All empires throughout history have their ups and downs before finally coming to an end, but even by such standards that of the ancient Assyrians was a real roller-coaster of a ride, with spectacular periods of growth followed by equally dramatic declines. The best known of these periods, and also the most successful for the Assyrian kings, was the Neo-Assyrian period, which ran from 911 BCE to around 612 BCE, after which the empire disappeared forever. During these years the empire extended to its greatest size, but this was achieved by a huge number of military campaigns, which kept the Assyrian military busy and ultimately proved to be untenable.

Prior to the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III, who came to the throne in 745 BCE, much of any Assyrian army was raised from the peasantry, which could only be done after harvests had been gathered, and so limited the timing and duration of campaigns. Tiglath-Pileser III is credited with introducing a larger, professional standing army that did not have such limitations, and this army, made up mainly of native Assyrians, was called the kisir sharruti. Foreign contingents raised as part of the tribute from client kings might join this army as required, but at its heart was a much smaller body of men, the qurubti sa shepe, which means ‘at the feet’, and was the king’s close bodyguard – effectively an elite imperial guard of shock troops. This set from Linear-A offers us a glimpse of both.

The figures in our top row are identified as soldiers of the kisir sharruti – the two with particularly large shields are also labelled as ‘heavy’, unsurprisingly. All these men wear the typical Assyrian pointed helmet and the equally characteristic lamellar corselet which reaches to the waist, with leather strips below. The tunic is short, reaching only to the knee, as it would be when on campaign, and all wear the long lace-up boots which first appear during the 8th century BCE (before then men fought bare-foot). The preponderance of armour is also a feature dating from the 8th century BCE, which as we shall see securely dates these figures to roughly the last 150 years of the empire’s existence. Four of the men carry a spear (32 mm long to the tip), and while the bow was the most common infantry weapon, the spear was the most common contact weapon by this date. The remaining pose holds his short sword, which all the rest carry in a scabbard on their left side. The three round shields are all of typical design, and the two full-body shields are also well-attested, although their sheer weight would have been something of a limitation on the actions of the man.

The first three men in our second row are labelled as ‘auxiliary spearmen’, and as you might expect they are not so well equipped. One man wears no armour at all – just his tunic and cap, but the other two both have a helmet with a small crest – a feature that was originally Neo-Hittite, but from the 8th century BCE started to be more widely adopted by the Assyrians themselves. Both of these men also wear an irtu, a small circular plate on the chest, which was another adoption from the Neo-Hittites at the same time. Both also have the same on the back, which we are not sure is correct (rear views are very rare in Assyrian art), and one man wears his over a full lamellar corselet, which seems a rather strange form of doubling up but may be possible. All carry much the same spear as the others, and also have shields of typical size.

Figures nine and ten are guardsmen accordingly to Linear-A, and are largely dressed like the rest of the infantry in row one. The major feature of this pair is the enormous circular shield held by the first man, which is certainly depicted in Assyrian reliefs and so is genuine, but as many have already commented, such a heavy object is much more likely to be for show than for actually using in a battle. Shields of this size first appear during the reign of Ashurbanipal (669 – 631 BCE), so quite late in the target period for this set, and indeed the large shields of the ‘heavies’ in the first row are also thought to be a 7th century BCE innovation. Nevertheless, ceremonial or not, the guardsman with the massive shield is a valid and accurate figure which is otherwise conventionally dressed and equipped.

Although there are several largely static poses here of men standing or marching, there are also some action ones, and these are really nice. Plenty of men thrusting with their spear whilst holding their shield to their front – exactly what you would expect of such warriors, but so difficult a pose to do with a simple one-piece mould. All of them are great, and the man with front foot raised is particularly dynamic. Standing and marching figures have their place of course, and those here are also great, but we felt that they are a bit over-represented here, given the set only has 10 poses. Still there is not a duff pose to be seen here, just some exciting and very attractive soldiers.

We need hardly comment of the standard of sculpting here – the pictures tell their own story. The detail is exquisite, down to the fringes on the tunics and the wicker effect on the inside of some of the shields. The men’s hair, particularly the beards, is another stand-out highlight, but basically all of it is superb. One of the larger shields has an image engraved on it, and we were particularly appreciative of the fact that many of the shields have scratches, and in one case a small tear, which is exactly what you would expect to see on a shield that is being used for real. As these are 3D-printed, there is no assembly at all, yet all the poses are beautifully three-dimensional, with perfect detail even in hard-to-see areas. No flash of course, allowing the figures to show off the beauty of their design without any imperfections.

This is another gorgeous set of figures from Linear-A, and with some really impressive action poses that show just what 3D-printing can do. The many subtle variations in costume and equipment work really well, and the relatively good evidence we have on the look of Assyrian forces at this period has been used to create some highly realistic figures that are also a pleasure to examine. Since these are nearly all spearmen this is not a balanced reflection of an Assyrian army, but this is set five in a series, so that is fine. The many features that set the date for this set to around 745 to 612 BCE are consistent, and focus on a period when the empire was particularly active, with some of its most famous kings waging war on many different opponents, offering so many opportunities to use these figures.