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Sargonid dynasty
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Sargonid dynasty
The Sargonid dynasty was the final ruling dynasty of Assyria, ruling as kings of Assyria during the Neo-Assyrian Empire for just over a century from the ascent of Sargon II in 722 BC to the fall of Assyria in 609 BC. Although Assyria would ultimately fall during their rule, the Sargonid dynasty ruled the country during the apex of its power and Sargon II's three immediate successors Sennacherib (r. 705–681 BC), Esarhaddon (r. 681–669 BC) and Ashurbanipal (r. 669–631 BC) are generally regarded as three of the greatest Assyrian monarchs. Though the dynasty encompasses seven Assyrian kings, two vassal kings in Babylonia and numerous princes and princesses, the term Sargonids is sometimes used solely for Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal.
Though the Sargonid dynasty only encompasses the reigns of a few kings, their rule saw the borders of the empire grow to encompass the entire Ancient Near East, the East Mediterranean, Asia Minor, the Caucasus and parts of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa, and they witnessed the subjugation of rivals such as Babylonia, Elam, Persia, Urartu, Lydia, the Medes, Phrygians, Cimmerians, Israel, Judah, Phoenicia, Chaldea, Canaan, the Kushite Empire, the Arabs, and Egypt, as Assyria's rivals were either completely conquered or made vassals.
Following Sargon II's reconquest of Babylon in 710 BC, the Sargonids also periodically ruled as kings of Babylon, though they sometimes preferred to assign vassal kings. Babylon proved to be notoriously difficult to control, with the city and the surrounding lands in southern Mesopotamia repeatedly rebelling against the Sargonid kings despite various different methods being attempted to appease the Babylonians. The final such revolt, by Nabopolassar in 626 BC, succeeded in establishing a new independent kingdom, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which would less than two decades later destroy the Neo-Assyrian Empire and end the rule of the Sargonid dynasty. The Babylonians allied with the Medes, also rivals of the Assyrians, and though the Medo-Babylonian war against the Assyrian Empire was indecisive at first, the Fall of Nineveh and the death of King Sinsharishkun in 612 BC was a death blow to the Assyrian Empire. Sinsharishkun's successor Ashur-uballit II rallied what remained of the Assyrian army at the city of Harran but lost the city to his enemies in 610–609 BC and was defeated attempting to retake it in 609 BC, ending the rule of the Sargonid dynasty and Assyria's nearly two-millennia long history as an independent political entity.
The Sargonid dynasty's century in power was immediately preceded by the reigns of the two kings Tiglath-Pileser III (r. 745–727 BC) and Shalmaneser V (r. 727–722 BC). The nature of Tiglath-Pileser's rise to the throne of Assyria in 745 BC is unclear and disputed. Several pieces of evidence, including that there was a revolt in Nimrud, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, in 746/745 BC, that ancient Assyrian sources give conflicting information in regards to Tiglath-Pileser's lineage, and that Tiglath-Pileser in his inscriptions attributes his rise to the throne solely to divine selection rather than both divine selection and his royal ancestry (typically done by Assyrian kings), have been interpreted as indicating that he was a usurper. Though some have gone as far as suggesting that Tiglath-Pileser was not part of the previous royal dynasty, the long-lasting Adaside dynasty, at all, his claims of royal descent were probably true, meaning that regardless of whether he usurped the throne or not, he was a legitimate contender for it.
Though it was chiefly during the Sargonid dynasty that Assyria was transformed from a kingdom primarily based in the Mesopotamian heartland to a truly multinational and multi-ethnic empire, the foundations which allowed this development were laid during Tiglath-Pileser's reign through extensive civil and military reforms. Furthermore, Tiglath-Pileser began a successful series of conquests, subjugating the kingdoms of Babylon and Urartu and conquering the Mediterranean coastline. His successful military innovations, including replacing conscription with levies being supplied from each province, made the Assyrian army one of the most effective armies assembled up until that point.
Tiglath-Pileser's son and successor Shalmaneser V proved to be unpopular due to his poor military and administrative skills and he also seemingly overtaxed the peoples throughout his large empire. After a reign of only five years, Shalmaneser was replaced as king, probably being deposed and assassinated in a palace coup, by the founder of the Sargonid dynasty, Sargon II. Though Sargon II would be connected to previous kings in king lists through a claim that he was the son of Tiglath-Pileser III, this claim is not presented in most of his own inscriptions, where he is also described as being called upon and personally appointed as king by Ashur. Many historians accept Sargon's claim to have been a son of Tiglath-Pileser, but do not believe him to have been the legitimate heir to the throne as the next-in-line after the end of Shalmaneser's reign. Even then, his claim to have been Tiglath-Pileser's son is generally treated with more caution than Tiglath-Pileser's own claims of royal ancestry. Some Assyriologists, such as J. A. Brinkman, believe that Sargon, at the very least, did not belong to the direct dynastic lineage.
Sargon II's rise to the throne saw many rebellions and he might have taken the regnal name Sargon (Šarru-kin in Akkadian, one possible interpretation being "legitimate king") in an effort to portray himself as legitimate. References as late as the 670s BC, during the reign of Sargon II's grandson Esarhaddon, to the possibility that "descendants of former royalty" might try to seize the throne suggests that the Sargonid dynasty was not necessarily well connected to previous Assyrian monarchs. Babylonian king lists dynastically separate Sargon and his descendants from Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser V: Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser are recorded as of the "dynasty of Baltil" (Baltil possibly being the oldest portion of the ancient Assyrian capital of Assur), whereas the Sargonids are recorded as of the "dynasty of Ḫanigalbat", possibly connecting them to an ancient Middle Assyrian junior branch of the Assyrian royal family who governed as viceroys in the western parts of the Assyrian Empire with the title "king of Hanigalbat".
In the aftermath of Sargon II's assumption of the kingship, the political situation throughout the Neo-Assyrian Empire was unstable and volatile. The new king was faced with numerous revolts against his rule and he also had to finish the unfinished final military campaigns of his predecessor Shalmaneser V. Sargon II's quick resolution of Shalmaneser's three-year long siege of Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, resulted in the kingdom's fall and the famous loss of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel as nearly 30,000 Israelites were deported and spread out throughout the empire. Though there were uprisings in the Assyrian heartland (as verified by references to "guilty Assyrians" in Sargon II's inscriptions), greater rebellions directed at Sargon II sprung up along the periphery of the empire. A revolt by several of the previously independent kingdoms in the Levant, such as Damascus, Hamath and Arpad, was crushed in 720 BC but an uprising in Babylonia in the south, led by newly proclaimed Babylonian king Marduk-apla-iddina II, successfully defeated Sargon II's attempt at suppressing it, re-establishing Babylonia as an independent kingdom.
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Sargonid dynasty
The Sargonid dynasty was the final ruling dynasty of Assyria, ruling as kings of Assyria during the Neo-Assyrian Empire for just over a century from the ascent of Sargon II in 722 BC to the fall of Assyria in 609 BC. Although Assyria would ultimately fall during their rule, the Sargonid dynasty ruled the country during the apex of its power and Sargon II's three immediate successors Sennacherib (r. 705–681 BC), Esarhaddon (r. 681–669 BC) and Ashurbanipal (r. 669–631 BC) are generally regarded as three of the greatest Assyrian monarchs. Though the dynasty encompasses seven Assyrian kings, two vassal kings in Babylonia and numerous princes and princesses, the term Sargonids is sometimes used solely for Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal.
Though the Sargonid dynasty only encompasses the reigns of a few kings, their rule saw the borders of the empire grow to encompass the entire Ancient Near East, the East Mediterranean, Asia Minor, the Caucasus and parts of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa, and they witnessed the subjugation of rivals such as Babylonia, Elam, Persia, Urartu, Lydia, the Medes, Phrygians, Cimmerians, Israel, Judah, Phoenicia, Chaldea, Canaan, the Kushite Empire, the Arabs, and Egypt, as Assyria's rivals were either completely conquered or made vassals.
Following Sargon II's reconquest of Babylon in 710 BC, the Sargonids also periodically ruled as kings of Babylon, though they sometimes preferred to assign vassal kings. Babylon proved to be notoriously difficult to control, with the city and the surrounding lands in southern Mesopotamia repeatedly rebelling against the Sargonid kings despite various different methods being attempted to appease the Babylonians. The final such revolt, by Nabopolassar in 626 BC, succeeded in establishing a new independent kingdom, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which would less than two decades later destroy the Neo-Assyrian Empire and end the rule of the Sargonid dynasty. The Babylonians allied with the Medes, also rivals of the Assyrians, and though the Medo-Babylonian war against the Assyrian Empire was indecisive at first, the Fall of Nineveh and the death of King Sinsharishkun in 612 BC was a death blow to the Assyrian Empire. Sinsharishkun's successor Ashur-uballit II rallied what remained of the Assyrian army at the city of Harran but lost the city to his enemies in 610–609 BC and was defeated attempting to retake it in 609 BC, ending the rule of the Sargonid dynasty and Assyria's nearly two-millennia long history as an independent political entity.
The Sargonid dynasty's century in power was immediately preceded by the reigns of the two kings Tiglath-Pileser III (r. 745–727 BC) and Shalmaneser V (r. 727–722 BC). The nature of Tiglath-Pileser's rise to the throne of Assyria in 745 BC is unclear and disputed. Several pieces of evidence, including that there was a revolt in Nimrud, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, in 746/745 BC, that ancient Assyrian sources give conflicting information in regards to Tiglath-Pileser's lineage, and that Tiglath-Pileser in his inscriptions attributes his rise to the throne solely to divine selection rather than both divine selection and his royal ancestry (typically done by Assyrian kings), have been interpreted as indicating that he was a usurper. Though some have gone as far as suggesting that Tiglath-Pileser was not part of the previous royal dynasty, the long-lasting Adaside dynasty, at all, his claims of royal descent were probably true, meaning that regardless of whether he usurped the throne or not, he was a legitimate contender for it.
Though it was chiefly during the Sargonid dynasty that Assyria was transformed from a kingdom primarily based in the Mesopotamian heartland to a truly multinational and multi-ethnic empire, the foundations which allowed this development were laid during Tiglath-Pileser's reign through extensive civil and military reforms. Furthermore, Tiglath-Pileser began a successful series of conquests, subjugating the kingdoms of Babylon and Urartu and conquering the Mediterranean coastline. His successful military innovations, including replacing conscription with levies being supplied from each province, made the Assyrian army one of the most effective armies assembled up until that point.
Tiglath-Pileser's son and successor Shalmaneser V proved to be unpopular due to his poor military and administrative skills and he also seemingly overtaxed the peoples throughout his large empire. After a reign of only five years, Shalmaneser was replaced as king, probably being deposed and assassinated in a palace coup, by the founder of the Sargonid dynasty, Sargon II. Though Sargon II would be connected to previous kings in king lists through a claim that he was the son of Tiglath-Pileser III, this claim is not presented in most of his own inscriptions, where he is also described as being called upon and personally appointed as king by Ashur. Many historians accept Sargon's claim to have been a son of Tiglath-Pileser, but do not believe him to have been the legitimate heir to the throne as the next-in-line after the end of Shalmaneser's reign. Even then, his claim to have been Tiglath-Pileser's son is generally treated with more caution than Tiglath-Pileser's own claims of royal ancestry. Some Assyriologists, such as J. A. Brinkman, believe that Sargon, at the very least, did not belong to the direct dynastic lineage.
Sargon II's rise to the throne saw many rebellions and he might have taken the regnal name Sargon (Šarru-kin in Akkadian, one possible interpretation being "legitimate king") in an effort to portray himself as legitimate. References as late as the 670s BC, during the reign of Sargon II's grandson Esarhaddon, to the possibility that "descendants of former royalty" might try to seize the throne suggests that the Sargonid dynasty was not necessarily well connected to previous Assyrian monarchs. Babylonian king lists dynastically separate Sargon and his descendants from Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser V: Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser are recorded as of the "dynasty of Baltil" (Baltil possibly being the oldest portion of the ancient Assyrian capital of Assur), whereas the Sargonids are recorded as of the "dynasty of Ḫanigalbat", possibly connecting them to an ancient Middle Assyrian junior branch of the Assyrian royal family who governed as viceroys in the western parts of the Assyrian Empire with the title "king of Hanigalbat".
In the aftermath of Sargon II's assumption of the kingship, the political situation throughout the Neo-Assyrian Empire was unstable and volatile. The new king was faced with numerous revolts against his rule and he also had to finish the unfinished final military campaigns of his predecessor Shalmaneser V. Sargon II's quick resolution of Shalmaneser's three-year long siege of Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, resulted in the kingdom's fall and the famous loss of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel as nearly 30,000 Israelites were deported and spread out throughout the empire. Though there were uprisings in the Assyrian heartland (as verified by references to "guilty Assyrians" in Sargon II's inscriptions), greater rebellions directed at Sargon II sprung up along the periphery of the empire. A revolt by several of the previously independent kingdoms in the Levant, such as Damascus, Hamath and Arpad, was crushed in 720 BC but an uprising in Babylonia in the south, led by newly proclaimed Babylonian king Marduk-apla-iddina II, successfully defeated Sargon II's attempt at suppressing it, re-establishing Babylonia as an independent kingdom.
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