Month: November 2025

Long before Assyria annexed vast stretches of the Near East, its kings shaped the region through contracts. A network of oath-bound rulers formed the backbone of Assyria’s early imperial power. What later became one of history’s most formidable territorial empires began, surprisingly, as a diplomatic one, held together by agreements rather than governors.

In the ninth century BCE, Assyrian expansion moved outward from the Tigris Valley not through the wholesale takeover of foreign lands, but through a web of treaties. When an Assyrian king campaigned beyond his borders, he often chose not to dismantle local governments, but to bind their rulers through a sacred agreement. The local king would remain on his throne, keep his palace officials, and preserve internal autonomy. The state continued to function under its own laws and traditions.

What changed was its foreign policy. The ruler now recognized the Assyrian king as his superior and aligned himself with Assyria’s interests. The result was a form of imperial influence built not on direct rule but on managed sovereignty: kings ruled their own kingdoms, but in matters of diplomacy and war they were tethered to Assyria. The effect was a hegemonic order that allowed Assyria to expand its influence quickly and with remarkable efficiency.

Continue reading “Assyria, an empire of oaths”

For the last few weeks I’ve been writing extensively about the Assyrian Empire: the first state to dominate the entire Near East, the military colossus whose armies once conquered all lands between Egypt and Iran. We know its kings, its campaigns, its bureaucracy, and its monumental architecture. The stones of Nineveh and Nimrud still bear their names. And yet the man who destroyed Assyria — the one who besieged Assur, helped pull down Nineveh, and ended three centuries of imperial rule — remains almost invisible in the historical record. His name was Cyaxares.

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When Psamtik I became ruler of Sais around 664 BCE, Egypt was a shadow of its former self. For half a century it had been ruled by the 25th Dynasty, kings from Kush who had briefly restored Egypt’s unity and power under rulers like Piye and Taharqa. Their expansion into the Levant, however, brought them into conflict with the rising empire of Assyria: a contest Egypt would ultimately lose.

Between 671 and 667 BCE, the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal invaded Egypt, captured Memphis, and forced Taharqa to retreat south. After their victory, the Assyrians withdrew most of their forces but left behind a network of loyal local princes to govern in their name. Among them was Necho I of Sais, the father of Psamtik.

Continue reading “Psamtik I of Egypt: from protégé to would-be savior”