Originally Posted by carbon12
Originally Posted by Thunderstick
I'm wondering if we will get any hand-wringing over the Assyrian brutality of war in honor to their gods. While Israel's occupation campaign was limited to a specific time and geographical boundaries the Assyrians plundered with impunity.
Let the moral outrage begin with the Assyrians

According to the narrative representations on these reliefs, the Assyrians never lost a battle. Indeed, no Assyrian
soldier is ever shown wounded or killed. The benevolence of the gods is always bestowed on the Assyrian king
and his troops.
Like the official written records, the scenes and figures are selected and arranged to record the king’s heroic
deeds and to describe him as “beloved of the gods”:
“The king, who acts with the support of the great gods his lords and has conquered all
lands, gained dominion over all highlands and received their tribute, captures of hostages,
he who is victorious over all countries.” †
The inscriptions and the pictorial evidence both provide detailed information regarding the Assyrian treatment
of conquered peoples, their armies and their rulers. In his official royal inscriptions, Ashurnasirpal II calls
himself the “trampler of all enemies … who defeated all his enemies [and] hung the corpses of his enemies on
posts.” † The treatment of captured enemies often depended on their readiness to submit themselves to the will
of the Assyrian king:
“The nobles [and] elders of the city came out to me to save their lives. They seized my
feet and said: ‘If it pleases you, kill! If it pleases you, spare! If it pleases you, do what
you will!’” †
In one case when a city resisted as long as possible instead of immediately submitting, Ashurnasirpal proudly
records his punishment:

Assyrian headhunters gather their trophies. In a relief from
Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh, two scribes, standing side by side at
right, record the number of the enemy slain in a campaign in southern
Mesopotamia. Heads lie in a heap at their feet. The foreground scribe
uses pen and ink on a leather scroll; the other scribe writes with a stylus
on a hinged writing-board coated with wax.

“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 … I
flayed many right through my land [and] draped their skins over the walls.” †
The account was probably intended not only to describe what had happened, but also to frighten anyone who
might dare to resist. To suppress his enemies was the king’s divine task. Supported by the gods, he always had
to be victorious in battle and to punish disobedient people:
“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 red
like red wool, [and] the rest of them the ravines [and] torrents of the mountain
swallowed. I carried off captives [and] possessions from them. I cut off the heads of their
fighters [and] built [therewith] a tower before their city. I burnt their adolescent boys
[and] girls.” †
A description of another conquest is even worse:
“In strife and conflict I besieged [and] conquered the city. I felled 3,000 of their fighting
men 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 of
many troops. I made one pile of the living [and] one of heads. I hung their heads on trees
around the city.” †

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f4af/bb82f1b7920fa9444e29eb128bd13832cd46.pdf





How cruel were the New Assyrian Kings? What were there reasons? And finally, what were the effects of such cruelty they exemplified?

Many Kings of Assyrian had displayed proudly their cruelty towards their enemies. Sometimes in reliefs or in their annals, New Assyrian gave detail of their gory exploits against their opponents. King Ashurnasirpal laid out many of his sadistic activities in one of his annals. He liked burning, skinning, and decapitating his enemies. When he defeated a rebelling city, he made sure they pay a huge price. Disobedient cities were destroyed and razed to the ground with fire, with their wealth and all material riches taken by the king. Their youth and women were either burned alive or made into slaves or placed into the harem. In the City of Nistun, Ashurnasirpal showed how he cut of the heads of 260 rebelling soldiers and piled it together. Their leader named Bubu suffered horrific punishment. He was flayed and his skin was placed in the walls of Arbail. In the city of Suri, rebelling nobles were also skinned and were displayed like trophies. Some skin were left to rot but some were placed in a stake. Officials of the city suffered decapitation of their limbs. The leader of the Suri rebellion, Ahiyababa, underwent flaying and his skin was then placed in the walls of Niniveh. After Ashurnasirpal defeated the city of Tila, he ordered to cut the hands and feet of the soldiers of the fallen city. Other than that, some soldiers found themselves without noses and ears. But also, many defeated soldiers had their eyes gouged out. The heads of the leaders of the Tila were hang in the trees around the city.

Ashurnasirpal was not alone in having a psychotic mind. Many of his successors followed his brutality towards enemies. Shalmaneser III had 20,500 enemy soldiers killed by arrow fire. Rebelling cities were “dug up” and burned with fire. Usually, surrounding towns of the unlucky city also suffered the same fate. Shalmaneser III also illustrated in his relief and carvings how he burned the children of defeated cities. Moreover, he ordered the beheading of the soldiers of disloyal cities and made a pyramid from the heads at the gates of the defeated cities. One time, after he defeated the rebelling city of Arzaskhu, he fastened people alive in the pyramids of heads alongside with pole, which had also alive captured soldiers dangling.
https://searchinginhistory.blogspot.com/2015/02/cruelty-instrument-of-assyrian-control.html




All that verbiage. Impressive.

Is there a point?


Yup it was noted at the outset--where is the moral outrage over the Assyrian gods--no one even takes them seriously today but here we are debating the Bible. This debate itself is proof that Bible stands well above all other attempts by BC man to formulate morals, religion, irreligion, philosophy or skepticism.