Part XX

We must not, however, take leave of her without considering briefly the other side of the picture her achievements in other fields than conquest. It is a relief to find that her rulers, even those whose greed for power and for the extension of Assyria's borders was strongest, were zealous also in the promotion of works of peace, more particularly the embellishment of the capital in which they resided, though their concern was extended also to other places.

Wars were undertaken in the name of the gods, and with their help, and when victory crowned the Assyrian arms, to the gods belonged the glory. The kings, thus feeling at all times close to their gods, took every occasion to show their homage. Attached, therefore, to the annals detailing their military expeditions are accounts of the enlargement of the temples, of repairs to sacred edifices, which were so frequently required in the case of brick structures that building and rebuilding became synonymous terms.

Next to the temples, the royal palaces, built in close proximity to the chief temples in each centre, engaged the attention of rulers; and they are equally proud of their efforts at improving conditions of life for the people by providing new canals to provide good water supply and transportation facilities, laying out parks and gardens, regulating commercial dealings, affording protection to all classes of the community. With the extension of political power, commercial intercourse with distant lands also expanded, and the priestly organization k,ept pace with the development of the military strength.

Ashurbanapal, though perhaps not the greatest of Assyrian rulers, becomes the typical grand monarque, who, in addition to his campaigns organized on so large a scale, is the promoter of art and patron of learning. Nineveh, which from the time of Tiglathpileser IV on is selected as the capital, reaches the height of its splendor under the Sargonic dynasty.

Its temples and palaces are worthy of the pre-eminent position acquired by Assyria as the mistress of the nearer Orient. Ashurbanapal embellishes his new palace with sculptured slabs representing scenes from his campaigns, engaging for this purpose the services of the best artists, and, following the initiative of Sennacherib, brought together in his palace copies of the most important literary productions of the past which his scribes copied from the originals in the temples of the south. ^[1]

He thus made Nineveh a cultural as well as a military and political centre, for he succeeded in really gathering together a collection of tablets that merits the term royal, embracing as it did, every branch of the literary activity of Babylonia during the long period of her existence, together with the additions to native literature made by Assyria.