The Middle East: 765–622 BCE

Imperial Decline and Urartian Expansion

Beginning around 765 BCE, the Assyrian Empire experiences significant decline, marked by ominous events such as the eclipse of 763 BCE, devastating plagues, and internal revolts. This instability severely undermines Assyrian authority, enabling Urartu—a kingdom centered around Lake Van—to ascend as a powerful northern rival. Under King Argishtis I, Urartu expands dramatically, founding cities like Erebouni (modern Yerevan), temporarily dominating northern Syria, and even threatening Babylon. At its height, Urartu controls Armenia, parts of Georgia, and extensive regions of northern Mesopotamia, significantly challenging Assyrian dominance.

Tiglath-Pileser III and Assyrian Resurgence

Tiglath-Pileser III’s accession in 745 BCE dramatically reverses Assyrian fortunes. He quickly stabilizes the empire, implementing crucial military reforms by creating a permanent standing army and an effective bureaucracy. Between 740 and 732 BCE, Tiglath-Pileser leads decisive campaigns, defeating Syrian coalitions, capturing Damascus—the heart of the Aramaean kingdom—and annexing vassal states in eastern Anatolia. His actions involve extensive deportations, notably from northern Israel, integrating these regions firmly into Assyria. He also imposes tribute on Arabian tribes and reasserts control over Babylon, consolidating Assyria’s southern frontier.

Sargon II’s Conquests and Architectural Legacy

Sargon II significantly expands Assyrian domination, capturing strategic cities such as Carchemish in 717 BCE and weakening Urartu with a major campaign in 714 BCE. He commemorates these achievements by building a grand new capital, Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad), featuring monumental gateways guarded by colossal winged bulls, ornate temples, and lavishly decorated royal palaces. Despite his successes, Sargon falls in battle against the Cimmerians in 705 BCE, marking a critical turning point for Assyria.

Sennacherib’s Rule and Babylonian Revolts

Sennacherib relocates the Assyrian capital to Nineveh, transforming it into a monumental city. His reign is dominated by internal rebellions, notably in Babylon, incited by the persistent Chaldean prince Marduk-apla-iddina II. In a brutal act in 689 BCE, Sennacherib razes Babylon, deeply shocking Mesopotamian society and perceived as sacrilegious. This ruthless act contributes to his assassination in 681 BCE, viewed contemporaneously as divine retribution.

Esarhaddon’s Diplomacy and Reconstruction

Ascending amidst turmoil, Esarhaddon quickly stabilizes the empire through diplomatic acumen. He rebuilds Babylon, restoring key religious sites, notably the Esagila temple, thereby regaining Babylonian favor. Esarhaddon adeptly manages threats from Cimmerians and Scythians through strategic alliances, securing Assyrian borders and revitalizing religious and cultural institutions across both Assyria and Babylonia.

Ashurbanipal: Scholar-King and Library Builder

Ashurbanipal rules with scholarly distinction, establishing a renowned library in Nineveh, amassing extensive collections of cuneiform texts from across Mesopotamia. Highly educated, he demonstrates scholarly and mathematical prowess, including the rare ability to interpret ancient Sumerian scripts. However, his reign is also notorious for cruelty towards defeated enemies, vividly depicted in reliefs and inscriptions. Although appearing peaceful later, underlying tensions and succession disputes foreshadow Assyrian fragility.

Fragmentation and Rise of Babylon and Media

Following Ashurbanipal’s death, Assyria plunges into a severe succession crisis involving multiple contenders, including Ashur-etil-ilani, Sinsharishkun, and general Sin-shumu-lishir. This internal chaos critically weakens Assyria. Concurrently, Nabopolassar leads a successful Chaldean rebellion, establishing Babylonian independence by 629 BCE. At the same time, Cyaxares of Media overthrows Scythian dominance, consolidating Media and preparing to confront Assyria. These developments set the stage for a decisive coalition of Babylonians and Medes, poised to end Assyrian dominance.

Babylonia, in a constant state of revolt during the reign of Sennacherib of Assyria, is suppressed only by the complete destruction of its capital in 689 BCE.

Babylon's walls, temples and palaces are razed, and the rubble is thrown into the Arakhtu, or "river of Babylon," bordering the earlier city on the south.

This act shocks the religious conscience of Mesopotamia; the subsequent murder of Sennacherib is held to be in expiation of it, and his successor Esarhaddon hastens to rebuild the old city, to receive here his crown, and make it his residence during part of the year.

Sargon of Assyria surrounds his new city, Dur Sharrukin, with a thick wall fortified with towers; huge, winged human-headed bulls of carved stone guard the seven entrances.

On the upper terrace of the fortified citadel at the northwest wall stands Sargon's palace, together with temples and a ziggurat with steps made of colored brick.

Built around courtyards, its variously sized rooms lined with sculptured and painted scenes of hunting, battles, and ceremonies.

The language of the Cimmerians, who are believed to have been Indo-European, is regarded as related to Iranian or Thracian; they appear to have had an Iranian ruling class.

Documents dating to centuries earlier than Herodotus, such as intelligence reports to Sargon II, lead academic scholars making use of recent research to note that these identify the Cimmerians as living south rather than north of the Black Sea.

The first historical record of the Cimmerians, which appears in Assyrian annals in the year 714 BCE, describes how a people termed the Gimirri helped the forces of Sargon to defeat the kingdom of Urartu.

Their original homeland, called Gamir or Uishdish, seems to have been located within the buffer state of Mannae.

The later geographer Ptolemy placed the Cimmerian city of Gomara in this region.

Some modern authors assert that the Cimmerians included mercenaries, whom the Assyrians knew as Khumri, who had been resettled there by Sargon.

Later Greek accounts describe the Cimmerians as having previously lived on the steppes, between the Tyras (Dniester) and Tanais (Don) rivers.

Greek and Mesopotamian sources note several Cimmerian kings including Tugdamme (Lygdamis in Greek; mid-seventh century BCE), and Sandakhshatra (late-seventh century).

The Cimmerians had been expelled from the steppes by the Scythians according to the Histories of Herodotus, written in about 440 BCE, who states that the men of the Cimmerian royal family, to ensure burial in their ancestral homeland, divided into groups and fought each other to the death.

The Cimmerian commoners buried the bodies along the river Tyras and fled from the Scythian advance, across the Caucasus and into Anatolia and the Near East.

A lock (the oldest known, found in the ruins of the palace of Dur-Sharrukin ("Fortress of Sargon"), present day Khorsabad, near ancient Nineveh), the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria, consists of a large wooden bolt pierced with holes; pins from the lock housing drop through the holes to secure the bolt.

The key, a long wooden bar fitted on one end with a pattern of pegs corresponding to the pins in the bolt, lifts the pins and allows the bolt to slide.

Assyrian oppression of Phoenicia continues unabated, and Tyre rebels again, this time against Sargon II (722-05 BCE), who successfully besieges the city in 721 BCE and punishes its population.

Cyprus in 708 BCE encompasses seven independent kingdoms that are conquered by the Assyrian king, Sargon II.

Cypriot kings maintain considerable autonomy in domestic affairs and accumulate great wealth during the century of Assyrian dominance.

The number of city-kingdoms increases to ten, one of which is Phoenician.

The Cypriot kings are religious as well as secular leaders and generally command the city's defense forces.

Tiglath-Pileser III has inaugurated the last and greatest phase of Assyrian expansion, having subjected Syria and Palestine to his rule, his conquests having paved the way for the establishment of the Second Assyrian Empire.

He has engraved his royal annals across the bas-reliefs depicting his military achievements on the sculptured slabs decorating the royal palace he has built for himself in Nimrud (the so-called "central palace" later to be dismantled by Esarhaddon).

He seizes the increasingly belligerent Babylonian throne in 729 or 728  to forestall a Chaldean-led rebellion.

He merges the kingdoms of Assyria and Babylonia, using his personal (or perhaps Babylonian) name of Pulu (II Kings 15:19; I Chronicles 5:26).

He dies soon afterward in 727, having set Assyria on the road it is to follow to its end.

He is succeeded by Ululayu, probably his son, who had first appeared as governor of Zimirra in Phoenicia and who now takes the name Shalmaneser V. (The name Shalmaneser is used for him in the Bible; his name in Akkadian cuneiform is actually Shulmanu-asharid.)

Near East (729–718 BCE): The Fall of Samaria and Nubian Expansion

The Fall of the Kingdom of Israel

King Hoshea of Israel, encouraged by Egypt, attempts to break free from Assyrian domination. In retaliation, the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V personally leads his forces into Israel in 724 BCE, besieging the Israelite capital, Samaria, and attacking the city of Tyre. After a three-year siege, Samaria falls in 722 BCE. Shalmaneser, however, dies shortly before the capture, and his successor, Sargon II, claims credit for the city's conquest, deporting over twenty-seven thousand inhabitants to Syria—marking the historical disappearance of the "ten lost tribes" of Israel.

Sargon II’s Consolidation

After the capture of Samaria, Sargon II refounds the city as the Assyrian province of Samerina, repopulating it with settlers from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. He also conquers the Philistine city of Gaza, destroys Rafah, and secures a decisive victory against Egyptian forces. However, the Assyrian siege of Tyre, aided by Phoenician mainland cities, ends unsuccessfully after five years, with Assyrian forces withdrawing in 720 BCE.

Nubian Dominance in Egypt

In Egypt, Piye, the ruler of the Nubian kingdom of Kush, exploits internal divisions to extend his influence northward. In response to the alliance formed by Tefnakht of Sais among Delta rulers, Piye launches a successful military campaign in his twentieth regnal year, which he views as a holy war dedicated to Amun. Piye swiftly captures Herakleopolis, Hermopolis, and the ancient capital of Memphis, securing the submission of Delta rulers, including Iuput II of Leontopolis and Osorkon IV of Tanis. Tefnakht ultimately submits indirectly, maintaining nominal independence in Lower Egypt after Piye's withdrawal to Nubia.

Egyptian Fragmentation and Twenty-fourth Dynasty

Following the collapse of Egypt’s Twenty-second Dynasty with the death of Shoshenq V around 720 BCE, Lower Egypt splinters into city-states controlled by local kings. Prominent among these is Tefnakht I, who establishes himself as the "Great Chief of the West" and the founding ruler of Egypt’s short-lived Twenty-fourth Dynasty based in Sais. Although nominally submitting to Piye, Tefnakht soon declares independence and asserts himself as a king.

Legacy of the Era

The era 729–718 BCE witnesses significant shifts in power dynamics in the Near East, marked by the dramatic collapse of the northern Kingdom of Israel under Assyrian conquest and the rise of Nubian authority over a fragmented Egypt. These events reshape regional politics profoundly, setting the stage for ongoing interactions and confrontations among emerging powers, particularly Assyria and the Kushite dynasty in Egypt.

Shalmaneser lays siege for three years, until he breaks “the resistance of Shamara'in” (Samaria).

He dies shortly before the capture of the city, however, and is succeeded by Sargon II, who takes credit for the destruction of Samaria in 722 and the deportation, to Syria, of twenty seven thousand two hundred and ninety of its inhabitants.

What happened to Hoshea following the end of the kingdom of Israel, and when or where he died, is unknown.

The exiles become known to history as the ten lost tribes of Israel.