Southern Policy of the Neo-Assyrian State and the Elamite-Babylonian Alliance

Abstract

Because the Assyrian state started to strengthen in the early first millennium BC by acquiring an imperial identity, it gained the capacity to launch military campaigns across remote regions, which, not surprisingly, disturbed and threatened the neighboring states. In this period, which is called the Neo-Assyrian period, Assyrian armies prevailed in a vast geographical region, extending from Egypt to Elam and reaching into even Babylonia and Anatolia. The most important region which Assyrians aimed to reign in the given period was Babylonia. They showed a great interest in the region due to its high economic potential. However, Elam, which was located in the eastern region of Sumerians, was also interested in the same region. Because they aimed to prevent a potential Assyrian hegemony over Babylonia, Neo-Elamites usually supported all anti-Assyrian rebellions. Another reason why Neo-Elamites adopted this policy lied in the fact that they saw it as necessary to prevent Assyrians from being a bordering state. On the other hand, Assyrians organized various military campaigns against both Babylon and Elam in order to control the region as well as conducting diplomatic relations. Therefore, the present study focuses on the struggle among these three states and their diplomatic relations by relying on Assyrian and Babylonian cuneiform texts and modern literature and refers to these cuneiform texts directly and indirectly in different parts of the study. In this way, the present study deals with conflict among Assyria, Elam and Babylon from a political, military and, to a certain extent, economic perspective and analyzes Neo-Elamite and Babylonian policies against hegemonic expansion of the Assyrian state in the first millennium BC and various measures taken by the Assyrian state against this alliance.