“Ashurbanipal, the great king, the mighty, king of the universe, king of Assyria, king of the fourregions of the world, king of kings, unrivalled prince, who, at the command of the gods, hisallies, holds sway from the Upper to Lower Sea and has brought into submission all rulers; sonof Esarhaddon, the great king, the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, viceroy ofBabylon, king of Sumer and Akkad . . . grandson of Sennacherib, the great king, king of theuniverse, king of Assyria, am I.” Ashurbanipal 668? – 627 BCAssyria was the first world empire, the progenitor of all others, and it ruled from theMediterranean coast in the north-west to the Persian Gulf, from Media in the north-east toLower Egypt in the south-west. The instrument that secured such immense conquests was theAssyrian Army, one of the most effective and terrifying pre-classical forces. It was not onlyresponsible for subjugation of the independent city-states of the Near East, but it also oversawthe creation of history’s first independent cavalry arm as well as the development of siegeweapons later used by both Greece and Rome. Brilliantly, Mark explains all this in great detail –a narrative so easy to follow, one doesn’t want the photo-history to end, while awaiting Volume2.The rediscovery and excavation of the Assyrian civilization in the mid-19 th century provided agreat deal of visual evidence showing how this army evolved over three centuries. The recoveryof wall reliefs and artefacts, coupled with the enormous amount of research carried out byAssyriologists since that time, has revealed the immense impact of the Assyrian Empire onhistory. Such has been the scale of archaeological discovery in more recent years that it is now
possible to give the actual names of the commanders of cavalry and chariot unit.
Mark has an academic background in theology, philosophy, and politics. Since his equallyreadable, “Warriors of the Old Testament”, he has written extensively on both ancient andmodern military history subjects. His titles include works on Ancient Egypt. Assyria and Rome,all for Osprey. Us World War II buffs know his War in Europe titles well since they all sitprominently on our personal library shelves. In addition, this good man has scripted and editedsome 30 films on German armor, U-boats, and the Luftwaffe. Although now retired, he has
taught for over 30 years.
