Enemies of Assyria

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This book explores the depiction and significance of enemies in Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions and various other textual sources, including literary, magical, religious, and some administrative or economic texts. Unlike other works that broadly categorize all military opponents or non-Assyrians as enemies, this study focuses specifically on fragments that explicitly label individuals, peoples, and lands as hostile to Assyria. It examines five key terms—aiiābu(m), gērû(m), nakru(m), zāʾeru(m), and zāwiānu (zāmânu)—along with relevant epithets. The book is structured into six parts. The first provides a historical background, emphasizing royal inscriptions and their compositional changes. The second part discusses various textual sources relevant to the study of enemies during the Neo-Assyrian period. The third part offers a brief overview of Assyrian rulers as depicted in both textual and pictorial sources. The fourth part is the core of the book, detailing the terms and epithets associated with Assyrian enemies. The fifth part summarizes the key issues addressed, while the final section presents a compilation of textual fragments that include the discussed terms and epithets related to adversaries of Assyria.