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Tiglath-pileser was eager to expand Assyria's access to the Mediterranean Sea, particularly because he wanted his empire to increase its number of trading partners and expand its trade routes. His goal brought him into a long conflict with a variety of nomadic and seminomadic Aramaean tribes, however. For more than 14 years in the middle period of his reign, Tiglath-pileser launched a total of 28 campaigns against the Aramaeans, who blocked his unmolested access to the Mediterranean. He was eventually successful, and the Aramaeans no longer posed a threat to Assyrian trade.

a resource that was increasingly favored for military use as well as manufacture. However, Assyria's access to iron ore was threatened by a wave of nomadic invasions by tribal people from Phrygia known as the Mushki.

Around the beginning of the ninth century BC, the Assyrian Empire gained control of Byblos. A tribute list reveals that in 876, the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II accepted a tribute of natural resources as well as luxury manufactured goods, including jewelry and furniture, from Byblos. The Assyrians also profited from the ambitious shipping operations they directed from Byblos's port. The city next came under Persian influence between about 550 and 330, though it functioned as an independent kingdom with its own mint.

The Assyrians ran up against the power of Aram (situated in modern-day Syria), which blocked their access to western trade routes.

Assyria again had command of trade routes leading to Syria and Asia Minor, adding rich agricultural land and prosperous cities to its territory and a large population for military use

Sennacherib maintained the lands his father had conquered

techniques the Assyrians used to capture a city.

wheeled battering ram

This picture illustrates some of the 1techniques the Assyrians used to capture a city. On the left hand side some men scale the wall with a ladder . On the right hand side a wheeled battering ram