Assyria, kingdom of northern Mesopotamia that became the centre of one of the great empires of the ancient Middle East. It was located in what is now northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. A brief treatment of Assyria follows. For full treatment, see Mesopotamia, history of: The Rise of Assyria.
Assyria was a dependency of Babylonia and later of the Mitanni kingdom during most of the 2nd millennium bce. It emerged as an independent state in the 14th century bce, and in the subsequent period it became a major power in Mesopotamia, Armenia, and sometimes in northern Syria. Assyrian power declined after the death of Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1208 bce). It was restored briefly in the 11th century bce by Tiglath-pileser I, but during the following period both Assyria and its rivals were preoccupied with the incursions of the seminomadic Aramaeans. The Assyrian kings began a new period of expansion in the 9th century bce, and from the mid-8th to the late 7th century bce, a series of strong Assyrian kings—among them Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon—united most of the Middle East, from Egypt to the Persian Gulf, under Assyrian rule. The last great Assyrian ruler was Ashurbanipal, but his last years and the period following his death, in 627 bce, are obscure. The state was finally destroyed by a Chaldean-Median coalition in 612–609 bce. Famous for their cruelty and fighting prowess, the Assyrians were also monumental builders, as shown by archaeological sites at Nineveh, Ashur, and Nimrūd.
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history of Mesopotamia: The rise of AssyriaVery little can be said about northern Assyria during the 2nd millennium
bce . Information on the old capital, Ashur, located in the south of the country, is somewhat more plentiful. The old lists of kings suggest that the same dynasty ruled continuously over Ashur from about… -
history of Mesopotamia: Early history of AssyriaStrictly speaking, the use of the name “Assyria” for the period before the latter half of the 2nd millennium
bce is anachronistic; Assyria—as against the city-state of Ashur—did not become an independent state until about 1400bce . For convenience, however, the term is used… -
biology: Biological practices among Assyrians and BabyloniansMuch of the earliest recorded history of biology is derived from Assyrian and Babylonian bas-reliefs showing cultivated plants and from carvings depicting veterinary medicine. Illustrations on certain seals reveal that the Babylonians had learned that the date palm…
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eclipse: AssyrianThe Assyrian Chronicle, a cuneiform tablet that preserves the names of the annual magistrates who gave their names to the years (similar to the later Athenian archons or Roman consuls), records under the year that corresponds to 763–762
bce : “Revolt in the citadel; in… -
garden and landscape design: Assyrian, Babylonian, and PersianThe gardens of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia were of three kinds: large, enclosed game reserves, like the garden of Eden described in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament); pleasure gardens, which were essentially places where shade and cool water could be privately…
ADDITIONAL MEDIA
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