Assyrien

Assyrien (Assyria) was an ancient region and state in northern Mesopotamia, centered on the upper Tigris River in what is today northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria and Iran. Its history spans the early second millennium BCE through the first millennium BCE, with distinct phases often described as the Old, Middle and Neo-Assyrian periods. The Neo-Assyrian Empire (c. 911–609 BCE) established one of the first large territorial empires in the Near East, extending its control over much of the Levant, Anatolia and parts of Egypt.

Key Assyrian capitals included the city of Ashur, Nimrud (Kalhu), Khorsabad (Dur-Sharrukin) and Nineveh. Assyrian society was noted for its military organization, administrative systems, road networks and state-sponsored building programs. Assyrian rulers employed advanced siegecraft and deportation policies to integrate conquered territories, while palaces and temples were decorated with monumental reliefs and inscriptions. The Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh preserved a large corpus of cuneiform texts, contributing to modern knowledge of Mesopotamian literature, law and science.

Religion centered on the national god Ashur alongside a Mesopotamian pantheon. The empire's decline culminated in the sack of Nineveh and the fall of Assyrian political power to a coalition of Babylonians and Medes around 612–609 BCE. The legacy of Assyria persists through archaeological sites, cuneiform records and the cultural memory of modern Assyrian peoples, an ethnoreligious community speaking Neo-Aramaic dialects.