery,” Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Journal 3, 83–92.
Van der Kooij, A. 2012. “‘Nimrod, A Mighty Hunter before the Lord!’ Assyrian Royal Ideology as Perceived in the Hebrew Bible,” Journal for Semitics 21, 1–27.
Weinfeld, M. 1991. “Semiramis: Her Name and Her Origin,” in: M. Cogan and I. Eph‘al (eds.), Ah, Assyria: Studies in Assyrian History and Ancient Near Eastern Historiography Presented to Hayim Tadmor, Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 99–103.
Weissert, E. 2011. “Jesajas Beschreibung der Hybris des assyrischen Königs und seine Auseinandersetzung mit ihr,” in: J. Renger (ed.), Assur – Gott, Stadt und Land, CDOG 5, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 287–309.
Wells, B. 2015. “The Interpretation of Legal Traditions in Ancient Israel,” Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 3, 234–66.
Wright, D. 2009. Inventing God’s Law: How the Covenant Code of the Bible Used and Revised the Laws of Hammurabi, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Further Reading
For general overviews of the impact of Assyrian history and culture on the books of the Bible, see Ackerman 2010, Frahm 2011, and Carr 2011: 304–38. The latter discusses extensively which parts of the Bible were most likely composed during the Neo‐Assyrian period. The question of Assyria’s alleged religious imperialism is explored by Cogan 1974 and 1993 and by Holloway 2002. Cogan and Tadmor 1988 provides a commentary on 2 Kings that deals at length with the passages related to Assyrian military campaigns. Otto 1999 and 2002 and Levinson and Stackert 2012 are among the many publications exploring the influence of Esarhaddon’s Vassal Treaties on certain portions of the book of Deuteronomy. Machinist 1983 deals with reflections of Assyrian royal ideology in the book of Isaiah, and Machinist 1997 examines the Biblical references to Assyria’s downfall from a comparative perspective.
CHAPTER 30
Assyria in Classical Sources
Robert Rollinger
There are in Assyria many other great cities; but the most famous and the strongest is Babylon, where the royal dwelling had been set after the destruction of Ninus.
(Herodotus 1.178.1, Godley, Loeb)
Assyria’s Changing Image in Greek and Roman Texts
The first attestations of Assyria in classical sources appear only after the downfall of the Neo‐Assyrian Empire. Since the authenticity of a fragment by Phocylides (fr. 4 Gentili–Prato), a poet living presumably during the sixth century BCE, remains doubtful (Korenjak and Rollinger 2001), the earliest classical source dealing with Assyria are the Histories of Herodotus, published in the 420 s BCE (Bichler and Rollinger, 2nd edition, 2011; see also Bichler 2000; Rollinger 2003b). Though we know that the Greeks were in contact with the Neo‐Assyrian empire from at least the eighth century BCE onwards (see Chapter 14), only three hundred years later Assyria and Babylonia were, astonishingly, no longer clearly distinguished from each other in Greek texts. According to Herodotus, the Assyrian empire had two royal residences. The most ancient one was Ninus, which was located on the Tigris River (see Hdt. 1.193.2; 2.150.3). After its destruction, Babylon became the seat of Assyrian kingship, where Assyrian kings were allegedly engaged in building activities that focused on city walls and sanctuaries (Hdt. 1.184). Concerning Assyria’s history, Herodotus’s account remains very sketchy. Yet, he developed a far‐reaching concept that would become a definitive part of all world histories, at least until the 18th century CE (Rollinger 2003a; Wiesehöfer 2003, 2005). According to this concept, world history is structured by a succession of empires; Assyria is the first of these, followed by the Median and Persian empires. The Assyrian empire is characterized by its longevity: it ruled over Western Asia for 520 years (1.95.2; see Bichler 2000: 136). But Herodotus has only very little information about the history of these five centuries. Aside from Ninus, the son of Belus, who remains a mythic figure, only two Assyrian kings are mentioned. The first, Sardanapallus, is mentioned in the context of a legend about his great wealth, which he kept in an underground treasury (Hdt. 2.150.3). Chronologically, he may have been regarded as one of the early kings, since he is introduced as son of Ninus (see Zawadzki 1990b). The second, King Sennacherib, attacked Egypt “with a great host of Arabians and Assyrians” (Hdt. 2.141) but was not successful because, at Pelusium, a multitude of field mice devoured the Assyrian army’s quivers and bows and Sennacherib had to retreat. The attacks of the Medes on the Assyrian capital Ninus, another episode in the Histories, is not associated with any specific Assyrian king (see Rollinger 2010b, 2011a). Two assaults, the first by king Phraortes and the second by Cyaxares, fail (Hdt. 1.102; 1.103). Eventually, Cyaxares takes the city and brings “all Assyria except the province of Babylon” under his rule (1.106.2). Herodotus’s announcement that he would provide more information about this event, as well as about Assyrian history in general, in his “Assyrioi Logoi” (Hdt. 1.184) remains lamentably unredeemed (Zawadzki 1990a).
As we have seen, only with Herodotus’s Histories does Assyria gain momentum in classical tradition. Herodotus created a model that would be the basis for all treatises on the subject to come. Compared to the evidence of the Hebrew Bible, it is astounding that so many powerful Neo‐Assyrian kings do not figure in this tradition. Also surprising is that, with one possible exception,1 the city of Ashur is not mentioned, which is also true of the Hebrew Bible (Frahm 2003a: 19, Frahm 2011: 271–2).
Besides Herodotus’s Histories, one other classical work shaped the Greek tradition regarding Assyria. The “History of Persia,” written by Ctesias of Cnidus, comprises twenty‐three books and was published after 392 BCE. It ends with a catalogue of kings running from Ninus to Artaxerxes II. The work has survived only in fragments (modern editions are Lenfant 2004; Stronk 2010; Llewellyn‐Jones and Robson 2010; see generally Wiesehöfer, Rollinger, and Lanfranchi 2011). Assyrian history is discussed in the first three books, where we are informed that world history started with the first Assyrian king: “in ancient times, then, Asia was ruled by native kings, of whom is preserved no memory either of a notable deed or of a personal name. The first to be transmitted to history and memory for us as somebody who achieved great deeds is Ninus, king of the Assyrians” (F. 1b (i.4), Stronk 2010: 203). He is described as a warrior king who conquered lands all over Asia, between the Tanais and Nile Rivers, during a period of seventeen years. Only Bactria and India remained independent. Thus Ninus’s empire already mirrored the world empire of Ctesias’s own time,
the Persian empire (Boncquet 1990). In Assyria proper, Ninus founded a new city from scratch, and “not only would it be the largest of any existing in the whole inhabited world, but likewise no one of his successors, if he were to put himself to such a task, should find it easy to surpass him” (F. 1b (iii.1), Stronk 2010: 205). Though the setting is a legendary one, the metaphor of surpassing any successor and predecessor is a characteristic feature of Neo‐Assyrian royal ideology (Rollinger 2008a). Since Ninus ruled the first world empire, his city is the first true metropolis:
He himself, however, after he had gathered men from everywhere and all necessary materials by the river Euphrates, founded a city, which was well fortified with walls, giving it the form of a rectangle. The longer sides of the city were each one hundred and fifty stadia in length, the shorter ones ninety. Since the total circumference of the city comprised four hundred and eighty stadia, he was not disappointed in his hope: no one would later found such a city, both with respect to the length of its circuit and to the magnificence of its walls. After all, the wall had a height of one hundred feet and its width was sufficient for three chariots to drive upon side by side. The total of all towers was one thousand five hundred, and their height was two hundred feet. In it, Ninus settled the most powerful of the Assyrians and those who wished to come from the other peoples. He named the city after himself, Ninus, and added to the territory of its colonists a large part of the neighboring countryside.