Figure 1.--This Assyrian conquered Israel (722). Some of the conquered Jewish tribes were exiled. In this Assyrian bas relief the Jews are depicted as being driven with their possessins and cattle from Israel. This relief was found in the palace of King Sennacherib in Nineveh. This is one of the few depictions of the early Jewish people.

Assyria began expanding south (9th century BC). Israel joined with the kingdoms of Hamath and Damascus (modern Syria) to resist the Assyrians (mid-9th century). The Assyrian had far greater resources and were more effectively organized. They steadily advanced south. One of the most important Assyrian kings was Tiglathpileser III ( -728 BC). He appears to have been the Biblical Pul (2 Kings 15.19). His conquests included the Aramaean tribes in Babylonia and his armies campaigned against the Medes and reached as far north as the Caspian Sea. Tiglathpileser defeated King Urartu in Hamath thus gaining control of the north of what is now modern Syria. The two Hebrew states (Israel and Judah) instead of joining against Assyria saw each other as the major enemy. King Ahaz of Judah even appealed to King Tiglathpileser for military aid against King Pekah of Israel and King Resin of Damascus. Tiglathpileser conqquered Damascus. He then supressed a revolt in Babylonia. Stripped of its northern allies, Israel had to face Assyria alone with a hostile Judah to the south. Tiglathpileser conquered northern areas of Israel and exiled the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. Shalmanaser V (727-22) took Luli in Tyre. He then conquered Samaria, the capital of Israel, in the same year he died (722 BC). [2 Kings 17.] This ws the territory of tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, Shalmanaser exiled the tribes. Sargan II (721-05 BC), one of the greatest Assyria kings conquered the rest of Isreal, completing the conquest. Sargon is Biblical Sharru-kin. [Isaiah 20:1.] The exiled Jews were replaced with other peoples, an early example of ethnic cleansing. It is unclear who they were, but because because they were living in Shomron or Samaria -- thet are called Samaritans in the Bible. The Samaritans accepted some aspects of Judaism. They did not, however, accept Judaism fully. They were thus not accepted by the Jewish people and were in turn resentful.

Israel (10th centry BC)

When Solomon died (922 BC), his two sons disputed the sucession and the kingdom was divided. Hebrew history has generally focused on the southern kingdom--Judah. The northern kingdom was Isreal. king Omri (884-873) created a new capital, called Samaria (Šomron). The city controls the north-south route and an important road from the coast to the Jordan valley. The southern kingdom was Juah/Judea. Religious differences developed in the two kingdoms. Over time, religious differences developed between the two kingdoms. While often given only limited attention, Israel which for a time a powerful regional state. It reached its greates power during the golden age of Omri's son-- Ahab. Israel was well integrated into the international economical, political, and social systems of the region. Samaria ad several temples, including one for the YHWH and another for the Phoenician god Baal. Of course to orthodox Jews, this was a sacrelige. Thus Israel in the Bible is clearly denegrated. Omri, Ahab, and his wife Jezebel are depicted in the Bible as the archvillains of sacred Hebrew history The prophet Elijah is depicted as the righteous voice. Elijah provides the major surviving depoction of te era. The two kingdoms existed between Assyria to the West and Egypt to the east. For a time the Assyrians were content to receive tribute from the Jews. Egypt was ruled by the southern Saites dynasty and was absorbed in internal affairs. Assyrian power varied over time. The Jews instead of joining forces against the Assyrians quareled with each other. There were wars between Israel and Judah. And there were civil wars within the two states over the kingship. There were also wars with neigboring peoples like the Canaanites. Both states had commercial, military, and diplomatic contacts with the other peoples of the Levant. Of particular importance were the Phoenicians (coat of Lebanon) and the Aramaeans (Damascus and Hamath).

Assyria

Assyria was the great imperial power of the era with a powerful army. Assyria began expanding south into thev Levant (9th century BC). The Assyrians were a semietic people who first appeared to history (14th century BC). They became a great military power, building one of the great empires of westen Asia controlling the Fertile Cressent and Egypt. It was at first a small city state city state on the upper Tigris north northeast of Babylonia. Assyria was bounded in the north and east by the Taurus and Zagros mountains--the Mountains of Ashur. Two areas were the central Assyrian breadbasket: the Arbel plain and the Nineveh plain. Here crops as agriculture became more sophisticated could be grown without irrigation, unlike in Babylonia further down river. The rich agriculture provided the wealth that supported a massive army as well as as an educated class and gifted craftsmen. The first great Assyrian king was Shalmaneser I (1276-57 BC). Assyria achieved some importance under Tiglath-pileser I (12th century BC). Assyria became a major power with the great war leader Ashurnasirpal II (9th century BC). He set up the beginnings of an imperial administration with his conquests. His successors (Shalmanser III, Tiglath-pileser III, and Sargon) carved out a great Middle Eastern Empire. Sargon's son Sennacherib consolidated these gains. Esar Haddon (681-668 BC) conquered the Chaldaeans and sacked Babylon (669 BC). He also gained control of Egypt. Assur-bani-pal (669-633 BC) is seen as reigning during the height of the Empire with important artisticic achievements. After Egypt broke away, however, the Assyrian Empire rapidly declined. Nineveh was sacked (612 BC). Assyria was absorbed by first a revived Babylonian Empire and then the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.

Isreali Allies

Israel joined with the kingdoms of Hamath and Damascus (modern Syria) to resist the Assyrians (mid-9th century). The Assyrian had far greater resources and were more effectively organized. They steadily advanced south.

Tiglathpileser III ( -728 BC)

One of the most important Assyrian kings was Tiglathpileser III ( -728 BC). He appears to have been the Biblical Pul (2 Kings 15.19). His conquests included the Aramaean tribes in Babylonia and his armies campaigned against the Medes and reached as far north as the Caspian Sea. Tiglathpileser defeated King Urartu in Hamath thus gaining control of the north of what is now modern Syria.

Continued Rivalry between Israel and Judah

The two Hebrew states (Israel and Judah) instead of joining against Assyria saw each other as the major enemy. King Ahaz of Judah even appealed to King Tiglathpileser for military aid against King Pekah of Israel and King Resin of Damascus. Tiglathpileser conquered Damascus. He then supressed a revolt in Babylonia. Stripped of its northern allies, Israel had to face Assyria alone with a hostile Judah to the south.

Fall of Israel and Exile

Israel by itself could not resist the power of Assyria. Tiglathpileser conquered northern areas of Israel and exiled the people of tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali who survived the conquest (724 BC). Shalmanaser V (727-22) took Luli in Tyre. He then conquered Samaria, the capital of Israel, in the same year he died (722 BC). [2 Kings 17.] This was the territory of tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, Shalmanaser exiled the tribes. Here they disappear from history. Dispersed in the vast Assyrian Empire they inter-married with the wider population and lost gtheir Jewish identity and culture. Sargan II (721-05 BC), one of the greatest Assyria kings conquered the rest of Isreal, completing the conquest. Sargon is Biblical Sharru-kin. [Isaiah 20:1.]

Samarians/Samaratans

Israel became a province of the Assyrian Empire. To help pacify the province, the exiled Jews were replaced with eastern peoples, an early example of ethnic cleansing. They were called Cuthaeans. It is unclear just who they were. They probably included some Assyrians. Some of these people settled in the capital of Israel--Samaria. They thus came to be called Sanaritans. They brought with them their Assyrian gods and cultic practices. The people of the Middle East, including the Hebrew people, tended to be superstitious. And the Hebrews themselves despite their developing religious doctrines did not deny the existence of the gods of other people. Victorious conquers often feared that that while people had been conquered, that does not mean that their gods had been conquered. And given prevalent superstions, there was always the possibility that the gods of the conquered people would seek vengeance. Thus they would commomly intwine the local god into their own pantheon and adopt new religious and cultic practices. This paractive varies from people to people, but the Assyrians in Samaria begn worshipping Yahweh as well as their own gods and by the time of the Babylonian conqudst appear to hve been worshipping Yahweh exclusively. DNA studies as to the origins of the Sanritns is somewhat inderterminate at this time. The Assyrians did not exile all of the Isrealis. The Bibljcal view is that the people the Assyrians introduced acceped parts of Hebrew culture. They did not, however, accept Judaism fully and had their own religious ideas as well. They were thus not accepted by the Jewish people in Judah. The Jews there had problems with Isreael. The Samarians were of course much worse in their eyes and of course the Samarians are described in the Bible through the lens of the conservative Jewish people of Judah, The Samrians were somewgat resentful, but in general viewd the Jews in Juadh as unsophisticated peasants, much the way New Yorkers once viewd the Bible Belt. The Samarians lived in a more cosmopolitan environmemt. Polytheism and tolerance of other religions was seen as civilized behavior. Many Samarians seemed to have believed in Yahweh, the Hebrew God. Other Samarians accepted Yahweh, but saw him as one of mang gods. This was not unknown in Judah as well. The Samarians or Samaritans as they are now known had a different view of this, especilly after the subsequent Babylonoan exile. They see themselves as the tru rpositary if the ancient Hebrew religion. And it was the Jews who changed, espcilly after the Babylonian Exile. Thee once was a very subsyntial Samaritan popultion in the Levnt, perhaps s many as a million people. There still are two small Samaritan communities, one on in Israel and the other on the West Bank. < . Thus was formed the only major schism in the Yahweh religion: the schism between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Samaritans, who were Assyrian and therefore non-Hebrew, adopted almost all of the Hebrew Torah and cultic practices; unlike the Jews, however, they believed that they could sacrifice to God outside of the temple in Jerusalem. The Jews frowned on the Samaritans, denying that a non-Hebrew had any right to be included among the chosen people and angered that the Samaritans would dare to sacrifice to Yahweh outside of Jerusalem. The Samaritan schism played a major role in the rhetoric of Jesus of Nazareth; and there are still Samaritans alive today around the city of Samaria. >