|
FAITH.)
Another Bible Timeline fact –>ASSYRIA the name derived from the city Asshur on the Tigris, the
original capital of the country, was originally a colony from Babylonia, and
was ruled by viceroys from that kingdom. It was a mountainous region
lying to the north of Babylonia, extending along the Tigris as far as to the
high mountain range of Armenia, the Gordiaean or Carduchian mountains.
It was founded in B.C. 1700 under Bel-kap-kapu, and became an
independent and a conquering power, and shook off the yoke of its
Babylonian masters. It subdued the whole of Northern Asia. The
Assyrians were Semites (Genesis 10:22), but in process of time
non-Semite tribes mingled with the inhabitants. They were a military
people, the ?Romans of the East.?
Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria little is positively known.
In B.C. 1120 Tiglath-pileser I., the greatest of the Assyrian kings, ?crossed
the Euphrates, defeated the kings of the Hittites, captured the city of
Carchemish, and advanced as far as the shores of the Mediterranean.? He
may be regarded as the founder of the first Assyrian empire. After this the
Assyrians gradually extended their power, subjugating the states of
Northern Syria. In the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, Shalmaneser II.
marched an army against the Syrian states, whose allied army he
encountered and vanquished at Karkar. This led to Ahab?s casting off the
yoke of Damascus and allying himself with Judah. Some years after this
the Assyrian king marched an army against Hazael, king of Damascus. He
besieged and took that city. He also brought under tribute Jehu, and the
cities of Tyre and Sidon.
About a hundred years after this (B.C. 745) the crown was seized by a
military adventurer called Pul, who assumed the name of Tiglath-pileser
III. He directed his armies into Syria, which had by this time regained its
independence, and took (B.C. 740) Arpad, near Aleppo, after a siege of
three years, and reduced Hamath. Azariah (Uzziah) was an ally of
|
