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King ruled with the support of a powerful aristocracy composed of
both ethnic Assyrians and Assyrianized nobility from the subordi-
nate states (see 4.2.1 below).2.2 Other Types of State
The following types of polity within and without the Empire may
be distinguished.2.2.1 Territorial States
These were states ruled by hereditary kings (e.g., Babylonia, Egypt,
Elam, Ellipi, Israel, Judah, Lydia, Mannea, Shubria, Urartu, Phrygia).
While some of these states had earlier developed into extensive
empires successfully contesting with Assyria, all of them declined in
power after the eighth century and eventually became mere depen-
dencies or provinces of the Empire, for at least some time during
the latter part of the millennium.2.2.2 Dynastic Houses
Dynastic houses mostly corresponded to former provinces of disin-
tegrated empires, ruled by local dynasts. They were named after the
founder of the dynastic line, for example, the House of Omri in
Israel, the House of Purutash in Cappadocia, the House of Yakin
and other Chaldean “houses” in Babylonia, and the House of Dalta
in Ellipi.2.2.3 City States
City states were polities ruled by hereditary kings or elected “city-
lords,” often vying with other cities for the control of larger territo-
ries. This was by far the most common type of polity in the
first-millennium Near East and, apart from Greece and Ionia, pre-
dominant in the Iranian plateau, Kurdistan and the Zagros moun-
tains, Phoenicia, the Levant, and former areas of the Babylonian,
Egyptian, and Hittite empires.2.2.4 The Cimmerians, the Scythians, and the numerous Arab and
Aramean tribes settled in Syria, the Jezirah, and Babylonia were
examples of nomad or semi-sedentary nations and tribes ruled by
kings, kinglets, and sheikhs.westbrook_f28_1047-1066 8/27/03 1:37 PM Page 1052