Ancient Assyria - Forced Labor

 

 
The Bible Mentions Israel carried to Assyria. This relief shows captives working in a quarry for building projects of Sennacherib. He was king 17 years after the Hebrews were carried to Assyria. It was discovered in his capital at Nineveh. 2 Kings 17:22-23
   
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Forced Labor of Three Prisoners (Miniature Replica)  

This miniature replica shows three prisoners of war caring heavy loads of rocks in a quarry with many armed guards above. The limestone relief is from the Palace of Sennacherib, king of Assyria at Nineveh his capital.  It is from the seventh century BC. The original is located at the British Museum.

"For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria" 2 Kings 17:22-23


This map shows the primary capitals of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

Museum Images

 

Information about the Forced Slave Labor Quarry Relief

- Alabaster relief from the SW palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh, his capital.
- Slaves and in a quarry (possibly Hebrew) carrying heavy stones.
- There are armed Assyrian soldiers overseeing them with large shields
- God promised Israel if they followed idols he would remove them from the land.
- The slaves are assembled into gangs wearing special hats and clothes
- The captives are barefoot, wearing short skirted garments.
- The soldiers alternate between spear carriers with shields and archers.
- The lozenged background above shows that they were under ground level.
- The detailed relief stands 254 cm (8.3 feet) tall.
- The larger panel shows the colossal bull cut and decorated for Sennacherib's Palace
- Sennacherib reigned from 705-681 BC.
- The 10 northern tribes of Israel had already been taken captive to Assyria (722 BC)
- Sennacherib became king 17 years after Israel was brought to Assyria
- The event took place during Sennacherib's reign.
- This wall panel is from the Neo-Assyrian Period (1000-612 BC).
- Excavated at the site of ancient Nineveh (Kuyunjik).
- Sennacherib's west campaigns extended to the land of Judah
- His army was defeated at the gates of Jerusalem by the Angel of the Lord
- Ancient Nineveh was excavated by Austen Henry Layard of Britain around 1849.
- This stone panel is currently at the British Museum.
- Nineveh (Kuyunjik) was Sennacherib's capital city (Northern Iraq).
- There is no certain evidence that these slaves were Hebrew

2 Kings 17:14-17 - "Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that [were] round about them, [concerning] whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, [even] two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight."

Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. . And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight. For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them commit a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day." 
- 2 Kings 17:20-23



Museum Excerpt
Museum number ME 124820

Stone Panel from the South-West Palace of Sennacherib

Nineveh, northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, about 704-681 BC

The movement of a stone sculpture from the quarries

This panel is one of a series that originally decorated two sides of a courtyard at the palace of King Sennacherib (reigned 704-681 BC). Instead of the usual scenes of warfare, they show the transport of a winged bull from quarry to palace, part of Sennacherib's construction work. Sennacherib was very proud of his buildings and describes the palace as one 'without rival'. The king himself is shown on the left, personally supervising the work.

The human-headed winged bull, known as a lamassu, will eventually stand as a guardian figure at an entrance to the palace. The figure has been roughed out in the quarry, and is being dragged across country on a sledge. Gangs of prisoners pull at the front, while another group insert a huge lever under the curved back of the sledge, and secure the lever with a wedge. They then swing on the lever in order to raise the back. Rollers are then placed underneath. The whole operation was directed by men with trumpets. They stand, not very helpfully, adding their weight to the load on the sledge!

At the bottom a man is using a shaduf, a kind of water-sweep still used in parts of the Middle East. Here, the water-course is being diverted so that the bull can pass without being bogged down.

The operation continues in another panel from the series.

Dimensions
Height: 254.000 cm
Length: 1188.720 cm

The palace was excavated by A.H. Layard (1846-51) and by many later archaeologists

British Museum Page

Note: There is another part of this stone panel at the British Museum that reads: The movement of a stone sculpture from the quarries. This panel continues the narrative from the previous panel in the series that originally decorated two sides of a courtyard at King Sennacherib's palace. Instead of the usual scenes of warfare, they show the transport of a human-headed winged bull, or lamassu, part of Sennacherib's construction work. Here, the lamassu is being levered forward, hauled on its way to Nineveh. Written documents show that Sennacherib took a close interest in the progress of building and decoration; he proudly describes the palace as one 'without rival'. He also made use of senior officials including experts in magic who knew how to position magical guardian figures for maximum protection. Sennacherib planned to transform the ancient city of Nineveh into a place that would astonish the civilized world. A system of canals and stone aqueducts brought water from forty or fifty miles to the parks, orchards and allotments of the city. This relief helps us to reconstruct ancient quarrying and building techniques. The stone was cut with great iron saws, which can be seen being carried by some of the workers on the relief. Examples of such saws have been excavated at Nimrud. The colossal figures (weighing up to sixteen tons) were roughed out to reduce their weight, but the final carving was done after it was set in position, as was done with the carved relief panels.


The Assyrian Empire

The first great military empire in ancient history was the Assyrian Empire. By the time of Ashurnasirpal and Shalmaneser III in the 9th century BC the Assyrians organized a mighty army of nearly 200,000 soldiers. Their military strategy was unsurpassed up to that time, and with the age of iron they were an unstoppable fighting machine. They brought spearmen, archers, shieldmen, slingers, siege engines, chariots, and a huge calvary into the battlefield. The mighty Assyrians dominated the ancient world until they were crippled by the God of Israel in the reign of Sennacherib. God raised up the Assyrians to remove Israel out of his sight for their rebellion and idolatry, but the Assyrians would also be punished also for their wicked ways. They finally fell to the Medes and Babylonians in 612 BC and passed into history.


Assyrian Kings Mentioned in the Bible

2 Kings 15:29 - In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.

2 Kings 15:19 - Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.

2 Kings 18:9 - And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which [was] the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. 

Isaiah 20:1 - In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it; 

2 Kings 19:16 - LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. 

2 Kings 19:37 - And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Ezra 4:10 - and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnapper brought over, and set in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the country beyond the River, and so forth, wrote.

Assyrian Kings Names in Cuneiform

Archaeology of Ancient Assyria

Timeline of Ancient Assyrian Kings

(During the Period of the Biblical Kings)

Assur-nasirpal II (885-860 B.C.) A cruel warrior king, he made Assyria into the most fierce fighting machine of ancient world.
Shalmaneser III (860-825 B.C.) His reign was marked by almost constant war. He was the first Assyrian king to come into conflict with Israel. King Ahab fought against him, and king Jehu paid him tribute in 841 BC. His royal inscriptions were more detailed and more numerous than any other king. His building works were massive just like his father Assurnasirpal II. See Shalmaneser and the Black Obelisk.
Shamsi-Adad V (825-808 B.C.) Most of his reign was focused on Babylonia and his own internal conflicts.
Adad-nirari III (808-783 B.C.) The little information about his reign mentions his building projects at Calah and Nineveh, as well as a conflict at Der in Babylonia and collecting tribute in Damascus, Syria.
Shalmaneser IV (783-771 B.C.) The limited knowledge of his reign reveal some conflicts in Damascus and a period of decline in Assyria.
Assur-dayan III (771-753 B.C.) The little information about this ruler reveals Assyria being in a period of decline. 
Assur-nirari V (753-747 B.C.) There is very little information about his reign. The king of Urartu boasted of a victory over this king of Assyria in an inscription. 
Tiglath-pileser III (Pul) (747-727 B.C.) He restored Assyria to a major world power. He is the "Pul" mentioned in the Bible and the one who began to destroy Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He carried many away into captivity. This captivity is mentioned in his own inscriptions, the Babylonian Chronicle, and the Bible. 
Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C.) He besieged Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He died during the siege after imposing taxation on the holy city (Asshur), and his son Sargon came to power.
Sargon II (722-705 B.C.) He completed the destruction of Samaria and the captivity of Israel. He was also famous for his magnificent palace with his colossal winged guardians.
Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.) He was the most famous of the Assyrian kings. He mentions the name of Hezekiah on his prism during his war campaigns, he claimed to have "Hezekiah captured in his own royal city (Jerusalem) like a caged bird." His army was defeated at the gates of Jerusalem by the Angel of the Lord. Sennacherib returned back to Nineveh and was killed violently by his own son, as mentioned in the Babylonian Chronicle, The Bible, and various other inscriptions. He also conquered Babylon.
Esar-haddon (681-668 B.C.) He rebuilt Babylon, invaded and conquered Egypt by crossing over the Sinai Desert with Arab camels carrying water for his army, and was one of Assyria's greatest kings. He died fighting Egypt.
Assur-banipal (668-626 B.C.) He destroyed the Thebes in Egypt and collected a great library, innumerable clay tablets were found.
Assur-etil-ilani (626-607 B.C.) It was under his reign that the Assyrian Empire fell.

Assyrian annals mention contacts with some ten Hebrew kings: Omri, Ahab, Jehu, Menahem, Hoshea, Pekah, Uzziah, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh.

In the reign of Hoshea, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, twice invaded (2 Kings 17:3,5) the kingdom that remained, and his successor Sargon II took Samaria in 722 BC, carrying away 27,290 of the population as he tells in his Khorsabad Annals. Later Assyrian kings, particularly Esarhaddon (681 BC - 668 BC), completed the task.

For More Info See: Bible History Online


Map of the Land of Assyria

Map of the Land of Assyria (Kids Bible Maps)
Kids Bible Maps


Primary Sources for Assyrian History

The Assyrian Annals. The scribes of the chief cities of the Assyrians wrote the accounts of the king's military campaigns on cuneiform tablets, and clay prisms or cylinders. The accounts are very reliable, even though the accounts do not speak negatively of the Assyrians and are meant to glorify the king. The annals also give much detail to geography and Chronology. It is interesting how accurate the Assyrians were with dates, they made use of an Assyrian Kings List or the Eponym Canon.

The Assyrian Chronicles and Eponym Canon. The Assyrian scribes organized their national events whether military, political or religious every regnal year. The Babylonian Chronicles were structured the same way. Assyrian records were kept very carefully, they took their dating and their history seriously. They attached their record of events with the solar year and with the name of an official who was known as the "limmu." Their was a new limmu appointed every year. They recorded military, political and religious events in every year and made references to eclipses. The Assyrian records are highly dependable and allow Biblical scholars a very accurate way of dating events and designating "eponyms" for 244 year in Hebrew history, from 892-648 BC.

The Assyrian King List. The Assyrian King List reveals a list of the kings of ancient Assyria in chronological order, from the 2nd millennium BC to 609 BC. It lists the name of the king, his father's name, the length of his reign, and some great achievements.

Assyrian Sculptures. The limestone bas-reliefs discovered from the palace walls of major Assyrian capital cities like Nineveh (Kuyunjik), Nimrud (Calah), Khorsabad (Dur-Sharrukin), and the bronze bands on the Balawat Gates reveal a wealth of history. The illustrative events were carved be professional Assyrian artists like a modern day photographer on the scene. The carvings reveal the military might and tactics of the Assyrians, as well as the futility of those nations that defied their might. These sculptures are on display in museums around the world, for example: The British Museum in London, The Louvre in France, The Iraqi Museum, and The Oriental Institute in Chicago.

The Bible. The Old Testament records the history of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, along with the battles of other nations. It includes the fall of the 10 tribes in northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC by the Assyrians, as well as the fall of the southern kingdom of Judah in 586 BC by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The Bible also records miraculous events surrounding people like Elijah, and Jonah, as well as the slaying of 185,000 Assyrians at Jerusalem by the Angel of the LORD. The events recorded in 2 Kings generally agree with Assyrian and Babylonian sources.