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Rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

Prehistory and the Ancient World

The Neo-Assyrian Empire emerged as the dominant power of the ancient Near East beginning with the reign of Adad-nirari II starting in 911 BCE, whose military campaigns began a sustained period of Assyrian territorial expansion from its Mesopotamian heartland along the upper Tigris River. Successive kings, most notably Tiglath-Pileser III in the eighth century BCE, transformed Assyria into history's first empire to systematically administer a vast multiethnic territory, developing an extensive road and messenger network, a professional standing army, and a policy of mass deportation of conquered populations to suppress rebellion and integrate new territories. Under kings including Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, the empire reached its greatest extent in the seventh century BCE, briefly controlling Egypt and stretching from the Persian Gulf to Anatolia, before a rapid collapse under the combined assault of the Medes and Babylonians culminated in the fall of the capital Nineveh in 612 BCE and the empire's final extinction by 609 BCE.

Facts
Year
911 BCE 1
Location
Mesopotamia and the ancient Near East 1
Classification
Event Type
Military Conflict 1
Connections

Associated With

In Era

Source Wikipedia: Neo-Assyrian Empire

Participant

Source Wikipedia: Neo-Assyrian Empire
Source Wikipedia: Neo-Assyrian Empire
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Sources
1. Wikipedia: Neo-Assyrian Empire
Wikipedia
  • Lead section
    Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East
  • Lead section, extent of the empire
    At its height, the empire was the strongest military power in the world and ruled over all of Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt, as well as parts of Anatolia, Arabia and what is now Iran and Armenia.
  • Rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire: Event Type
    Successive kings, most notably Tiglath-Pileser III in the eighth century BCE, transformed Assyria into history's first empire to systematically administer a vast multiethnic territory, developing an extensive road and messenger network, a professional standing army, and a policy of mass deportation of conquered populations to suppress rebellion and integrate new territories.
  • Participant: Sennacherib, Infobox: leader6
    Sennacherib
  • Participant: Ashurbanipal, Infobox: leader8
    Ashurbanipal
  • In Era: The Neo-Assyrian Period, Lead
    Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BCE
  • In Group: Events of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, 3000 to 500 BCE, Lead
    Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of the South Caucasus, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean throughout much of the 9th to 7th centuries BCE, becoming the largest empire in history up to that point.
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