Period 6
Thoughts and Reflections on: Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death
Erika Bleibtreu
Ancient history is rife with humans inflicting torture upon one another on a massive scale, but no other empire comes close to achieving what the Assyrians did in this respect. Sure, Nero did some pretty horrific things, and yeah the Chinese have that water thing, but these acts of violence are not central to their respective empires. The Assyrians on the other hand built themselves around violence. Not only were their military conquests carried out for religious purposes, but they were also key to the Assyrian economy. We know of the creative punishments carried out by the Assyrians because of pictorial evidence depicting the grisly tortures of anyone who defied them. In all of these artistic renderings of Assyrian victories however, their is not one single instance of an Assyrian soldier dying. Indeed, the Assyrians claimed that there were never any casualties on their side because they were carrying out the will of God. 
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