In the World of Sorrows: What if Assyria had sacked Jerusalem in 701 BCE?

Hnau

Banned
The Arameans were diffused throughout the Assyrian Empire at its initial disintegration. The Amorites, a distinct people from the Arameans, but originally from the same region, went on to found Babylon. The Babylonians are former Amorites, and will probably find the Arameans to be useful allies that share a similar culture. This will be contrasted with OTL in which they became merely useful subjects, until the Persian Conquest.

The Assyrians, however, will probably start treating the Arameans worse now that they have an independent kingdom that is closer to Egypt. You can expect many Arameans moving to their liberated homeland when they can (though Assyria will try to retain as many as they can by force of arms, or maybe have them deported to the eastern mountains).

Note that Egypt will now be able to draw upon Aramean and Levantine labor, using them instead of the Greeks. They would probably find Aramean-Levantine migrants to be more culturally similar than the Greeks, and closer, therefor less expensive. IOTL they imported large Greek populations overseas because they were outside the Assyrian Empire's grasp, but now the Greeks won't have as strong as an influence. Not saying that Greeks won't be settling in Egypt and also trading, but they'll be more specialized kinds of individuals, and require patronage by the Pharaoh or his court. Also, there will probably be just as many Phrygians and Lydians by 627 BCE.
 

Hnau

Banned
The Assyrian Civil War, Part Two

In the aftermath of Hadadezer's coup in Aram-Damascus, King Psamtik and other Egyptian leaders distanced themselves from the Aramean cause so as to not alienate the Babylonians, led by Ashurbanipal's brother. It nevertheless created a rift between the allies. King Sinidinnapla lost trust in Psamtik and also lost the faith of his Assyrian supporters, who worried that the Babylonians or Chaldeans could do something similar at home. He attempted to negotiate with the new king Hadadezer, but could not even win the freedom of his nephews and nieces, as the former general feared they would be used to re-establish Assyrian power in Damascus. They would coordinate their offensives no longer: they stayed on the same side only because Nineveh was still the greatest power, and infighting would yield all of their gains to their mutual enemy. The war maintained its momentum for another two years.

In 632 BCE, misfortune struck the fair King Sinidinnapla, who fell from his chariot after being hit by an arrow. He died shortly thereafter, leaving his son Ashurnadinapli to take the throne of Babylon. Ashurnadinapli, as the crown prince of Babylon, had been trained as a formidable general, but also had lived his life embarrassed that unlike his father he was a half-Egyptian. The faction that he commanded in court were mainly Assyrians, along with those Babylonians and Egyptians who had once benefited from the Triple Monarchy. Where Sinidinnapla wanted a return to the status quo of the Triple Monarchy, Ashurnadinapli wanted more. He demanded of his cousin in Nineveh a harsh price for peace: half of the Assyrian heartland, though he had not yet taken even that. He also spoke openly to his court that he regarded King Hadadezer as a traitor and that after Nineveh was humbled, they would have to find a way to punish Damascus as well. With such a man in power in Babylon, the civil war would go on.

Another reason the war would continue for another three years was that the neighbors of the Assyrian heartland had grown restless as they watched the regional hegemon bleed. The Cimmerians, the Scythians, the Medes, and the Persians wanted whatever goods and treasures that they could seize by force while the Assyrians were distracted. As Psamtik pulled back Egyptian forces to take new vassals in the Levant, and the Babylonians struggled with bad harvests, invasion from the north and the east kept Nineveh from being able to win a decisive victory.

The event that would lead to the end of the war was the successful plotting of court conspirators against the new King Ashurnadinapli. Many did not want him as a king, and more importantly the Babylonians were struggling to continue the war effort for so long. Factions coalesced around Erishum IV, the second son of Siniddinapla. Unlike his brother, Erishum embraced his Egyptian heritage, and also had married a Chaldean noble. He had the support of the common people in Babylon, and much of the Chaldean army. After receiving vows from several nobles who would prefer his leadership, Erishum ordered a group of soldiers and mercenaries to kill his brother on the road to Kish. The attack succeeded, and Babylon lost its second king in a year.

220px-Nabonidus.jpg

King Erishum IV, later known as Marduk-kudurriusur, killed his brother for the throne and only reigned for four years. He is credited for ending the Assyrian Civil War and winning Babylonian independence
After his ascension to the throne, Erishum IV sent new concessions and demands for his cousin the High King for a conditional peace. First, he didn't want half of the Assyrian heartland, he wanted to keep what territory his forces actually controlled (much less). This was significant. He continued the demands of both his brother and father for authority over the Chaldeans and Elamites, which was reasonable. Less easy for Ashurnasirpal to accede to was the demand for Babylonian independence. Like the Arameans years earlier, the Babylonians now wanted out of the Triple Monarchy.

King Ashurnasirpal knew that such a peace would leave Assyrians with much less territory under their control than before the war. It would be considered a great loss. When his cousin first sent his overtures, many in his court resisted. While raids from the north had left the Assyrians weakened, their power had not yet been exhausted. Treasuries continued to pay for mercenaries and weapons, there was still enough fertile farmland that had escaped the war to provide more food, the cities continued to attract migrants and recruits, rivers made trade and transport easy, and supply lines were always short.

Yet, Assyria had lost the ability to project its force against so many enemies all at once, and the Iranian invaders would not relent. After suffering defeats and being chased over the mountains, the raiders would gather greater numbers, and strike a different part of the borderland, wherever there was weakness. Nineveh could not expel the Arameans from Aram-Damascus, nor the Babylonians from the south, nor the Egyptians from the Levant, not while they were being attacked on all fronts. After seven years of war, the peoples of the Assyrian heartland wanted peace, and after a time the royal court and the military realized they would be satisfied if they could leave Assyria strong so that after the peace, they could start making new vassals by preying on their weakest neighbors. They reasoned that there were enough Assyrians in the south that Babylon could be retaken when it didn't have such motivated allies, and then they could eventually retake the Arameans. Those who advised the king convinced him of their plans, and in time peace negotations began.

In the resulting peace, decided in Mari, Aram-Damascus won its independence, and was allowed to reign over territory that almost cut the Assyrians off from the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptians were able to keep their new vassals in the Levant, up to Samaria, marking the greatest expansion of Egyptian power since the New Kingdom period. The Babylonians received all that was demanded by their new king, effectively seizing the deep south of the former Assyrian empire. Assyria kept what was left. It didn't take them long to fill border garrisons to their capacity and begin a reconstruction program for new forts, roads, and walls. The Nineveh court had been wise: the much reduced Kingdom of Assyria regained its strength quickly, benefitting from a surge in trade, and also of labor as Assyrians of the newly-created kingdoms returned to the heartland. Yet King Ashurnasirpal faced a loss of personal power and prestige as the local priesthoods heaped blame upon him for every trouble. Knowing that the gods would be eager to cast him into disfavor, since he had lost so much of the empire, Ashurnasirpal consented to build a new temple to Ashur in order to appease their wrath. Though the peace had been forged out of a secret commitment to vengeance, Assyria turned inward instead, and would bide its time.

In the mountains to the east, the Iranian tribes began to organize and plot...
 
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While I know only just enough about the period to recognize most of the names, this is really well written and interesting! I look forward to seeing what happens with the Old Persians TTL (and Zoroastrian revolutions certainly sound interesting).

Anyways, subscribed.
 

Deleted member 67076

Such a fascinating and underutilized period. I'll be watching this closely.
 

Hnau

Banned
While I know only just enough about the period to recognize most of the names, this is really well written and interesting! I look forward to seeing what happens with the Old Persians TTL (and Zoroastrian revolutions certainly sound interesting).

Anyways, subscribed.

Well, I won't give away anything about the Persi, yet, but if you read the original story there are clues. As for as the bloody rise of the Zarathushtran Puritans, we'll need to get through about 2,600 years of history first. Which is no small task, it'll take me a while. You'll hear more about the religion over the centuries, as they become much like the OTL Jews in Europe, a peculiar people not quite trusted by others, but tolerated because of their mercantile network and high literacy rates.

Thank you for the praise! It helps me stay focused on this project. :)
 
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Well, I won't give away anything about the Persi, yet, but if you read the original story there are clues. As for as the bloody rise of the Zarathushtran Puritans, we'll need to get through about 2,600 years of history first. Which is no small task, it'll take me a while. You'll hear more about the religion over the centuries, as they become much like the OTL Jews in Europe, a peculiar people not quite trusted by others, but tolerated because of their mercantile network and high literacy rates.

2,600? You're planning to take the TL until almost the modern day then?

And Zoroastrianism is still relevant so far into the future? Interesting.
 

Hnau

Banned
2,600? You're planning to take the TL until almost the modern day then?

This timeline is one that I keep coming back to. I believe the emergence of monotheistic Abrahamic religion was the principal engine of social change from the Iron Age to the Industrial Revolution. To prevent that emergence is to launch world history into a fundamentally different direction. Fortunately, Poul Anderson's In the House of Sorrows provides a framework to explore this alternative path of history. As a writer I'm terrible in keeping commitments, but this topic interests me enough that I'll probably continue writing even if the installments are sporadic, until I reach Anderson's end point and surpass it.

Grouchio said:
Do you need any help with research or planning?

Thanks for offering! If you have any suggestions for this scenario, please make them known.

I'm currently focused on Anatolia. Butterflies lead the Cimmerians to wreak havoc on Phrygia about a decade earlier than in OTL. Lydia becomes very different for a while. The Greek colonies are also thrown onto slightly different paths. Then, with the end of the Assyrian Civil War, the Cimmerians and Scythians have to find a new target for their raids, and Anatolia is chosen.

I'm also designing the alternate Buddhist religion for this world. Anderson describes a "Warrior-Buddha" in his short story. My idea is that a completely different religious leader emerges in India in the 6th century BCE, who is also called the Buddha, but his movement is not so strict with non-violence, and is more like a chivalric order. There will be Buddhist monks, but there will also be Buddhist knights. My understanding of OTL Buddhism is rudimentary, however, so any help in that area would be fantastic. The alternate religion has to fit the same initial niche, but find different answers to the same questions that would still be coherent in ancient India... it's a challenging project, to say the least. Jainism will also be different, but much more like its OTL counterpart since the older traditional variant of the religion was already around by the time butterflies arrive in India.
 
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