Persian culture paragraph:

When examining the attitude of the Persians toward the value of human life, it is clear that they tolerated brutality and torture that modern attitudes would condemn. An inscription commissioned by Darius I, translated by Tolman of Vanderbilt University, records the treatment of Babylonian rebels, who were “put on crosses” (Tolman, HC, 1908). Darius’ publication of this act on a cliff face on a main thoroughfare points to propaganda as the reason for this record, which introduces the possibility of bias and exaggeration. However, the History Collection website corroborates this, recording that Darius “impaled over 3000 Babylonians” he had taken as prisoners in 539BC (Holzwarth L, n.d). While both these sources could be questioned, the Tolman translation being published on an unverifiable website and the History Collection, although produced by historians and based on primary sources, not providing details of their qualifications, their agreement raises the reliability of the information. Other violations of human rights practised by the Persians included flaying, being buried alive, burning by molten metal, splitting in half and dehydration, while torture was also used to gain confessions. For lesser crimes, the punishments still included losing a limb or scourging (Holzwarth L, n.d.). Thus, it is clear that the Persians, operating at the time of the neo-Assyrian empire, had a marked disregard for human rights and life. (211 words)

Assyrian culture paragraph (make all cultures separate paras because of word count but bring up significant comparisons and contrasts in consecutive paragraphs):

Many of these practises are directly recorded about the Assyrians also, reflecting a similar attitude to the value of human life. The Nelson textbook by Hindmarsh and Harnack (2009) records, taken from primary source records of the Assyrians, that common practises of the Assyrians included cutting off hands and private parts, flaying, burning and impaling. Often, similarly to the Persians, these acts were in response to rebellion of subjected nations, thus providing a comparable context for these abuses. These practises are also collaborated by skeletal evidence of a male from the time of the Assyrian invasion of Israel, who bears marks of torture matching those attributed to the Assyrians in the neo-Assyrian era (Bradley P, 2017). Due to a lack of conclusive collaborating evidence, it is not possible to be positive that this man was a victim of the Assyrians but his wounds give credence to these practises being common in the ancient world. It is significant that the practises attributed to the Assyrian are primarily drawn from the Assyrians’ own writings and reliefs. Their self-representation has led to the common idea expressed by Unger, that “history [is] nowhere more bloody than in their record of their wars” (Hindmarsh, H, Harnack, C, 2009). However, the Assyrians “wished to portray themselves as cruel and brutal” (Hindmarsh, H, Harnack, C, 2009) and their war records show a clear bias toward portraying their cruelty as propaganda in order to intimidate. Thus, there are significant reservations about concluding that the Assyrians’ human rights record was indeed any worse than that of other concurrent societies. (246 words)