Chapter One: Infectious Alternatives

History Club

Historical Information About the Assyrians• The Mesopotamian world from

approximately 2400 B.C. to 610 B.C. saw Assyria rise to become a major power.

• The following timeline lists the major events in the history of Assyria (and the Assyrian Peoples):

1. Emergence: Beginnings To 2400 B.C.

2. First Golden Age: 2400 B.C. to 610 B.C.

3. First Dark Age: 610 B.C. to 33 A.D.4. Second Golden Age: 33 A.D. to

1300 A.D.5. Second Dark Age: 1300 A.D. to

1918 A.D.6. Diaspora: 1918 A.D. To The

Present* This is when Assyrian dominance

ended in the Middle East.

Siege of Jerusalem

• In 701 B.C., the Assyrians launch a siege of Jerusalem after having “had occupied no fewer than forty-six walled places in the kingdom of Judah and compelled Hezekiah, king of Judah, to shut himself up in Jerusalem ‘like a bird in a cage.”

• The Jews were able to repel the Assyrians, according to William H. McNeill through constructing a tunnel that “still carries water from the spring of Gihon to the pool of Siloam, just outside Jerusalem’s ancient walls.” In doing this, the Jews forced the Assyrians to drink contaminated water, thus leading to the spread of disease amongst Assyrian ranks. The Jews held a different view, claiming that God had saved the city for his sake “and for my servant David’s sake.”

Jewish Beliefs

• “The circumstances of the Assyrian withdrawal from the walls of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. confirmed this belief, proving God’s universal power to pious and eager believers more clearly and far more convincingly than ever before.”

• Due to their stern beliefs that God not only governed the Jews, but all the world, the Jews saw their exile at the hands of the Babylonians as God’s “punishment for the failure of Judah’s rulers and people to observe his commandments to the full.” Therefore, rather than abandoning the religion as one that praised a God weaker than those worshiped by the Babylonians, the Jewish peoples began to study the scripture even more closely, thus enabling the creation of Christianity and Islam.

What If?

• What if the Assyrians had succeeded in their conquest of Jerusalem, and as a result never allowed the concept that the Jewish God was an all powerful worldwide ruler to become the common belief within the religion?

•What if Judaism ended with the conquest of Jerusalem?