Assyria

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This article is about ancient Assyria. For the geographic and cultural location,
see Assyrian homeland. For other uses, see Assyria (disambiguation)
"Assyrian Empire" redirects here. For the most powerful stage of the ancient
Assyrian state, see Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Assyria

2500 BC–609 BC[1]

Overview map in the 15th century BC showing the core territory of Assyria with its
two major cities Assur and Nineveh wedged between Babylonia downstream and the
states of Mitanni and Hatti upstream.
Overview map in the 15th century BC showing the core territory of Assyria with its
two major cities Assur and Nineveh wedged between Babylonia downstream and the
states of Mitanni and Hatti upstream.
Capital Aššur
(2500–1754 BC)
Shubat-Enlil
(1754–1681 BC)
Aššur
(1681–879 BC)
Kalhu
(879–706 BC)
Dur-Sharrukin
(706–705 BC)
Nineveh
(705–612 BC)
Harran
(612–609 BC)
Official languages

Akkadian
Sumerian
Aramaic

Common languages Akkadian

Aramaic
Religion
Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Government Monarchy
King
• c. 2500 BC
Tudiya (first)
• 612–609 BC
Ashur-uballit II (last)
Historical era Bronze Age
• Kikkiya overthrown
2500 BC
• Decline of Assyria
612 BC 609 BC[1]
Area
194,249[2] km2 (75,000 sq mi)
Currency Mina[3]
Preceded by Succeeded by
Akkadian Empire
Median Empire
Neo-Babylonian Empire
Map showing the approximate location of the geographical region referred to as
"Assyria".

Assyria (/əˈsɪəriə/), also called the Assyrian Empire, was a Mesopotamian kingdom
and empire of the ancient Near East and the Levant that existed as a state from
perhaps as early as the 25th century BC (in the form of the Assur city-state[4])
until its collapse between 612 BC and 609 BC – spanning the periods of the Early to
Middle Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age.[5][6] This vast span of time is
divided into the Early Period (2500 BC-2025 BC), Old Assyrian Empire (2025 BC -
1378 BC), Middle Assyrian Empire (1392 BC - 934 BC) and Neo-Assyrian Empire (911 BC
- 609 BC).

From the end of the seventh century BC (when the Neo-Assyrian state fell) to the
mid-seventh century AD, it survived as a geopolitical entity,[7][8][9] for the most
part ruled by foreign powers such as the Parthian[10] and early Sasanian
Empires[11] between the mid-second century BC and late third century AD, the final
part of which period saw Mesopotamia become a major centre of Syriac Christianity
and the birthplace of the Church of the East.[12] Greeks, Romans, and subsequently
Arabs and Ottomans also took over control of the Assyrian lands.

A largely Semitic-speaking realm, Assyria was centred on the Tigris in Upper

Mesopotamia. The Assyrians came to rule powerful empires in several periods. Making
up a substantial part of the greater Mesopotamian "cradle of civilization", which
included Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, and Babylonia, Assyria reached the height of
technological, scientific and cultural achievements for its time. At its peak, the
Neo-Assyrian Empire of 911 to 609 BC stretched from eastern Libya and Cyprus in the
East Mediterranean to Iran, and from present-day Armenia and Azerbaijan in the
Transcaucasia to the Arabian Peninsula.[13]

The name "Assyria" originates with the Assyrian state's original capital, the
ancient city of Aššur, which dates to c. 2600 BC – originally one of a number of
Akkadian-speaking city-states in Mesopotamia. In the 25th and 24th centuries BC,
Assyrian kings were pastoral leaders. From the late 24th century BC, the Assyrians
became subject to Sargon of Akkad, who united all the Akkadian- and Sumerian-
speaking peoples of Mesopotamia under the Akkadian Empire, which lasted from c.
2334 BC to 2154 BC.[14] After the Assyrian Empire fell from power, the greater
remaining part of Assyria formed a geopolitical region and province of other
empires, although between the mid-2nd century BC and late 3rd century AD a
patchwork of small independent Assyrian kingdoms arose in the form of Assur,
Adiabene, Osroene, Beth Nuhadra, Beth Garmai and Hatra.

The region of Assyria fell under the successive control of the Median Empire of 678
to 549 BC, the Achaemenid Empire of 550 to 330 BC, the Macedonian Empire (late 4th
century BC), the Seleucid Empire of 312 to 63 BC, the Parthian Empire of 247 BC to
224 AD, the Roman Empire (from 116 to 118 AD) and the Sasanian Empire of 224 to 651
AD. The Arab Islamic conquest of the area in the mid-seventh century finally
dissolved Assyria (Assuristan) as a single entity, after which the remnants of the
Assyrian people (by now Christians) gradually became an ethnic, linguistic,
cultural and religious minority in the Assyrian homeland, surviving there to this
day as an indigenous people of the region.[15][16]
Contents

1 Etymology
2 Pre-history
3 History
3.1 Early Period, 2600–2025 BC
3.2 Akkadian Empire and Neo-Sumerian Empires, 2334–2050 BC
 3.3 Old Assyrian Empire, 2025–1522 BC
3.3.1 Decline, 1450–1393 BC
3.4 Middle Assyrian Empire 1392–1056 BC
3.4.1 Society and law in the Middle Assyrian Period
3.5 Assyria during the Bronze Age Collapse, 1200–936 BC
3.6 Neo-Assyrian Empire
3.6.1 Expansion, 911–627 BC
3.6.2 Downfall, 626–609 BC
3.7 Assyria after the empire
3.7.1 Achaemenid Assyria, Osroene, Asōristān, Athura and Hatra
3.7.2 Achaemenid Assyria (549–330 BC)
3.7.3 Macedonian and Seleucid Assyria
3.7.4 Parthian Assyria (150 BC – 225 AD)
3.7.5 Roman Assyria (116–118)
3.8 Christian period
3.8.1 Sassanid Assyria (226 – c. 650)
3.8.2 Arab Islamic conquest (630–780)
3.8.3 Mongol Empire (1200–1300)
3.8.4 Breakup of the Church of the East (1552–1830)
3.9 Modern history
3.9.1 Ottoman Empire (1900–1928)
3.9.2 Simele Massacre and World War II (1930–1950)
3.9.3 Ba'athism (1966–2003)
3.9.4 Kurdistan Region (2005–present)
3.9.5 Syrian Civil War (2012–present)
4 Culture
4.1 Language
4.2 Religion
4.2.1 Ancient Assyrian religion
4.2.2 Christianity
4.3 Architecture
4.4 Arts and sciences
5 Legacy
6 Notes
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 External links

Etymology

Assyria was also sometimes known as Subartu and Azuhinum prior to the rise of the
city-state of Ashur, after which it was Aššūrāyu, and after its fall, from 605 BC
through to the late seventh century AD variously as Achaemenid Assyria, and also
referenced as Atouria, Ator, Athor, and sometimes as Syria which etymologically
derives from Assyria[17] according to Strabo, Syria (Greek), Assyria (Latin) and
Asōristān (Middle Persian). "Assyria" can also refer to the geographic region or
heartland where Assyria, its empires and the Assyrian people were (and still are)
centered.

The indigenous modern Eastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrian Christian ethnic minority

in northern Iraq, north east Syria, southeast Turkey and northwest Iran are the
descendants of the ancient Assyrians (see Assyrian continuity).[18][19] As
Babylonia is called after the city of Babylon, Assyria means "land of Asshur".[2]

Etymologically, Assyria is connected to the name of Syria,[20] with both being

ultimately derived from the Akkadian Aššur.[21] Theodor Nöldeke in 1881 was the
first to give philological support to the assumption that Syria and Assyria have
the same etymology,[22] a suggestion going back to John Selden (1617). A 21st-
century discovery of the Çineköy inscription also confirmed that Syria, being a
Greek corruption of the name Assyria, is ultimately derived from the Assyrian term
Aššūrāyu.[23]
Pre-history
Official letter sent by the high-priest Lu'enna to the king of Lagash (maybe
Urukagina), informing him of his son's death in combat, c. 2400 BC, found in Girsu.

In prehistoric times, the region that was to become known as Assyria (and Subartu)
was home to a Neanderthal culture such as has been found at the Shanidar Cave. The
earliest Neolithic sites in what will be Assyria were the Jarmo culture c. 7100 BC,
the Halaf culture c. 6100 BC, and the Hassuna culture c. 6000 BC.

The Akkadian-speaking people (the earliest historically-attested Semitic-speaking

people)[24] who would eventually found Assyria appear to have entered Mesopotamia
at some point during the latter 4th millennium BC (c. 3500–3000 BC),[25] eventually
intermingling with the earlier Sumerian-speaking population, who came from northern
Mesopotamia,[26][27] with Akkadian names appearing in written record from as early
as the 29th century BC.[24][28]

During the 3rd millennium BC, a very intimate cultural symbiosis developed between
the Sumerians and the Akkadians throughout Mesopotamia, which included widespread
bilingualism.[29] The influence of Sumerian (a language isolate) on Akkadian, and
vice versa, is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a massive scale, to
syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence.[29] This has prompted
scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the third millennium BC as a
sprachbund.[29] Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as the spoken language of
Mesopotamia somewhere after the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC (the
exact dating being a matter of debate),[30] although Sumerian continued to be used
as a sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific language in Mesopotamia until the
1st century AD, as did use of the Akkadian cuneiform.

The cities of Assur, Nineveh, Gasur and Arbela together with a number of other
towns and cities, existed since at least before the middle of the 3rd millennium BC
(c. 2600 BC), although they appear to have been Sumerian-ruled administrative
centres at this time, rather than independent states.

Greco-Roman classical writers such as Julius Africanus, Marcus Velleius Paterculus

and Diodorus Siculus dated the founding of Assyria to various dates between 2284 BC
and 2057 BC,[31][32][33] listing the earliest king as Belus or Ninus.

According to the Biblical generations of Noah, which appears to have been largely
compiled between the 7th and 5th centuries BC,[34] the city of Aššur was allegedly
founded by a biblical Ashur the son of Shem, who was deified by later generations
as the city's patron god. However, the much older attested Assyrian tradition
itself lists the first king of Assyria as the 25th century BC Tudiya, and an early
urbanised Assyrian king named Ushpia (c. 2050 BC) as having dedicated the first
temple to the god Ashur in the city in the mid-21st century BC. It is highly likely
that the city was named in honour of its patron Assyrian god with the same name.
History
Further information: Timeline of the Assyrian Empire
Early Period, 2600–2025 BC
Main article: Early Period (Assyria)
Early Period

c. 2600 BC–c. 2025 BC

A map detailing the location of Assyria within the Ancient Near East c. 2500 BC.
A map detailing the location of Assyria within the Ancient Near East c. 2500 BC.
Capital Aššur
Common languages Akkadian language
Sumerian language
Religion
Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Government Monarchy
King
• c. 2450 BC
Tudiya (first)
• c. 2025 BC
Ilu-shuma (last)
Historical era Bronze Age
• Established
c. 2600 BC
• Disestablished
c. 2025 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by
Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)

Old Assyrian Empire

Today part of Iraq

The city of Aššur, together with a number of other Assyrian cities, seem to have
been established by 2600 BC. However it is likely that they were initially
Sumerian-dominated administrative centres. In the late 26th century BC, Eannatum of
Lagash, then the dominant Sumerian ruler in Mesopotamia, mentions "smiting Subartu"
(Subartu being the Sumerian name for Assyria). Similarly, in c. the early 25th
century BC, Lugal-Anne-Mundu the king of the Sumerian state of Adab lists Subartu
as paying tribute to him.

Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is known.[35] In the

Assyrian King List, the earliest king recorded was Tudiya. According to Georges
Roux he would have lived in the mid 25th century BC, i.e. c. 2450 BC. In
archaeological reports from Ebla, it appeared that Tudiya's activities were
confirmed with the discovery of a tablet where he concluded a treaty for the
operation of a karum (trading colony) in Eblaite territory, with "king" Ibrium of
Ebla (who is now known to have been the vizier of Ebla for king Ishar-Damu).

Tudiya was succeeded on the list by Adamu, the first known reference to the Semitic
name Adam[36] and then a further thirteen rulers (Yangi, Suhlamu, Harharu, Mandaru,
Imsu, Harsu, Didanu, Hanu, Zuabu, Nuabu, Abazu, Belus and Azarah). Nothing concrete
is yet known about these names, although it has been noted that a much later
Babylonian tablet listing the ancestral lineage of Hammurabi, the Amorite king of
Babylon, seems to have copied the same names from Tudiya through Nuabu, though in a
heavily corrupted form.

The earliest kings, such as Tudiya, who are recorded as kings who lived in tents,
were independent semi-nomadic pastoralist rulers. These kings at some point became
fully urbanised and founded the city state of Aššur in the mid 21st-century BC.[37]
Akkadian Empire and Neo-Sumerian Empires, 2334–2050 BC
Further information: Akkadian Empire and Neo-Sumerian Empire
Map of the Akkadian Empire (brown) and the directions in which military campaigns
were conducted (yellow arrows).

During the Akkadian Empire (2334–2154 BC), the Assyrians, like all the Akkadian-
speaking Mesopotamians (and also the Sumerians), became subject to the dynasty of
the city-state of Akkad, centered in central Mesopotamia. The Akkadian Empire
founded by Sargon the Great claimed to encompass the surrounding "four-quarters".
The region of Assyria, north of the seat of the empire in central Mesopotamia, had
also been known as Subartu by the Sumerians, and the name Azuhinum in Akkadian
records also seems to refer to Assyria proper.[38] The Sumerians were eventually
absorbed into the Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian) population.[29][30]

Assyrian rulers were subject to Sargon and his successors, and the city of Ashur
became a regional administrative center of the Empire, implicated by the Nuzi
tablets.[39] During this period, the Akkadian-speaking Semites of Mesopotamia came
to rule an empire encompassing not only Mesopotamia itself but large swathes of
Asia Minor, ancient Iran, Elam, the Arabian Peninsula, Canaan and Syria.

Assyria seems to have already been firmly involved in trade in Asia Minor by this
time; the earliest known reference to Anatolian karu in Hatti was found on later
cuneiform tablets describing the early period of the Akkadian Empire (c. 2350 BC).
On those tablets, Assyrian traders in Burushanda implored the help of their ruler,
Sargon the Great, and this appellation continued to exist throughout the Assyrian
Empire for about 1,700 years. The name "Hatti" itself even appears in later
accounts of his grandson, Naram-Sin, campaigning in Anatolia.

Assyrian and Akkadian traders spread the use of writing in the form of the
Mesopotamian cuneiform script to Asia Minor and the Levant (modern Syria and
Lebanon). However, towards the end of the reign of Sargon the Great, the Assyrian
faction rebelled against him; "the tribes of Assyria of the upper country—in their
turn attacked, but they submitted to his arms, and Sargon settled their
habitations, and he smote them grievously".[40]
Empire of the Third Dynasty of Ur. West is at top, North at right.

The Akkadian Empire was destroyed by economic decline and internal civil war,
followed by attacks from barbarian Gutian people in 2154 BC. The rulers of Assyria
during the period between c. 2154 BC and 2112 BC once again became fully
independent, as the Gutians are only known to have administered southern
Mesopotamia. However, the king list is the only information from Assyria for this
period.

Most of Assyria briefly became part of the Neo-Sumerian Empire (or 3rd dynasty of
Ur) founded in c. 2112 BC. Sumerian domination extended as far as the city of Ashur
but appears not to have reached Nineveh and the far north of Assyria. One local
ruler (shakkanakku) named Zāriqum (who does not appear on any Assyrian king list)
is listed as paying tribute to Amar-Sin of Ur. Ashur's rulers appear to have
remained largely under Sumerian domination until the mid-21st century BC (c. 2050
BC); the king list names Assyrian rulers for this period and several are known from
other references to have also borne the title of shakkanakka or vassal governors
for the neo-Sumerians.[41][42]
Old Assyrian Empire, 2025–1522 BC
Main article: Old Assyrian Empire
Further information: List of Assyrian kings
Old Assyrian Empire

c. 2025 BC–c. 1750 BC
Map showing the approximate extent of the Upper Mesopotamian Empire at the death of
Shamshi-Adad I c. 1721 BC.
Map showing the approximate extent of the
Upper Mesopotamian Empire
at the death of Shamshi-Adad I c. 1721 BC.
Capital Aššur
Common languages Akkadian (official)
Sumerian (official)
Hittite
Hurrian
Amorite
Religion
Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Government Monarchy
King
• c. 2025 BC
Erishum I (first)
• c. 1393 BC
Ashur-nadin-ahhe II (last)
Historical era Bronze Age
• Established
c. 2025 BC
• Disestablished
c. 1750 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by
Early Assyrian kingdom

Kingdom of Mitanni
Middle Assyrian Empire
Today part of Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey

The Old Assyrian Empire is one of four periods into which the history of Assyria is
divided, the other three being: the Early Assyrian Period, the Middle Assyrian
Period and the New Assyrian Period.

Ushpia (2080 BC) appears to have been the first fully urbanised independent king of
Assyria, and is traditionally held to have dedicated temples to the god Ashur in
the city of the same name.[43] He was followed by Sulili, Kikkiya and Akiya, of
whom little is known aside from Kikkiya conducting various building works in Assur.
A number of scholars also place Zariqum, a contemporary of Amar-Sin (2046–2038 BC)
of Ur as an Assyrian ruler, though he does not appear on the Assyrian king list,
but is claimed by Amar-Sin to be the 'governor' of Assur.[44]

In approximately 2025 BC, a king named Puzur-Ashur I came to the throne of Assyria,
and there is some debate among scholars as to whether he was the founder of a new
dynasty or a descendant of Ushpia. He is mentioned as having conducted building
projects in Assur, and he and his successors took the title Išši’ak Aššur (meaning
viceroy of Ashur). From this time Assyria began to expand trading colonies called
Karum into Hurrian and Hattian lands in Anatolia.[45] He was succeeded by Shalim-
ahum (c. 2000 BC), a king who is attested in a contemporary record of the time,
leaving inscriptions in an archaic form of Akkadian.[46] In addition to the
expansions into Anatolia Ilu-shuma (C. 1995–1974 BC) (Middle chronology) appears to
have conducted military campaigns in southern Mesopotamia, either in conquest of
the city-states of the south, or in order to protect his fellow Akkadian-speakers
from incursions by Elamites from the east and/or Amorites from the west –

"The freedom[nb 1] of the Akkadians and their children I established. I

purified their copper. I established their freedom from the border of the marshes
and Ur and Nippur, Awal, and Kismar, Der of the god Ishtaran, as far as
Assur."[47]:7–8

He is known to have built the old temple of Ishtar in Assur. He was succeeded by
another powerful king, the long reigning Erishum I (1973–1934 BC) who is notable
for one of the earliest examples of written legal codes[48] and introducing the
limmu (eponym) lists that were to continue throughout Assyrian history. He is known
to have greatly expanded Assyrian trading colonies in Anatolia, with twenty one
being listed during his reign. These Karum traded in: tin, textiles, lapis lazuli,
iron, antimony, copper, bronze, wool, and grain, in exchange for gold and silver.
Erishum also kept numerous written records, and conducted major building works in
Assyria, including the building of temples to Ashur, Ishtar and Adad.[49]

These policies were continued by Ikunum (1933–1921), Sargon I (1920–1881 BC),

likely named after his predecessor Sargon of Akkad,[50] (during Sargon I's later
reign Babylon was founded as a small city-state), and Puzur-Ashur II (1880–1873
BC). Naram-Sin (1872–1828 BC) repelled an attempted usurpation of his throne by the
future king Shamshi-Adad I late in his reign, however his successor Erishum II was
deposed by Shamshi-Adad I in 1809 BC, bringing an end to the dynasty founded either
by Ushpia or Puzur-Ashur I.

Shamshi-Adad I (1808–1776 BC) was already the ruler of Terqa, and although he
claimed Assyrian ancestry as a descendant of Ushpia, he is regarded as a foreign
Amorite usurper by later Assyrian tradition. However, he greatly expanded the Old
Assyrian Empire, incorporating the northern half of Mesopotamia, swathes of eastern
and southern Anatolia and much of the Levant into his large empire, and campaigned
as far west as the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.[51] His son and successor
Ishme-Dagan I (1775–1764 BC) gradually lost territory in southern Mesopotamia and
the Levant to the state of Mari and Eshnunna respectively, and had mixed relations
with Hammurabi, the king who had turned the hitherto young and insignificant city-
state of Babylon into a major power and empire.

After Shamsi-Adad I's death Assyria was reduced to vassalage by Hammurabi; Mut-
Ashkur (1763–1753 BC), Rimush and Asinum were subservient to Hammurabi, who also
took ownership of Assyrian trading colonies, thus bringing an end to the Old
Assyrian Empire.

However, the Babylonian empire proved to be short lived, rapidly collapsing after
the death of Hammurabi c. 1750 BC. An Assyrian governor named Puzur-Sin deposed
Asinum who was regarded as a foreign Amorite and a puppet of the new and
ineffectual Babylonian king Sumuabum, and the Babylonian and Amorite presence was
expunged from Assyria by Puzur-Sin and his successor Ashur-dugul, who reigned for
six years. A king called Adasi (1720–1701 BC) finally restored strength and
stability to Assyria, ending the civil unrest that had followed the ejection of the
Babylonians and Amorites, founding the new Adaside Dynasty.[52] Bel-bani (1700–1691
BC) succeeded Adasi and further strengthened Assyria against potential threats,[53]
and remained a revered figure even in the time of Ashurbanipal over a thousand
years later.[54]

There followed a long, prosperous and peaceful period in Assyrian history, rulers
such as Libaya (1691–1674 BC), Sharma-Adad I, Iptar-Sin, Bazaya, Lullaya, Shu-Ninua
and Sharma-Adad II appear to have had peaceful and largely uneventful reigns[55]

Assyria remained strong and secure; when Babylon was sacked and its Amorite rulers
deposed by the Hittite Empire and subsequently fell to the Kassites in 1595 BC,
both powers were unable to make any inroads into Assyria, and there seems to have
been no trouble between the first Kassite ruler of Babylon, Agum II, and Erishum
III (1598–1586 BC) of Assyria, and a mutually beneficial treaty was signed between
the two rulers. Shamshi-Adad II (1585–1580 BC), Ishme-Dagan II (1579–1562 BC) and
Shamshi-Adad III (1562–1548 BC) seem also to have had peaceful tenures, although
few records have thus far been discovered about their reigns. Similarly, Ashur-
nirari I (1547–1522 BC) seems not to have been troubled by the newly founded
Mitanni Empire in Asia Minor, the Hittite empire, or Babylon during his 25-year
reign. He and his successor Puzur-Ashur III (1521–1497 BC) are known to have been
active kings, improving the infrastructure, dedicating temples and conducting
various building projects throughout the kingdom. Enlil-nasir I, Nur-ili, Ashur-
shaduni and Ashur-rabi I (who deposed his predecessor) followed.[56]
Decline, 1450–1393 BC

The emergence of the Hurri-Mitanni Empire and allied Hittite empire in the 16th
century BC did eventually lead to a short period of sporadic Mitannian-Hurrian
domination in the latter half of the 15th century. The Mitannians (an Indo-Aryan
speaking people) are thought to have entered Anatolia from the north, conquered and
formed the ruling class over the indigenous Hurrians of eastern Anatolia. The
indigenous Hurrians spoke the Hurrian language, a language in the now wholly
extinct Hurro-Urartian language family.

Ashur-nadin-ahhe I (1450–1431 BC) was courted by the Egyptians, who were rivals of
Mitanni, and attempting to gain a foothold in the Near East. Amenhotep II sent the
Assyrian king a tribute of gold to seal an alliance against the Hurri-Mitannian
empire. It is likely that this alliance prompted Saushtatar, the emperor of
Mitanni, to invade Assyria, and sack the city of Ashur, after which Assyria became
a sometime vassal state. Ashur-nadin-ahhe I was deposed, either by Shaustatar or by
his own brother Enlil-nasir II (1430–1425 BC) in 1430 BC, who then paid tribute to
the Mitanni. Ashur-nirari II (1424–1418 BC) had an uneventful reign and appears to
have also paid tribute to the Mitanni Empire.

The Assyrian monarchy survived, and the Mitannian influence appears to have been
short-lived.

They appear not to have been always willing or indeed able to interfere in Assyrian
internal and international affairs.

Ashur-bel-nisheshu (1417–1409 BC) seems to have been independent of Mitannian

influence, as evidenced by his signing a mutually beneficial treaty with
Karaindash, the Kassite king of Babylonia in the late 15th century. He also
undertook extensive rebuilding work in Ashur itself, and Assyria appears to have
redeveloped its former highly sophisticated financial and economic systems during
his reign. Ashur-rim-nisheshu (1408–1401 BC) also undertook building work,
strengthening the city walls of the capital. Ashur-nadin-ahhe II (1400–1393 BC)
also received a tribute of gold and diplomatic overtures from Egypt, probably in an
attempt to gain Assyrian military support against Egypt's Mitannian and Hittite
rivals in the region. However, the Assyrian king appears not to have been in a
strong enough position to challenge Mitanni or the Hittites.

Eriba-Adad I (1392–1366 BC), a son of Ashur-bel-nisheshu, ascended the throne in

1392 BC and finally broke the ties to the Mitanni Empire, and instead turned the
tables, and began to exert Assyrian influence on the Mitanni.
Middle Assyrian Empire 1392–1056 BC
Main article: Middle Assyrian Empire
Middle Assyrian Empire

1392 BC–934 BC
Map of the Ancient Near East during the Amarna Period (14th century BC), showing
the great powers of the day: Egypt (orange), Hatti (blue), the Kassite kingdom of
Babylon (black), Assyria (yellow), and Mitanni (brown). The extent of the
Achaean/Mycenaean civilization is shown in purple.
Map of the Ancient Near East during the Amarna Period (14th century BC), showing
the great powers of the day: Egypt (orange), Hatti (blue), the Kassite kingdom of
Babylon (black), Assyria (yellow), and Mitanni (brown). The extent of the
Achaean/Mycenaean civilization is shown in purple.
Capital Aššur
Common languages Akkadian language (official)
Hittite
Hurrian
Religion
Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Government Monarchy
King
• 1365–1330 BC
Ashur-uballit I (first)
• 967–934 BC
 Tiglath-Pileser II (last)
Historical era Mesopotamia
• Independence from Mitanni
1392 BC
• Reign of Ashur-dan II
934 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by
Old Assyrian Empire

Neo-Assyrian Empire
Map of the Ancient Near East showing the extent of the Middle Assyrian Empire
(orange) c. 1392 BC.
Mesopotamia and Middle Assyrian Empire, c. 1200 BC.

The Middle period (1365 BC–1056 BC) saw reigns of great kings, such as Ashur-
uballit I, Arik-den-ili, Tukulti-Ninurta I and Tiglath-Pileser I. During this
period, Assyria overthrew the empire of the Hurri-Mitanni and eclipsed the Hittite
Empire, Egyptian Empire, Babylonia, Elam, Canaan and Phrygia in the Near East.[57]
Assyrian troops return after victory.

By the reign of Eriba-Adad I (1392–1366 BC) Mitanni influence over Assyria was on
the wane. Eriba-Adad I became involved in a dynastic battle between Tushratta and
his brother Artatama II and after this his son Shuttarna III, who called himself
king of the Hurri while seeking support from the Assyrians.

Ashur-uballit I (1365–1330 BC) went further, defeating Shuttarna III and bringing
an end to the Mitanni empire, the Assyrian king then annexing its territories in
Anatolia and the Levant, turning Assyria once more into a major empire.[58] The
ambitious Assyrian king went further still, attacking and conquering Babylonia, and
imposing a puppet ruler loyal to himself upon its throne. Assyria then annexed
hitherto Babylonian territory in central Mesopotamia.[59] Enlil-nirari (1330–1319
BC) also defeated Babylonia's Kassite kings.

The Hittites, having failed to save Mitanni, allied with Babylon in an unsuccessful
economic war against Assyria for many years. Assyria was now a large and powerful
empire, and a major threat to Egyptian and Hittite interests in the region, and was
perhaps the reason that these two powers, fearful of Assyrian might, made peace
with one another.[60]

Arik-den-ili (1318–1307 BC) campaigned further still, entering northern Ancient

Iran and subjugating the 'pre-Iranic' Gutians, Turukku and Nigimhi, before
campaigning deeper into the Levant, subjugating the Suteans, Ahlamu and Yauru.[61]
His successor Adad-nirari I (1307–1275 BC) was another highly successful military
leader, he defeated and conquered the Hurro-Mitanni kingdom of Hanigalbat and the
rest of the independent Hurro-Mitanni kingdoms of Anatolia, despite the Hittites
attempting to support their allies, and inflicted a series of crushing defeats on
Babylonia, annexing large swathes of Babylonian territory. Hittite kings during his
reign assumed a placatory attitude towards the Assyrian king.[62][63]

Shalmaneser I (1274–1245 BC) conquered eight kingdoms in central Anatolia in his

first year, and in the next he defeated a coalition of Hittites, Hurrians, Mitanni
and Ahlamu, annexing yet more territory in Anatolia and the Levant, and retaining
Assyrian dominion over Babylonia and the northwest of ancient Iran. Shalmaneser
also conducted extensive building work in Assur, Nineveh and Arbela, and founded
the city of Kalhu (the Biblical Calah/Nimrud).[64][65]

Shalmaneser's son and successor, Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244–1207 BC), won a major

victory against the Hittites and their king Tudhaliya IV at the Battle of Nihriya
and took thousands of prisoners. Rather than being content to simply subjugate
Babylonian kings as his predecessors had, he conquered Babylonia directly, taking
Kashtiliash IV as a captive and ruled there himself as king for seven years, taking
on the old title "King of Sumer and Akkad" first used by Sargon of Akkad. Tukulti-
Ninurta I thus became the first Akkadian speaking native Mesopotamian to rule the
state of Babylonia, its founders having been foreign Amorites, succeeded by equally
foreign Kassites. Tukulti-Ninurta petitioned the god Shamash before beginning his
counter offensive.[66] Kashtiliash IV was captured, single-handed by Tukulti-
Ninurta according to his account, who "trod with my feet upon his lordly neck as
though it were a footstool"[13] and deported him ignominiously in chains to
Assyria. The victorious Assyrians demolished the walls of Babylon, massacred many
of the inhabitants, pillaged and plundered his way across the city to the Esagila
temple, where he made off with the statue of Marduk.[67]

Middle Assyrian texts recovered at ancient Dūr-Katlimmu, include a letter from

Tukulti-Ninurta to his sukkal rabi'u, or grand vizier, Ashur-iddin advising him of
the approach of his general Shulman-mushabshu escorting the captive Kashtiliash,
his wife, and his retinue which incorporated a large number of women,[68] on his
way to exile after his defeat. In the process he defeated the Elamites, who had
themselves coveted Babylon. He also wrote an epic poem documenting his victorious
wars against Babylon and Elam. He progressed further south into what is today
Arabia, conquering the pre-Arab South Semitic kingdoms of Dilmun and Meluhha. After
a Babylonian revolt, he raided and plundered the temples in Babylon, regarded as an
act of sacrilege. As relations with the priesthood in Ashur began deteriorating,
Tukulti-Ninurta built a new capital city; Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta.[69]

A series of short reigning kings followed, these being Ashur-nadin-apli (1207–1204

BC), Ashur-nirari III (1203–1198 BC), Enlil-kudurri-usur (1197–1193 BC) and
Ninurta-apal-Ekur (1192–1190 BC), and there were no significant expansions of the
empire during their short tenures, and Babylonia seems to have freed itself from
the Assyrian yoke for a time.

Ashur-dan I (1190–1144 BC) conquered huge swathes of Babylonia, subjugating its

king, and taking much booty home to Assyria. However, this led to conflict with the
powerful Elamites of the southwest of ancient Iran, who were themselves preying
upon Babylonia. The Elamites managed to actually take the Assyrian city of Arrapha
(modern Kirkuk), before being finally defeated and driven from the Assyrian empire.
[70] Civil unrest ensued in Assyria after Ashur-Dan I's death, and Ninurta-tukulti-
Ashur and Mutakkil-Nusku followed in quick succession during 1133 BC.

Ashur-resh-ishi I (1133–1116 BC) restored the tradition of powerful conquering

kings. He campaigned to the east, taking the Zagros region of ancient Iran, and
subjugated the Amorites, Ahlamu and the newly appeared Arameans in the Levant. He
also defeated the ambitious Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylonia, annexing Babylonian
territory in the process.[71]

Tiglath-pileser I (1115–1074 BC) proved to be a long reigning and all conquering

ruler, who firmly underlined Assyria's position as the world's leading military
power.[72]

His first campaign was against the Phrygians and Kaskians in 1112 BC, who had
attempted to occupy certain Assyrian ruled Hittite districts in the Upper
Euphrates; then he overran Commagene and eastern Cappadocia, and drove the Hittites
from the Assyrian province of Subartu, northeast of Malatia.[73]

In a subsequent campaign, the Assyrian forces penetrated into the mountains south
of Lake Van and then turned westward to receive the submission of Malatia and
Urartu. In his fifth year, Tiglath-Pileser attacked Cilicia and Comana in
Cappadocia, and placed a record of his victories engraved on copper plates in a
fortress he built to secure his Cilician conquests.[73]
The Aramaeans of northern and central Syria were the next targets of the Assyrian
king, who made his way as far as the sources of the Tigris.[74] The control of the
high road to the Mediterranean was secured by the possession of the Hittite town of
Pitru[75] at the junction between the Euphrates and Sajur; thence he proceeded to
conquer the Canaanite/Phoenician city-states of Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Simyra,
Berytus (Beirut), Aradus and finally Arvad where he embarked onto a ship to sail
the Mediterranean, on which he killed a nahiru or "sea-horse" (which A. Leo
Oppenheim translates as a narwhal) in the sea.[74] He was passionately fond of
hunting and was also a great builder. The general view is that the restoration of
the temple of the gods Ashur and Hadad at the Assyrian capital of Assur (Ashur) was
one of his initiatives.[74] He was succeeded by Asharid-apal-Ekur who reigned for
only a short time.

Ashur-bel-kala (1073–1056 BC) kept the vast empire together, campaigning

successfully against Urartu and Phrygia to the north and the Arameans to the west.
He maintained friendly relations with Marduk-shapik-zeri of Babylon, however upon
the death of that king, he invaded Babylonia and deposed the new ruler Kadašman-
Buriaš, appointing Adad-apla-iddina as his vassal in Babylon. He built some of the
earliest examples of both Zoological Gardens and Botanical Gardens in Ashur,
collecting all manner of animals and plants from his empire, and receiving a
collection of exotic animals as tributes from Egypt.

Late in his reign, the Middle Assyrian Empire erupted into civil war, when a
rebellion was orchestrated by Tukulti-Mer, a pretender to the throne of Assyria.
Ashur-bel-kala eventually crushed Tukulti-Mer and his allies, however the civil war
in Assyria had allowed hordes of Arameans to take advantage of the situation, and
press in on Assyrian controlled territory from the west. Ashur-bel-kala
counterattacked them, and conquered as far as Carchemish and the source of the
Khabur river, but by the end of his reign many of the areas of Syria and Phoenicia-
Canaan to the west of these regions as far as the Mediterranean, previously under
firm Assyrian control, were eventually lost to the Middle Assyrian Empire.
Society and law in the Middle Assyrian Period
Assyrian quartet.

The Middle Assyrian kingdom was well organized, and in the firm control of the
king, who also functioned as the High Priest of Ashur, the state god. He had
certain obligations to fulfill in the cult, and had to provide resources for the
temples. The priesthood became a major power in Assyrian society. Conflicts with
the priesthood are thought to have been behind the murder of king Tukulti-Ninurta
I.

The Middle Assyrian Period was marked by the long wars fought that helped build
Assyria into a warrior society. The king depended on both the citizen class and
priests in his capital, and the landed nobility who supplied the horses needed by
Assyria's military. Documents and letters illustrate the importance of the latter
to Assyrian society. Assyria needed less artificial irrigation than Babylonia, and
horse-breeding was extensive. Portions of elaborate texts about the care and
training of them have been found. Trade was carried out in all directions. The
mountain country to the north and west of Assyria was a major source of metal ore,
as well as lumber. Economic factors were a common casus belli.

All free male citizens were obliged to serve in the army for a time, a system which
was called the ilku-service. A legal code was produced during the 14th and 13th
centuries which, among other things, clearly shows that the social position of
women in Assyria was lower than that of neighbouring societies. Men were permitted
to divorce their wives with no compensation paid to the latter. If a woman
committed adultery, she could be beaten or put to death. It's not certain if these
laws were seriously enforced, but they appear to be a backlash against some older
documents that granted things like equal compensation to both partners in divorce.

The women of the king's harem and their servants were also subject to harsh
punishments, such as beatings, mutilation, and death. Assyria, in general, had much
harsher laws than most of the region. Executions were not uncommon, nor were
whippings followed by forced labour. Some offenses allowed the accused a trial
under torture or duress. One tablet that covers property rights has brutal
penalties for violators. A creditor could force debtors to work for him, but not
sell them.

In the Middle Assyrian Laws, sex crimes were punished identically whether they were
homosexual or heterosexual.[76] An individual faced no punishment for penetrating a
cult prostitute, someone of an equal or lower social class, such as slaves, or
someone whose gender roles were not considered solidly masculine. Such sexual
relations were even seen as good fortune.[77] However, homosexual relationships
with royal attendants, between soldiers, or with those where a social better was
submissive or penetrated were either treated as rape or seen as bad omens, and
punishments applied.[76]

Furthermore, the article 'Homosexualität' in Reallexicon der Assyriologie states,

"Homosexuality in itself is thus nowhere condemned as licentiousness, as
immorality, as social disorder, or as transgressing any human or divine law. Anyone
could practice it freely, just as anyone could visit a prostitute, provided it was
done without violence and without compulsion, and preferably as far as taking the
passive role was concerned, with specialists. That there was nothing religiously
amiss with homosexual love between men is seen by the fact that they prayed for
divine blessing on it. It seems clear that the Mesopotamians saw nothing wrong in
homosexual acts between consenting adults".[78][79][80]
Assyria during the Bronze Age Collapse, 1200–936 BC

The Bronze Age Collapse from 1200 BC to 900 BC was a Dark Age for the entire Near
East, North Africa, Asia Minor, Caucasus, Mediterranean and Balkan regions, with
great upheavals and mass movements of people.

Assyria and its empire were not unduly affected by these tumultuous events for some
150 years, perhaps the only ancient power that was not, and in fact thrived for
most of the period. However, upon the death of Ashur-bel-kala in 1056 BC, Assyria
went into a comparative decline for the next 100 or so years. The empire shrank
significantly, and by 1020 BC Assyria appears to have controlled only areas close
to Assyria itself, essential to keeping trade routes open in eastern Aramea, South
Eastern Asia Minor, central Mesopotamia and north western Iran.

New West Semitic-speaking peoples such as the Arameans and Suteans moved into areas
to the west and south of Assyria, including overrunning much of Babylonia to the
south, Indo-European speaking Iranic peoples such as the Medes, Persians,
Sarmatians and Parthians moved into the lands to the east of Assyria, displacing
the native Kassites and Gutians and pressuring Elam and Mannea (all of which
ancient non-Indo-European civilisations of Ancient Iran), and to the north in Asia
Minor the Phrygians overran that part of the Hittites not already destroyed by
Assyria, and Lydia emerged, a new Hurrian state named Urartu arose in the Caucasus,
and Cimmerians, Colchians (Georgians) and Scythians around the Black Sea and
Caucasus. Egypt was divided and in disarray, and Israelites were battling with
other West Asian peoples such as the Amalekites, Moabites, Edomites and Ammonites
and the non-Semitic-speaking Peleset/Philistines (who have been conjectured to be
one of the so-called Sea Peoples)[81][82] for the control of southern Canaan.
Dorian Greeks usurped the earlier Mycenaean Greeks in western Asia Minor, and the
Sea Peoples ravaged the Eastern Mediterranean.

Other new peoples, such as the Chaldeans, Sarmatians, Arabs, Nubians and Kushites
were to emerge later, during the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC).
Assyrian relief depicting battle with camel riders, from Kalhu (Nimrud) Central
Palace, Tiglath Pileser III, 728 BCE, British Museum

Despite the apparent weakness of Assyria in comparison to its former might, at

heart it in fact remained a solid, well defended nation whose warriors were the
best in the world.[52] Assyria, with its stable monarchy, powerful army and secure
borders was in a stronger position during this time than potential rivals such as
Egypt, Babylonia, Elam, Phrygia, Urartu, Persia, Lydia and Media. Kings such as
Eriba-Adad II, Ashur-rabi II, Ashurnasirpal I, Tiglath-Pileser II and Ashur-Dan II
successfully defended Assyria's borders and upheld stability during this tumultuous
time.

Assyrian kings during this period appear to have adopted a policy of maintaining
and defending a compact, secure nation and satellite colonies immediately
surrounding it, and interspersed this with sporadic punitive raids and invasions of
neighbouring territories when the need arose, including campaigning as far as the
Mediterranean and sacking Babylonia.
Neo-Assyrian Empire
Main articles: Neo-Assyrian Empire and Military history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
Neo-Assyrian Empire

911 BC–609 BC[83]

The Neo-Assyrian empire at its greatest extent, 671 BC
The Neo-Assyrian empire at its greatest extent, 671 BC
Capital Aššur 911 BC
Kalhu 879 BC
Dur-Sharrukin 706 BC
Nineveh 705 BC
Harran 612 BC
Common languages Akkadian (official)
Aramaic (official)
Sumerian (declining)
Hittite
Hurrian
Phoenician
Egyptian
Religion
Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Government Monarchy
King
• 911–891 BC
Adad-nirari II (first)
• 612–609 BC
Ashur-uballit II (last)
Historical era Iron Age
• Reign of Adad-nirari II
911 BC
• Battle of Nineveh
612 BC
• Siege of Harran
609 BC[83]
Preceded by Succeeded by
Middle Assyrian Empire
Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt
Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)
Elam

Median Empire
Neo-Babylonian Empire
Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt

The Neo-Assyrian Empire is usually considered to have begun with the ascension of
Adad-nirari II, in 911 BC, lasting until the fall of Nineveh at the hands of the
Medes/Persians and Babylonians, Chaldeans in 609 BC.[84]

Assyria maintained a large and thriving rural population, combined with a number of
well fortified cities, Major Assyrian cities during this period included; Nineveh,
Assur, Kalhu (Calah, Nimrud), Arbela (Erbil), Arrapha (Karka, Kirkuk), Dur-
Sharrukin, Imgur-Enlil, Carchemish, Harran, Tushhan, Til-Barsip, Ekallatum, Kanesh,
Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, Urhai (Edessa), Guzana, Kahat, Amid (Diyarbakir), Mérida
(Mardin, Tabitu, Nuhadra (Dohuk), Ivah, Sepharvaim, Rachae, Purushanda, Sabata,
Birtha (Tikrit), Tell Shemshara, Dur-Katlimmu and Shekhna.

Assyria is often noted for its brutality and cruelty during this period, although
Assyrian harshness was reserved solely for those who took up arms against the
Assyrian king, and none of the Assyrian kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire or
preceding Middle Assyrian Empire conducted genocides, massacres or ethnic
cleansings against civilian populations, non-combatant men, or women and children.
[85][86]
Expansion, 911–627 BC

Assyria once more began to expand with the rise of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC. He
cleared Aramean and other tribal peoples from Assyria's borders and began to expand
in all directions into Anatolia, Ancient Iran, Levant and Babylonia.

Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) continued this expansion apace, subjugating much of

the Levant to the west, the newly arrived Persians and Medes to the east, annexed
central Mesopotamia from Babylon to the south, and expanded deep into Asia Minor to
the north. He moved the capital from Ashur to Kalhu (Calah/Nimrud) and undertook
impressive building works throughout Assyria. Shalmaneser III (859–824 BC)
projected Assyrian power even further, conquering to the foothills of the Caucasus,
Israel and Aram-Damascus, and subjugating Persia and the Arabs who dwelt to the
south of Mesopotamia, as well as driving the Egyptians from Canaan. It was during
the reign of Shalmaneser III that the Arabs and Chaldeans first enter the pages of
recorded history.

Little further expansion took place under Shamshi-Adad V and his successor, the
regent queen Semiramis, however when Adad-nirari III (811–783 BC) came of age, he
took the reins of power from mother and set about a relentless campaign of
conquest; subjugated the Arameans, Phoenicians, Philistines, Israelites, Neo-
Hittites and Edomites, Persians, Medes and Manneans, penetrating as far as the
Caspian Sea. He invaded and subjugated Babylonia, and then the migrant Chaldean and
Sutean tribes settled in south eastern Mesopotamia whom he conquered and reduced to
vassalage.

After the reign of Adad-nirari III, Assyria entered a period of instability and
decline, losing its hold over most of its vassal and tributary territories by the
middle of the 8th century BC, until the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 BC).
He created the world's first professional army, introduced Imperial Aramaic as the
lingua franca of Assyria and its vast empire, and reorganised the empire
drastically. Tiglath-Pileser III conquered as far as the East Mediterranean,
bringing the Greeks of Cyprus, Phoenicia, Judah, Philistia, Samaria and the whole
of Aramea under Assyrian control. Not satisfied with merely holding Babylonia in
vassalage, Tiglath-Pileser deposed its king and had himself crowned king of
Babylon. The imperial, economic, political, military and administrative reforms of
Tiglath-Pileser III were to prove a blueprint for future empires, such as those of
the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Byzantines, Arabs and Turks.
Shalmaneser V reigned only briefly, but once more drove the Egyptians from southern
Canaan, where they were fomenting revolt against Assyria. Sargon II quickly took
Samaria, effectively ending the northern Kingdom of Israel and carrying 27,000
people away into captivity into the Israelite diaspora. He was forced to fight a
war to drive out the Scythians and Cimmerians who had attempted to invade Assyria's
vassal states of Persia and Media. The Neo-Hittite states of northern Syria were
conquered, as well as Cilicia. Lydia and Commagene. King Midas of Phrygia, fearful
of Assyrian power, offered his hand in friendship. Elam was defeated and Babylonia
and Chaldea reconquered. He made a new capital city named Dur Sharrukin. He was
succeeded by his son Sennacherib who moved the capital to Nineveh and made the
deported peoples work on improving Nineveh's system of irrigation canals. Nineveh
was transformed into the largest city in the world at the time.

Esarhaddon had Babylon rebuilt, he imposed a vassal treaty upon his Persian, Median
and Parthian subjects, and he once more defeated the Scythes and Cimmerians. Tiring
of Egyptian interference in the Assyrian Empire, Esarhaddon decided to conquer
Egypt. In 671 BC he crossed the Sinai Desert, invaded and took Egypt with
surprising ease and speed. He drove its foreign Nubian/Kushite and Ethiopian rulers
out, destroying the Kushite Empire in the process. Esarhaddon declared himself
"king of Egypt, Libya, and Kush". Esarhaddon stationed a small army in northern
Egypt and describes how; "All Ethiopians (read Nubians/Kushites) I deported from
Egypt, leaving not one left to do homage to me". He installed native Egyptian
princes throughout the land to rule on his behalf.
Assyrian Empire to the death of Ashurbanipal. In dark green the pahitu/pahutu
(provinces), in yellow the matu (subjects kingdoms), in cream color the Babylon
kingdom, the yellow points show other subjects kingdoms, the black points show the
pahitu/pahutu (provinces) of Babylon kingdom, and the brown letters provinces that
existed previously

Under Ashurbanipal (669–627 BC), an unusually well educated king for his time who
could speak, read and write in Sumerian, Akkadian and Aramaic, Assyrian domination
spanned from the Caucasus Mountains (modern Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan) in the
north to Nubia, Egypt, Libya and Arabia in the south, and from the East
Mediterranean, Cyprus and Antioch in the west to Persia, Cissia and the Caspian Sea
in the east.
Ashurbanipal's brutal campaign against Elam in 647 BC is recorded in this relief.

Ultimately, Assyria conquered Babylonia, Chaldea, Elam, Media, Persia, Urartu

(Armenia), Phoenicia, Aramea/Syria, Phrygia, the Neo-Hittite States, the Hurrian
lands, Arabia, Gutium, Israel, Judah, Samarra, Moab, Edom, Corduene, Cilicia,
Mannea, and Cyprus, and defeated and/or exacted tribute from Scythia, Cimmeria,
Lydia, Nubia, Ethiopia and others. At its height, the Empire encompassed the whole
of the modern nations of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait,
Bahrain, and Cyprus, together with large swathes of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey,
Sudan, Libya, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Downfall, 626–609 BC
Main article: Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire

The Assyrian Empire was severely crippled following the death of Ashurbanipal in
627 BC, the nation and its empire descending into a prolonged and brutal series of
civil wars involving three rival kings, Ashur-etil-ilani, Sin-shumu-lishir and Sin-
shar-ishkun. Egypt's 26th Dynasty, which had been installed by the Assyrians as
vassals, quietly detached itself from Assyria, although it was careful to retain
friendly relations.

The Scythians and Cimmerians took advantage of the bitter fighting among the
Assyrians to raid Assyrian colonies, with hordes of horse-borne marauders ravaging
parts of Asia Minor and the Caucasus, where the vassal kings of Urartu and Lydia
begged their Assyrian overlord for help in vain. They also raided the Levant,
Israel and Judah (where Ashkelon was sacked by the Scythians) and all the way into
Egypt whose coasts were ravaged and looted with impunity.

The Iranic peoples under the Medes, aided by the previous Assyrian destruction of
the hitherto dominant Elamites of Ancient Iran, also took advantage of the
upheavals in Assyria to coalesce into a powerful Median-dominated force which
destroyed the pre-Iranic kingdom of Mannea and absorbed the remnants of the pre-
Iranic Elamites of southern[Iran, and the equally pre-Iranic Gutians, Manneans and
Kassites of the Zagros Mountains and the Caspian Sea.

Cyaxares (technically a vassal of Assyria), in an alliance with the Scythians and

Cimmerians, launched a surprise attack on a civil war beleaguered Assyria in 615
BC, sacking Kalhu (the Biblical Calah/Nimrud) and taking Arrapha (modern Kirkuk)
and Gasur. Nabopolassar, still pinned down in southern Mesopotamia by Assyrian
forces, was completely uninvolved in this major breakthrough against Assyria.

Despite the sorely depleted state of Assyria, bitter fighting ensued; throughout
614 BC the Medes continued to gradually make hard fought inroads into Assyria
itself, scoring a decisive and devastating victory over the Assyrian forces at the
battle of Assur.[87] In 613 BC, however, the Assyrians scored a number of
counterattacking victories over the Medes-Persians, Babylonians-Chaldeans and
Scythians-Cimmerians. This led to the unification of the forces ranged against
Assyria who launched a massive combined attack, finally besieging and entering
Nineveh in late 612 BC, with Sin-shar-ishkun being slain in the bitter street by
street fighting. Despite the loss of almost all of its major cities, and in the
face of overwhelming odds, Assyrian resistance continued under Ashur-uballit II
(612–609 BC), who fought his way out of Nineveh and coalesced Assyrian forces
around Harran which finally fell in 609 BC. The same year, Ashur-uballit II
besieged Harran with the help of the Egyptian army, but this failed too, and this
last defeat ended the Assyrian Empire.[87][88][89] During the aftermath, Egypt,
along with remnants of the Assyrian army, suffered a defeat at the battle of
Carchemish, in 605 BC, but the Assyrian troops did not participate to this battle
as the army of the Assyrian state because certainly by 609 BC at the very latest,
[90][91] Assyria had been destroyed as an independent political entity, although it
was to launch major rebellions against the Achaemenid Empire in 546 BC and 520 BC,
and remained a geo-political region, ethnic entity and colonised province.
Assyria after the empire
Achaemenid Assyria, Osroene, Asōristān, Athura and Hatra
Main articles: Osroene, Asōristān, Athura, and Hatra
Athura in the Achaemenid period.

Assyria was initially ruled by the short-lived Median Empire (609–549 BC) after its
fall. In a twist of fate, Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon (together with his
son and co-regent Belshazzar), was himself an Assyrian from Harran. He had
overthrown the short-lived Chaldean dynasty in Babylonia, after which the Chaldeans
disappeared from history, being fully absorbed into the native population of
Babylonia. However, apart from plans to dedicate religious temples in the city of
Harran, Nabonidus showed little interest in rebuilding Assyria. Nineveh and Kalhu
remained in ruins with only small numbers of Assyrians living within them;
conversely, a number of towns and cities, such as Arrapkha, Guzana, Nohadra and
Harran, remained intact, and Assur and Arbela (Irbil) were not completely
destroyed, as is attested by their later revival. However, Assyria spent much of
this short period in a degree of devastation, following its fall.
Achaemenid Assyria (549–330 BC)
Main article: Achaemenid Assyria
Achaemenid Assyria
Assyria during the Persian empire, 588 until 536 BC.
Assyrian soldier in the Achaemenid army circa 470 BC, Xerxes I tomb .
After the Medes were overthrown by the Persians as the dominant force in Ancient
Iran, Assyria was ruled by the Persian Achaemenid Empire (as Athura) from 549 BC to
330 BC (see Achaemenid Assyria). Between 546 and 545 BC, Assyria rebelled against
the new Persian Dynasty, which had usurped the previous Median dynasty. The
rebellion centered around Tyareh was eventually quashed by Cyrus the Great.

Assyria seems to have recovered dramatically, and flourished during this period. It
became a major agricultural and administrative centre of the Achaemenid Empire, and
its soldiers were a mainstay of the Persian Army.[92] In fact, Assyria even became
powerful enough to raise another full-scale revolt against the Persian empire in
520–519 BC.

The Persians had spent centuries under Assyrian domination (their first ruler
Achaemenes and his successors, having been vassals of Assyria), and Assyrian
influence can be seen in Achaemenid art, infrastructure and administration. Early
Persian rulers saw themselves as successors to Ashurbanipal, and Mesopotamian
Aramaic was retained as the lingua franca of the empire for over two hundred years,
and Greek writers such as Thucydides still referred to it as the Assyrian language.
[93] Nineveh was never rebuilt however, and 200 years after it was sacked Xenophon
reported only small numbers of Assyrians living amongst its ruins. Conversely the
ancient city of Assur once more became a rich and prosperous entity.[94]

It was in 5th century BC Assyria that the Syriac language and Syriac script
evolved. Five centuries later these were later to have a global influence as the
liturgical language and written script for Syriac Christianity and its accompanying
Syriac literature which also emerged in Assyria before spreading throughout the
Near East, Asia Minor, The Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and
China.
Macedonian and Seleucid Assyria

In 332 BC, Assyria fell to Alexander the Great, the Macedonian Emperor, who called
the inhabitants Assyrioi. The Macedonian Empire (332–312) was partitioned in 312
BC. It thereafter became part of the Seleucid Empire (312 BC). It is from this
period that the later Syria vs Assyria naming controversy arises, the Seleucids
applied the name 'Syria' which is a 9th-century BC Indo-Anatolian derivation of
'Assyria' (see Etymology of Syria) not only to Assyria itself, but also to the
Levantine lands to the west (historically known as Aram and Eber Nari), which had
been part of the Assyrian empire but, the north east corner aside, never a part of
Assyria proper.

When the Seleucids lost control of Assyria proper, the name Syria survived but was
erroneously applied not only to the land of Assyria itself, but also now to Aramea
(also known as Eber Nari) to the west that had once been part of the Assyrian
empire, but apart from the north eastern corner, had never been a part of Assyria
itself, nor inhabited by Assyrians. This was to lead to both the Assyrians from
Northern Mesopotamia and the Arameans and Phoenicians from the Levant being
collectively dubbed Syrians (and later also Syriacs) in Greco-Roman and later
European culture, regardless of ethnicity, history or geography.

During Seleucid rule, Assyrians ceased to hold the senior military, economic and
civil positions they had enjoyed under the Achaemenids, being largely replaced by
Greeks. The Greek language also replaced Mesopotamian East Aramaic as the lingua
franca of the empire, although this did not affect the Assyrian population
themselves, who were not Hellenised during the Seleucid era.

During the Seleucid period in southern Mesopotamia, Babylon was gradually abandoned
in favour of a new city named Seleucia on the Tigris, effectively bringing an end
to Babylonia as a geo-political entity.
Parthian Assyria (150 BC – 225 AD)
Main article: Adiabene

By 150 BC, Assyria was largely under the control of the Parthian Empire. The
Parthians seem to have exercised only loose control over Assyria, and between the
mid 2nd century BC and 4th century AD a number of Neo-Assyrian states arose; these
included the ancient capital of Assur itself, Adiabene with its capital of Arbela
(modern Irbil), Beth Nuhadra with its capital of Nohadra (modern Dohuk), Osroene,
with its capitals of Edessa and Amid (modern Sanliurfa and Diyarbakir), Hatra, and
"‫( "ܒܝܬܓܪܡܝ‬Beth Garmai) with its capital at Arrapha (modern Kirkuk).[95] Adiabenian
rulers converted to Judaism from paganism in the 1st century.[96] After 115 AD,
there are no historic traces of Jewish royalty in Adiabene.

These freedoms were accompanied by a major Assyrian cultural revival, and temples
to the Assyrian national gods Ashur, Sin, Hadad, Ishtar, Ninurta, Tammuz and
Shamash were once more dedicated throughout Assyria and Upper Mesopotamia during
this period.[97]

In addition, Christianity arrived in Assyria soon after the death of Christ and the
Assyrians began to gradually convert to Christianity from the ancient Mesopotamian
religion during the period between the early first and third centuries. Assyria
became an important centre of Syriac Christianity and Syriac Literature, with the
Church of the East evolving in Assyria, and the Syriac Orthodox Church partly also,
with Osroene becoming the first independent Christian state in history.[12]
Roman Assyria (116–118)
Main article: Assyria (Roman province)

However, in 116, under Trajan, Assyria and its independent states were briefly
taken over by Rome as the province of Assyria. The Assyrian kingdom of Adiabene was
destroyed as an independent state during this period. Roman rule lasted only a few
years, and the Parthians once more regained control with the help of the Assyrians,
who were incited to overthrow the Roman garrisons by the Parthian king. However, a
number of Assyrians were conscripted into the Roman Army, with many serving in the
region of Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain, and inscriptions in Aramaic made by
soldiers have been discovered in Northern England dating from the second century.
[98]

With loose Parthian rule restored, Assyria and its patchwork of states continued
much as they had before the Roman interregnum, although Assyria and Mesopotamia as
a whole became a front line between the Roman and Parthian empires. Other new
religious movements also emerged in the form of gnostic sects such as Mandeanism,
as well as the now extinct Manichean religion.
Christian period
Sassanid Assyria (226 – c. 650)
Main article: Asōristān
Upper Mesopotamia and Syria in the early Christian period, with Edessa in the left
upper quadrant

In 226, Assyria was largely taken over by the Sasanian Empire. After driving out
the Romans and Parthians, the Sassanid rulers set about annexing the independent
states within Assyria during the mid- to late 3rd century, the last being Assur
itself in the late 250s to early 260s. Christianity continued to spread, and many
of the ethnically Assyrian churches that exist today are among the oldest in the
world. For example, the Syriac Orthodox Church is purported to have been founded by
St Peter himself in 67 AD.

Nevertheless, although predominantly Christian, a minority of Assyrians still held

onto their ancient Mesopotamian religion until as late as the 10th or 11th century
AD.[99][100] The Assyrians lived in a province known as Asuristan, and the region
was on the frontier of the Byzantine and Sassanian empires.

The land was known as Asōristān (the Sassanid Persian name meaning "Land of the
Assyrians") during this period, and became the birthplace of the distinct Church of
the East (now split into the Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the
East and Chaldean Catholic Church) and a centre of the Syriac Orthodox Church, with
a flourishing Syriac (Assyrian) Christian culture which exists there to this day.
Temples were still being dedicated to the national god Ashur (as well as other
Mesopotamian gods) in his home city, in Harran and elsewhere during the 4th and 5th
centuries AD, indicating the ancient pre-Christian Assyrian identity was still
extant to some degree.

During the Sasanian period, much of what had once been Babylonia in southern
Mesopotamia was incorporated into Assyria, and in effect the whole of Mesopotamia
came to be known as Asōristān. Parts of Assyria appear to have been semi
independent as late as the latter part of the 4th century AD, with a king named
Sennacherib II reputedly ruling the northern reaches in 370s AD.
Arab Islamic conquest (630–780)

Centuries of constant warfare between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Empire left
both empires exhausted, which made both of them open to loss in a war against the
Muslim Arab army, under the newfound Rashidun Caliphate. After the early Islamic
conquests, Assyria was dissolved as an official administrative entity by an empire.
Under Arab rule, Mesopotamia as a whole underwent a gradual process of further
Arabisation and the beginning of Islamification, and the region saw a large influx
of non-indigenous Arabs, Kurds, Iranian, and Turkic peoples.

However, the indigenous Assyrian population of northern Mesopotamia retained their

language, religion, culture and identity.

Under the Arab Islamic empires, the Christian Assyrians were classed as dhimmis,
who had certain restrictions imposed upon them. Assyrians were thus excluded from
specific duties and occupations reserved for Muslims, they did not enjoy the same
political rights as Muslims, their word was not equal to that of a Muslim in legal
and civil matters without a Muslim witness, they were subject to payment of a
special tax (jizyah) and they were banned from spreading their religion further in
Muslim-ruled lands. However, personal matters such as marriage and divorce were
governed by the cultural laws of the Assyrians.[101][102]

For those reasons, and even during the Sassanian period before Islamic rule, The
Assyrian Church of the East formed a church structure that spread Nestorian
Christianity to as far away as China, in order to proselytize away from Muslim-
ruled regions in Iran and their homeland in Mesopotamia, with evidence of their
massive church structure being the Nestorian Stele, an artifact found in China
which documented over 100 years of Christian history in China from 600 to 781 AD.
[103] Assyrian Christians maintained relations with fellow Christians in Armenia
and Georgia throughout the Middle Ages. In the 12th century AD, Assyrian priests
interceded on behalf of persecuted Arab Muslims in Georgia.[104]
Mongol Empire (1200–1300)

The first signs of trouble for the Assyrians started in the 13th century, when the
Mongols first invaded the Near East after the fall of Baghdad in 1258 to Hulagu
Khan.[105][citation not found] Assyrians at first did very well under Mongol rule,
as the Shamanist Mongols were sympathetic to them, with Assyrian priests having
traveled to Mongolia centuries before. The Mongols in fact spent most of their time
oppressing Muslims and Jews, outlawing the practice of circumcision and halal
butchery, as they found them repulsive and violent.[106] Therefore, as one of the
only groups in the region looked at in a good light, Assyrians were given special
privileges and powers, with Hülegü even appointing an Assyrian Christian governor
to Erbil (Arbela), and allowing the Syriac Orthodox Church to build a church there.
[107][citation not found]
Aramaic language and Syriac Christianity in the Middle East and Central Asia until
being largely annihilated by Tamerlane in the 14th century

However, the Mongol rulers in the Near East eventually converted to Islam.
Sustained persecutions of Christians throughout the entirety of the Ilkhanate began
in earnest in 1295 under the rule of Oïrat amir Nauruz, which affected the
indigenous Christians greatly.[108] During the reign of the Ilkhan Öljeitü, the
inhabitants of Erbil seized control of the citadel and much of the city in
rebellion against the Muslims. In spring 1310, the Mongol Malik (governor) of the
region attempted to seize it from them with the help of the Kurds and Arabs, but
was defeated. After his defeat he decided to siege the city. The Assyrians held out
for three months, but the citadel was at last taken by Ilkhanate troops and Arab,
Turkic and Kurdish tribesmen on 1 July 1310. The defenders of the citadel fought to
the last man, and many of the inhabitants of the lower town were subsequently
massacred.

Regardless of these hardships, the Assyrian people remained numerically dominant in

the north of Mesopotamia as late as the 14th century AD, and the city of Assur
functioned as their religious and cultural capital.[citation needed] The seat of
the Catholicos of the Church of the East was Seleucia-Ctesiphon, not Assur. In the
mid-14th century the Muslim Turkish ruler Tamurlane conducted a religiously
motivated massacre of the indigenous Christians, and entirely destroyed the vast
Church of the East structure established throughout the Far East outside what had
been the Sasanid Empire, with the exception of the St Thomas Christians of the
Malabar Coast in India, who numbered 4.2 million in the 2011 census of Kerala.[109]
After Timur's campaign, ancient Assyria's cultural and religious capital of Assur
fell entirely into ruins and part of it was used as a graveyard until the 1970s.
[110]
Breakup of the Church of the East (1552–1830)

Around 100 years after the massacres by Timur, a religious schism known as the
Schism of 1552 occurred among the Christians of northern Mesopotamia. A large
number of followers of the Church of the East were dissatisfied with the leadership
of the Church, at this point based in the Rabban Hormizd Monastery near Alqosh, and
in particular with the system of hereditary succession of the patriarch. Three
bishops elected the abbot of the monastery, Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa, as a rival
patriarch. These did not have the rank of metropolitan bishop, which was required
for appointing a patriarch and which was granted only to members of the patriarch's
family. Sulaqa therefore went to Rome to be made a patriarch, entered into
communion with the Catholic Church and was appointed "Patriarch of Mosul in Eastern
Syria"[111] or "Patriarch of the Chaldean church of Mosul"[112] by Pope Julius III
in 1553. He won support only in Diyarbakır (known also as Amid), where he set up
his residence, and in Mardin. In 1555, he was killed by the Turkish authorities
after being denounced by the traditionalist patriarch, but the metropolitans he had
ordained elected a successor for him, initiating the Shimun line of patriarchs, all
of whom took the name Shimun (Simon). The patriarchs of this line requested and
obtained confirmation from Rome only until 1583. In 1672 they clearly broke off
communion with Rome, but continued as a line of patriarchs independent from that at
Alqosh, with their seat, from then on, at Qodchanis in the Hakkari mountains.[113]
In a letter of 29 June 1653, 19 years before the Shimun line broke off relations
with Rome, Shimun XI Eshuyow (1638–1656) called himself Patriarch of the Chaldeans.
There is no record of a response from Rome confirming him as Catholic patriarch.
[114]

Biblical Aramaic was until recently called Chaldaic or Chaldee,[115][116] and East
Syrian Christians, whose liturgical language was and is a form of Aramaic, were
called Chaldeans,[117] as an ethnic, not a religious term. Hormuzd Rassam (1826–
1910) still applied the term "Chaldeans" no less to those not in communion with
Rome than to the Catholic Chaldeans[118] and stated that "the present Chaldeans,
with a few exceptions, speak the same dialect used in the Targum, and in some parts
of Ezra and Daniel, which are called 'Chaldee'."[119]

Long before 1672, the Shimun line, as it "gradually returned to the traditional
worship of the Church of the East, thereby losing the allegiance of the western
regions",[120] moved from Turkish-controlled Diyarbakır to Urmia in Persia. The
bishopric of Diyarbakır became subject to the Alqosh patriarch. Bishop Joseph of
Diyarbakır converted to the Catholic faith in 1667 or 1668. In 1677, he obtained
recognition from the Turkish authorities as invested with independent power in
Diyarbakır and Mardin, and in 1681 he was recognized by Rome as "patriarch of the
Chaldean nation deprived of its patriarch". Thus was instituted the Josephite line,
a third line of patriarchs.[121]

In the Alqosh line, Eliya VII (1591–1617), Eliya VIII (1617–1660) and Eliya IX
(1660–1700) contacted Rome at various times but without establishing union.[122]
Union was achieved in 1771 under Eliya XI, who died in 1778. His successor Eliya
XII, after sending his profession of faith to Rome and receiving confirmation as
Catholic patriarch, adopted a traditionalist position in 1779. His opponents
elected Yohannan Hormizd, a young nephew of Eliya XI, whom Eliya XI had intended to
be his successor. Although Yohannan Hormizd won the support of most of the
followers of the Alqosh patriarchate, Rome considered his election to be irregular
and, instead of accepting him as patriarch, merely confirmed him as metropolitan of
Mosul and patriarchal administrator. He was thus granted the powers and the
insignia of a patriarch, but not the title. It made the same arrangement in
Diyarbakır, appointing as patriarchal administrator Augustine Hindi, a nephew of
Joseph IV, whom his uncle wished to be his successor as patriarch. There were thus
two traditionalist patriarchates (the Eliya line and the Shimun) and, under
administrators, two Catholic patriarchates (Diyarbakır and Alqosh/Mosul).

In 1804, Eliya XI died and had no traditionalist successor. Augustine Hindi died in
1827 and, in 1830, Rome appointed Yohannan Hormizd as patriarch of all the
Catholics. The Shimun line, which had been the first to enter union with Rome,
remained at the head of the traditionalist church that in 1976 adopted the name
Assyrian Church of the East,[123][124][125] and that continued to be in the hands
of the same family until the death in 1975 of Shimun XXI Eshai. At the same time,
the originally traditionalist Alqosh line continues, without hereditary succession,
at the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Modern history
Ottoman Empire (1900–1928)
The burning of bodies of Christian women by Kurdish women, to recover the gold and
precious stones they were supposed to have swallowed during the Assyrian
Genocide[126]

After these splits, the Assyrians suffered a number of religiously and ethnically
motivated massacres throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries,[127] such as the
Massacres of Badr Khan which resulted in the massacre of over 10,000 Assyrians in
the 1840s,[128] culminating in the large scale Hamidian massacres of unarmed men,
women and children by Turks and Kurds in the 1890s at the hands of the Ottoman
Empire and its associated (largely Kurdish and Arab) militias, which greatly
reduced their numbers, particularly in southeastern Turkey where over 25,000
Assyrians were murdered.[129] The Adana massacre of 1909 largely aimed at Armenian
Christians also accounted for the murder of some 1,500 Assyrians.[130]

The Assyrians suffered a further catastrophic series of events during World War I
in the form of the religiously and ethnically motivated Assyrian Genocide at the
hands of the Ottomans and their Kurdish and Arab allies from 1915 to 1918.[131]
[132][133][134] Some sources claim that the highest number of Assyrians killed
during the period was 750,000, while a 1922 Assyrian assessment set it at 275,000.
The Assyrian Genocide ran largely in conjunction with the similarly ethno-
religiously motivated Armenian Genocide, Greek Genocide and Great Famine of Mount
Lebanon.

In reaction against Ottoman cruelty, the Assyrians took up arms, and an Assyrian
independence movement began during the turbulent events of World War I. For a time,
the Assyrians fought successfully against overwhelming numbers, scoring a number of
victories against the Ottomans and Kurds, and also hostile Arab and Iranian groups.
However, due to the collapse of the Russian Empire—due to the Russian Revolution—
and the similar collapse of the Armenian Defense, the Assyrians were left without
allies. As a result, the Assyrians were vastly outnumbered, outgunned, surrounded,
cut off, and without supplies. The only option they had was to flee the region into
northwest Iran and fight their way, with around 50,000 civilians in tow, to British
train lines going to Mandatory Iraq. The sizable Assyrian presence in south eastern
Anatolia which had endured for over four millennia was thus reduced to no more than
15,000 by the end of World War I, and by 1924 many of those who remained were
forcibly expelled in a display of ethnic cleansing by the Turkish government, with
many leaving and later founding villages in the Sapna and Nahla valleys in the
Dohuk Governorate of Iraq.[citation needed]

In 1920 the Assyrian settlements in Mindan and Baquba were attacked by Iraqi Arabs,
but the Assyrian tribesmen displayed their military prowess by successfully
defeating and driving off the Arab forces.[135] The Assyrians also sided with the
British during the Iraqi revolt against the British.

The Assyrian Levies were founded by the British in 1922, with ancient Assyrian
military rankings, such as Rab-shakeh, Rab-talia and Turtanu, being revived for the
first time in millennia for this force. The Assyrians were prized by the British
rulers for their fighting qualities, loyalty, bravery and discipline, and were used
to help the British put down insurrections among the Arabs, Kurds and Turcoman,
guard the borders with Iran and Turkey, and protect British military installations.
During the 1920s Assyrian levies saw action in effectively defeating Arab and
Kurdish forces during anti-British rebellions in Iraq.[135][136][137]
Simele Massacre and World War II (1930–1950)

After Iraq was granted independence by the British in 1933, the Assyrians suffered
the Simele Massacre, where thousands of unarmed villagers (men, women and children)
were slaughtered by joint Arab-Kurdish forces of the Iraqi Army. The massacres of
civilians followed a clash between armed Assyrian tribesmen and the Iraqi army,
where the Iraqi forces suffered a defeat after trying to disarm the Assyrians, whom
they feared would attempt to secede from Iraq. Armed Assyrian Levies were prevented
by the British from going to the aid of these civilians, and the British government
then whitewashed the massacres at the League of Nations.

Despite these betrayals, the Assyrians were allied with the British during World
War II, with eleven Assyrian companies seeing action in Palestine/Israel and
another four serving in Greece, Cyprus and Albania. Assyrians played a major role
in the victory over Arab-Iraqi forces at the Battle of Habbaniya and elsewhere in
1941, when the Iraqi government decided to join World War II on the side of Nazi
Germany. The British presence in Iraq lasted until 1955, and Assyrian Levies
remained attached to British forces until this time, after which they were disarmed
and disbanded.

A further persecution of Assyrians took place in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s
and early 1950s when thousands of Assyrians settled in Georgia, Armenia and
southern Russia were forcibly deported from their homes in the dead of night by
Stalin without warning or reason to Central Asia, with most being relocated to
Kazakhstan, where a small minority still remain.[138]
Ba'athism (1966–2003)
The Flag of the Assyrian Nation (created and used since 1968)[139]

The period from the 1940s through to 1963 was a period of respite for the Assyrians
in northern Iraq and north east Syria. The regime of Iraqi President Kassim in
particular saw the Assyrians accepted into mainstream society. Many urban Assyrians
became successful businessmen, a number of Assyrians moved south to cities such as
Baghdad, Basra and Nasiriyah to enhance their economic prospects, others were well
represented in politics, the military, the arts and entertainment, Assyrian towns,
villages, farmsteads and Assyrian quarters in major cities flourished undisturbed,
and Assyrians came to excel and be over-represented in sports such as boxing,
football, athletics, wrestling and swimming.

However, in 1963, the Ba'ath Party took power by force in Iraq, and came to power
in Syria the same year. The Baathists, though secular, were Arab nationalists, and
set about attempting to Arabize the many non-Arab peoples of Iraq and Syria,
including the Assyrians. This policy included refusing to acknowledge the Assyrians
as an ethnic group, banning the publication of written material in Eastern Aramaic,
and banning its teaching in schools, together with an attempt to Arabize the
ancient pre-Arab heritage of Mesopotamian civilisation.

The policies of the Baathists have also long been mirrored in Turkey, whose
nationalist governments have refused to acknowledge the Assyrians as an ethnic
group since the 1920s, and have attempted to Turkify the Assyrians by calling them
"Semitic Turks" and forcing them to adopt Turkish names and language. In Iran,
Assyrians continued to enjoy cultural, religious and ethnic rights, but due to the
Islamic Revolution of 1979 their community has been diminished.

In the aftermath of the Iraq War of 2003, Assyrians became the targets of Islamist
terrorist attacks and intimidation from both Sunni and Shia groups, as well as
criminal kidnapping organisations; forcing many in southern and central Iraq to
relocate to safer Assyrian regions in the north of the country or north east Syria.
Kurdistan Region (2005–present)

In 2017, the KRG replaced the Alqosh mayor, Faiz Abed Jahwareh with a KDP member,
Lara Zara, and Assyrian protested in response.[140][141][142] The Iraqi Government
ordered Lara Zara to vacate her post, and return the title of Mayor to Jahwareh.
[143][144]
Syrian Civil War (2012–present)
Main article: Genocide of Christians by ISIL
An Assyrian wedding in Mechelen, Belgium

In recent years, Assyrians in northern Iraq and northeast Syria have become the
target of attacks amounting to genocide by Islamist militants like ISIL and Nusra
Front. In 2014, ISIL attacked Assyrian towns and villages in the Assyrian homelands
of northern Iraq and north east Syria, and Assyrians forced from their homes in
cities such as Mosul had their houses and possessions stolen, both by ISIL and also
by their own former Arab Muslim neighbours.[145]

Assyrian Bronze Age and Iron Age monuments and archaeological sites, as well as
numerous Assyrian churches and monasteries,[145] have been systematically
vandalised and destroyed by ISIL. These include the ruins of Nineveh, Kalhu
(Nimrud, Assur, Dur-Sharrukin and Hatra).[146][147] ISIL destroyed a 3,000-year-old
Ziggurat. ISIL destroyed Virgin Mary Church, in 2015 St. Markourkas Church was
destroyed and the cemetery was bulldozed.[148]

Assyrians in both Iraq and Syria have responded by forming armed Assyrian militias
to defend their territories,[149][150][151][152] and despite being heavily
outnumbered and outgunned have had success in driving ISIL from Assyrian towns and
villages, and defending others from attack.[153][154] Armed Assyrian militias have
also fought ISIL alongside armed groups of Kurds, Turcoman, Yezidis, Shabaks,
Armenian Christians, Kawilya, Mandeans, Circassians and Shia Muslim Arabs and
Iranians. Dewkh Nawsha, which translates to "those who sacrifice", is a militia
that was formed days after ISIL took over Mosul in 2014. The military force is made
up of volunteers, who come from all over the Nineveh Plains. Dewkh Nawsha is
supported by Assyrian Patriotic Party and are led by Wilson Khammu.[148]

It is estimated that nearly 60 percent of Iraqi Assyrians have fled. Assyrians who
have fled have ended up all over the world. 2009 U.S Census Bureau survey, reported
that roughly 100,000 have relocated to the United States.[155]
Culture
Main article: Assyrian culture

Assyria continued to exist as a geopolitical entity until the Arab-Islamic conquest

in the mid-7th century. Assyrian identity; personal, family and tribal names; and
both the spoken and written evolution of Mesopotamian Aramaic (which still contains
many Akkadian loan words and an Akkadian grammatical structure) have survived among
the Assyrian people from ancient times to this day. An Assyrian calendar has been
revived.
Language
Main articles: Sumerian language, Akkadian language, Aramaic language, and Assyrian
Neo-Aramaic
The pastime of an Assyrian King by F.A. Bridgman

Emerging in Sumer c. 3500 BC, cuneiform writing began as a system of pictograms.

Around 3000 BC, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract
as the number of characters in use grew smaller. The original Sumerian script was
adapted for the writing of the Akkadian, Assyrian, and Hittite languages.[156] The
Kültepe texts, which were written in Old Assyrian, had Hittite loanwords and names,
which constitute the oldest record of any language of the Indo-European language
family. Most of the archaeological evidence is typical of Anatolia rather than of
Assyria, but the use of both cuneiform and the dialect is the best indication of
Assyrian presence.[157][158] From 1700 BC and onward, the Sumerian language was
preserved by the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians only as a liturgical and
classical language for religious, artistic and scholarly purposes.[30]

Assyrian was a dialect of Akkadian, a member of the eastern branch of the Semitic
family and the oldest historically attested of the Semitic languages, which began
to appear in written form in the 29th century BC. The first inscriptions in Assyria
proper, called Old Assyrian (OA), were made in the Old Assyrian period.[159] The
ancient Assyrians also used Sumerian in their literature and liturgy,[160] although
to a more limited extent in the Middle- and Neo-Assyrian periods, when Akkadian
became the main literary language.[160]

During the 3rd millennium BC, a very intimate cultural symbiosis developed between
the Sumerians and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism.[29]
The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian (and vice versa) is evident in all areas,
from lexical borrowing on a massive scale, to syntactic, morphological, and
phonological convergence.[29] This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and
Akkadian in the 3rd millennium BC as a Sprachbund.[29] Akkadian gradually replaced
Sumerian as the spoken language of Mesopotamia somewhere around the turn of the 3rd
and the 2nd millennium BC (the exact dating being a matter of debate),[30] but
Sumerian continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific
language in Mesopotamia until the 1st century AD.

In the Neo-Assyrian period, the Aramaic language became increasingly common,[161]

more so than Akkadian—this was thought to be largely due to the mass deportations
undertaken by Assyrian kings,[160] in which large Aramaic-speaking populations,
conquered by the Assyrians, were relocated to Assyria and interbred with the
Assyrians, and due to the fact that Tiglath-pileser II made it the lingua franca of
Assyria and its empire in the 8th century BC. The destruction of the Assyrian
capitals of Nineveh and Assur by the Babylonians, Medes and their allies, ensured
that much of the bilingual elite (but not all) were wiped out. By the 7th century
BC, much of the Assyrian population used distinct Akkadian-influenced Eastern
Aramaic varieties and not Akkadian itself. The last Akkadian inscriptions in
Mesopotamia date from the 1st century AD. The Syriac language also emerged in
Assyria during the 5th century BC, and during the Christian era, Syriac literature
and Syriac script were to become hugely influential.

However, the descendant Akkadian-influenced Eastern Aramaic dialects from the Neo-
Assyrian Empire, as well as Akkadian and Mesopotamian Aramaic personal, tribal,
family and place names, still survive to this day among Assyrian people and are
spoken fluently by up to 1,000,000 Assyrians, with a further number having lesser
and varying degrees of fluency.[160] These dialects which contain many Akkadian
loan words and grammatical features are very different from the now almost extinct
Western Aramaic of the Arameans in the Levant and Trans-Jordan, which does not have
any Akkadian grammatical structure or loan words.

After 90 years of effort, the University of Chicago in 2011 completed an Assyrian

dictionary, the style of which is more like an encyclopedia than a dictionary.[162]
Religion
Ancient Assyrian religion
Main article: Ancient Mesopotamian religion

The Assyrians, like the rest of the Mesopotamian peoples, followed ancient
Mesopotamian religion, with their national god Ashur having the most importance to
them during the Assyrian Empire. This religion gradually declined with the advent
of Syriac Christianity between the first and tenth centuries.[99]

The major deities worshipped in Assyria include;

Adad (Hadad) – storm and rain god

Anu or An – god of heaven and the sky, lord of constellations, and father of
the gods. The name is derived from Sumero-Akkadian/ana/, which means heaven; He is
considered the father of great gods. In stories, he is mentioned as a father,
creator, and god; and is believed to be the supreme being.[163]
Dagan or Dagon – god of fertility
Enki or Ea – god of the Abzu, crafts, water, intelligence, mischief and
creation and divine ruler of the Earth and its humans
Ereshkigal – goddess of Irkalla, the Underworld
Ishtar or Inanna/Astarte – goddess of fertility, love, and war
Marduk – patron deity of Babylon who eventually became regarded as the head of
the Babylonian pantheon
Nabu – god of wisdom and writing
Nanshe – goddess of prophecy, fertility and fishing
Nergal – god of plague, war, and the sun in its destructive capacity; later
husband of Ereshkigal
Ninhursag or Mami, Belet-Ili, Ki, Ninmah, Nintu, or Aruru – earth and mother
goddess
Ninlil – goddess of the air; consort of Enlil
Ninurta – champion of the gods, the epitome of youthful vigour, and god of
agriculture
Nisroch – god of agriculture. Some other religions also consider him the fallen
angel or demon.[163]
Nusku – The messenger for the Gods. “"the offspring of the abyss, the creation
of Êa," and "the likeness of his father, the first-born of Bel." Nusku was also
considered a great commander, counselor of the gods, and protector of gods in
heaven. Assyrian kings mention Nusku many times, especially before wars; Nusku was
fearless in battle.[163]
Shamash or Utu – god of the sun, arbiter of justice and patron of travellers
Sin or Nanna – god of the moon. Considered to be the prince of the gods.
Described as having a perfect body: everything from beard to horns is perfect. The
name is believed to come from "Zu-ena" but was changed at some point. Zu-ena means
"knowledge-lord". Sin is also mentioned in other religions in Babylonia[163]
Tammuz or Dumuzi – god of food and vegetation
Tiamat

The original, polytheistic religion of the Assyrians was widely adhered to until
around the 4th century, and survived in pockets until at least the 10th century.
[99] However, Assyrians today are exclusively Christian, with most following the
Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East,
Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Assyrian Pentecostal Church and
Assyrian Evangelical Church. Assyrians had begun to adopt Christianity (as well as
for a time Manicheanism and gnosticism) between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.
Christianity
Osroene (Mesopotamia) in the first century

The tradition of the Church of the East is that Thomas the Apostle and his
disciples Addai (Thaddeus of Edessa) and Mari brought Christianity to Mesopotamia,
thus attributing to the first century the founding of the episcopal see of
Seleucia-Ctesiphon, which became that Church's primatial see in 410. There is clear
evidence of the presence of Christianity in Osroene in the second century. At that
time, Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire, but were at peace under the
expanding Persian Empire. Shapur I (241–272), the second shahinshah (king of kings)
of the Sasanian dynasty, occupied Roman territory, advancing as far as Antioch in
260, and deported eastward much of the population to strengthen the economy of his
own empire. One of those deported in 253 was Bishop Demetrius of Antioch, who then
became the first bishop of Beth Lapat. After 312, when Constantine the Great
legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire, Christians in Persia came under
suspicion of pro-Roman sympathies and were persecuted, especially under Shapur II
(309–379).[164]

Under Yazdegerd I (399–421) the situation of the Christian minority improved

considerably. In 410, on the recommendation of several Western bishops (the
signatories included the bishops of Antioch, Aleppo, Edessa and Amid) Yazdegerd
called the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, which organized the Persian Church after
the model approved by the First Council of Nicea for the Church in the Roman
Empire. The Church of the East was arranged as six ecclesiastical provinces, with
the bishops in each grouped around a metropolitan, while the bishop of Seleucia-
Ctesiphon, the capital city, referred to in the acts of the council as the Grand
Metropolitan, held authority throughout the Church and for that reason was called
(probably only from a later date) the Catholicos.[165][166][167][168]

Papa bar Aggai, who in about 315, almost 100 years before this council, suffered a
sudden stroke during a synod held to depose him, is looked on as the first
Catholicos of the Church of the East, although this may only mean that he was the
first bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.[169][170][171]

In a synod held in Markabta in 424, the participating bishops recalled the

circumstances concerning Papa, blaming the opposition to him on the influence of
unnamed Western bishops, and declared or reaffirmed that the Catholicos of
Seleucia-Ctesiphon was totally independent. They excluded any right of appeal
against him to any patriarch in the West.[172][173] They "defined, by the word of
God, that Easterners cannot appeal to Western patriarchs against their patriarch.
Any case that cannot be resolved in his presence shall be reserved to the tribunal
of Christ [...] There can be no reason for thinking or saying that the Catholicos
of the East can be judged by superiors or by another patriarch. He himself is to be
the judge of all his subjects, and judgment on himself is reserved to Christ, who
has chosen him, raised him up and placed him at the head of his Church."[174][175]

This was six years before the 431 Council of Ephesus, the enforcement within the
Byzantine Empire of whose condemnation of Nestorianism is sometimes given as what
led to the break between the Church of the East and the Western Churches.

In 484, Catholicos Babowai wrote to some Western bishops asking them to get the
Byzantine emperor to intercede with the Persian king Peroz I on behalf of
persecuted Christians. His letter was intercepted, reportedly by Barsauma,
metropolitan of Nisibis, between whom and Babowai there was a heated dispute. It
was shown to the king, who then had Babowai executed. Barsauma called the Synod of
Beth Lapat, which, as well as condemning some of Babowai's policies, permitted
marriage of clergy and of vowed monks and reputedly adopted Nestorian teaching.
Under Babowai's successor, Acacius of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, a synod held in the
capital in 486 revoked the decrees of the Synod of Beth Lapat, whose acts have
consequently not been preserved, and in its own name affirmed the teaching of
Theodore of Mopsuestia against Monophysitism, forbade wandering monks or clergy,
and allowed marriage of clergy and monks.[176][177][178][179]
Roman-Persian frontier in the late fourth and late sixth century

In 489, the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno closed the theological school of Edessa
because of its promotion of the teaching of Theodore of Mopsuestia. Barsauma
welcomed its teachers and revived the school of Nisibis. A century later, an
attempt by the school's director to include influences other than that of Theodore
alone[180] His initiative was opposed by Babai the Great (551–628), whose
exposition of the theology of Theodore of Mopsuestia became the official teaching
of the Church of the East.[181][182]

At this time miaphysitism was advancing in the Persian Empire. Its followers were
mainly from the "hundreds of thousands" of Western Syriac Christians whom Khosrow I
(531–579) and Khosrow II (590 and 591–628) deported to their own territory, as well
as descendants of those previously deported, but there were also some defectors
from the local Church of the East.[183][184] In addition, West Syrian opponents of
the Council of Chalcedon sought refuge in Persia from the pro-Chalcedonian policy
of Emperors Justin I and Justinian I and actively propagated their own theology.
[185] Jacob Baradaeus, who was ordained as Bishop of Edessa in about 543, set about
ordaining bishops and priests throughout the Syriac-speaking areas of West Asia to
such an extent that he was even claimed to have ordained over 100,000 clergy and
nearly 30 bishops. Whatever the number, he set up a church structure parallel to
and independent of that approved by the Byzantine emperors, so that the Syriac
Orthodox Church has been called Jacobite in reference to him.[186][187] For
Miaphysites in Persia, particularly strong in Tagrit, he in 559 appointed as
"metropolitan of the East" Ahudemmeh, a convert from the Church of the East, who
won from Khosrow I freedom of worship for the Miaphysites (unlike the Chalcedonian
Christians).[188] Ahudemmeh made many converts among the Arabs.[189] The
Miaphysites of Persia united with the Syriac Orthodox Church, and in 629 Patriarch
Athanasius I Gammolo placed at their head Marutha of Tagrit with the title of
Maphrian and a wide-ranging autonomy that would allay Persian suspicion that, as
spiritual subjects of a patriarch who lived under Byzantine rule, the Miaphysites
would tend to be disloyal.[183][190]
Metropolitan sees and missionary activity of the Church of the East in the Middle
Ages

Weakened by their long struggle against the Byzantines,[191] the Persians were
unable to withstand the Arab conquest. Seleucia-Ctesiphon fell in 637. The last
Persian king Yazdegerd III became a fugitive and was murdered for his money in
651/2.
For Christians in Persia, the change from Zoroastrian to Islamic rulers did not
worsen their situation, but rather bettered it, especially for the "Nestorians"
(East Syrians).[192] This was a time of increased missionary activity by the Church
of the East, whose success in China with the missionary Alopen is attested by the
Nestorian Stele and in India by the continued maintenance of its liturgy by the
Syro-Malabar Church. The patriarchate of Timothy I (780–823) was a high point of
the Church's expansion.[193]

After the general destruction wrought by Genghis Khan, the Church of the East fared
no worse under the Mongols of the Ilkhanate than under the Arabs, but at the end of
the 14th century Timur brought disaster on it,[194] exterminating it in many
regions,[195] so that it survived only in the Kurdistan mountains and in India.
[196]

An account of the divisions within the Church of the East from the mid-16th to the
early 19th century is given above. The separate patriarchates at one stage grew to
four, but were reduced in 1830 to two: the now more numerous Chaldean Catholic
Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. The latter was further divided in the
20th century, with a split between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient
Church of the East over reforms by Shimun XXI Eshai in the 1960s.

After the Arab conquest had removed the previously existing frontier between the
Byzantine and Persian Empires, the Syriac Orthodox Church no longer needed to
maintain a clear distinction between the part under the direct rule of the
Patriarch and the part in the care of the Maphrian. From 793 the Maphrian was no
longer elected by the Eastern bishops but simply appointed by the Patriarch. The
Maphrianate thus became, until abolished in 1860, a mere title for the second in
dignity within the Church. The Church itself, like that of the East, underwent
divisions. William Taylor states that for 475 years, from 1364 to 1839, there were
two rival series of Patriarchs, one in Mardin, the other in Tur Abdin.[197][198]

In 1665 the Syrian Orthodox Church won the allegiance of about a third of the Saint
Thomas Christians in southwestern India, whose traditional liturgy had been that of
the Church of the East.[199] However, due to Anglican influence, they lost many of
these in the 19th and 20th centuries through the setting up of the more Evangelical
Mar Thoma Syrian Church and St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India and about half
of those remaining in the 20th century declared their Church (the Malankara
Orthodox Syrian Church) autocephalous, while those remaining in obedience to the
Patriarch (the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church) have been granted autonomy within
the Syrian Orthodox Church such as was once granted to the Maphran-headed part of
the Church in Persia.

At about the same time as the Syriac Orthodox Church was expanding into India,
where now three-quarters of its membership live,[200] Capuchin and Jesuit
missionaries won to union with Rome the majority of the Syriac Orthodox in Aleppo,
including, in 1656, their bishop, Andrew Akijan, who in 1662 was elected Patriarch
of the Syriac Orthodox Church. On his death in 1677, two strong factions emerged,
each of which elected a Patriarch, one pro-, the other anti-Rome. The Ottoman civil
authorities recognized the non-Catholic Patriarch and suppressed the Catholic
faction, eventually forcing it underground. In 1782 the newly elected Syriac
Orthodox Patriarch declared himself Catholic and moved to Lebanon. He was replaced
as Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, but initiated a series of Catholic
patriarchs that in 1828 was recognized by the Ottoman authorities as heading a
distinct Catholic Syriac Church. In 1850, the Catholic patriarchal seat was moved
to Mardin. Many of its faithful were massacred during the First World War. The
patriarchal seat is now Beirut, where it was moved in the 1920.[201][202]

Patriarch Ignatius Peter IV (1872–1894) made an attempt in 1889 to set up a Latin-

rite branch of his Syriac Orthodox Church by having the Goan Antonio Francisco
Xavier Alvares ordained, with the religious name of Mar Julius I, as Archbishop of
Ceylon, Goa and India. In May 1892, Alvares, with the consent of the Patriarch,
ordained René Vilatte as Archbishop of America. In later years Vilatte consecrated
"a number of men who are the episcopal ancestors of an enormous variety of
descendants" in what is called the independent sacramental movement or independent
Catholicism.[203]

In 1933, the seat of the patriarchate of the Syriac Orthodox Church was moved from
the "Saffron Monastery" (Mor Hananyo Monastery) of Tur Abdin, 4 kilometres north of
Mardin, Turkey to Homs, Syria and in 1959 to Bab Tuma (literally meaning "Thomas
Gate"), Damascus, capital of Syria; but the Patriarch actually resides at the Mar
Aphrem Monastery in Maarat Saidnaya, about 25 kilometres north of Damascus.[184]

The Syriac Orthodox Church has today about 2 million followers, three-quarters of
whom belong to the autonomous Jacobite Syrian Christian Church in India.[204] The
Syriac Catholic Church has about 160,000 faithful, some 65,000 of them in Syria,
55,000 in Iraq, as well as about 15,000 in Lebanon and the United States.[200]

A 2009 study by Sargon Donabed and Shamiran Mako cites the remark made by Horatio
Southgate, on learning that the Armenians called the Syrians Assouri (not
Asorestants’i, the Armenian word for Assyrian), that the Syrians call themselves
sons of Asshur.[205] They also mention a dispute in 1939 between a Syrian Orthodox
writer from Mosul who protested against application to his co-religionists of the
name "Assyrians" and the editor of a publication that supported it.[206] They say
that the rejection of the "Assyrian" label in favour of "Syrian" or "Aramean" was
promoted by the church and later became prevalent in modern scholarship.[207] Thus
J.F. Coakley described as "bogus ethnology" the "Assyrians" description.[208]
Donabeg and Mako deplore and argue against this judgment and that of other
academics and attribute its prevalence in part to political considerations.[209]

The continuing trend towards identification as Arameans is evidenced also in the

government of Israel's recognition in September 2014 of the Arameans in Israel as a
distinct nationality.[210][211]
Architecture
Main article: Architecture of Mesopotamia

Assyrian architecture, like that of Babylonia, was influenced by Sumero-Akkadian

styles (and to some degree Mitanni), but early on developed its own distinctive
style. Palaces sported colourful wall decorations, and seal-cutting (an art learned
from Mittani) developed apace. Schools for scribes taught both the Babylonian and
Assyrian dialects of Akkadian, and Sumerian and Akkadian literary works were often
copied with an Assyrian flavour.

The Assyrian dialect of Akkadian was used in legal, official, religious, and
practical texts such as medicine or instructions on manufacturing items. During the
13th to 10th centuries, picture tales appeared as a new art form: a continuous
series of images carved on square stone steles. Somewhat reminiscent of a comic
book, these show events such as warfare or hunting, placed in order from the upper
left to the lower right corner of the stele with captions written underneath them.
These and the excellent cut seals show that Assyrian art was beginning to surpass
that of Babylon. Architecture saw the introduction of a new style of ziggurat, with
two towers and colorful enameled tiles.
Arts and sciences
See also: Art of Mesopotamia
A Lamassu, from the entrance into the kings private apartments; 865–860 BC; British
Museum (London)

Assyrian art preserved to the present day predominantly dates to the Neo-Assyrian
period. Art depicting battle scenes, and occasionally the impaling of whole
villages in gory detail, was intended to show the power of the emperor, and was
generally made for propaganda purposes. These stone reliefs lined the walls in the
royal palaces where foreigners were received by the king. Other stone reliefs
depict the king with different deities and conducting religious ceremonies. Many
stone reliefs were discovered in the royal palaces at Nimrud (Kalhu) and Khorsabad
(Dur-Sharrukin). A rare discovery of metal plates belonging to wooden doors was
made at Balawat (Imgur-Enlil).

Assyrian sculpture reached a high level of refinement in the Neo-Assyrian period.

One prominent example is the winged bull lamassu or shedu that guard the entrances
to the king's court. These were apotropaic meaning they were intended to ward off
evil. C.W. Ceram states in The March of Archaeology that lamassi were typically
sculpted with five legs so that four legs were always visible, whether the image
were viewed frontally or in profile.

Although works of precious gems and metals usually do not survive the ravages of
time, some fine pieces of Assyrian jewelry were found in royal tombs at Nimrud.

There is ongoing discussion among academics over the nature of the Nimrud lens, a
piece of quartz unearthed by Austen Henry Layard in 1850, in the Nimrud palace
complex in northern Iraq. A small minority believe that it is evidence for the
existence of ancient Assyrian telescopes, which could explain the great accuracy of
Assyrian astronomy. Other suggestions include its use as a magnifying glass for
jewellers, or as a decorative furniture inlay. The Nimrud Lens is held in the
British Museum.[212]

The Assyrians were also innovative in military technology, with the use of heavy
cavalry, sappers and siege engines.

Winged figure near a sacred tree; 9th century BC; from the palace of
Ashurnasirpal II (Nimrud, Iraq); Hermitage Museum (Sankt Petersburg, Russia)

Openwork furniture plaque with a grazing oryx in a forest of fronds; 9th–8th

century BC; ivory; 12.7 × 11.91 × 1.09 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York
City)

Cylinder seal and with deities, on of them being on a winged lion; 8th–7th
century BC; quartz, crypto-crystalline; 4.09 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Relief from Assyrian capital of Dur Sharrukin, showing transport of Lebanese

cedar; 716–713 BC; height: 2.41 m, width: 38 cm; Louvre

Relief with a winged man; 713–706 BC; height: 3.3 m, width: 2.1 m; from Palace
of King Sargon II; Louvre

Lion weight; 6th–4th century BC; bronze; height: 29.5 cm, width: 24.8 cm;
Louvre

Assyrian ornaments and patterns, illustrated in a book from 1920

Illustrations from 1882, in which are drawn people dressed in Assyrian clothing

Legacy
Main articles: Achaemenid Assyria, Assyriology, and Assyrian nationalism
Austen Henry Layard in Nineveh, 1852

Achaemenid Assyria (539–330 BC) retained a separate identity, official

correspondence being in Imperial Aramaic, and there was even a determined revolt of
the two Assyrian provinces of Mada and Athura in 520 BC. Under Seleucid rule,
however, Aramaic gave way to Greek as the official administrative language. Aramaic
was marginalised as an official language, but remained spoken in both Assyria and
Babylonia by the general populace. It also remained the spoken tongue of the
indigenous Assyrian/Babylonian citizens of all Mesopotamia under Persian, Greek and
Roman rule, and indeed well into the Arab period it was still the language of the
majority, particularly in the north of Mesopotamia, surviving to this day among the
Assyrian Christians.

Between 150 BC and 226 AD, Assyria changed hands between the Parthian Empire and
the Romans until coming under the rule of the Sasanian Empire from 226–651, where
it was known as Asōristān.

A number of at least partly neo-Assyrian kingdoms existed in the area between in

the late classical and early Christian period also; Adiabene, Hatra and Osroene.

Classical historiographers and Biblical writers had only retained a fragmented,

very dim and often inaccurate picture of Assyria. It was remembered that there had
been an Assyrian empire predating the Persian one, but all particulars were lost.
Thus Jerome's Chronicon lists 36 kings of the Assyrians, beginning with Ninus, son
of Belus, down to Sardanapalus, the last king of the Assyrians before the empire
fell to Arbaces the Median. Almost none of these have been substantiated as
historical, with the exception of the Neo-Assyrian and Babylonian rulers listed in
the Canon of Kings, beginning with Nabonassar.

The Assyrians began to form and adopt a distinct Eastern Christianity, with its
accompanying Syriac literature, between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD; however,
ancient Mesopotamian religion was still alive and well into the fourth century and
pockets survived into the 10th century and possibly as late as the 17th century in
Mardin.[citation needed][213] However, the religion is now dead, and the Assyrian
people, though still retaining Eastern Aramaic dialects as a mother tongue, are now
wholly Christian.

The modern discovery of Babylonia and Assyria begins with excavations in Nineveh in
1845, which revealed the Library of Ashurbanipal. Decipherment of the cuneiform
script was a formidable task that took more than a decade; but, by 1857, the Royal
Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was convinced that reliable reading of
cuneiform texts was possible. Assyriology has since pieced together the formerly
largely forgotten history of Mesopotamia. In the wake of the archaeological and
philological rediscovery of ancient Assyria, Assyrian nationalism became
increasingly popular among the surviving remnants of the Assyrian people, who have
come to strongly identify with ancient Assyria.
Notes

Freedom=addurāru.

See also

iconAsia portal

Achaemenid Assyria
Adiabene
Akkadian empire
Akkadian language
Ancient Church of the East
Assur
Assuristan
Assyrian Christians
Assyrian Church of the East
 Assyrian continuity
Assyrian culture
Assyrian diaspora
Assyrian Evangelical Church
Assyrian Genocide
Assyrian homeland
Assyrian king list
Assyrian levies
Assyrian music (disambiguation)
Assyrian nationalism
Assyrian Pentecostal Church
Assyrian people
Assyrian struggle for independence
Athura
Beth Garmai
Beth Nuhadra
Babylonia
Chaldea
Chaldean Catholic Church
Chaldo-Assyrians
Church of the East
Cuneiform script
Eastern Aramaic
Hatra
Imperial Aramaic
List of Assyrians
List of Assyrian settlements
List of Assyrian tribes
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamian religion
Middle Assyrian Empire
Name of Syria
Neo Assyrian Empire
Nineveh
Old Assyrian Empire
Osroene
Sumer
Sumerian language
Syriac Christianity
Syriac language
Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac script
Terms for Syriac Christians

Notes

Encyclopaedia Britannica "The state was finally destroyed by a Chaldean-Median

coalition in 612–609 bc."
Zenaide Ragozin, The Rise and Fall of the Assyrian Empire (Ozymandias Press 2018),
chapter 1, section 3: "Aturia or Assyria proper" was a "small district of a few
square miles". "At the period of its greatest expansion, however, the name of
'Assyria' − 'land of Asshur' − covered a far greater territory, more than filling
the space between the two rivers, from the mountains of Armenia to the alluvial
line. This gives a length of 350 miles by a breadth, between the Euphrates and the
Zagros, varying from above 300 to 170 miles. 'The area was probably not less than
75,000 square miles'."
Radner, Karen. "1999 Money in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. In J. G. Dercksen (ed.),
Trade and Finance in Ancient Mesopotamia (Leiden 1999) 127–157": 128.
Roux 1964, p. 187
J.M. Munn-Rankin (1975). "Assyrian Military Power, 1300–1200 B.C.". In I.E.S.
Edwards (ed.). Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 2, Part 2, History of the Middle
East and the Aegean Region, c. 1380–1000 BC. Cambridge University Press. pp. 287–
288, 298.
Christopher Morgan (2006). Mark William Chavalas (ed.). The Ancient Near East:
Historical Sources in Translation. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 145–152.
Hayim Tadmor, "World Dominion: The Expanding Horizon of the Assyrian Empire",
(1997), in L. Milano, S. de Martino et al. (Ed.), Landscapes: Territories,
Frontiers and Horizons in the Ancient Near East. XLIV Rencontre Assyriologique
Internationale. (Venezia 1997), pp.59.
Mario Liverani (2004), "Assyria in the Ninth Century: Continuity or Change?", in
Frame, Grant (Ed.), From the Upper to the Lower Sea: Studies on the History of
Assyria and Babylonia in Honour of A.K Grayson, (Leiden, 2004), pp. 213.
Leo Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. (Chicago,
1977), pp. 31.
Luckenbill, Daniel David (1927). Ancient records of Assyria and Babylonia. Ancient
records. 2: Historical records of Assyria: from Sargon to the end. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
A. K. Grayson (2000), Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. Eisenbrauns, Indiana.
Winkler, Church of the East: A Concise History, p. 1
Albert Kirk Grayson (1972). Assyrian Royal Inscriptions: Volume I. Wiesbaden: Otto
Harrassowitz. p. 108. §716.
Roux 1964, pp. 161–191.
Compare: Parpola, Simo (2004). "National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian
Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times" (PDF). Journal of Assyrian
Academic Studies. 18 (2). "Disunited, dispersed in exile, and as dwindling
minorities without full civil rights in their homelands, the Assyrians of today are
in grave danger of total assimilation and extinction.[...] In order to survive as a
nation, they must now unite under the Assyrian identity of their ancestors. It is
the only identity that can help them to transcend the differences between them,
speak with one voice again, catch the attention of the world, and regain their
place among the nations."
Frederick Mario Fales (2010). "Production and Consumption at Dūr-Katlimmu: A Survey
of the Evidence". In Hartmut Kühne (ed.). Dūr-Katlimmu 2008 and beyond.
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population. They were predominantly peasant farmers and, since Assyria contains
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Grandeur Mgr. David, Archevêque Syrien De Damas, Grammair De La Langue Araméenne
Selon Les Deux Dialects Syriaque Et Chaldaique Vol. 1, (Imprimerie Des Péres
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into the interior to the oasis of Hufuf (see fig. 2)."
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term "Sea Peoples" refers to peoples that appear in several New Kingdom Egyptian
texts as originating from "islands" (tables 1–2; Adams and Cohen, this volume; see,
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Egyptian texts have to say about 'the sea peoples', one Egyptologist (Wolfgang
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Lens, British Museum.

"Assyrians: Frequently Asked Questions". www.aina.org. Retrieved 15 March 2017.

References

Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Tiglath-Pileser" , Encyclopædia Britannica, 26

(11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 968
Parpola, Simo (2004), "National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire
and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times" (PDF), Journal of Assyrian Academic
Studies, 18
Roux, Georges (1964), Ancient Iraq, London: Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-14-
012523-8
Saggs, H.W.F. (1984), The Might That Was Assyria, London, ISBN 978-0-283-98961-
2
Van De Mieroop, Marc (2004), A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000–323 BC
(2nd ed.), Blackwell Publishing, p. 107, ISBN 978-1-4051-4911-2
Van de Mieroop, Mark (2004b), A History of the Ancient Near East, Oxford, ISBN
978-0-631-22552-2

External links
Look up Assyria in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Assyria.

Wikisource Sayce, Archibald Henry (1878). "Assyria" . Encyclopædia Britannica.

3 (9th ed.). pp. 182–194.
Sayce, Archibald Henry (1911). "Babylonia and Assyria" . Encyclopædia
Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). pp. 99–112.
Oussani, Gabriel (1907). "Assyria" . Catholic Encyclopedia. 2.
Assyria on Ancient History Encyclopedia
"Assyria", LookLex Encyclopedia
Theophilus G. Pinches, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria in "btm" format
Morris Jastrow, Jr., The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria: its remains,
language, history, religion, commerce, law, art, and literature, London: Lippincott
(1915) – a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; also
available in layered PDF format

Coordinates: 36°N 43°E

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Ancient Mesopotamia
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GND: 4003285-1 NDL: 00560391 NKC: ge131491 VIAF: 259954912 WorldCat Identities:
viaf-259954912

Categories:

AssyriaAncient LevantAncient MesopotamiaAncient Near EastBronze Age countries

in AsiaIron Age countries in Asia9th century BC8th century BC7th century BCStates
and territories established in the 3rd millennium BCStates and territories
disestablished in the 7th century BC7th-century BC disestablishmentsEastern
MediterraneanFormer monarchies

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