Formation of Later Empires in Western Asia

The era of small states ended with the rise of new empires in the Fertile Crescent. The first of these was the empire of the Assyrians, which lasted from about 750 to 605 BC.

The Assyrians

The Assyrians were mighty warriors. The original homeland of the Assyrians was a highland region north of the upper Tigris River. Shortly before 1000 BC they began a series of attacks on their neighbours. Babylonia fell to them in 729 BC and Israel was conquered in 722 BC. By 700 BC the Assyrians had created the largest empire the world had seen up to that time. It included the Fertile Crescent, the area surrounding it, and Egypt. The Assyrians created their empire by developing an advanced system of political administration and by building a well trained army equipped with iron weapons.

• Assyrian rulers, such as Ashurbanipal, governed a large area through governors placed in different parts of the realm.
• Communication between the ruler and the governors was maintained by a system of highways throughout the empire.
• The Assyrian army was the most efficient of its day, using a bow with vicious iron tipped arrows as its principal weapon.

After Assyrian bowmen had weakened the enemy, heavy cavalry and chariots smashed the ranks of the foes, driving them from the field. Few conquerors in history have been so cruel and heartless in war. They terrorized conquered peoples and forced them to bow to their will, frequently burning them alive or cutting off their heads. Except for their developments in political administration and military science, their contributions to civilization were few, and their empire lasted little more than a hundred years. However, their fine library of clay tablets in their capital, Nineveh, helped preserve much of the knowledge of the Near East. Their art was noteworthy, particularly the sculptures of vigorous wild beasts, which decorated the walls of the royal palace.

In 612 BC Nineveh was captured by the Chaldeans from Babylonia and the Medes from Persia. Everywhere in the Near East the people rejoiced when their cruel Assyrian masters were overthrown. By 605 BC the Assyrian Empire had ceased to exist.

Chaldeans and Rise of New Babylonian Empire

With the fall of Nineveh, Babylonia again became powerful for the first time since Hammurabi. The victorious Chaldeans, guided by their strong King Nebuchadnezzar, created the Chaldean Empire by conquering the Fertile Crescent, including the Kingdom of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon. Its marvels included the hanging gardens built on rooftops and considered by the ancient Greeks to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

The Chaldeans, extending the work of earlier peoples, made an intensive study of the stars, as well as the sun, the moon, and the planets. Without any telescopes or accurate time-recording instruments, the Chaldeans used mathematics to work out detailed tables of the movements of these bodies. In so doing, they made notable contributions to the science of astronomy.

Like others who followed them, the Chaldeans named days of the week for the heavenly bodies. Later peoples named Saturday for Saturn, Sunday for the sun, and Monday for the moon. The Chaldeans mistakenly believed that their study of the stars enabled them to foretell the future. From this belief arose astrology, a pseudo-science that still has some followers.

Nebuchadnezzar had a long reign, from 605 to 561 BC, and with his death the Chaldean Empire began to decay.

The Lydians

The Chaldean Empire was eventually succeeded by the great Persian Empire. The Lydians invented coins for use in trade. Situated in Asia Minor in what is now eastern Turkey, the country of Lydia arose out of the ruins of the Hittite Empire.

The Lydian capital, Sardis, was located near important trade routes and became a rich commercial center. Gold, found in Lydian streams, became a unit of exchange. Coins, issued in various sizes, were found to be much easier to carry around than weighted bars or rings of metal that formerly had been used for money.

Successful trade and gold resources brought great wealth to Lydia and to its most famous king, Croesus. A reminder of this prosperity is the phrase, “rich as Croesus.”

Great Persian Empire

In 546 BC Croesus was defeated by the Persians, and his lands were absorbed into the Persian Empire. The Persians built a vast empire. The Assyrian Empire had included two groups of related peoples, the Medes and the Persians. After helping defeat the Assyrians, the Median kings established a prosperous kingdom and ruled over their Persian kinsmen from their capital at Ecbatana. While the Chaldean Empire was crumbling, the Persians, under Cyrus the Great, rebelled against the Medes and took over their lands, capturing Ecbatana in 525 BC. Cyrus then conquered the Lydian kingdom and the Chaldean Empire. At the time of his death, the Persians ruled east to the borders of India, west to the Aegean Sea, and south to Egypt. Cyrus’ successors conquered Egypt in 525 BC and even won land in south-eastern Europe.

The Persian Empire, established when Cyrus conquered Ecbatana, lasted until its conquest by Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 331 BC.

The Persian government, like that of the Assyrian and Chaldean empires, was a despotism, or rule of a monarch having unlimited power. Unlike the cruel Assyrians, however, the Persian kings sought to give everyone in their empire equal rights and responsibilities. They respected the gods of conquered peoples and allowed them to use their own languages and to keep their own customs.

Persian Empire under Darius-I

By 500 BC, the Persian Empire, under Darius I, had reached its greatest size. Its government was modeled after that of Assyria, although it was much more efficient. Four capitals— Susa, Ecbatana, Babylon, and Persepolis—were established in various parts of the empire; and the total empire was divided into districts, or satrapies, each governed by a representative of the king, called a satrap. To keep himself informed on how well the satraps governed, Darius employed inspectors, called “The Eyes and Ears of the King,” who traveled from district to district, reporting their findings personally to their ruler.

To improve communications throughout the vast empire, the Persian kings maintained a network of fine roads. Along these highways galloped the couriers of the king, changing horses every fourteen miles, much like the American pony express riders of the 1860’s. Relays of these horsemen could cover 1500 miles in a little more than a week; ordinary travellers took three months to travel the same distance.

Rise of Zoroastrianism

The Persian kings concerned themselves with the prosperity of the whole empire, partly because they wanted all districts to be able to pay taxes. The tax burden, however, was not oppressive. Trade throughout the empire was aided by the uniform monetary system of gold and silver coins, which the Persians had adopted from the Lydians. The fair treatment of other peoples by the Persian kings resulted in part from the Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, founded by the teacher Zoroaster in the 7th century BC. This religion demanded that its followers choose between Ahura Mazda, the god of good, and Ahriman, the god of evil. In time, the Zoroastrians believed, the world would come to an end with Ahura Mazda winning over Ahriman.

At that time there would be a last judgment, and the righteous would go to heaven and the wicked to hell. In describing one of his victories, Darius-I showed how he was influenced by the Persian religion:

. . . Ahura Mazda bore me aid . . . because I was not an enemy, I was not a deceiver, I was not a wrong-doer, neither I nor my family; according to justice and rectitude I ruled ….

Although many of the Persian kings ruled with justice, they did not give their people a share in the government. It was the Greeks who set up the first democracy, a government in which the people had a voice.