Monday, December 16, 2019
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
LATEST RESEARCH ABOUT ASSUR ( MEGH) PUBLISHED ON 27th JANUARY, 2017:
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Assur
Definition
Joshua J. Markby Joshua J. Mark
published on 27 January 2017
A Cult Relief from Ashur (by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, CC BY-NC-SA)
Assur (also Ashur, Anshar) is the god of the Assyrians who was elevated from a local deity of the city of Ashur to the supreme god of the Assyrian pantheon. The Assyrian Empire, like the later empire of the Romans, had a great talent for borrowing from other cultures. This penchant is illustrated clearly in the figure of Assur whose character and attributes draw on the Sumerian and Babylonian gods. Assur's family and history are modeled on the Sumerian Anu and Enlil and the Babylonian Marduk; his power and attributes mirror Anu's, Enlil's, and Marduk's as do details of his family: Assur's wife is Ninlil (Enlil's wife) and his son is Nabu(Marduk's son). Assur had no actual history of his own, such as those created for Sumerian and Babylonian gods but borrowed from these other myths to create a supreme deity whose worship, at its height, was almost monotheistic. Scholar Jeremy Black notes:
In spite of (or possibly because of) the tendencies to transfer to him the attributes and mythology of other gods, Assur remains an indistinct deity with no clear character or tradition (or iconography) of his own. (38)
ASSUR HAD NO ACTUAL HISTORY OF HIS OWN BUT BORROWED FROM OTHER MYTHS TO CREATE A SUPREME DEITY WHOSE WORSHIP, AT ITS HEIGHT, WAS ALMOST MONOTHEISTIC.
Assur had power over the kingship of Assyria but, in this, was no different from Marduk of Babylon. The king of Assyria was his chief priest and all those who tended his temple in the city of Ashur and elsewhere lesser priests. Assyrian kings frequently chose his name as an element in their own to honor him (Ashurbanipal, Ashurnasirpal I, Ashurnasirpal II, etc). Worship of Assur consisted, as with other Mesopotamian deities, of priests tending the statue of the god in the temple and taking care of the duties of the complex surrounding it. Although people may have engaged in private rituals honoring the god or asking for assistance, there were no temple services as one would recognize them in the modern day.
The iconography of Assur is often taken from the Sumerian Anu, a crown or a crown on a throne, but he is as frequently represented as a warrior-god wearing a horned helmet and carrying a bow and quiver of arrows. He wears a short skirt of feathers and is sometimes depicted within a winged disk (although the association of Assur with the solar disk is contested by a number of modern scholars, among them Jeremy Black). Assur is also sometimes represented standing on a snake-dragon, an image borrowed from the Babylonian Marduk, among other gods.
Early Origins
Assur is first positively attested to in the Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE) of Mesopotamian history. He is identified as the patron god of the city of Ashur c. 1900 BCE at its founding and also gives his name to the Assyrians. From a local, and probably agricultural, god who personified the city, Assur steadily acquired greater and greater attributes. The scholar E. A. Wallis Budge describes the general progression gods made from spirits to local deities to supreme gods:
The oldest of such spirits was the "house spirit" or household-god. When men formed themselves into village communities the idea of the "spirit of the village" was evolved and later came the "god of the town or city" and the "god of the country". Each of the elements, earth, air, fire, and water had its spirit or "god", the earthquake, lightning, thunder, rain, storm, desert whirlwind, each likewise its spirit or "god", and of course each plant, tree, and animal. As time went on, men began to think that certain spirits were more powerful than others and these they selected for special reverence or worship. (81-82)
Such was the case with Assur in that he is originally referenced as the god of only the locale surrounding the city but came to personify and represent the entire nation of Assyria. His city mirrored his rise to fame as Ashur began as a small trading center built on the site of an earlier community founded by Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 BCE) but flourished through trade with Anatolia and with other regions of Mesopotamia to become the capital of Assyria by the time of the reign of the Assyrian king Shamashi Adad I (1813-1791 BCE). Shamashi Adad I drove the Amorites from the region in Assur's name and secured his boundaries but was defeated by the Amorite king Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE) who then controlled the region. Worship of Assur at this time was restricted to the city and the Assyrian lands surrounding it, while Marduk of Babylon was worshiped as the supreme god and the Babylonian work Enuma Elish was considered the authoritative piece on creation and the birth of the gods and humanity.
Ashurbanipal II Attacking Enemy Archers
Ashurbanipal II Attacking Enemy Archers
by The Trustees of the British Museum (Copyright)
Rise to Power
In the tumult following Hammurabi's death, different powers controlled the region and their gods were considered supreme. The Mitanni and the Hittites both held Ashur and Assyrian areas as a vassal state until they were defeated by king Adad Nirari I (1307-1275 BCE), who united the lands under the first semblance of an Assyrian empire. Assur is credited by the king as the god who granted him the victory, but no history of the god existed to glorify. Scholar Jeremy Black comments on this:
Eventually, with the growth of Assyria and the increase in cultural contacts with southern Mesopotamia, there was a tendency to assimilate Assur to certain of the major deities of the Sumerian and Babylonian pantheons. From about 1300 BCE we can trace some attempts to identify him with Sumerian Enlil. This probably represents an effort to cast him as the chief of the gods...Then, under Sargon II of Assyria (reigned 722-705 BCE), Assur tended to be identified with Anshar, the father of Anu (An) in the Babylonian Epic of Creation. The process thus represented Assur as a god of long-standing, present from the creation of the universe. (37-38)
From the time of Adad Nirari I to the time of the Neo-Assyrian Empire of Sargon II, Assur continued to rise in prominence. In the Enuma Elish, Assur (under the name Anshar) replaced Marduk as the hero. Tiglath Pileser I (1115-1076 BCE) regularly invokes Assur as the god of the empire who empowers the army and leads them to victory and even credits Assur with the laws of the empire. Adad Nirari II (912-891 BCE) expanded the empire in every direction with Assur as his personal patron. Everywhere the Assyrian army traveled, Assur traveled with them, and thus his worship spread across Mesopotamia. Wallis Budge writes, "As the power of Marduk became predominant when Babylon grew into a great city, so the power of Assur waxed great when the Assyrians became a strong and warlike nation" (88). To the men who marched in the Assyrian forces, as well as to those they conquered, Assur was obviously a powerful god worthy of worship and devotion and, in time, he became so powerful as to eclipse the earlier gods of the region.
Assur, the Supreme God
When Ashurnasirpal II (884-859 BCE) came to power, he moved the capital of the empire from Ashur to the city of Kalhu, but this is no indication of waning power on Assur's part; Ashurnasirpal II had Assur's name as part of his own (his name means 'Assur is Guardian of the Heir'). The reason for the capital's move is unclear, but most likely it was only because Ashur had grown so great and the populace fiercely proud and Ashurnasirpal II wanted to surround himself with humbler and more easily manageable people. Tiglath Pileser III (745-727 BCE) elevated Assur's name even higher through the stunning victories which marked his reign. Tiglath Pileser III created the first professional army in the history of the world, who, armed with iron weapons, were invincible. Along with the new kind of army, new technology was created such as siege engines which allowed the army to take whole cities with fewer losses.
King Tiglath-pileser III
King Tiglath-pileser III
by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (CC BY-NC-SA)
As the Assyrian armies campaigned throughout the land, Assur led them to greater and greater victories. Previously, however, Assur had been linked with the temple of the city of Ashur and had only been worshiped there. As the Assyrians made wider and wider gains in territory, a new way of imagining the god became necessary in order to continue that worship in other locales. Scholar Paul Kriwaczek explains how, in order to maintain worship of Assur, the nature of a god - and how that god should be understood and worshiped - had to change:
One might pray to Assur not only in his own temple in his own city, but anywhere. As the Assyrian empire expanded its borders, Assur was encountered in even the most distant places. From faith in an omnipresent god to belief in a single god is not a long step. Since He was everywhere, people came to understand that, in some sense, local divinities were just different manifestations of the same Assur. (231)
This unity of vision of a supreme deity helped to further unify the regions of the empire. The different gods of the conquered peoples and their various religious practices became absorbed into the worship of Assur, who was recognized as the one true god who had been called different names by different people in the past but who now was clearly known and could be properly worshiped as the universal deity. Regarding this, Kriwaczek writes:
Belief in the transcendence rather than immanence of the divine had important consequences. Nature came to be desacralized, deconsecrated. Since the gods were outside and above nature, humanity – according to Mesopotamian belief created in the likeness of the gods and as servant to the gods – must be outside and above nature too. Rather than an integral part of the natural earth, the human race was now her superior and her ruler. The new attitude was later summed up in Genesis 1:26: 'And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth' That is all very well for men, explicitly singled out in that passage. But for women it poses an insurmountable difficulty. While males can delude themselves and each other that they are outside, above, and superior to nature, women cannot so distance themselves, for their physiology makes them clearly and obviously part of the natural world…It is no accident that even today those religions that put most emphasis on God’s utter transcendence and the impossibility even to imagine His reality should relegate women to a lower rung of existence, their participation in public religious worship only grudgingly permitted, if at all. (229-230)
Women in Mesopotamia had enjoyed almost equal rights with men until the rise of Hammurabi and his god Marduk. Under Hammurabi's reign, female deities began to lose prestige as male gods became increasingly elevated. Under Assyrian rule, with Assur as supreme god, women's rights suffered further. Cultures like the Phoenicians, who had always regarded women with great respect, were forced to follow the customs and beliefs of the conquerors. The Assyrian culture became increasingly cohesive with the expansion of the empire, the new understanding of the deity, and the assimilation of the people from the conquered regions. Shalmaneser III (859-824 BCE) expanded the empire up through the coast of the Mediterranean and received regular tribute from wealthy Phoenician cities such as Tyre and Sidon.
Assur was now the supreme god not only of the Assyrians but of all those people who were brought under their rule. To the Assyrians, of course, this was an ideal situation, but this opinion was not shared by every nationality they had conquered, and when the opportunity presented itself, they would vent their frustrations dramatically.
The End of Assur
The Neo-Assyrian Empire (912-612 BCE) is the last expression of Assyrian political power in Mesopotamia and is the one most familiar to students of ancient history. The kings of this period are the ones most often mentioned in the Bible and best known by people in the present day. It is also the era which most decisively gives the Assyrian Empire the reputation it has for ruthlessness and cruelty. Kriwaczek comments on this, writing:
Assyria must surely have among the worst press notices of any state in history. Babylon may be a byname for corruption, decadence and sin but the Assyrians and their famous rulers, with terrifying names like Shalmaneser, Tiglath-Pileser, Sennacherib, Esarhaddonand Ashurbanipal, rate in the popular imagination just below Adolf Hitler and Genghis Khan for cruelty, violence, and sheer murderous savagery. (208)
Although there is no denying the Assyrians could be ruthless and were quite clearly not to be trifled with, they were really no more savage or barbaric than any other ancient civilization. In order to form and maintain an empire, they destroyed cities and murdered people, but in this, they were no different from those who preceded and followed them, save in that they were easily more efficient than most.
Assyrian Deportation of People from Southern Iraq
Assyrian Deportation of People from Southern Iraq
by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (CC BY-NC-SA)
To the conquered people, however, the Assyrians were seen as hated overlords. The last great king of the empire was Ashurbanipal (668-627 BCE) and, after him, the empire began to break apart. There were many reasons for this but, mainly, it had simply grown too large to manage. As the power of the central government became less and less able to cope, more territories broke away from the empire. In 612 BCE a coalition of Babylonians, Medes, Persians, and others rose against the Assyrian cities and destroyed them. Included in this onslaught was the city of Ashur and the temple of the god as well as other statues of Assur elsewhere. Assur had come to personify the Assyrians, their military victories, and their political power, and so the destruction of this symbol was of special importance to Assyria's enemies.
Worship of Assur continued in Assyrian communities after the fall of the empire but was no longer widespread and no temples, shrines, or statuaries were left standing in the cities and regions which had revolted. In the early Christian era, the understanding of Assur as an omnipotent deity worked well for the early Christian missionaries to the region, who found the Assyrians receptive to their message of a single god and the concept of this god's son coming to earth for the benefit of humanity. Although Assur's son Nabu never became incarnated or sacrificed himself for others, he was thought to have given human beings the gift of the written word. Nabu continued to be venerated after the fall of the empire, and although Assur declined in stature, he was remembered and is still present (often as Ashur) as a personal and family name in the present day.
RELATED CONTENT BOOKS CITE THIS WORK LICENSE
EDITORIAL REVIEW
This Article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.
Bibliography
Bauer, S. W. The History of the Ancient World. (W. W. Norton & Company, 2007).
Bertman, S. Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. (Oxford University Press, 2005).
Black, J. & Green, A. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. (University of Texas Press, 1992).
Kriwaczek, P. Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization. (St. Martin's Griffin, 2012).
Leick, G. The A to Z of Mesopotamia. (Scarecrow Press, 2010).
Wallis Budge, E. A. Babylonian Life and History. (Barnes & Noble, 2005).
About the Author
Joshua J. Marks
Joshua J. Mark
A freelance writer and former part-time Professor of Philosophy at Marist College, New York, Joshua J. Mark has lived in Greece and Germany and traveled through Egypt. He has taught history, writing, literature, and philosophy at the college level.
*******************************
Assur
Definition
Joshua J. Markby Joshua J. Mark
published on 27 January 2017
A Cult Relief from Ashur (by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, CC BY-NC-SA)
Assur (also Ashur, Anshar) is the god of the Assyrians who was elevated from a local deity of the city of Ashur to the supreme god of the Assyrian pantheon. The Assyrian Empire, like the later empire of the Romans, had a great talent for borrowing from other cultures. This penchant is illustrated clearly in the figure of Assur whose character and attributes draw on the Sumerian and Babylonian gods. Assur's family and history are modeled on the Sumerian Anu and Enlil and the Babylonian Marduk; his power and attributes mirror Anu's, Enlil's, and Marduk's as do details of his family: Assur's wife is Ninlil (Enlil's wife) and his son is Nabu(Marduk's son). Assur had no actual history of his own, such as those created for Sumerian and Babylonian gods but borrowed from these other myths to create a supreme deity whose worship, at its height, was almost monotheistic. Scholar Jeremy Black notes:
In spite of (or possibly because of) the tendencies to transfer to him the attributes and mythology of other gods, Assur remains an indistinct deity with no clear character or tradition (or iconography) of his own. (38)
ASSUR HAD NO ACTUAL HISTORY OF HIS OWN BUT BORROWED FROM OTHER MYTHS TO CREATE A SUPREME DEITY WHOSE WORSHIP, AT ITS HEIGHT, WAS ALMOST MONOTHEISTIC.
Assur had power over the kingship of Assyria but, in this, was no different from Marduk of Babylon. The king of Assyria was his chief priest and all those who tended his temple in the city of Ashur and elsewhere lesser priests. Assyrian kings frequently chose his name as an element in their own to honor him (Ashurbanipal, Ashurnasirpal I, Ashurnasirpal II, etc). Worship of Assur consisted, as with other Mesopotamian deities, of priests tending the statue of the god in the temple and taking care of the duties of the complex surrounding it. Although people may have engaged in private rituals honoring the god or asking for assistance, there were no temple services as one would recognize them in the modern day.
The iconography of Assur is often taken from the Sumerian Anu, a crown or a crown on a throne, but he is as frequently represented as a warrior-god wearing a horned helmet and carrying a bow and quiver of arrows. He wears a short skirt of feathers and is sometimes depicted within a winged disk (although the association of Assur with the solar disk is contested by a number of modern scholars, among them Jeremy Black). Assur is also sometimes represented standing on a snake-dragon, an image borrowed from the Babylonian Marduk, among other gods.
Early Origins
Assur is first positively attested to in the Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE) of Mesopotamian history. He is identified as the patron god of the city of Ashur c. 1900 BCE at its founding and also gives his name to the Assyrians. From a local, and probably agricultural, god who personified the city, Assur steadily acquired greater and greater attributes. The scholar E. A. Wallis Budge describes the general progression gods made from spirits to local deities to supreme gods:
The oldest of such spirits was the "house spirit" or household-god. When men formed themselves into village communities the idea of the "spirit of the village" was evolved and later came the "god of the town or city" and the "god of the country". Each of the elements, earth, air, fire, and water had its spirit or "god", the earthquake, lightning, thunder, rain, storm, desert whirlwind, each likewise its spirit or "god", and of course each plant, tree, and animal. As time went on, men began to think that certain spirits were more powerful than others and these they selected for special reverence or worship. (81-82)
Such was the case with Assur in that he is originally referenced as the god of only the locale surrounding the city but came to personify and represent the entire nation of Assyria. His city mirrored his rise to fame as Ashur began as a small trading center built on the site of an earlier community founded by Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 BCE) but flourished through trade with Anatolia and with other regions of Mesopotamia to become the capital of Assyria by the time of the reign of the Assyrian king Shamashi Adad I (1813-1791 BCE). Shamashi Adad I drove the Amorites from the region in Assur's name and secured his boundaries but was defeated by the Amorite king Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE) who then controlled the region. Worship of Assur at this time was restricted to the city and the Assyrian lands surrounding it, while Marduk of Babylon was worshiped as the supreme god and the Babylonian work Enuma Elish was considered the authoritative piece on creation and the birth of the gods and humanity.
Ashurbanipal II Attacking Enemy Archers
Ashurbanipal II Attacking Enemy Archers
by The Trustees of the British Museum (Copyright)
Rise to Power
In the tumult following Hammurabi's death, different powers controlled the region and their gods were considered supreme. The Mitanni and the Hittites both held Ashur and Assyrian areas as a vassal state until they were defeated by king Adad Nirari I (1307-1275 BCE), who united the lands under the first semblance of an Assyrian empire. Assur is credited by the king as the god who granted him the victory, but no history of the god existed to glorify. Scholar Jeremy Black comments on this:
Eventually, with the growth of Assyria and the increase in cultural contacts with southern Mesopotamia, there was a tendency to assimilate Assur to certain of the major deities of the Sumerian and Babylonian pantheons. From about 1300 BCE we can trace some attempts to identify him with Sumerian Enlil. This probably represents an effort to cast him as the chief of the gods...Then, under Sargon II of Assyria (reigned 722-705 BCE), Assur tended to be identified with Anshar, the father of Anu (An) in the Babylonian Epic of Creation. The process thus represented Assur as a god of long-standing, present from the creation of the universe. (37-38)
From the time of Adad Nirari I to the time of the Neo-Assyrian Empire of Sargon II, Assur continued to rise in prominence. In the Enuma Elish, Assur (under the name Anshar) replaced Marduk as the hero. Tiglath Pileser I (1115-1076 BCE) regularly invokes Assur as the god of the empire who empowers the army and leads them to victory and even credits Assur with the laws of the empire. Adad Nirari II (912-891 BCE) expanded the empire in every direction with Assur as his personal patron. Everywhere the Assyrian army traveled, Assur traveled with them, and thus his worship spread across Mesopotamia. Wallis Budge writes, "As the power of Marduk became predominant when Babylon grew into a great city, so the power of Assur waxed great when the Assyrians became a strong and warlike nation" (88). To the men who marched in the Assyrian forces, as well as to those they conquered, Assur was obviously a powerful god worthy of worship and devotion and, in time, he became so powerful as to eclipse the earlier gods of the region.
Assur, the Supreme God
When Ashurnasirpal II (884-859 BCE) came to power, he moved the capital of the empire from Ashur to the city of Kalhu, but this is no indication of waning power on Assur's part; Ashurnasirpal II had Assur's name as part of his own (his name means 'Assur is Guardian of the Heir'). The reason for the capital's move is unclear, but most likely it was only because Ashur had grown so great and the populace fiercely proud and Ashurnasirpal II wanted to surround himself with humbler and more easily manageable people. Tiglath Pileser III (745-727 BCE) elevated Assur's name even higher through the stunning victories which marked his reign. Tiglath Pileser III created the first professional army in the history of the world, who, armed with iron weapons, were invincible. Along with the new kind of army, new technology was created such as siege engines which allowed the army to take whole cities with fewer losses.
King Tiglath-pileser III
King Tiglath-pileser III
by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (CC BY-NC-SA)
As the Assyrian armies campaigned throughout the land, Assur led them to greater and greater victories. Previously, however, Assur had been linked with the temple of the city of Ashur and had only been worshiped there. As the Assyrians made wider and wider gains in territory, a new way of imagining the god became necessary in order to continue that worship in other locales. Scholar Paul Kriwaczek explains how, in order to maintain worship of Assur, the nature of a god - and how that god should be understood and worshiped - had to change:
One might pray to Assur not only in his own temple in his own city, but anywhere. As the Assyrian empire expanded its borders, Assur was encountered in even the most distant places. From faith in an omnipresent god to belief in a single god is not a long step. Since He was everywhere, people came to understand that, in some sense, local divinities were just different manifestations of the same Assur. (231)
This unity of vision of a supreme deity helped to further unify the regions of the empire. The different gods of the conquered peoples and their various religious practices became absorbed into the worship of Assur, who was recognized as the one true god who had been called different names by different people in the past but who now was clearly known and could be properly worshiped as the universal deity. Regarding this, Kriwaczek writes:
Belief in the transcendence rather than immanence of the divine had important consequences. Nature came to be desacralized, deconsecrated. Since the gods were outside and above nature, humanity – according to Mesopotamian belief created in the likeness of the gods and as servant to the gods – must be outside and above nature too. Rather than an integral part of the natural earth, the human race was now her superior and her ruler. The new attitude was later summed up in Genesis 1:26: 'And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth' That is all very well for men, explicitly singled out in that passage. But for women it poses an insurmountable difficulty. While males can delude themselves and each other that they are outside, above, and superior to nature, women cannot so distance themselves, for their physiology makes them clearly and obviously part of the natural world…It is no accident that even today those religions that put most emphasis on God’s utter transcendence and the impossibility even to imagine His reality should relegate women to a lower rung of existence, their participation in public religious worship only grudgingly permitted, if at all. (229-230)
Women in Mesopotamia had enjoyed almost equal rights with men until the rise of Hammurabi and his god Marduk. Under Hammurabi's reign, female deities began to lose prestige as male gods became increasingly elevated. Under Assyrian rule, with Assur as supreme god, women's rights suffered further. Cultures like the Phoenicians, who had always regarded women with great respect, were forced to follow the customs and beliefs of the conquerors. The Assyrian culture became increasingly cohesive with the expansion of the empire, the new understanding of the deity, and the assimilation of the people from the conquered regions. Shalmaneser III (859-824 BCE) expanded the empire up through the coast of the Mediterranean and received regular tribute from wealthy Phoenician cities such as Tyre and Sidon.
Assur was now the supreme god not only of the Assyrians but of all those people who were brought under their rule. To the Assyrians, of course, this was an ideal situation, but this opinion was not shared by every nationality they had conquered, and when the opportunity presented itself, they would vent their frustrations dramatically.
The End of Assur
The Neo-Assyrian Empire (912-612 BCE) is the last expression of Assyrian political power in Mesopotamia and is the one most familiar to students of ancient history. The kings of this period are the ones most often mentioned in the Bible and best known by people in the present day. It is also the era which most decisively gives the Assyrian Empire the reputation it has for ruthlessness and cruelty. Kriwaczek comments on this, writing:
Assyria must surely have among the worst press notices of any state in history. Babylon may be a byname for corruption, decadence and sin but the Assyrians and their famous rulers, with terrifying names like Shalmaneser, Tiglath-Pileser, Sennacherib, Esarhaddonand Ashurbanipal, rate in the popular imagination just below Adolf Hitler and Genghis Khan for cruelty, violence, and sheer murderous savagery. (208)
Although there is no denying the Assyrians could be ruthless and were quite clearly not to be trifled with, they were really no more savage or barbaric than any other ancient civilization. In order to form and maintain an empire, they destroyed cities and murdered people, but in this, they were no different from those who preceded and followed them, save in that they were easily more efficient than most.
Assyrian Deportation of People from Southern Iraq
Assyrian Deportation of People from Southern Iraq
by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (CC BY-NC-SA)
To the conquered people, however, the Assyrians were seen as hated overlords. The last great king of the empire was Ashurbanipal (668-627 BCE) and, after him, the empire began to break apart. There were many reasons for this but, mainly, it had simply grown too large to manage. As the power of the central government became less and less able to cope, more territories broke away from the empire. In 612 BCE a coalition of Babylonians, Medes, Persians, and others rose against the Assyrian cities and destroyed them. Included in this onslaught was the city of Ashur and the temple of the god as well as other statues of Assur elsewhere. Assur had come to personify the Assyrians, their military victories, and their political power, and so the destruction of this symbol was of special importance to Assyria's enemies.
Worship of Assur continued in Assyrian communities after the fall of the empire but was no longer widespread and no temples, shrines, or statuaries were left standing in the cities and regions which had revolted. In the early Christian era, the understanding of Assur as an omnipotent deity worked well for the early Christian missionaries to the region, who found the Assyrians receptive to their message of a single god and the concept of this god's son coming to earth for the benefit of humanity. Although Assur's son Nabu never became incarnated or sacrificed himself for others, he was thought to have given human beings the gift of the written word. Nabu continued to be venerated after the fall of the empire, and although Assur declined in stature, he was remembered and is still present (often as Ashur) as a personal and family name in the present day.
RELATED CONTENT BOOKS CITE THIS WORK LICENSE
EDITORIAL REVIEW
This Article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.
Bibliography
Bauer, S. W. The History of the Ancient World. (W. W. Norton & Company, 2007).
Bertman, S. Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. (Oxford University Press, 2005).
Black, J. & Green, A. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. (University of Texas Press, 1992).
Kriwaczek, P. Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization. (St. Martin's Griffin, 2012).
Leick, G. The A to Z of Mesopotamia. (Scarecrow Press, 2010).
Wallis Budge, E. A. Babylonian Life and History. (Barnes & Noble, 2005).
About the Author
Joshua J. Marks
Joshua J. Mark
A freelance writer and former part-time Professor of Philosophy at Marist College, New York, Joshua J. Mark has lived in Greece and Germany and traveled through Egypt. He has taught history, writing, literature, and philosophy at the college level.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
PSYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS
A GREAT PSYCHOLOGICAL TRUTH
If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t,
If you like to win, but you think you can’t
It is almost certain, you won’t.
If you think you will lose, you have lost,
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will –
It is all in the state of mind.
If you think you are outclassed, you are –
You have got to think high to rise.
You have got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life’s battles don’t always go,
To the stronger or the faster man;
But soon or late the man who wins,
Is the man who thinks he can.
If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t,
If you like to win, but you think you can’t
It is almost certain, you won’t.
If you think you will lose, you have lost,
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will –
It is all in the state of mind.
If you think you are outclassed, you are –
You have got to think high to rise.
You have got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life’s battles don’t always go,
To the stronger or the faster man;
But soon or late the man who wins,
Is the man who thinks he can.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Psychology of Success.
SUCCESS—DNA vs LEARNED BEHAVIOUR
In a more serious vein, a study conducted by scientists of the Institute for the Study of Labour and the University of Bonn, reveals that parents who revel in taking risks tend to have children who are more willing to indulge in risk-taking behaviour. And the eagerness to trust fellow human beings is also apparently inherited. This may explain why success seems to be a family affair, as every economic decision is a result of judicious risks and trust imposed on worthy individuals.
Therefore, it is a matter to be seriously considered whether by sheer hard work, talent or just the advantage of an environment that inspires achievement, being born and bred in the lap of success seems to be a sure shot manner of being successful in one’s adult years. So, does success, apparently do beget success?
Researchers point out; ‘heritability’ suggests the importance of considering genetic factors to explain why some people are successfully entrepreneurial, while others are not. The research further debunks another myth that opposites always attract. “Women who like taking risks are more likely to have husbands of the same ilk. This shapes the attitude and mindset of the offspring who, in turn, choose a partner similar to themselves. Thus, ‘success’ is inherited across several generations.”
Then, is there any reason to indulge in backbreaking hard work? There is, it seems. “Your genetic composition can give you a good start as you have an environment that exposes you to success. It surely lends you that advantage. Nevertheless, remember that just acquiring the genes cannot give you the actions of your parents.
However, if you are growing up in a family full of achievers, you certainly do not want to be qualified as the family wastrel who just lolls about and enjoys the scent of money. When you live with successful people, you also want to be successful. Yes, your genes give you an edge, an initial advantage. But after that, you have to possess the required talent.
Therefore, while the components of success are genetic, success itself could be an amalgamation of genes as well as learned behaviour. Just breathing in an environment where a ‘good morning’ is accompanied with the latest share bazaar news could be inspiration enough to try walking in daddy’s footsteps. And that could well pave the way to success.
In a more serious vein, a study conducted by scientists of the Institute for the Study of Labour and the University of Bonn, reveals that parents who revel in taking risks tend to have children who are more willing to indulge in risk-taking behaviour. And the eagerness to trust fellow human beings is also apparently inherited. This may explain why success seems to be a family affair, as every economic decision is a result of judicious risks and trust imposed on worthy individuals.
Therefore, it is a matter to be seriously considered whether by sheer hard work, talent or just the advantage of an environment that inspires achievement, being born and bred in the lap of success seems to be a sure shot manner of being successful in one’s adult years. So, does success, apparently do beget success?
Researchers point out; ‘heritability’ suggests the importance of considering genetic factors to explain why some people are successfully entrepreneurial, while others are not. The research further debunks another myth that opposites always attract. “Women who like taking risks are more likely to have husbands of the same ilk. This shapes the attitude and mindset of the offspring who, in turn, choose a partner similar to themselves. Thus, ‘success’ is inherited across several generations.”
Then, is there any reason to indulge in backbreaking hard work? There is, it seems. “Your genetic composition can give you a good start as you have an environment that exposes you to success. It surely lends you that advantage. Nevertheless, remember that just acquiring the genes cannot give you the actions of your parents.
However, if you are growing up in a family full of achievers, you certainly do not want to be qualified as the family wastrel who just lolls about and enjoys the scent of money. When you live with successful people, you also want to be successful. Yes, your genes give you an edge, an initial advantage. But after that, you have to possess the required talent.
Therefore, while the components of success are genetic, success itself could be an amalgamation of genes as well as learned behaviour. Just breathing in an environment where a ‘good morning’ is accompanied with the latest share bazaar news could be inspiration enough to try walking in daddy’s footsteps. And that could well pave the way to success.
Indian Astrology:
In respect of Indian Astrology:
It is said that there are seven planets that effect human fate. In addition to that there are RAHU and KETU.
It is all non-sense, and quite primitive. There are millions of f planets, as revealed by the modern observatories. Secondly, how Sun can be counted among the planets? How we can believe in the presumed 'Rahu' and 'Ketu' that actually do not exist? How the hell they may effect our fate? Can any body explain the process by which they practically affect the human beings? I wonder about all this primitiveness that grips even the 21st Century educated people.
It is said that there are seven planets that effect human fate. In addition to that there are RAHU and KETU.
It is all non-sense, and quite primitive. There are millions of f planets, as revealed by the modern observatories. Secondly, how Sun can be counted among the planets? How we can believe in the presumed 'Rahu' and 'Ketu' that actually do not exist? How the hell they may effect our fate? Can any body explain the process by which they practically affect the human beings? I wonder about all this primitiveness that grips even the 21st Century educated people.
Friday, July 20, 2012
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS THAT CONVERTS THOUGHTS INTO SUCCESS ARE—
1. Every voluntary movement of body is caused, controlled and directed by
thought, through the operation of mind.
2. The presence of any thought or idea in our consciousness tends to
produce an associated feeling which is apt to urge upon us to transform
that feeling into muscular action that is in perfect harmony with the
nature of our thought.
3. If we choose life-work to realize a definite purpose, it becomes the
dominating thought in our consciousness, and we are constantly on the
alert for facts, information and knowledge with which to achieve that
purpose.
4. Deep Seated Strong Desire determines what our definite purpose in life
shall be, unless we permit it to be pushed aside by conflicting desires. If
the object of desire is within reason, it is practically sure of realization.
In Short – The stages leading from desire to its fulfillment are –
FIRST: The burning desire.
SECOND: The crystallization of that desire into a definite purpose.
THIRD: The sufficient appropriate action or work to achieve that
purpose.
1. Every voluntary movement of body is caused, controlled and directed by
thought, through the operation of mind.
2. The presence of any thought or idea in our consciousness tends to
produce an associated feeling which is apt to urge upon us to transform
that feeling into muscular action that is in perfect harmony with the
nature of our thought.
3. If we choose life-work to realize a definite purpose, it becomes the
dominating thought in our consciousness, and we are constantly on the
alert for facts, information and knowledge with which to achieve that
purpose.
4. Deep Seated Strong Desire determines what our definite purpose in life
shall be, unless we permit it to be pushed aside by conflicting desires. If
the object of desire is within reason, it is practically sure of realization.
In Short – The stages leading from desire to its fulfillment are –
FIRST: The burning desire.
SECOND: The crystallization of that desire into a definite purpose.
THIRD: The sufficient appropriate action or work to achieve that
purpose.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS, EMOTIONS AND ENERGIES:
Every thing we have created on this planet was essentially first created in our minds. All that you see which is human work on this planet first found expression in the mind, then it got manifested in the outside world.
If you organize your mind to a certain level, it in turn, organizes the whole system. Your body, your emotions, your energies, everything get organized in that direction.
It is very important that your physical, emotional, mental and energy actions are controlled and properly directed. If it is not so, we become destructive, self-destructive.
If life has to happen the way you think it should happen, first of all how you think and with how much focus you think, how much stability is there in your thought and how much reverberance is there in the thought process— all these will determine if your thought will become a reality or not.
Modern science is proving that the whole of existence is just a reverberation of energy. It is a vibration. Similarly, your thought is also vibration. If you generate a powerful thought and let it out, it will always manifest itself.
To create what you really care for, first, what you want must be manifested in your mind. Once you can maintain a steady stream of thought without changing direction, definitely this is going to happen in your life. It will definitely manifest as a reality in your life.
You must be clear as to what is it that you really want. If you do not know what you want, the question of creating it does not arise.
What every human wants is to live joyfully. He wants to live peacefully, in terms of its relationship he wants to be loving and affectionate. All that any human being is seeking for is pleasantness around him.
Once your mind gets organized, the way you think is the way you feel: your emotions will get organized. Once your thoughts and emotions are organized, your energies will go the same way. Then your very body will get organized. Once all these four are organized in one direction, your ability to create and manifest what you want is phenomenal.
Every thing we have created on this planet was essentially first created in our minds. All that you see which is human work on this planet first found expression in the mind, then it got manifested in the outside world.
If you organize your mind to a certain level, it in turn, organizes the whole system. Your body, your emotions, your energies, everything get organized in that direction.
It is very important that your physical, emotional, mental and energy actions are controlled and properly directed. If it is not so, we become destructive, self-destructive.
If life has to happen the way you think it should happen, first of all how you think and with how much focus you think, how much stability is there in your thought and how much reverberance is there in the thought process— all these will determine if your thought will become a reality or not.
Modern science is proving that the whole of existence is just a reverberation of energy. It is a vibration. Similarly, your thought is also vibration. If you generate a powerful thought and let it out, it will always manifest itself.
To create what you really care for, first, what you want must be manifested in your mind. Once you can maintain a steady stream of thought without changing direction, definitely this is going to happen in your life. It will definitely manifest as a reality in your life.
You must be clear as to what is it that you really want. If you do not know what you want, the question of creating it does not arise.
What every human wants is to live joyfully. He wants to live peacefully, in terms of its relationship he wants to be loving and affectionate. All that any human being is seeking for is pleasantness around him.
Once your mind gets organized, the way you think is the way you feel: your emotions will get organized. Once your thoughts and emotions are organized, your energies will go the same way. Then your very body will get organized. Once all these four are organized in one direction, your ability to create and manifest what you want is phenomenal.
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