BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

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During the period when they were competing for dominance in Mesopotamia, the neighbouring sister-states of Babylonia and Assyria differed essentially in character. Babylonia was a land of merchants and agriculturists; Assyria became an organized military camp. The Assyrian dynasties were founded by successful generals; in Babylonia it was the priests whom a revolution raised to the throne. The Babylonian king remained a priest to the last, under the control of a powerful hierarchy; the Assyrian king was the autocratic general of an army, at whose side stood in early days a feudal nobility, aided from the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III onwards by an elaborate bureaucracy. His palace was more sumptuous than the temples of the gods, from which it was quite separate. The people were soldiers and little else; even the sailor belonged to the state. Hence the sudden collapse of Assyria when drained of its fighting population in the age of Ashurbanipal.

Contents

See also

See also

★ 'History of Babylonia and Assyria:'

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★ Sumer

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★ History of Sumer

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★ Akkadian Empire

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★ Gutian period

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★ 3rd dynasty of Ur "Sumerian Renaissance"

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★ Babylonia

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★ Assyria

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★ Kings of Babylon

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★ Kings of Assyria

★ Geography of Babylonia and Assyria

★ 'Assyro-Babylonian culture'

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★ Chaldean mythology

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★ Babylonian and Assyrian religion

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★ Babylonian law

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★ Babylonian literature

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★ Art and architecture of Babylonia and Assyria

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★ Social life in Babylonia and Assyria

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★ Cuneiform script

★ Ancient Orient

★ Mesopotamia

★ Assyriology

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★ Classical authorities of Babylonia and Assyria

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★ Modern discovery of Babylonia and Assyria

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★ Chronology of the Ancient Orient

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★ Chronology of Babylonia and Assyria

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★ Chronological systems of Babylonia and Assyria