In order to understand how kingship influenced Assyrian culture, we must first recognize how the Assyrians come to be one of the most powerful and feared civilisations of the time. During the Dark Ages, many civilisations were effected and led to the fall of Hittite empire and the 20th dynasty in New Kingdom Egypt, resulting in a large power vacuum in the Near East. During the Dark Age, we see from archaeological evidence, a large increase in looting, raiding, as well as a mass movement of people from settled urban life, to a nomadic existence. It was a period of economic recession and decline. However, during this time (1200 - 900 BCE) Assyria, being further inland and a relatively weak civilisation and escaped a lot of attention from raiders and was left mainly untouched, with the exception of disruptions in trade. Nevertheless, Assyria rose to the opportunity and …show more content…
This opportunity leads their kings to be power-hungry which subsequently rendered their culture to be largely militaristic. Warfare was the chief occupation of the Assyrian king and the Assyrian nation was organised to make war and live by its profits. It was a time of social and political turmoil, wars were fought and people were left homeless in search of new lands.
The Assyrian king, was acknowledged as a direct servant of the god, Ashur. In this manner, the king's authority was seen as absolute. So when the kings of this time desired power and conquest, there was no hesitation with the Assyrian people. The Assyrians adopted this ideology becoming brutal, feared warriors who had based their economy on military conquest, and became very efficient at doing so, and the Assyrian culture became increasingly cohesive with the expansion of the empire. Assurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE) began many