Triumph and Betrayal : Assyria’s Path to Empire, 935–745 BC

Abstract

This book re-examines Assyria’s rise to become ‘the world’s first empire’, presenting a new history of the early Neo-Assyrian period (935–746 BC) with detailed regional studies and thematic investigations. It finds that this period was riven with internal political conflicts, compromises, and sudden policy shifts contrary to structuralist interpretations, Assyria’s path to empire was a competition between rival visions for its future.