The Assyrian conquest of Babylon took centuries, with successive Assyrian kings committing to the cause. Babylon’s kings fought hard for their autonomy but could not resist the continuous onslaught. However, while the Assyrians wanted to dominate Babylon, they also respected the city, which was an important religious center in ancient Mesopotamia. Babylon was granted more freedoms than other vassal states, giving them more chances to rebel.
Adad-Nirari I and Tukulti-Ninurta I (1305-1207 BCE)
Adad-Nirari I was the fourth Assyrian king of the Middle Assyrian Empire (1363-912 BCE) and ascended the throne in 1305 BCE. Before his reign, Babylonia had been taken over by the Kassites, who unified the southern region of Mesopotamia and engaged in vast building works and restorative programs. Adad-Nirari I’s father, King Arik-den-ili, had been involved in border skirmishes with the Babylonians, but gained little territory.
This changed with Adad-Nirari I, who is often described by historians as the first Assyrian king to make huge territorial gains for the empire. After he campaigned against the Hittites and the Mitanni, he turned his attention to Babylonia. He was able to make gains in what were traditionally Babylonian border towns before meeting the Babylonian King Nazi-Maruttash in battle. Adad-Nirari I won, and the border between Assyria in the north and Babylonia in the south was redrawn in Assyria’s favor.
Under Adad-Nirari I’s son, Shalmaneser I, very little happened between Assyria and Babylon. The ascendancy of Tukulti-Ninurta I in c. 1243 BCE marked the start of a more eventful reign. Tukulti-Ninurta I finished the war his father started with the Hittites with a decisive Assyrian victory and then turned to Babylonia. In his epic poem, the Tukulti-Ninurta Epic, Tukulti-Ninurta I asserted that the Babylonians had assaulted Assyrian settlements and that their king, Kashtiliash IV, had been abandoned by the gods.
Tukulti-Ninurta I secured victory in the war against the Babylonians in 1225 BCE, though contemporary sources imply it came at a considerable cost. Many of the regions that the Assyrians conquered in Babylonia were ruled indirectly through vassal kings.
Tukulti-Ninurta I displayed respect for the Babylonian culture when he traveled to Babylon and made offerings to their deities. However, good relations did not last. In 1217 BCE, Tukulti-ninurta I launched a third campaign against Babylonia after the Babylonian vassal ruler, Adad-shuma-iddina, rebelled against Assyria twice. Babylon was looted and defaced. Tukulti-Ninurta I seized a significant statue of Marduk, the city’s patron deity, and brought it back to Assyria, which proved unpopular with his fellow Assyrians.
The Babylonians persisted, and under Adad-shuma-usur’s leadership, they mounted a successful rebellion and expelled the Assyrians in 1216 BCE. In the later period of Tukulti-Ninurta I’s 37-year reign, his popularity at home decreased. The king also lost conquered territories and failed to maintain good international relations with other powerful kingdoms. His treatment of important Babylonian religious centers was universally disliked. Tukulti-Ninurta I was assassinated in 1207 BCE.
Between Ashur-resh-ishi I and Shamshi-Adad V (1132-811 BCE)
The reign of Ashur-resh-ishi I from c. 1132-1115 BCE ushered in a new era of Assyrian prosperity. The king fought and defeated the ruler of Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar I. He held onto the ancient city of Zhanqi after the battle, which subdued Assyria’s southern neighbors long enough for his son, Tiglath-Pileser I, to focus on other territories for expansion.
Later, Nebuchadnezzar I instigated assaults on Assyrian land, which provoked Tiglath-Pileser I to march into Babylonia. Babylon itself was seized, and the Assyrians demolished the palace, but no attacks were made against religious institutions.
Strained relations continued under Tiglath-Pileser I’s successor, Asharid-apal-Ekur, who ruled for only two years. The situation was resolved by the next Assyrian King, Ashur-bel-kala. He placed Adad-apla-iddina on the Babylonian throne and solidified the peace by marrying his daughter. Consequently, by taking a vast dowry from the wedding, Babylon effectively became an Assyrian vassal state. After the reign of Ashur-bel-kala, Assyria experienced an era of stagnation and stalled in its constant quest for expansion.
The Neo-Assyrian Empire began in 911 BCE, directly following the Middle Assyrian Empire. The transition from the reign of Ashur-dan II, the last king of the Middle Assyrian Empire, to Adad-Nirari II, the first king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, was smooth. Nevertheless, the periods are marked as separate by a significant increase in Assyrian power and imperialism following the period of inactivity.
Between the later Middle Assyrian Empire and the founding of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Babylonia experienced waves of migrating Semitic people, who ruled for brief periods, but mostly remained within the Assyrian sphere of influence. Adad-nirari II began the new age with conquests on the Babylonian border, but reached an agreement with the Babylonian King, Nabu-shuma-ukin I. Additionally, diplomatic affairs were bolstered through a marriage alliance. Nabu-shuma-ukin I married the daughter of Adad-nirari II and vice versa.
Until the rule of Shamshi-Adad V, relationships between Assyria and Babylonia were largely uneventful. Despite being generally unsuccessful in his military exploits, Shamshi-Adad V proved triumphant in quelling Babylonian rebellions. However, Assyria had been weakened by his failed imperialism elsewhere and the king was unable to capitalize on the subjugation of Babylonia.
Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BCE)
Tiglath-Pileser III ascended to the Assyrian throne in 745 BCE and heralded the start of another period of vast expansionist gains for the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Early in his reign, Tiglath-Pileser III engaged in conflict with Chaldeans, who had infiltrated the Babylonian heartland. Tiglath-Pileser III raided and plundered various Babylonian settlements along the border and kidnapped their religious idols. In addition, he destroyed Sarrabanu, the capital of the Bit-Shilani tribe of Chaldea, and impaled their leader. To begin with, this was beneficial for the Babylonian King Nabu-nasir, who had deposed a Chaldean to gain the throne.
Following a period of expansion in other areas, Tiglath-Pileser III seized upon the ascension of the Chaldean Nabu-mukin-zeri to the Babylonian throne as a pretext for launching a full-scale war. Nabu-mukin-zeri made clear his intentions to unite the fractured lands of Babylonia, which would overtly encroach on Assyria’s power. Tiglath-Pileser III subsequently conquered Babylon and declared himself king. He then sought to secure the acceptance of the Babylonian people as their ruler.
To achieve this, Tiglath-Pileser III participated in the Babylonian Akitu, which were their New Year’s commemoration traditions held in honor of Marduk. Additionally, Babylon was not divided into provinces as was customary in Assyrian conquests. Instead, it was maintained in a personal union with Assyria, sharing a monarchy while preserving its religion and traditions.
Sargon II (722-705 BCE)
Sargon II is credited with initiating the Sargonid Dynasty, which was the last dynasty of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. He usurped the throne from Shalmaneser V, the son of Tiglath-Pileser III, and likely his own brother. Due to his contentious ascension, Assyria was immediately subject to instability within its key cities. Many vassal states took the opportunity to assert their independence.
Babylon had been ruled by Assyria for the past eight years, but a Chaldean tribal leader named Merodach-Baladan invaded and reinstituted Babylonian autonomy in 721 BCE. The following year, the two kings met in battle, but Merodach-Baladan was victorious. He allied with Assyria’s long-standing foes, the Elamites. Sargon II was forced to utilize his military elsewhere, as Assyria experienced many rebellions, especially in the province of Samerina. The Assyrian ruler was able to put down this revolt and ultimately had its leader flayed alive.
Eventually, Sargon II was able to return his attention to Babylonia. He was aware that the alliance between Babylon and Elam posed a great threat to Assyria, therefore Sargon II waited until the military alliance between the two states had dissolved in 710 BCE to attack.
First, Sargon II used diplomacy to generate support for himself in many cities in the north of Babylonia. Then, he marched on Babylon and defeated a coalition of Aramean and Elamite forces on his way. By this time, Merodach-Baladan had fled to Elam, and Sargon II met little resistance. When he entered Babylon, he was welcomed, which some historians cite as evidence that the Babylonians preferred an Assyrian ruler to a Chaldean one.
Merodach-Baladan returned to Babylonia and once more met Sargon II’s troops in battle just outside the city of Dur-Yakin, but were swiftly vanquished. Merodach-Baladan’s army retreated into the city and the Assyrians responded with a siege. The two sides negotiated and Dur-Yakin agreed to surrender if Merodach-Baladan would be spared. Consequently, Merodach-Baladan and his family were allowed to leave and live in exile in Elam.
Sargon II spent the next three years in Babylon where he immersed himself in the local culture including the Akitu. During this period, Assyria was governed by his son, Sennacherib. Previous Assyrian kings, namely Tukulti-ninurta I, had been criticized for their harsh treatment of Babylonia. Yet Sargon II was disapproved of because he appeared to favor the Babylonians too much. The Assyrian king was killed in battle against the Anatolians in c. 705 BCE. To add insult to injury, his soldiers were unable to retrieve his body.
Sennacherib (705-681 BCE)
The repercussions of Sargon II’s death manifested in the court of his son and successor, Sennacherib. Sennacherib, along with many Assyrian noblemen, were skeptical about Sargon II’s pro-Babylonian position and suspected his disrespectful demise on the battlefield was a divine message. In an attempt to avoid the same fate, Sennacherib assumed the title “King of Babylon,” but unlike his predecessors, he did not take part in any Babylonian traditions.
This resulted in another Babylonian rebellion. Marduk-zakir-shumi II initially rose to power, but was quickly usurped by Merodach-Baladan, who united the Chaldeans and Babylonians in addition to recruiting Elamite soldiers. Sennacherib was busy in Anatolia and avoided fighting a war on two fronts, allowing Merodach-Baladan to consolidate his position.
After several months in Anatolia, Sennacherib conquered Babylon with relative ease as the city opened its gates to him. He continued further south, where he subdued many cities and tribal areas. While he left the citizens of Babylon unscathed, he claimed to have taken 208,000 prisoners in his conquest of the other lands. Furthermore, he installed a Babylonian noble named Bel-ibini, who had been raised at the Assyrian court.
Nevertheless, the Babylonians refused to surrender. During this period, Merodach-Baladan and Shuzubu, a Chaldean tribal leader, vied for the Babylonian kingship. To suppress unrest, Sennacherib installed his son, Ashur-nadin-shumi, as King of Babylon and then launched additional campaigns against the Chaldeans, pursuing them into Elam and plundering several cities.
But when the Assyrian army was absent, the King of Elam saw an opportunity and invaded Babylonia. Ashur-nadin-shumi was captured and taken to Elam, where he was probably put to death. The Assyrians clashed with the combined Elamite-Babylonian forces at Nippur, in what became known as the Battle of the Diyala River. Sennacherib’s forces prevailed. Despite this victory, Babylon remained defiant, and in 690 BCE, Sennacherib completely destroyed the city in the Siege of Babylon. Invading Assyrians typically avoided acts of iconoclasm in Babylon, but Sennacherib was merciless in his quest to avenge his son. He ruthlessly attacked temples, sanctuaries, and religious art.
Aftermath
Sennacherib’s devastation of Babylon sparked significant disquiet within Assyria. The king sought to rationalize his actions through a myth depicting Marduk’s trial by the Assyrian deity Assur. He further exacerbated tensions by proclaiming Assur as the new central deity of Babylonian New Year rituals.
Sennacherib created more internal turmoil by suddenly replacing his heir, Arda-Mulissu, with a younger son, Esarhaddon. Arda-Mulissu subsequently killed his father in an attempt to ascend to the throne, but was then executed by Esarhaddon along with his co-conspirators.
Predictably, the Babylonians’ hatred of the Assyrian regime had reached a new height and Sennacherib’s death was celebrated as an act of the gods for mistreating them. Moreover, Esarhaddon faced a wave of instability, which was aggravated by his paranoia. He worked hard to repair the destruction left behind by his father, but the Babylonians would exact retribution for their misfortunes just under sixty years later.
The death of Ashurbanipal, Esarhaddon’s heir, in 631 BCE would mark the beginning of the end of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. A congregation of Medes and Babylonians sacked many principal cities in the Assyrian heartland, including Assur and Nineveh, where the Assyrian king, Sinsharishkun, was killed in battle. Nebuchadnezzar II ascended the throne of Babylon in 605 BCE and reigned over the new Neo-Babylonian Empire, which rose to fill the void of the fallen Neo-Assyrian Empire. Thus, the final conquest of Babylon ultimately destroyed Assyria after ruling the ancient Near East for nearly 800 years.
