Rebirth
The period of general instability that struck the Near East in the twelfth century bce caused states to collapse and populations to move. Assyria lost control of most of its western possessions, and territories that had formerly been under imperial Hittite, Assyrian, Kassite, and Egyptian control coalesced into a system of city-states, tribal holdings, and small territorial federations in Babylonia, Syria, the Levant, and southern Turkey.[221] From the early ninth century bce the process of Assyrian conquest regained speed under Assurnasirpal II (883-859 bce) and his son Shalmaneser III (859-824 bce)—initially as a restoration of lost provinces, and later as a regular territorial expansion.[222] Conquered lands were submitted to provincial or client rule, and the royal capital moved from Assur to Kalhu and was transformed into a political and administrative center of the new state.
Imperial growth went along with the formation of a distinctive state ideology and an institutionalized court protocol tied to the dramatic setting created at the new royal seat. Formal etiquette and a rigid social hierarchy were combined with strict rules of physical access and an appropriation of space on both an ideological and physical level to sustain an image of a universal empire with the Assyrian king at its central axis.[223] The city walls of Kalhu enclosed an area of some 380 hectares, and elaborate canal systems were constructed to provide water for its burgeoning pop- ulation.[224] Settlers were brought from across the empire, both to provide the manpower needed to maintain the new center of government, and to strengthen the position of the king at the expense of the traditional urban elites of the Assyrian heartland.[225] The highest administrative and military offices were now given mainly to eunuchs, who had their ties to family and outside loyalties severed by castra- tion.[226] Individual merits, devotion, and loyalty became more important than pedigree for the privileges bestowed upon each officer.
The highest positions came with extensive territorial provinces, and evidently the chief executors of the empire were absent from the royal court for parts of the year to manage their households in the provinces, to lead armies in military campaigns, and to perform political or ritual obligations on behalf of king and empire. Yet, most, if not all, of the magnates maintained extensive households in the capital, where presence at court was presumably of vital importance and perhaps even required for upholding their social position.After the reign of Shalmaneser III followed a period of weakness in royal authority as provincial governors gained an extensive measure of sovereignty and de facto turned their territories into client states. The Urartean Empire at the same time expanded in the direction of Assyria and threatened its interests in the Anatolian and Iranian Highlands.[227] The fact that the imperial provincial administration maintained territorial status quo during this period of royal weakness, but did not embark upon further expansion, suggests that a strong centralized power was fundamental for Assyrian imperial growth, and was tied to central authority and its ability to coordinate resources. As political power became concentrated within a narrow circle of people, it could in principle be shared between them; but as the empire grew, and the estates of the provincial governors became increasingly distant from the capital, authority shifted to the periphery and began threatening state integrity. This development was effectively curtailed by the absolutist reforms of Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 bce), who reorganized the provincial system to reduce the power of the governors, restructured the imperial army and its supportive infrastructure, and revived an aggressive and expansive Assyrian foreign policy against Urartu, Egypt, and the tribal groups of Babylonia. By the end of his reign, Assyria had severely restrained opposition in the west, had secured authority in large parts of Syria, and had gained control over most of the city-states in Babylonia.
The following four reigns of Sargon, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Assurbanipal mark the apex of Assyrian power and a closing “golden age” of the empire. Wars and civil uprisings continued on the margins of the realm, which grew steadily as Assyria eliminated its enemies through conquest and diplomacy. In the core regions, peace was lasting, and some provinces in Syria and northern Iraq saw economic prosperity with little or no conflict for two centuries.
By the time of Assurbanipal (668-627 bce) a devastating civil war broke out between the king and his brother, who held the crown of Babylon and had allied himself with Elam. The conflict lasted five years, draining Assyrian resources and permanently alienating several of the Babylonian communities. A retaliatory attack on Elam effectively laid waste Assyria's eastern neighbor, but opened up its flank to the emerging Median state in Iran.[228] After the death of Assurbanipal the empire descended into internal and external strife, and between 614 and 609 bce it succumbed to a military alliance of Babylonians and Medes.