An Assyrian Emperor’s Résumé

Ashur-Nasir-Pal II (r. 883–859 B.C.E.) was responsible for expanding the emerging Neo-Assyrian Empire west from northern Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean. His description of his military campaigns in Mesopotamia is typical of such accounts produced by Assyrian kings. It emphasized three points: that the emperor was acting at the behest of Assyria’s gods, that he and his army were an unstoppable force, and that the price of resisting the Assyrians was utter annihilation. As you read his account, ask yourself how different audiences were meant to react to it. What lessons were Assyria’s neighbors expected to take from it? What message was it intended to send to Ashur-Nasir-Pal II’s fellow Assyrian elites?

In the eponymy of Limutti-adur,13 while I was staying in Nineveh, men brought me word that Ameka and Arashtua [Mesopotamian cities] had withheld the tribute and forced labor due unto Assur,14 my lord. At the word of Assur, the great lord, my lord, and of Nergal [God of war and the sun], my leader, on the first day of the month of Simanu15 I ordered a call to arms for the third time against the land of Zamua. I did not wait for my chariots and hosts; I departed from the city of Kakzi, the Lower Zab I crossed. I entered the pass of Babite, I crossed the Radanu, drawing nearer every day to the foot of Mount Simaki. Cattle, sheep and wine, the tribute of the land of Dagara, I received. The chariots and picked cavalry (men) I took with me, and all the night, until the dawn, I marched from (along) the foot of the mountain of Simaki. I crossed the Turnat, and with all haste to the city of Ammali, the stronghold of Arashtua, I drew near. With battle and assault I stormed the city, I took (it). 800 of their fighting men I struck down with the sword, with their corpses I filled the streets of their city, with their blood I dyed their houses. Many men I captured alive with my hand, and I carried off great spoil from them; the city I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire.

The city of Hudun and twenty cities of its neighborhood I captured; I slew the inhabitants thereof, their spoil, their cattle, and their sheep I carried off; their cities I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire; their young men and their maidens I burned in the flames. The city of Kisirtu, their stronghold, ruled by Sabini, together with ten cities of its neighborhood, I captured, I slew their inhabitants, their spoil I carried away. The cities of the Bareans, which were ruled by Kirtiara, and those of the men of Dera and of Bunisa, as far as the pass of Hashmar, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire, I turned them into mounds and ruins. I departed from the cities of Arashtua, I entered the pass between the steep mountains of Lara and Bidirgi, which for the passage of chariots and hosts was not suited to Zamri, the royal city of Ameka of the land of Zamua, I drew near.

Ameka became afraid before my mighty weapons and my fierce battle array, and occupied a steep mountain. The goods of his palace and his chariot I carried away; from the city of Zamri I departed. I crossed the Lalle and marched to Mount Etini, a difficult region, which was not suited for the passage of chariots and armies, and unto which none among the kings, my fathers, had come nigh. The king, together with his armies, climbed up into Mount Etini. His goods and his possessions, many copper utensils, a copper wild-ox, vessels of copper, bowls of copper, cups of copper, the wealth of his palace, his heaped-up treasures, I carried out of the mountain, returned to my camp and spent the night. With the help of Assur and Shamash [God of justice], the gods, my helpers, I departed from that camp, and I set out after him. I crossed the Edir River and in the midst of the mighty mountains of Su and Elaniu I slew multitudes of them. His goods and his possessions, a copper wild-ox, vessels of copper, bowls of copper, dishes of copper; many copper utensils, tables which were overlaid with gold, their cattle and their flocks, their possessions, their heavy spoil, from the foot of Mount Elaniu I carried off. I took his horse from him. Ameka, to save his life, climbed up into Mount Sabua.

The cities of Zamru, Arasitku, Ammaru, Parsindu, Iritu, and Suritu, his strongholds, together with 150 cities which lay round about, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire, into mounds and ruin heaps I turned them. While I was staying before the city of Parsindi, I placed in reserve the cavalry and pioneers.16 Fifty of Ameka’s warriors I slew in the field, I cut off their heads and bound them to the tree trunks within his palace court. Twenty men I captured alive and I immured them in the wall of his palace. From the city of Zamri I took with me the cavalry and pioneers, and marched against the cities of Ata, of Arzizu, unto which none among the kings my fathers had come nigh. The cities of Arzizu and Arsindu, his strongholds, together with ten cities which lay round about on the steep mountain of Nispi, I captured. I slew the inhabitants thereof; the cities I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire, and returned to my camp.

At that time I received copper, tabbili of copper, and rings of copper, and many shariate from the land of Sipirmena who(se inhabitants) speak like women.

From the city of Zamri I departed and into the difficult mountain of Lara, which was not suited for the passage of chariots and armies, with hatchets of iron I cut and with axes of bronze I hewed (a way), and I brought over the chariots and troops and came down to the city of Tukulti-Assur-asbat, which the men of the land of Lullu call Arakdi. All the kings of the land of Zamua were affrighted before the fury of my arms and the terror of my dominion, and embraced my feet. Tribute and tax, — silver, gold, lead, copper, vessels of copper, garments of brightly colored wool, horses, cattle, sheep, and wine I laid upon them (in greater measure) than before and used their forced laborers in the city of Calah. While I was staying in the land of Zamua, the men of the cities Huduni, Hartishi, Hubushkia and Gilzani were overwhelmed with the terrifying splendors of Assur, my lord, and they brought me tribute and tax, — silver, gold, horses, garments of brightly colored wool, cattle, flocks, and wine. The people, such as had fled from before my arms, climbed up into the mountains. I pursued them. Between the mountains of Aziru and Simaki they had settled themselves, and had made the city of Mesu their stronghold. Mount Aziru I destroyed, I devastated, and from the midst of Mount Simaki as far as the river Turnat I strewed their corpses. 500 of their warriors I slew and carried off their heavy spoil, the cities I burned with fire.

At that time, in the land of Zamua, the city of Atlila, which for the scepter of the king of Karduniash they had seized, had decayed and had become a mound and ruin heap. Assur-Nasir-Pal restored it. I surrounded it with a wall, and I erected therein a palace for my royal dwelling, I adorned it and made it glorious and greater than it was before. Grain and straw from the whole land I heaped up within it, and I called its name Der-Assur.

D. D. Luckenbill, ed., Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926), 1:151–154.

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS