Just as the Olmec civilization was on the verge of decline, another civilization was on the rise along the western coast of the Pacific Ocean: the Zapotec. They are recorded on the Biblical Timeline Poster with World History between 400 BC – 1500 AD. The Zapotecs lived in the mountainous area of Oaxaca that was broken by wide fertile valleys with an altitude that could reach 5000 feet. They called themselves “be’ena’a” (The People) in their own language and were sometimes known as the ben’zaa/be’ena za’a (Cloud People). It was the neighboring Aztecs who called them Zapotec, or in their Nahuatl language, tzapotēcah which means “people of the sapodilla”. At its height, the population in the Valley of Oaxaca peaked at around 100,000 inhabitants. They spoke the Zapotecan branch of the Oto-Manguean language family which comprised as many as 58 languages.
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Their first capital was Monte Alban, nestled in the central valleys of Oaxaca between the Sierra Madre del Sur and Sierra Madre Oriental mountain ranges. It flourished from 500 BC to around 450 AD and was the religious and cultural center of the Zapotecs. A ceremonial center overlooking the vast valleys was built during the height of the Zapotec civilization. The area was protected from invaders by a wall 15 feet high and 60 feet wide. There were many settlements around the area, but Monte Alban was considered as the Zapotecs’ glorious capital.
“Monte Albán”
Pyramids, plazas, temples, and other public buildings were constructed during this time. The Zapotecs also constructed an astronomical observatory and ball courts. A cistern and an efficient drainage system that flowed into a reservoir at the bottom of a hill was built to improve irrigation. A new capital was then built further south in Mitla after the decline of the first capital Monte Alban.
Community
The Zapotec community was an agriculture-based one centered in the fertile valleys of Oaxaca. The main crops were corn, beans, gourds, tomatoes, and chilies. They traded with the Olmecs for various goods, because of this, the Zapotecs absorbed some elements of the Olmec civilization. This stopped when the Olmec civilization experienced a decline around 400 BC.
The Zapotecs were divided into four distinct groups: the isthmus, mountain, southern, and central Zapotecs. Priests and warriors made up the ruling class; they extended their influence and power over the communities around them that paid tribute. It is not clear whether these communities were absorbed peacefully by the Zapotecs or by bloody conquest.
Legacy
The Zapotec developed two calendars: the regular 365-day solar calendar and the 260-day ritual calendar. Their writing system is similar to other Mesoamerican scripts as they also used glyphs carved in stones. Their weaving showed a distinct Mesoamerican look with colorful geometric patterns while their ceramic arts were highly ornate with complicated animal features.
Decline
Around the 7th century AD, Monte Alban went through a decline in population and cultural significance. Walls and buildings were allowed to fall into disrepair while the people moved to the lower slopes of the hills. Mitla replaced Monte Alban in importance and became their new religious center.
The name of the Zhou period was taken from the Spring and Autumn Annals or the Chunqiu, the chronicles of the state of Lu. This can be found on the Bible Timeline with World History between 722 – 481 BC.
The Spring and Autumn period started after the Western Zhou king was forced to flee to Luoyang following the invasion of the Quanrong tribe from northwest China. The move east was to ensure the royal family’s safety from future invasions and for them to be nearer to their allied states. Now called Eastern Zhou, this dynasty would last at least two and a half centuries more. However, its power and influence would be severely diminished as the years pass.
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From the Western Zhou capital Haojing, power shifted to the city of Luoyang located in the central plains between the Luo and Yellow Rivers. The territory spanned from the Yellow River in the west to the Shandong peninsula in the east, and as much as 148 states occupied this vast territory. 15 major states rose during the Spring and Autumn Period while the smaller states were absorbed by, the more powerful ones.
“If there was something positive about the Spring and Autumn, it is the rise of China’s famous scholars including Confucius”
There was a constant struggle for power between states as well as internal strife. The king held the title of the Son of Heaven and retained the Mandate of Heaven, but his influence was diminished and became nothing more than just a figurehead. The real power, however, was held by the hegemons (leaders of the state) who had the strongest army. They were tasked to protect the States from the invasion of barbarian tribes.
Five of them would rise to prominence during the time of the Eastern Zhou dynasty including the:
* Duke Huan of Qi
* King Zhuang of Chu
* Duke Wen of Jin
* Duke Xiang of Song
* Duke Mu of Qin
King Helü of Wu, King Fuchai of Wu, and King Goujian of Yue were also included as some of the most important kings of that period. Helu and Goujian were sometimes incorporated into the list of five hegemons.
The Spring and Autumn Period was a time of conflicts between state leaders and rulers. One of the most well known was between Duke Zhuang of Zheng and King Hui of Zhou. It exploded into a war between two powers and ended with the Duke killing King Hui after defeating his army. This illustrates the breakdown of the king’s power and the dynasty was unable to secure the loyalty of the states.
The series of wars between the states of Wu, Chu, and Yue was a symptom of a fragmented kingdom. The state of Wu attacked the states of Chu and Yue but was overpowered and conquered by Yue later on.
If there was something positive about the Spring and Autumn, it is the rise of China’s famous scholars including Confucius, Lao-tse, Mo-tse, and Sun Tzu. They left behind some of China’s enduring contribution to literature including The Four Books and Five Classics, Tao Te Ching, Mozi, and The Art of War.
The apostle Paul was one of the most prolific early Christian writers of the New Testament. He would be regarded as one of the pillars of Christianity for his role in spreading the good news about Jesus Christ. From his role in the persecution of Christianity’s newest converts early in his career to his conversion on the road to Damascus and to his death in Rome, he would remain as one of the Bible’s most dramatic transformation stories, and he would be remembered as Christ’s most zealous spokesman after his death.
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Saul was raised in the Greco-Roman city of Tarsus in Cilicia (located in modern-day southern Turkey), a crossroads in Asia Minor where trade, religion, and different ideas converged. While it was located in Asia Minor, Tarsus was a province of Rome which made Saul, a man of Jewish descent, a Roman citizen. Although he and his family lived in Tarsus, he was aware of and even proud of his Jewish heritage. He boasted that he was “a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.” (Philippians 3:5) He received the highest possible Jewish education under Gamaliel when he was sent to Jerusalem at the age of 13 and soon became a high priest in the same city (Acts 22:2-5).
“Saint Paul delivering the Areopagus sermon in Athens”
He first appeared in the book of Acts (7:58) after he gave the approval for the brutal stoning of Stephen. He became one of the fiercest opponents of budding Christianity. He personally saw to it that the new converts were taken from their homes and imprisoned. He sought to wipe out new converts in other places, so he asked for letters from a high priest which authorized him to take them back to Jerusalem as prisoners. On the way to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him in a vision and told him to go into Damascus. A bright light which blinded Saul accompanied this vision and he had to be led into the city by his companions. This blindness was taken away when a man named Ananias was commanded by the Lord to place his hands on Saul. This was the start of Saul’s complete 180-degree turn from zealous persecutor to Christianity’s leading spokesman.
He stayed in Damascus for several days and preached in the local synagogue that Jesus is the Son of God—an event that baffled the disciples and other Jews who knew him as someone who brutally hounded the believers. The Jews planned to kill him at the city walls but Saul learned of this plot, and his followers helped him escape to Jerusalem by lowering him in a basket through a hole in the wall. He went to Arabia to come to terms with this event in his life and stayed there for three years before he returned to Jerusalem (Galatians 1:13-24). Unlike the other disciples who were wary of Saul, Barnabas extended the hand of friendship to the new apostle. Saul joined the other apostles and preached around Jerusalem about Christ in the city. He had to be sent first to Caesarea and then back to Tarsus after he got into trouble with the Grecian Jews. Barnabas later went to Tarsus to look for Saul and both set off to meet the new believers in Antioch (in Syria) where they would be first called Christians (Acts 11).
First Missionary Journey
Paul’s first missionary journey would take him, as well as Barnabas and John Mark, from Antioch in Syria to the major cities of central Asia Minor and back again to Antioch where they started.
From Antioch, they traveled to Seleucia in Syria and sailed on to Salamis and Paphos in Cyprus. They sailed to Perga in Pamphylia and traveled to Pisidian Antioch where they preached about Christ to the whole city and converted many to the faith. But they were expelled when the local Jews saw how successful they were in the conversion of many people. They traveled onward to Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe where persecution also followed them. However, they gained more followers for Christ in these cities.
They returned to Antioch in Turkey, then Perga in Pamphylia, and down to Attalia. Finally, they sailed back to Antioch in Syria and reported what happened to them along the way to the members of the church, as well as the success they had in preaching to the Gentiles.
Second Missionary Journey
After a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas about John Mark (he abandoned them during the first missionary journey in Pamphylia), both apostles decided to separate ways. Paul took with him Silas, and they were later joined by Timothy while Barnabas sailed off to Cyprus with John Mark. Paul and Silas went through Syria and Cilicia, then went to Derbe and Lystra with Timothy. They passed through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia, as well as the borders of Mysia and Bithynia. They went to Troas and after a vision of a man of Macedonia who begged them to come over.The men left Asia Minor for Europe and sailed off to the Greek island of Samothrace and Neapolis. They departed for the Roman Colony of Philippi and met the first European convert named Lydia on the city gate leading to the river.
Paul and Silas were thrown in prison in Philippi after Paul freed a slave girl from a spirit which enabled her to tell fortunes and earn money for the people who owned her. This angered her owners who felt that Paul robbed them of a source of income and both men were brought to the authorities. They were stripped, beaten, and imprisoned with their feet fastened in stocks to prevent them from any attempts to escape. They were freed after a powerful earthquake shook the prisons doors open and their shackles came loose. Thia caused the jailer to despair when he thought that his charges had escaped. The jailer attempted to kill himself, but the Paul and Silas ministered to the jailer and converted him and his family to the Christian faith.
They departed Philippi after they were released and passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia; they continued to Thessalonica and preached there but were met with opposition especially from the Jews. They were sent to Berea for their own safety and were met with success there, but the Jews who opposed them in Thessalonica followed them to Berea after they heard about Paul and Silas’ success. Paul was sent to Athens and preached there while Silas and Timothy stayed behind in Berea. He then departed for Corinth where he met two Jewish tentmakers named Aquila and his wife, Priscilla. He stayed with them as he was also a tentmaker by trade while waiting for the arrival of Silas and Timothy. Unfortunately, the Jews in Corinth also brought trouble for Paul. He was hauled to the court of the proconsul of Achaia. The proconsul Gallio let Paul go despite the accusations and he sailed for Syria along with Aquila and his wife, Priscilla. Paul dropped off Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus, then traveled to Caesarea and Antioch.
Third Missionary Journey
Paul traveled around the regions of Galatia and Phrygia and ministered in these places for some time. He went back to Ephesus and ministered there, but went away to Macedonia after a riot in Ephesus. He traveled through Macedonia and Greece but decided to sail from Philippi to Troas. They stayed there for seven days and traveled to Assos, Mitylene, Kios, Samos, and Miletus but skipped Ephesus as Paul wanted to reach Jerusalem before the Pentecost.
Paul’s visit to Jerusalem after the Third Missionary Journey would be his last after he was accused of bringing Gentiles into the temple. He was dragged out of the place by the Jewish mob. He surrendered to the Roman centurions, and they transported him to a Tribune. They then had to take him to Caesarea Maritima after a plot to kill Paul was revealed. Paul appealed to the governor to send him to Rome instead so he could defend himself as a Roman citizen, his request was granted.
Trip to Rome: The End of the Road
Paul sailed to Rome as soon as his request was granted but was shipwrecked in Malta after a storm. They survived the shipwreck and sailed to Rome after three months in Malta where the people showed him kindness. The ship docked in Syracuse, Rhegium, and Puteoli; then they traveled to the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns before they reached Rome. He stayed in Rome for many years and preached there under the watchful eyes of the Roman guards. The book of Acts is quiet about Paul’s death but according to the Acts of Paul (an apocryphal text), the Roman emperor Nero had Paul beheaded sometime during his reign.
References:
Picture By Raphael – Royal Collection of the United Kingdom, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1718078
Stamps, Donald C., and J. Wesley. Adams. The Full Life Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1992
Polhill, John B. Paul and His Letters. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1999
The twelve-month calendar year is recorded on the Biblical Timeline Chart with World History towards the end of the 7th century BC. This article explains how it transpired, starting before the reforms were implemented by Numa Pompilius.
The Roman calendar was not exactly the most accurate when it came to the division of months. The system was borrowed from the Greeks and was said to be introduced by Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome. It only had 10 months in one year which was divided into 304 days and the Romans generally ignored the 61 days of winter.
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* Martius – named after Mars
* Aprilis – named after the Roman equivalent (Venus) of the Greek goddess Aphrodite; also means “to open”
* Maius – named after Greek goddess Maia
* Junius – named after the Roman goddess Juno
* Quintilis – Latin for “fifth”
* Sextilis – Latin for “sixth”
* September – Latin for “seventh”; originally the seventh month
* October – Latin for “eight”; originally the eight month
* November – Latin for “ninth”; originally the ninth month
* December – Latin for “tenth”; originally the tenth month
“Around 700 BC, legendary Roman king Numa Pompilius (715-673 BC) reformed the Roman calendar and added two months that falls in winter: January and February”
The days were not numbered from beginning to end but were counted by three reference points of the Nones, Ides, and Kalends. Nones corresponds to the 7th day of Martius, Maius, Quintilis, and October and on the 5th of the other months. Ides usually falls on the 15th for longer months and the 13th for shorter ones. Finally, kalends corresponds to the first day of the month.
Around 700 BC, legendary Roman king Numa Pompilius (715-673 BC) reformed the Roman calendar and added two months that falls in winter: January and February. This reformed calendar had 355 days, and Numa inserted Mercedinus every other year so it would correspond to the solar year. The intercalary month Mercedinus was inserted after the 23rd or 24th of February, but the problem was that it now had 377 to 378 days in one year.
The system was inaccurate and prone to manipulation as the decision to incorporate this intercalary month was dependent on the current Pontifex maximus. He may or may not add the month depending on whether he wanted to extend the terms of allied magistrates or shorten the terms of his enemies. This abuse created a mess that Roman historian Suetonius noted, “the harvest and vintage festivals no longer corresponded with the appropriate seasons.”
It was used for hundreds of years until it was once again reformed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. It was later called the Julian calendar after him, and it consisted of 365 days (366 days for leap years) with the same month names as the previous calendar. They devised a division of a number of days per month which is still being used today.
After killing his father-in-law Servius Tullius, the Etruscan king Tarquinius Superbus killed many senators to gain more power. He brutally reigned the kingdom for years. This ended when his son Sextus raped the noblewoman Lucretia Junius Brutus. This resulted in a revolt of the population of Rome against his father which ended in Superbus’ exile along with his family. This revolt was led by Lucretia’s kinsman Lucius Junius Brutus, a member of a patrician family whose father and brothers were executed by Superbus years ago. This brought about the end of the Roman Kingdom as well as the monarchy in 509 BC and started the establishment of the Roman Republic soon afterward. This is listed on the Biblical Timeline with World History almost to 1 AD.
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Tarquinius Superbus executed many senators whose loyalty to him could be not assured and did not bother to fill in the positions of those he executed. After his reign, Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucretia’s husband, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, were elected as the first consuls of the new republic. One of the first reforms Brutus made was to replace the senators killed by Superbus. He appointed 300 senators who mostly came from the equites. These were men initially members of the cavalry, but they were later elevated to a political and administrative class who were influential in the voting assembly.
Three Branches of Government
A king used to rule over the Romans during the time of the Kingdom, but the power is now shared by many people in three branches:
The Consul
The Senate
The Curiate and Centuriate Assembly
The highest among these positions was the consul which was shared by two people to ensure that abuse of power would not happen. Each was elected through the assembly and the power of each consul was equal to that of kings. The difference, however, is each consul’s power is checked by the other consul and the term is limited to only one year. He should also be 42 years old by the time of election and a person who came from a patrician family. The consul was not allowed to have successive terms and was free to use imperium domi (power that is not absolute while in the city of Rome) as well as imperium militiae (unrestricted power in the field).
A dictator could also be nominated by the consul during times of crises. He was a temporary magistrate with limited powers with an even limited term of six months. His nomination was endorsed by the Senate and confirmed by the popular assembly. Julius Caesar was one of those famous dictators of Rome.
An example of the most enduring legacies of the Romans was the Senate which served as an advisory council for Rome’s consuls. While the consuls held office for only one year, the Senate’s office was permanent. At the end of their terms, consuls may become Senators which was a process that became common as the Republic evolved. As an advisory council to the consuls, the Senators initially had limited powers. But two-hundred years later, the Senate had the upper hand and more powerful than the consuls in the area of legislation, finance, religion, and foreign policy.
Although the patricians held considerable power by exclusively occupying the first two branches of government, the more populous plebeians also had a say in the Republic but in a more limited form. They were allowed to form two assemblies: the centuriate assembly which voted on military matters and the non-military tribal assembly that exercised power in civil life.
Law of Twelve Tables
By 451 BC, the Law of Twelve Tables were drafted and inscribed on bronze tablets which were displayed in the Roman forum. This code of law covered every aspect of Roman life including procedure for courts and trials, settling debts, inheritance, land rights, family, public, and more.
Wars and Expansion
Rome was plundered in 390 BC by the Gallic tribe Senones led by Brennus who caught the Romans by surprise. Although the Romans raised a small army in defense, they were easily routed at the Battle of Allia. The Romans retreated into their city; men of fighting age took refuge in the citadel and most of the citizens fled from the city. The Gauls, founding the city almost empty, proceeded to destroy and plunder it. Negotiations between two parties were conducted later on and the Gauls demanded a ransom of 1000 pounds of gold.
The time of the Roman Republic was also a time of expansion within and outside of the Italian peninsula. Rome gained control of most of their territories through conflict which included the Latin, Samnite, Pyrrhic, and Punic wars. The Romans also wrestled territories from the declining Seleucid empire established hundreds of years before by Alexander the Great which included Macedonia, Egypt, and the Levant.
Fall of the Republic
There were several factors that contributed to the gradual decline of the Roman Republic which would eventually give way to the rise of the Roman Empire. First was the inequitable distribution of the spoils of war between the patricians and the plebeians with the upper class getting much of the wealth. As the possibility of profiting from war increased, many tried to be elected or appointed in high offices which lead to bribery and abuse of power.
“Being a soldier in Rome was not exactly the most rewarding”
As wealth increased, excessive consumption by the ruling class and the rich landowners took its toll on Rome. In addition, the Republic was involved in a series of foreign wars where it was victorious. As victors, Roman soldiers would destroy a whole city (such as in the case of the Battle of Carthage) leaving the survivors as homeless captives. Naturally, Rome and neighboring cities would absorb these captives of war into their society as slaves, creating a surplus population in the city. The life of a slave was not easy and they had little to no rights in the Republic. Masters were free to do anything they wanted with their slaves and some were prone to inhumane treatment. This, combined with a stagnant economy, set the stage for the series of Slave Wars.
Another war that contributed to the fall of the Republic was the Social War. Being a soldier in Rome was not exactly the most rewarding of occupations and because of this, many of the possible soldiers evaded drafts. To fill in the gap, the government decided to draft soldiers from Italic allies who, however, had little citizenship rights and privileges. Marcus Livius Drusus capitalized on this and pushed for reform, but was later killed because of this unpopular stance. This ignited the Social War when the Italian allies revolted after his assassination.
As Rome conquered cities around the Mediterranean and beyond, the financial burden of supporting an empire took its toll. Add to that the greed of the tax collectors and a revolt was inevitable.
By the time of the rise of the First Triumvirate led by Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar, Rome was politically unstable and wracked with revolts. The three worked together to help Caesar attain the position of Roman consul and oppose legislation that might not work in their favor. Crassus was killed in Mesopotamia during a battle with the Parthians and Pompey became Caesar’s enemy. He was later defeated by Julius Caesar and killed while in Egypt. Caesar became Rome’s dictator but was assassinated in 44 BC. Competition erupted between Caesar’s heir Mark Antony and Augustus after Caesar’s death. Following a loss in the Battle of Actium which resulted in Mark Antony’s suicide, Augustus won and was proclaimed “emperor” by the Roman senate.
The sought after alliance with King So of Egypt is recorded on the Biblical Timeline Chart With World History around 700 BC. This event, however, started with Menahem, a usurper who killed King Shallum to gain the throne and paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser III to tighten his grip on power. The Assyrian king was content to let Israel exist after his invasion as long as Menahem continued to pay him tribute (2 Kinga 15:19-20). Twelve years later, Menahem’s son Pekahiah was killed by Pekah, who then declared himself king in Samaria. Tiglath-pileser invaded Israel once again. This time, he conquered a large swath of the kingdom and deported the people to other territories (2 Kings 15:29).
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After Tiglath-pileser’s death, his son Shalmaneser V inherited the Assyrian throne while Israel was now ruled by Hoshea. The Assyrian king then followed the footsteps of his father and launched a new invasion of Israel. Because of this, King Hoshea was forced to pay tribute for Shalmaneser to stop the attacks. Some time later, Hoshea decided to stop paying the heavy tribute required by Shalmaneser and asked King So of Egypt to help him in a bid for independence. The news of Hoshea’s rebellion reached Shalmaneser, and it was not long until the Assyrian army came back to Israel for another wave of invasion. But Shalmaneser was not in a forgiving mood this time, and he put Hoshea in prison (2 Kings 17:3). A large part of the population of Israel was then exiled to Assyrian territories soon after.
“A large part of the population of Israel was then exiled to Assyrian territories”
Identity of King So
Egypt was in the Third Intermediate Period when the Neo-Assyrian empire reached the peak of its power. It was not the strong and influential kingdom it once was when it was ruled by native Egyptians. It was ruled by several dynasties of foreign kings. Including the Libyan Meshwesh tribe, as well as the Nubians from the south.
The name “So” itself was in the Egyptian king list, so his identity was a mystery for a long time. Egyptologist Hans Goedicke first identified him as the 24th Dynasty pharaoh Tefnakht, who ruled from 724-717 BC. The date of his rule would make him a contemporary of the kings Shalmaneser V and Hoshea. Another possibility is that “So” is the 22nd Dynasty Libyan ruler Osorkon IV, who ruled from 730 to 712 BC. Both pharaohs ruled a fragmented Egypt almost at the same time with Tefnakht ruling from Sais and Osorkon IV ruling from Tanis in the Eastern Delta. His inability to help Hoshea and Egypt’s declining power were evident in the Assyrian inscription about a king “Shilkanni” of Egypt who presented Sargon II with twelve horses as tribute.
References:
Tenney, Merrill C., and Moisés Silva. The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible. Revised Full Color ed. Vol. 2. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009
Ritner, Robert Kriech. The Libyan Anarchy: Inscriptions from Egypt’s Third Intermediate Period. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009
The library of Nineveh was compiled by the last of the Assyrian’s greatest kings, Ashurbanipal (668-627 BC). It is recorded as preserved around 600 BC on the Biblical Timeline with World History. Ashurbanipal was one of Assyria’s most scholarly kings and boasted that he could read Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform scripts. After removing his brother Shamash-shum-ukin from the Babylonian throne, Ashurbanipal himself took over and ruled the territory. He now had access to the temple archives and after building a citadel in Nineveh, he undertook the task of building his collection of scholarly texts gathered from all over the Assyrian empire.
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After his death, his son Ashur-etel-ilani succeeded him as king and the vast Neo-Assyrian Empire started its decline. Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC and much of its treasures was looted or destroyed by the Chaldean, Medes, Scythian, and Cimmerian armies. They burned Ashurbanipal’s palace, but this act that was meant to destroy Ashurbanipal’s legacy luckily preserved the clay tablets of his great library.
“They burned Ashurbanipal’s palace, but this act that was meant to destroy Ashurbanipal’s legacy luckily preserved the clay tablets of his great library.”
Contents of the Great Library
The Great Library of Ashurbanipal contained a large collection of administrative, scholarly, historical, medical, lexical, literary, and legal texts. Clay tablets of correspondence between officials and kings were also recovered at the site, as well as fascinating records of the Near East hemerology, incantations, rituals, and omens.
Some of the most important clay tablets that were excavated and translated include:
* Epic of Gilgamesh – an epic poem and one of the oldest surviving works of Mesopotamian literature.
* Azekah Inscription – an inscription about Sennacherib’s campaign against Hezekiah, king of Judah.
* Treaty of Esarhaddon with Ba’al of Tyre – appointment of Ba’al as ruler of Dor, Byblos, and Akko.
* Sargon II Prism A – an inscription of Sargon II’s campaigns
* Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa – an astronomical record of Babylonian king Ammisaduqa.
* Enuma Elish – ancient Babylonian epic of creation
* Poor Man of Nippur – an Akkadian story
Ashurbanipal’s Library Unearthed
Interest in Assyrian culture was revived thousands of years later in Europe. In 1820, Englishman Claudius Rich of the East India Company in Baghdad made initial surveys in Nineveh, and the small collection of tablets he recovered were later sold to the British Museum by his widow.
Paul Emile Botta, a French doctor, and naturalist, was appointed consul at Mosul. He found little in the area of Koyunjik (Nineveh) so he went to Khorsabad (Dur-Sharukkin) where he found Sargon’s palace. The reliefs and cuneiform inscriptions he recovered in Dur-Sharukkin were sent to France in 1847 and are now housed in the Louvre Museum.
Austen Henry Layard, an English art historian who lived and traveled in the Middle East, was sent by the British ambassador in Constantinople to further explore Assyria. This project was financed by the British ambassador, and he made excavations in Koyunjik and Nimrud between 1845 and 1851. In 1850, his worker Toma Shishman found the library tablets in Rooms 40 and 41 while Layard was away.
Hormuzd Rassam, a native Assyrian, who worked with Austen Henry Layard during his first and second expeditions, continued the work of the Englishman in 1852 to 1854. He discovered a large group of clay tablets from the library in the north palace in Koyunjik. The clay tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Sumerian flood story were among those Hormuzd Rassam recovered.
Later archeologists such as Reginald Campbell Thompson made important discoveries in Nineveh during the 1920s and 1930s. Further excavations were made by Iraqi crews from the University of Mosul and British teams between the 1950s and 1980s.
Sardanapalus was the legendary king of Assyria who lived around 621 BC according to the Bible Timeline with World History. Greek historians Ctesias and Diodorus of Sicily recorded that he was the last king of Neo-Assyrian empire. The details assigned by the historians to the legendary Sardanapalus do not match the reign of Ashur-ubalit II (Assyria’s last king). Therefore, the depiction of this Assyrian king is most likely a product of imagination. The general agreement among modern historians is Sardanapalus was based on three Assyrian kings including Ashurbanipal (668-627 BC), his brother Shamash-shum-ukin (667-648 BC), and grandson Sin-shar-ishkun (622-612 BC). He is also referred to in the Bible as Osnappar (Ezra 4:10).
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Diodorus Siculus offers a controversial account of Sardanapalus in his book The Library of History. He is presented as a lazy hedonist who was preoccupied with parties and luxury. According to Diodorus, he was a vain man who made himself an epitaph before his death.
“The Dream of Sardanapalus”
Arbaces (a general of the Medes) and Belesys (priests of the Chaldeans) joined with the Arabs and Persians to rebel against Sardanapalus. They were defeated by the Assyrians in their first few battles, but they encouraged the Bactrians to rebel with them. They came back with the armies of Bactrians, Persians, Medes, Arabs, and Chaldeans to attack the Assyrian army camp while they were feasting after a victory. Galaemnes, Sardanapalus’ brother-in-law, and commander-in-chief was sent to destroy the enemies, but he was killed in battle.
They pressed on to Nineveh to besiege it but were unsuccessful for the first two years. In the third year of the siege, the Euphrates flooded, and the weakened walls of Nineveh were destroyed. After accepting his defeat, he built a pyre inside his palace and set himself on fire along with his eunuchs and concubines.
Ashurbanipal
The true Ashurbanipal was the son of King Esarhaddon and one of the greatest of the Neo-Assyrian kings. His name means “the god Ashur is the creator of an heir.” He reigned the vast empire from 668-627 BC. Ashurbanipal was well-prepared for the life of a king. He was tutored by Nabu-shar-usur, a general of the Assyrian army, then taught history and literature by Nabu-ahi-eriba.
Esarhaddon had appointed him as administrator of Nineveh while he was away on military campaigns. Ashurbanipal’s responsibilities included the appointment of new governors and the supervision of building projects. He was not in line to inherit his father’s throne, so he busied himself with learning the ancient Mesopotamian languages and literature. Much of what is known today about the Assyrian king is through the correspondence he had with his father Esarhaddon and his advisers.
Esarhaddon died in Haran en route to Egypt in 669 BC to stop another rebellion. As his original heir died in 672 BC, Esarhaddon negotiated a treaty with tribal chiefs years before that in the event of his death both Ashurbanipal and his half-brother would rule an assigned territory. Ashurbanipal received the kingship of Assyria while his half-brother Shamash-shum-ukin ruled over Babylon. Naqi’a-Zakutu, Ashurbanipal’s powerful grandmother, also played a large part in her grandson’s rise to kingship.
Ashurbanipal started his reign in 668 BC and wasted no time in stopping the rebellion in Egypt. He invaded Memphis, destroyed Thebes, and appointed rulers loyal only to him. The rebellion in Tyre was also put down during his reign and unrest caused by King Te-Umman of Elam cruelly crushed. An alabaster relief excavated from his North Palace shows Ashurbanipal and his queen feasting in a garden while the head of Te-Umann hung from a tree is proof of his victory.
Shamash-shum-ukin may have been a puppet king for Babylonia. In his discontent, he joined the rulers of Elam, Judah, Egypt, Lydia, and Phoenicia in a rebellion against his half-brother. This was also aided by the Arab and Chaldean tribes. Ashurbanipal did not immediately crush his brother but gave him a chance to prove his loyalty by asking him to pay a special tax. Shamash-shum-ukin refused, and the Assyrian king besieged Babylon for four years.
Shamash-shum-ukin’s Arab and Chaldean allies abandoned him after famine and starvation struck the land. His Elamite allies left him after civil war broke out in their own kingdom and then ran out of provisions. He committed suicide by burning his own palace after he was defeated. Which may have been the basis for Ctesias’ and Diodorus’ fictional Sardanapalus. Upon his death, Ashurbanipal appointed Kandalu as viceroy of Babylon, but he may have been Ashurbanipal himself. He now had the time to deal with the rebellious Elamite rulers, and crushed them completely in 645 BC.
He died in 627 BC and succeeded by his son Ashur-etel-ilani. Civil war broke out afterward, and the decline of the Neo-Assyrian empire started.
Legacy
Ashurbanipal is known as one of the most scholarly of the Neo-Assyrian kings. The great library of Nineveh is a testament to his scholarly pursuits. Starting in the1850s, archeologists unearthed over 30,000 cuneiform clay tablets in his palace in Koyunjik (Nineveh). These clay tablets were inscribed with medical, legal, literary, and divinatory texts. Letters and administrative records were also found in Ashurbanipal’s great library.
The library was cataloged in a systematic way and resembles the system of modern libraries with clay tablets divided by subject. A copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh and an incomplete list of Assyrian kings were found in Ashurbanipal’s library.
Miracles and Faith go hand in hand. God smote many in defense of the righteous. This article is about how one of His angels saved Jerusalem under the reign of Hezekiah. The event is recorded on the Bible Timeline Poster around 700 BC.
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In 722 BC, Shalmaneser besieged Samaria and three years later the city fell to his brother Sargon II. He had the citizens of Samaria deported to other Assyrian territories (2 Kings 18:10-11). Judah, meanwhile, experienced religious and political reformation during Hezekiah’s reign. In 713-711 BC, Hezekiah joined in planning a rebellion along with the rulers of Ashdod, Edom, and Moab against Sargon. This rebellion may have been stirred up by king Merodach-Baladan of Babylon who was removed from his throne years ago by Sargon. The allied kings decided not to pay tribute to Assyria, but Hezekiah later withdrew from the plan and Azuri, the ruler of Ashdod, was removed from his throne (Isaiah 20).
“Defeat of Sennacherib”
Sennacherib came to power after the death of his father Sargon II during the battle of Tabal in 705 BC. He wasted no time in defeating his father’s old enemy, king Merodach-Baladan of Babylon. Sennacherib also invaded the kingdom of Judah and captured the town of Lachish. Upon hearing this, Hezekiah offered to pay tribute to Sennacherib if only he would withdraw his armies from Judah (2 Kings 18:13-). The king of Assyria received Hezekiah’s tribute but continued to Jerusalem to besiege it.
The king of Judah sent his ambassadors after Sennacherib summoned him but Sennacherib’s chief of staff insulted the king of Judah and belittled his army. His ambassadors asked the Assyrian chief of staff to speak to them in Aramaic instead of Hebrew because they did not want to frighten the people. But Sennacherib’s chief of staff refused because he wanted the people to hear about what the Assyrian army will do to them if they will not surrender and made an example out of the people of Samaria.
Hezekiah relayed the Assyrian chief of staff’s message to the prophet Isaiah. But the prophet told the king not to worry about Sennacherib’s threats and foretold the Assyrian king’s death by the sword. Sennacherib besieged the town of Libnah and left to meet the attack of Taharqa, king of Egypt. Sennacherib sent a message to Hezekiah demanding for his surrender before leaving. Hezekiah despaired and Isaiah, once again, sent him a prophecy reassuring him of Judah’s safety and Assyria’s defeat.
2 Kings 19:35 tells that 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were killed by an angel that night and Sennacherib returned to Nineveh. He was later killed by his own sons. His youngest son, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as king of Assyria.
The book of Isaiah provides a very brief passage about Sargon II which tells of the Assyrian capture of the Philistine city of Ashdod by Sargon’s commander in chief (20:1). Sargon II is recorded on the Bible Timeline Chart around 721 BC. The following verses (v 3-6) contain a prophecy of Egypt’s downfall after an Assyrian invasion and the retreat of their Ethiopian rulers (25th Dynasty). This was less than a hundred years later during the reign of Sargon’s son Sennacherib and grandson Esarhaddon. Although it was his brother Shalmaneser V, who laid siege to Samaria and successfully removed King Hoshea of Israel(2 Kings 17:5-6). Sargon initiated the second stage of deporting the people of the Northern Kingdom into other parts of Assyrian territories two years later (722 BC).
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Sargon II (721-705 BC) reigned during the height of the Neo-Assyrian empire established by his father Tiglath-Pileser III. He was the younger brother of Shalmaneser V, who besieged Samaria for three years. Sargon removed his brother from the Assyrian throne probably after a violent coup. It seemed that no brotherly love was lost between them as his inscriptions described his brother as a godless tyrant. Shalmaneser only reigned for five years and was unpopular because of his taxation and labor policies. Apart from the Biblical passages about his invasion of Samaria, there are few surviving records of Shalmaneser’s reign.
When he became king, he took the name Sargon after the Akkadian king who reigned more than a thousand years before him. It means “he (God) made firm the king” and the change of name was a tactic used by Sargon the Great (2334-2279 BCE) of Akkad to legitimize his own rule.
Assyrian Heartland Rebellion and Other Victories
Whether the rebellion existed during Shalmaneser’s reign or it was the result of the violent removal of the former king, Sargon needed to deal with an uprising early in his reign. He successfully stopped this rebellion and brought about reforms to his empire’s taxation and labor laws.
He continued his father’s policy of expansion with the help of the mighty and professional Assyrian military. His victories included the destruction of Hamath in Syria whose leader Yau-bi’di (Jaubid) rebelled against Sargon along with other kingdoms in the Levant. He also crushed the kingdoms of Arpad, Damascus, and Israel in 720 BC. According to the Annals of Sargon, rebels from other Assyrian territories were resettled in Hamath, Damascus, and Samaria, while the people of these kingdoms were resettled elsewhere in the empire.
A long-time enemy of Sargon was Merodach-Baladan of Babylon. The Babylonian king allied against him with Khumbanigas, the king of Elam. But the Assyrian king defeated the Babylonian ruler and took Merodach-Baladan’s family as captives. He also looted the contents of the palace and destroyed the city of Dur-Iakin. He then conquered the Sumerian cities of Ur, Larsa, Kalu, Kisik, Orchoe (Uruk), and Erikhi.
In his annals, he boasted that he conquered Egypt, Phoenicia, Moschia (in Georgia), Syria, Media, and Elam. He also defeated the kings of Gaza and Cilicia and made the rulers of Egypt, Arabia, Saba (Sheba), and Libya pay tribute to him. The policy of uprooting and resettling rebellious kings and people were repeatedly stated in the Annals of Sargon.
Apart from the superior skills of Sargon’s warriors, the Assyrians also maintained an efficient spy system which ensured they were always one step ahead of their enemies. He used deception to conquer enemies, such as in the case of the invasion against the kingdom of Urartu (Armenia) ruled by King Rusa I. After deceiving Rusa into thinking he was going to attack Media; the Armenian king allowed his army to let their guards down. Sargon then turned his army and attacked Urartu.
The citizens were only spared because of Urartu’s efficient warning system and they fled, taking with them many of their goods. The Assyrians, finding few things to plunder, continued towards the Urartian city of Musasir. They successfully raided the temple of the god Haldi, as well as the palace storerooms.
“Interior view of the Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA”
Dur-Sharrukin
Sargon had to deal with a rebellion in the Assyrian heartland before he became king and because of this, he exiled the rebels into other parts of Assyria. He was not assured of the loyalty of his own people in the Assyrian capital of Kalhu, so he decided to build a new city with his own power base in Dur-Sharrukin. Its name meant “Sargon’s fortress” and located in what is now modern Khorsabad.
The fortification walls covered an area of up to 3 sq km (288 hectares) and was decorated with the best known Assyrian artworks, such as the Lamassu (human-headed winged bull), alabaster wall panels, and various sculpted reliefs. Today, these are on display in various museums such as the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and Louvre Museum in Paris.
It was supposed to be a political, administrative, and trade center, but it was still dependent on Nineveh for most of its resources. The court was moved to Dur-Sharukkin in 706 BC, but it lost importance after the death of Sargon during the battle of Tabal in 706 BC. His son Sennacherib later made Nineveh the capital of the empire.
