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Amazing. Five Stars
This one book can't be more than a survey of the 1,000-year history of the Assyrian state, but by focusing on the line of kings and how they influenced or were dominated by their times, author Eckart Frahm paints a great picture of the rise and stunning fall of the first true empire in the West.
From the one city-state of Ashur, named for the Assyrian's primary god, we follow the state's power's slow rise, to the empire's beginnings, to the heights of power and the stunning fall. Frahm spends time in each chapter explaining how the Assyrians governed their far-flung possessions, from tributary states to imposed governors in Assyrian-designed palaces.
Interestingly, the Assyrian kings didn't claim to be descended from the gods like many other Fertile Crescent rulers, but they did assert mandates from the gods. As Assyria absorbed the Babylonian culture, the link between God and King blurred, as the Assyrians adopted Marduk into the working of their gods.
Attention is paid to each stage of the empire's growth, and the personalities and policies of each king are examined. External causes for issues are also addressed, from climate change to barbarians raiding the borders to internal dissent. Careful attention is paid to the eternal fighting between Babylon and Assyria and the great game of diplomacy that stretched from the Egyptian states to the Hittites of Anatolia.
Frahm does a great job of linking topics from chapter to chapter, breaking the narrative to comment on how people the Biblical prophet Isaiah saw the Assyrians, or how the ordinary people lived and the influence mothers and family members had on weak kings. We get a complete picture of the empire, from rise to fall.
The story doesn't end with the fall of the Assyrian Empire in the mid-7th century BCE. Frahm tracks its influence on later empires, like the Neo-Babylonian and the Persian Achaemenid Empire, which copied the Assyrian model of governed provinces and tributary states. Frahm offers a chapter showing how Western eyes saw the Assyrian empire through the foggy visions of myth and mangled history.
The final chapter covers how ISIS tried to destroy the Assyrian period's relics and profit from the illicit sale of antiquities. Despite their best efforts, the memory of the Assyrians survives.
This was a great read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in history. For RuneQuest players, the Assyrians make a great model for the Lunar Empire.
Amazing. Five Stars
This one book can't be more than a survey of the 1,000-year history of the Assyrian state, but by focusing on the line of kings and how they influenced or were dominated by their times, author Eckart Frahm paints a great picture of the rise and stunning fall of the first true empire in the West.
From the one city-state of Ashur, named for the Assyrian's primary god, we follow the state's power's slow rise, to the empire's beginnings, to the heights of power and the stunning fall. Frahm spends time in each chapter explaining how the Assyrians governed their far-flung possessions, from tributary states to imposed governors in Assyrian-designed palaces.
Interestingly, the Assyrian kings didn't claim to be descended from the gods like many other Fertile Crescent rulers, but they did assert mandates from the gods. As Assyria absorbed the Babylonian culture, the link between God and King blurred, as the Assyrians adopted Marduk into the working of their gods.
Attention is paid to each stage of the empire's growth, and the personalities and policies of each king are examined. External causes for issues are also addressed, from climate change to barbarians raiding the borders to internal dissent. Careful attention is paid to the eternal fighting between Babylon and Assyria and the great game of diplomacy that stretched from the Egyptian states to the Hittites of Anatolia.
Frahm does a great job of linking topics from chapter to chapter, breaking the narrative to comment on how people the Biblical prophet Isaiah saw the Assyrians, or how the ordinary people lived and the influence mothers and family members had on weak kings. We get a complete picture of the empire, from rise to fall.
The story doesn't end with the fall of the Assyrian Empire in the mid-7th century BCE. Frahm tracks its influence on later empires, like the Neo-Babylonian and the Persian Achaemenid Empire, which copied the Assyrian model of governed provinces and tributary states. Frahm offers a chapter showing how Western eyes saw the Assyrian empire through the foggy visions of myth and mangled history.
The final chapter covers how ISIS tried to destroy the Assyrian period's relics and profit from the illicit sale of antiquities. Despite their best efforts, the memory of the Assyrians survives.
This was a great read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in history. For RuneQuest players, the Assyrians make a great model for the Lunar Empire.