Ancient History - Part 14: The Two Brothers

(The "Apology of Hattushil" presents this era's history from a Hittite perspective)

When Murshil II passed, his eldest son, Mutallu (1329-1290), was crowned child-king of the Hittites. Yet, his inheritance did not solely include his father's throne but also the intense border-situation with Assyria on the Euphrates boundary. Much like the earlier days of centuries long past, when the Egyptians would skirmish with the Hittites throughout Syria, new skirmishes were becoming increasingly common between the Hittites and Assyrians in the lands of the Mitanni.

Both nations exuded confidence at the other side, but it all resulted in no more than a rattling of swords for the time being. If one positive can be drawn from the rulership of Mutallu it was that open war with the Assyrians continued to be held at bay.

Next, it was Hattushil (1289-1256) who assumed the Hittite kingship. Perhaps gaining the throne as a mature adult man fostered the cunning edge in what he had in store for his eastern neighbors. The new king wished to take full advantage of Assyria's geography, that while the kingdom was growing rapidly in strength and population, she was surrounded by strong rivals. King Hattushil was well aware of the Kassites' hatred toward Assyria, spurned by the embarrassment of unforgettable battlefield losses in some recent years, and he intended to put that knowledge to good use.

Hattushil's first major act was to correspond with Babylonia, the kingdom of the Kassites, and directly with their king, Kadashman-Turgu (1293-1277), and to forge a treaty of alliance. When news of this alliance spread, so too did new pressures increase tenfold upon Assyria. With Babylonia to her south, in friendship with the Hittites to the west, the Hittite king's hope was that Assyria's focus would stay on the east toward Elam as well as to her uncontested northern front. It was all a matter of positioning. A way of setting the board. To create a deterrent with one unmistakable message: 

That to expand south or west would enrage not one enemy, but two.

Ancient History - Part 13: Bitter Friends, Better Enemies

The reputation of king Adad-nirari I's successful forays on the battlefield, particularly in prevailing over Babylonia, soon reached the ears of the Hittites, the power center west of Assyria. Yet, the two sides did not come to blows. The Hittites feared the force of will of the Assyrian military leader while the Assyrians knew that their strength alone would not be enough to conquer such a formidable new foe.

At this point in history, we must lean upon a pair of recovered artifacts of antiquity, in order to fill in the gaps:

1. A bronze scimitar was recovered from Diyarbakir with the Assyrian king's name, Adad-nirari I, engraved upon it. This confirms that the Assyrian military pushed fully into the lands of the Mitanni and directly onto the borders of the Hittites. One might surmise with ease that these standard weapons each bore their leader's name onto them.
2. A fragment of a cuneiform letter from the Hittite kingdom to Assyria used the phrase "your lord, Adad-nirari..." This in turn presents firsthand evidence that the Hittites held at least a cautious high regard for their eastern neighbor in a show of deference in their communications (compared to other tribes at the time, whom they addressed much less formally).

The Euphrates would act as a natural boundary between Assyria and the Hittite kingdom for a century without one side crossing over in an act of invasion or even mild encroachment. One must also bear in mind that during this period, the Hittites were entangled with the New Kingdom of Egypt, and the reactionary effect of their withdrawal from Syria and Palestine.

While once a subordinate state to the pharaohs of the Nile, Assyria bore little regard for matters between the Hittites and Egyptians, all too content to focus on the prosperity of their newly gained lands. 

Murshil II (1355-1330), now king of the Hittites, may have glared occasionally across the Euphrates many times during his rulership, but never once did he dare attack Assyria. Yet the one fact remained: Assyria had fully settled up to the Euphrates River. 

How long would it be before she chose to expand further?

Ancient History - Part 12: Old Habits Die Hard

Assyria endured a period of growth, a boom in population for its people, strength in its military for its leadership, which continued once king Arik-den-ilu passed and was succeeded by Adad-nirari I (1305-1277). With all the smaller nations surrounding its borders now conquered, many thought who would first contest or challenge the emerging power that was Assyria. That question was answered in Babylon.

A growing resentment passed from one generation to the next. Many Kassite men remembered the embarrassment of the Tigris that was endured by their fathers. And it was only a matter of time that jealousy stoked the flames of hostility into open warfare. Nazi-Maruttash II, king of Babylon, engaged the new Assyria king's forces at Kar-Ishtar of Akarsallu. Both young kings fought to quell the sins of their fathers once and for all, and in the end, despite losses to both sides, Assyria decisively prevailed.

No longer was Assyria altering their borders by absorbing the lands of the lesser tribes, she was now annexing territory from another major power of the Near East, spanning further down both sides that stretched from the Tigris River. King Adad-nirari I gave himself the moniker of "destroyer of the mighty hosts of Kassites."

Upon victory, security was reached in the south and thus the Assyrian king turned north, intent on expanding his kingdom further. One town fell after another. Lupdu. Rapiku. Elukhat. Places that once meant much to its people that became no more than names whispered in the wind. Once his appetite for battle was sated, Adad-nirari I held lands from the Persian foothills of the east, all the way to the red grasslands of Harran in the west, and encroached into many infamous places, historic as sites of battle, such as Carchemish. 

As the Assyria's quest for expansion continued, one fact remained as her forces began to enter the lands of the Mitanni, who were now loyalists to the Hittite Empire. . . If the Hittites were a powerful nation with a formidable army of its own, how would Assyria fare if it eventually came to crossing their swords?

Ancient History - Part 11: Assyrian Expansion Begins

Assyria's throne passed to Enlil-nirari's son, Arik-den-ilu (1345-1306) and the new king found himself with a powerful army at his disposal. Rather than square off against the Hittites and Mitanni of the west, he instead had eyes on the east, towards the land of the Persians, but first battled with their smaller neighbors between them. His first military engagement was against the Yasubigalla, who despite rallying an impressive number of seven thousand soldiers, were supremely slaughtered to the last man, their noncombatant-kinsmen likely sharing in the same fate.

King Arik-den-ilu's second engagement was with a superior enemy: The Nigimti.

The Nigimti were a people who bore a larger population than most of the other westward tribes, and grew to the point of establishing a small city, Arnuni. It was from this city that Esini, their leader and commander, would emerge to score raids upon the supply lines of the Assyrian army. As Assyria chased Esini back to Arnuni's gate, they were met by defenders on chariots. The defenders of the city were soundly defeated and while Esini did manage to survive and barricade himself within the walls, eventually he and the Nigimti submitted to the Assyrian king.

One-by-one the neighboring tribes were conquered after Arnuni had fallen. These included the Kuti and the Turuki, more names forgotten by history, reduced as another notch or two on the Assyrian king's belt. Assyria's soldiers had traveled so far eastward, that right as they neared encroachment upon the Persian mountains of Little Zab, they withdrew backwards and campaigned into their own western boundary lands.

In the western deserts, the Assyrians conquered their troublesome neighbors in the Akhlamu, Kutmukh, and Sutu. Despite bad blood between their kingdom and the Hittites, Babylon, and to a lesser extent, Elam, Assyria was most capable during these years in focusing only on smaller enemies, inferior to their own forces. Of all these peoples, the Akhlami were the only ones to survive, migrating into the Semitic lands now known to us as Palestine.