Tiglath-Pileser III reforms the empire
Standing armies, salaried governors and mass deportation as administrative technique.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 18 years
- Known to
- ± 5 years
- Era
- Iron Age, Holocene
Taking the throne in 745 BCE, Tiglath-Pileser III restructures Assyria: he breaks the great provinces into smaller ones under appointed officials, creates a standing army paid from the treasury rather than a seasonal levy, and institutionalises the deportation of conquered peoples — hundreds of thousands moved across the empire to sever them from their land and each other. The template is copied by Babylon, Persia and everything after.