Oct 12, 2008
Assyria's Sennacherib launches another campaign into the Chaldean region, where the Babylonian rebel Merodach-Baladan II has been conspiring against him (see 703 B.C.). Merodach-Baladan takes refuge in Elam, north of the Persian Gulf (see 695 B.C.).
Babylon's Assyrian-raised puppet king Bel-ibni dies after a 2-year reign.
Cities developing in the Near East build aqueducts to keep their residents supplied with water.
Laws against animal slaughter are relaxed in India.
Phoenician colonists plant olive trees on the Iberian Peninsula.
China's minister of agriculture teaches the peasants crop rotation. The minister also teaches them to dig drainage ditches, rents them farm equipment, and stores grain surpluses to provide free food in time of famine.
Greek colonization of the Mediterranean in the next 2 centuries will be motivated primarily by a need to find new food sources as Greece's population expands. The barren and rocky soil of the Greek peninsula is inadequate to meet the people's alimentary needs, but the Greeks prefer to colonize than make efforts to conquer neighboring territories.
Cimmerian forces begin a conquest of Phrygia, having failed in their efforts to defeat the Assyrians and moved into Anatolia. Having controlled the Caucasus and the plains north of the Black Sea for decades if not centuries, they will control Phrygia by next year and later move against Lydia (see 652 B.C.).
Babylon's former king Merodach-Baladan II dies in southern Elam (year approximate).
Babylon is destroyed by the Assyrian king Sennacherib, but the city will be rebuilt in even greater splendor and luxury (see 597 B.C.).
Egypt's 25th dynasty king dies and is succeeded by his Ethiopian cousin, who will reign until 664 B.C. as Tarku (Taharqa) (but see 671 B.C.).
Greece's 23rd Olympiad is held at Olympia (see 708 B.C.); boxing is added to the Olympic games that are more and more intended as preparation for war. Contestants compete with no holds barred, winning is everything, low blows are permitted, leather thongs protect the boxers' fists to some extent, but their faces are sometimes so disfigured by savage blows that they are unrecognizable even by their families (see 680 B.C.).
Assyria's Sennacherib is assassinated in January by one or two of his sons in the temple of the god Ninurta at Kalakh after a 23-year reign in which he has defeated the Babylonians, made Nineveh a showplace, and diverted the waters of a river into a huge aqueduct to supply Nineveh with irrigation. His principal wife, Naqia (Zakutu), has used her wiles and influence to have the imperial council appoint her son Esarhaddon as her husband's successor in preference to the young man's two older brothers, who flee to Urartu (later Armenia); a woman probably of Aramaean or Jewish origin, Naqia helps Esarhaddon obtain support from the army, and he will reign until his death in 669 B.C. Unlike his late father, the new king is friendly toward Babylon and orders her reconstruction.
Lydia's king Candaules is assassinated by his favorite bodyguard, who has spied on the king's beautiful wife while she was bathing (year approximate). She has caught Gyges observing her in the nude and told him that he must either kill her husband, seize the throne, and marry her or be killed by her own hand on the spot. He opts for regicide, his act enrages the populace, but Gyges persuades the Lydians to let the oracle at Delphi decide the matter, plies the oracle with gold and silver gifts (Lydia is rich in gold), wins a favorable judgment, and will reign until his death in about 652 B.C. (see commerce, 657 B.C.).
Greece's 25th Olympiad is held at Olympia with the first equestrian event. A four-horse chariot race is run at the nearby Hippodrome, with slaves driving the chariots in a fierce competition that not infrequently ends in death (see 648 B.C.).
Assyria's king Esarhaddon uses severe measures to suppress a rebellion by the combined forces of Sidon, Tyre, and other Syrian cities. When he learns that Egypt's Cushite king Tarku (Taharqa) is planning to intervene in Syria he stations a garrison on his Egyptian border to thwart the plan (see 671 B.C.).
Media's king Deioces dies after a 53-year reign that has established the kingdom of the Medes and its capital at Ecbatana (later Hamadan) in what later will be northwest Persia; he is succeeded by his son, who has been a village chief of Kar Kasaha and will reign until 653 B.C. as Phraortes, forming an anti-Assyrian alliance with the Cimerians to subjugate the Persians and other Asian peoples.
The Elamite king Urtaku comes to power, beginning a reign that will continue until 664 B.C.
The Assyrian king Esarhaddon defeats the Egyptian army of the 25th dynasty king Tarku (Taharqa) and goes on to capture Memphis along with its royal harem and a vast amount of treasure (see 679 B.C.). He sets up a new Assyrian administration and withdraws, after which his adversary returns from his refuge in Upper Egypt, raises an army of Cushites, massacres the Assyrian garrison, and will control his country until 664 B.C.
Assyria's Esarhaddon dies at Harran in December while en route to suppress another revolt in Egypt; he is succeeded after a 12-year reign by his scholarly son Ashurbanipal, whom he appointed crown prince in May of 672 B.C. to avoid a dynastic struggle between the young man and his half brother Shamash-shum-ukin, a son of equal status by another wife. The queen mother, Naqia (Zakutu), persuaded her late husband to favor Ashurbanipal and exacts an oath of allegiance from both family and courtiers. Able to read not only Sumerian but also arcane Akkadian scripts and languages, Ashurbanipal has studied history, literature, and the administration of his father's huge empire; he will reign at Nineveh until his death in 626 B.C.
Assyria's new king Ashurbanipal puts down an Egyptian rebellion, drives out Egypt's Ethiopian king Tarku (Taharqa), and restores Necho I as governor of Sais in the Nile Delta (see 667 B.C.).
Assyria enjoys abundant harvests, which will continue good for several years.
Assyria's Ashurbanipal resumes his late father's attack on Egypt, recapturing Memphis and beginning an offensive into Upper Egypt (see 668 B.C.). Vassals who include Necho I, governor of Sais, support Egypt's Ethiopian king Tarku (Taharqa) in an uprising, but the Assyrians learn of their plans and deport the rebels to Nineveh (see 664 B.C.).
Southern Babylon comes under attack from neighboring Elam; the Assyrian crown prince Shamash-shum-ukin repels the Elamite forces, whose king Urtaku is killed after an 11-year reign, but Shamash-shum-ukin will soon begin to grow resentful of the domineering manner of his half brother Ashurbanipal (see 656 B.C.).
A nephew of Egypt's Ethiopian king Tarku (Taharqa) foments a rebellion against the Assyrian occupation authorities, but Ashurbanipal routs the forces of Egypt's 25th dynasty king Tarku (Taharqa), who flees south to Nubia and dies there after a 26-year reign (see 667 B.C.). Tarku is buried in a large pyramid at Nuri and succeeded by the nephew, Tanutamon, who leads an invasion of Lower Egypt and captures Memphis. Ashurbanipal pursues him far to the south, defeats him, and thereby persuades Sidon, Tyre, and other rebellious parts of the empire to resume regular payments of tribute.
The Egyptian governor Necho I of Sais in the Nile Delta dies, having resumed his loyalty to the Assyrians; Ashurbanipal appoints Necho's son Psamtik of Sais as ruler of Athribis in the delta, giving him an Assyrian name. Psamtik will rule until 610 B.C., inaugurating the Saite 26th dynasty as he extends royal authority throughout Egypt without extensive resort to armed force.
Japan's main island of Honshu is invaded (according to legend) by Jimmu Tenno (Kami Yamato Ihare-Biko), who crosses from the island of Kyushu to establish himself as the country's first emperor (the invasion will actually occur at least 600 years hence).
Byzantium is founded by Greek colonists from Megara, who establish a settlement to the east (see 340 B.C.; Constantinople, 330 A.D.).
Lydia's king Gyges establishes a state monopoly in metal coinage, making it illegal for individuals to issue the bean-shaped lumps of electrum used as a medium of exchange in place of commodities (year approximate). A naturally occurring mixture of gold and silver (at least 20 percent silver), electrum contains also bismuth, copper, iron, palladium, and possibly other metals; it is found chiefly in the area of Lydia's Pactolus River, a small tributary of the Hermus (later the Gediz Nehri). Irregular ingots of the metal are known as dumps, but although Gyges stamps them as a guarantee of their negotiability at a predetermined value they carry no stamp to indicate that value, there is no uniformity to their size or weight, and they are generally too heavy for easy use in commercial transactions (see Croesus, 559 B.C.).
Assyria's crown prince Shamash-shum-ukin at Babylon forms a secret alliance with Arabs, Aramaeans, Elamites, Persians, and Egyptians against his half brother Ashurbanipal (see 653 B.C.; 664 B.C.).
Thebes submits to the Egyptian ruler Psamtik I of Sais, who has allied himself with Gyges of Lydia and employs Libyan soldiers in a rebellion against Assyrian rule with help from Carian and Ionian mercenaries, but Psamtik permits the city's mayor, Montemhat, to retain his position. Montemhat is not only the most powerful Theban but also the fourth prophet of Amon; in order to accommodate pro-Cushite sentiments, Psamtik allows the sister and daughter of the late king Taharqa to remain as well (they are known as the God's Wife of Amon and the Votaress of Amon; the votaress adopts Psamtik's own daughter Nitocris, who becomes heiress to the position of God's Wife).
Egypt's Psamtik I marches into Philistia in pursuit of Assyrian forces as he consolidates his authority while avoiding territorial expansion. Assyria's Ashurbanipal does not try to reconquer his Egyptian territories.
Median forces launch a premature attack on the Assyrians, who by some accounts kill the king of the Medes (year approximate). He has ruled since 675 as Phraortes, but his realm is taken over by Scythian chiefs who have come across the steppe from eastern Asia, gained a fearsome reputation for horsemanship, become famous also for the exquisitely-wrought gold and silver jewelry produced in animal shapes by their artisans, taken what later will be called the Crimea from the Cimmerians, and will control what later will be northwestern Persia until about 625.
Elamite forces attack southern Babylon, as they did in 664 B.C. (see 656 B.C.). A large Assyrian army sent by Ashurbanipal hands the Elamites a decisive defeat, Elam's king is killed, and some of his states are encouraged to secede (see 652 B.C.).
Cimmerian forces from Anatolia take Lydia's capital at Sardis and reach the peak of their power (see 696 B.C.). Lydia's king Gyges has spent most of his 28-year reign fighting his southern and western neighbors in an effort to gain suzerainty over all of western Asia Minor. He has helped Egypt's rebellious Psamtik I, but he receives no support from his erstwhile Assyrian ally Ashurbanipal and is killed (year approximate). His son Ardys will find payment of tribute to Assyria preferable to rule by the Cimmerians, who will be routed a few decades hence by a new Lydian king.
Elam withdraws from her alliance with the Assyrian crown prince Shamash-shum-ukin, who launches a premature attack on his half brother Ashurbanipal at year's end without waiting for reinforcements that have been promised by Egypt's Psamtik I (see 653 B.C.; 651 B.C.)
Assyria's Ashurbanipal defeats the Babylonian army of his half brother Shamash-shum-ukin and surrounds the fortified city of Babylon, beginning a 3-year siege during which the Assyrians will defeat Shamash-shum-ukin's allies, including Arabian camel corps (see 648 B.C.). Teispes, the Achaemenian Persian king of Anshan, sends help to Shamash-shum-ukin but his heirs will later be obliged to accept Assyrian overlordship (see 639 B.C.).
Ephesus (Ephesos) on the Ionian seacoast repels an attack by the Cimmerians (year approximate), but the neighboring city of Magnesia is less successful.
Greek hillsides are bare of trees, which have been cut down to provide wood for houses, for ships, and for the charcoal used by metalworkers. Loss of the trees leads in many areas to soil erosion and to a loss of fertile land (see Solon, 594 B.C.).
Babylon falls to Assyrian forces after a 3-year siege (see 651 B.C.); starved out by his half brother Ashurbanipal, the Babylonian crown prince Shamash-shum-ukin commits suicide in his burning palace, allegedly having built a pyre of his concubines and treasure as the Assyrians slaughter his city's garrison and much of its population (see 647 B.C.).
Messenians in Greece's Peloponnesus revolt against Sparta under the leadership of Aristomenes, beginning a struggle that will continue until 631 B.C. (see 720 B.C.).
Greece's 33rd Olympiad is held at Olympus with a new event: the pancratium is a no-holds-barred contest that combines boxing and wrestling.
Elam refuses to extradite an Aramaean prince, giving the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal an excuse to invade the country (see 648 B.C.; Susa, 646 B.C.).
Assyrian forces attack the fortified Elamite capital of Susa, destroy its palaces and temples, make off with rich spoils, and exile upper-class Elamites to Assyria and other parts of Ashurbanipal's empire (year approximate; see 639 B.C.; 647 B.C.).
The Achaemenid Persian king Teispes dies after a 35-reign in which he has ruled Anshan and tried to remain neutral in disputes between the far more powerful kingdoms of Assyria and Elam (year approximate); Teispes has either divided his realm between his sons Ariaramnes and Cyrus I or arranged for an alternation in succession between the junior and senior lines.
The Achaemenid Persian king Cyrus I accepts Assyrian suzerainty over Elam and sends his eldest son Arukku to Nineveh with tribute money for Ashurbanipal (year approximate) (see 646 B.C.).
Lydia's king Ardys dies after a 15-year reign and is succeeded by his son Sadyattes, who will reign until about 619 B.C. (year approximate).
The Athenian nobleman Cylon tries to seize the Acropolis and make himself tyrant (chief archon) of the city-state (year approximate). The Athenian chief archon Megacles thwarts Cylon, some of whose followers take refuge at an altar, leaving their sanctuary only when promised that their lives will be spared. They are put to death, nevertheless. Megacles is held responsible, Apollo's oracle at Delphi is consulted, and a curse is placed on the Alcmaeonid family, whose members go into exile.
The Messenian stronghold of Eira (Ira) falls to Spartan forces after an 11-year siege (see 648 B.C.). Messenians who do not leave the country are forced into servitude as helots (see 464 B.C.).
Assyria's king Ashurbanipal dies after a 43-year reign that has brought great prosperity to his empire and destruction to his enemies (year approximate). He is the last major ruler of the Sargonid dynasty that has ruled for nearly a century, and the empire will crumble in the next 20 years as a result of external pressures.
The Scythian chiefs who have ruled the kingdom of the Medes since 653 B.C. are killed at a banquet given by the son of the late Median king Phraortes, who will unite the tribes of what later will be northwestern Persia, reorganize the Median army, and reign until his death in 585 B.C. as Cyaxares (see 615 B.C.).
Corinth's tyrant Periander invites the city-state's nobility to a party and has his soldiers strip the women of their gold jewelry and of gowns adorned with golden thread. The gold will finance Periander's government for decades to come.
The Athenian lawgiver Draco issues a code of laws that makes nearly every offense punishable by death. Barbarously cruel or harsh punishment will forever be called "Draconian" (see Solon, 594 B.C.).
The Book of Deuteronomy is compiled by Israelite scribes as one of the five books of Moses, containing what purports to be the dying testament of Moses to his people (see 1275 B.C.).
The Law of Moses in Deuteronomy imposes dietary restrictions, permitting meat only from any animal "that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two, and chews the cud," but proscribing meat from camels, hares, and rock badgers as well as from pigs. Also proscribed as "unclean" are fish without fins and scales, certain birds, and anything "that dies of itself." And "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk" (see Shariah, 628 A.D.).
Egypt's Psamtik I repulses Scythian forces from his border.
Lydia's king Sadyattes dies (year approximate) and is succeeded by his son Alyattes, who for the next 5 years will raid farmlands around the Greek city of Miltus on the southwestern coast of Anatolia before moving eastward to battle the Medes (see 585 B.C.). Alyattes will reign until about 560 B.C., resisting a threat from the Medes and driving the nomadic Cimmerians out of western Anatolia.
The Achaemenid Persian king Ariaramnes dies after a 25-year reign in which he has ruled over Persis (later Fars) in the southwestern part of the country while his brother, Cyrus I, has ruled Anshan in Elam, north of the Persian Gulf. An invasion by the Medes has broken his power, and Ariaramnes has become a vassal of the Median king Cyaxares, as will be his son Arsames (see Nineveh, 614 B.C.).
Chaldeans at Babylon construct a Processional Way to connect the city's temples with its royal palaces, laying burned bricks and carefully shaped stones in bituminous mortar.
Median forces surround the Assyrian city of Nineveh (see 615 B.C.). Egypt's Psamtik I sends reinforcements that help drive off the siege forces, but the Medes succeed in storming the Assyrian religious capital of Asbhur; they will ally themselves with the Babylonians through the marriage of a granddaughter of the Median king Cyaxares to the Babylonian heir apparent, a son of Nabopolassar, who will inherit the throne in 605 B.C. (see 612 B.C.).
Nineveh falls in late August to the Medes and Chaldeans (see 614 B.C.). Scythian horsemen in the Median army have ridden a great distance to attack the city and carry off vast amounts of booty to the Ukrainian steppe; Babylonian forces arrive in time to help the victors chase the Assyrians into Syria, where they will make fruitless appeals for help to Egypt's Psamtik I and his son. The fall of the Assyrian capital will soon be followed by the disappearance of the Assyrian Empire.
Egypt's Psamtik I dies in the 54th year of a reign that has founded the 26th (Saite) dynasty that will rule until 525 B.C. Having organized a Greek mercenary corps in his army and resisted feudal tendencies, he is succeeded by his son, who inherits a strong kingdom and will reign until 595 B.C. as Necho II.
Demotic script derived from pictographic Egyptian hieroglyphics and cursive hieratic script has begun to replace hieratic writing during the long reign of Psamtik I. The new script will be almost universally used for business and literary purposes by the 5th century B.C.
Work on a new canal to link the Nile with the Red Sea begins under the auspices of the new Egyptian king Necho II, but although more than 120,000 men will die in the effort to build it, and the Greek historian Herodotus will write that Necho completed a channel "four days' journey in length and wide enough for two armies abreast," the canal will not be completed (see 1380 B.C.; 520 B.C.).
Ships of the Egyptian king Necho II will circumnavigate Africa in the next 14 years, proceeding from east to west and taking 3 years (including a stop to plant and harvest a grain crop on the North African coast).
Babylon's first Chaldean king Nabopolassar dies August 16 and is succeeded by his 25-year-old son, who has married a Median princess, secured control of Syria by routing the army of Egypt's Necho II at Carchemish and Hamath, returns home to Babylon in 3 weeks, and will reign until his death in 562 B.C. as Nebuchadnezzar II (Nebuchadrezzar II).
Babylon's Nebuchadnezzar II (Nebuchadrezzar II) campaigns from June to December in Syria and Palestine, using Greek mercenaries to help him capture the city of Ashkelon and secure the submission of states that include Judah.
700 B.C.–676 B.C. 675 B.C.–651 B.C. 650 B.C.–626 B.C. 625 B.C.–601 B.C.
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