Ancient Assyrian Kings on their ConquestsNote: These accounts are not propaganda pieces concocted by

Ancient Assyrian Kings on their ConquestsNote: These accounts are not propaganda pieces concocted by their enemies. These were first hand accounts from ancient Assyrian kings, often found on their own memorials and tombs. This is actually how Assyrian kings wanted to be remembered.King Ashurnasipal II, 883-859 BC“I flayed as many nobles as had rebelled against me [and] draped their skins over the pile[of corpses]; some I spread out within the pile, some I erected on stakes upon the pile … Iflayed many right through my land [and] draped their skins over the walls.”“I felled 50 of their fighting men with the sword, burnt 200 captives from them, [and]defeated in a battle on the plain 332 troops. … With their blood I dyed the mountain redlike red wool, [and] the rest of them the ravines [and] torrents of the mountainswallowed. I carried off captives [and] possessions from them. I cut off the heads of theirfighters [and] built [therewith] a tower before their city. I burnt their adolescent boys[and] girls.”“In strife and conflict I besieged [and] conquered the city. I felled 3,000 of their fightingmen with the sword … I captured many troops alive: I cut off of some their arms [and]hands; I cut off of others their noses, ears, [and] extremities. I gouged out the eyes ofmany troops. I made one pile of the living [and] one of heads. I hung their heads on treesaround the city.”King Tiglath Pileser III (745 - 727)“Nabû-ushabshi, their king, I hung up in front of the gate of his city on a stake. His land,his wife, his sons, his daughters, his property, the treasure of his palace, I carried off. BitAmukâniI trampled down like a threshing (sledge). All of its people, (and) its goods, Itook to Assyria.”From King Sennacharib (705 - 681 BC)“I cut their throats like lambs. I cut off their precious lives (as one cuts) a string. Like themany waters of a storm, I made (the contents of) their gullets and entrails run down uponthe wide earth. My prancing steeds harnessed for my riding, plunged into the streams oftheir blood as (into) a river. The wheels of my war chariot, which brings low the wickedand the evil, were bespattered with blood and filth. With the bodies of their warriors Ifilled the plain, like grass. (Their) testicles I cut off, and tore out their privates like theseeds of cucumbers.”On the destruction of BabylonI swiftly marched to Babylon which I was intent upon conquering. I blew like the onrush of a hurricane and enveloped the city like a fog. I completely surrounded it and captured it by breaching and scaling the walls. I did not spare his mighty warriors, young or old, but filled the city square with their corpses…I turned over to my men to keep the property of that city, silver, gold, gems, all the moveable goods. My men took hold of the statues of the gods in the city and smashed them. They took possession of the property of the gods. The statues of Adad and Shala, gods of the city Ekallati that Marduk-nadin-ahe, king of Babylonia, had taken to Babylon at the time of Tiglath Pileser I, King of Assyria, I brought out of Babylon after four hundred and eighteen years. I returned them to the city of Ekallati. The city and houses I completely destroyed from foundations to roof and set fire to them. I tore down both inner and outer city walls, temples, temple-towers made of brick and clay - as many as there were - and threw everything into the Arahtu canal. I dug a ditch inside the city and thereby levelled off the earth on its site with water. I destroyed even the outline of its foundations. I flattened it more than any flood could have done. In order that the site of that city and its temples would never be remembered, I devastated it with water so that it became a mere meadow.”King Esarhaddon (681-668 BC) “Their blood, like a brokendam, I caused to flow down the mountain gullies. I hung the heads of Sanduarri [king of the cities ofKundi and Sizu] and Abdi-milkutti [king of Sidon] on the shoulders of their nobles and with singing and musicI paraded through the public square of Nineveh.”King Ashurnbanipal (668 - 627 BC)“Their dismembered bodies I fed to the dogs, swine, wolves, and eagles, to the birds ofheaven and the fish in the deep…. What was left of the feast of the dogs and swine, oftheir members which blocked the streets and filled the squares, I ordered them to removefrom Babylon, Kutha and Sippar, and to cast them upon heaps.”On the destruction of Elam,“The sepulchers of their earlier and later kings, who did not fear Assur and Ishtar, mylords, (and who) had plagued the kings, my fathers, I destroyed, I devastated, I exposed tothe sun. Their bones (members) I carried off to Assyria. I laid restlessness upon theirshades. I deprived them of food-offerings and libations of water.” On the destruction of Susa, capital of the Elamite Kingdom,“Susa, the great holy city, abode of their gods, seat of their mysteries, I conquered. I entered its palaces, I opened their treasuries where silver and gold, goods and wealth were amassed… I destroyed the ziggurat of Susa. I smashed its shining copper horns. I reduced the temples of Elam to naught; their gods and goddesses I scattered to the winds. The tombs of their ancient and recent kings I devastated, I exposed to the sun, and I carried away their bones toward the land of Ashur. I devastated the provinces of Elam and on their lands I sowed salt.” -- source link

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