The Pax Assyriaca, 704-631 BCE

The kings following the period of expansion enjoyed the vast territory and immense wealth of their predecessors and primarily engaged only in border campaigns, internal suppression of revolts, and some punitive, military action. Sennacherib was primarily preoccupied with Babylonian affairs, though he did war in Anatolia, the Levant, and Syria. Esarhaddon carried out punitive action against Egypt in 671 BCE for its role in fomenting unrest and rebellion among the small Palestinian states. This expansion was continued by Ashurbanipal, though it was ultimately negated with the rise of Psammetichus I in 656 BCE. Ashurbanipal also campaigned in Elam where he destroyed Susa and thus negated Elam’s political influence. These kings maintained the vastness of the Neo-Assyrian Empire with relative ease, and it is in this period that Assyria exerted its greatest amount of influence throughout the Near East.

(Return to the The Neo-Assyrian Empire)