The Bad Boys of the Old Testament.

Most of us are familiar with the later Assyrians as the Bad Boys of the Old Testament. They were far more fearsome than the Philistines, and they pushed the hapless Hebrew kingdoms and others around at will. In fact, these were the guys responsible for deporting the 10 Lost Tribes! Quoting Yahweh, the prophet Isaiah 10:5-6 points to Assyria as the "rod of My anger."

The Chosen People were not alone in their fear and trembling. Most Near Eastern inhabitants during the Late Bronze and Early Iron-Age were shocked and terrified by the Assyrians’ impressive military skills and ruthless cruelty.

In terms of the latter, we will let one of their emperors speak for himself, in order not to impose a “woke” judgment on an ancient people with a different value system:

“I captured many troops alive. From some, I cut off their arms and hands. I gouged out the eyes of many troops. I hung their heads on many trees around the city. I burned many of their adolescent boys and girls. I razed, destroyed, burned, and consumed the city.”

Frahm suggests such official chest-beating over heinous acts was meant to impress their gods, as well as future Assyrian leaders. Others also have surmised that this was early psychological warfare. Besieging a city was costly and time-consuming; terrifying neighboring ones into early surrender saves soldiers, supplies, and, most importantly, weeks or months of a campaign.

The Assyrian empire’s ultimate defeat ironically preserved much of their written history – a history that the fed-up victors intended to obliterate. Their furious enemies ignited a merciless inferno in the capital, Nineveh. Its flaming intensity baked thousands of fragile clay cuneiform tablets solid, which had rested in one of the world’s first universal libraries. Consequently, archeologists now have a vast trove of information on this complex civilization, with much of it still unread.

No Better Guide. Enter author Eckart Frahm. He appears to have assimilated every single word involving Assyria that has been dug out of the ground or written by other experts. A leading scholar in his field, the author’s day job is Professor of Assyriology at Yale University. He takes us on a tour of this mysterious imperial polity whose real roots began in a single foundation city, Ashur, perhaps around 2000 BCE, and ended about a century and one-half after the founding of Rome (753 BCE).

Like Rome, Assyria went through several ups and downs before it evolved into the military powerhouse that would go on to subdue numerous Near and Middle Eastern kingdoms, including mighty Egypt. This vast stretch of time – 1,390 years – contains much that is unfamiliar to the lay reader.

Here are some examples of… ummm, let’s say exotic -- Assyrian names that perhaps you haven’t thought about lately: kings (Ashur-uballit II, Shamshi-Adad I); cities (Calah, Dur-Sharrukin); gods (Ninurta, Mullissu); enemies (Mitanni, Kassites); or even that of a canny and prosperous hat-and-wine merchant (Duri-Ashur).

Frahm manages to make all of this intricate, yet captivating, subject matter digestible. He happens to be an excellent, passionate writer who balances colloquial style with professional rigor. The author genuinely wants to share his fascination with the long-lost Assyrians, and he pulls it off, welcoming us in to understand these sophisticated, relentless, people.

Ups and Downs. In the introduction, the professor outlines the three major phases of the Assyrian empire’s long history. There were few indications of future greatness in its beginnings. Located around 700 miles up the Tigris (where Mosul is today, but the Gulf estuary then was smaller), the city of Ashur was usually dominated by powerful southern kingdoms. Around 2000 BCE, Ashur became independent. For the next 300 years (known as the Old Assyrian period), the city thrived as a trading hub, dealing mostly in tin and textiles, and its merchants operated throughout many far-flung emporia around the region. A short-lived era of territorial expansion took place under one of its first warlord rulers, but feckless successors were unable to sustain his conquests.

Around 1,700 BCE, Frahm notes, the city’s prosperity declined, and it often wound up being a vassal state to potent rivals like Babylon over the next three hundred or so years. In the 14^th century BCE, a series of aggressive kings ushered in the Middle Assyrian period (1363-935 BCE). These can-do, sword-swinging rulers enlarged Ashur’s sway over many fresh territories to the west and south.

One of the Assyrian campaigns even reached the Mediterranean, where its royal commander even boasted of hunting whales. (Hunting was a big deal for Assyrian males.) The old nemesis Babylon was captured in 1220 BCE and briefly held. A new capital was built from scratch – Nineveh – although Ashur remained the young empire’s spiritual center. Assyria was even able to fend off assaults from the Sea Peoples, unlike most settled societies closer to the sea.

Nevertheless, the author points to Aramaican nomadic migrations, climate change, and internal tensions as unsolvable problems; these whittled away conquered lands throughout the 11th century BCE. By 1000 BCE, Assyria was reduced to its immediate heartland around Ashur and Nineveh.

Another Imperial Surge. Frahm succinctly describes what comes next: “A number of energetic and ruthless Assyrian rulers of the Neo-Assyrian period (934—609 BCE) took advantage of the weakness of their political rivals, embarking on a systematic campaign of subjugation, destruction, and annexation.” These are the Assyrians we are most familiar with.

They could not have managed all this without a new model army. This force now boasted an innovative combined-arms capability -- one unmatched by regional militaries. The troops were drilled, disciplined, and professional (and were not restricted to the native-born). Four coordinated divisions -- infantry, bowmen, chariots, and cavalry – dominated the majority of battlefields The Assyrians had also made advances in siege craft, employing an array of battering rams, towers, and ramps.

Additionally, they had access to iron mines because of their proximity to the Zagros mountains, while many lowland enemies did not. Bronze armor and shields were usually inadequate protection against opponents wielding iron weapons.

During their glory days, the Neo-Assyrians controlled lands ranging east-west from Egypt to western Iran, and north-south from Anatolia to the Persian Gulf. It was by far the largest of all the empires that had preceded it.

But it was brittle -- overcentralized and overextended, according to the author. First, the Egyptians overthrew their thin-on-the ground oppressors. Then the exasperated Babylonians convinced the still-free and numerous Medes to join them, soon clashing with several Assyrian field forces, and eventually attacking the capital . They captured it (with extreme prejudice), burning it to cinders. Within a few more years, outlying hold-outs were mopped up, and the grand Neo-Assyrian experiment was no more.

The professor eagerly ushers us into this half-forgotten, half-understood culture he finds so compelling, not only through his brisk, clear writing but also through his mastery of innumerable details. One learns about a particularly quirky personality, now 3,000 years gone, only because Frahm knows how to combine a fragment’s mention from Nineveh’s charred library with a faded inscription on a stele unearthed 300 miles away.

You may also soften your first impressions of Assyrian cruelty (somewhat) when you learn about their beautiful cities, impressive culture, garden-bedecked palaces, ingenious canal network, elaborate religious beliefs, and…yes, also, their odd preference for considering locusts tasty snacks.

I learned a new, very useful word from this book – “alterity.” It is defined as the “state of being different; otherness.” The word certainly compresses the modern Western attitude toward the Assyrians. It is difficult for us at our whistle-stop in history to look way, way down the tracks and empathize with these very ancient humans, who are barely on the horizon. Nevertheless, Dr. Frahm understands that, and he does a great job of explaining their significance.

This paperback includes most of the scholarly apparatus that a reader needs: several maps and illustrations; chunky, informative footnotes; a granular index; a useful king/emperor list – everything, in fact, except a bibliography, which probably would be way too technical, extensive, and incomprehensible, anyway. (The footnote references almost function as a bibliography.)

So read Professor Frahm’s excellent book, put your feelings of alterity aside, and start relating to some very interesting – albeit occasionally vicious – Assyrians.

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Our Reviewer: A former naval officer, Richard Jupa was a senior finance editor at a major credit rating agency for more than two decades. He is also the co-author of Gulf Wars, on the 1991-1992 Gulf War, and has published over a dozen articles on contemporary conflicts. His previous reviews include Strategy Shelved: The Collapse of Cold War Naval Strategic Planning, Pioneers of Irregular Warfare, Mars Adapting: Military Change During War, A Short History of War, Ancient Greeks at War: Warfare in the Classical World, from Agamemnon to Alexander, Dreadnoughts and Super-Dreadnoughts, The Roman Empire in Crisis, 248-260, A Military History of the Cold War, 1962-1991, Secrets of the Cold War, Ramesses the Great, Rome and Persia: The 700 Hundred Year Rivalry, and China’s New Navy.

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