Bas-relief in British Museum of ancient Assyrian workers. Photographer: Sanjar Alimov (2018). License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en. Photo cropped slightly and color adjusted for this use.
Ancient Assyrian workers depicted in bas-relief discovered by archaeologists and displayed in British Museum (Photographer: Sanjar Alimov. License: CC BY-SA 4.0)

What is…
Assyria

also known as: Asshur

This is the name of a powerful ancient land whose capital city was Assur (Asshur), located on the Tigris River.

See: Assur / Asshur—the son of Shem, the city and the land

The people of this land are called both Asshur and Assyrian (usually the later to avoid confusion).

The Assyrians were Semites (Genesis 10:22), but in process of time non-Semite tribes mingled with the inhabitants.

Assyria was a mountainous region lying to the north of ancient Babylonia, extending along the Tigris as far as to the high mountain range of Armenia, the Gordiaean or Carduchian mountains.

They were a military people, the “Romans of the East.”

Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is positively known. In B.C. 1120 Tiglath-pileser I, the greatest of the Assyrian kings, “crossed the Euphrates, defeated the kings of the Hittites, captured the city of Carchemish, and advanced as far as the shores of the Mediterranean.”

After this the Assyrians gradually extended their power, subjugating the states of Northern Syria. In the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, Shalmaneser II marched an army against the Syrian states, whose allied army he encountered and vanquished at Karkar. This led to King Ahab’s casting off the yoke of Damascus and allying himself with Judah.

Some years after this the Assyrian king marched an army against Hazael, king of Damascus. He besieged and took that city. He also brought under tribute Jehu, and the cities of Tyre and Sidon.

About a hundred years after this (B.C. 745) the crown was seized by a military adventurer called Pul, who assumed the name of Tiglath-pileser III. He directed his armies into Syria, which had by this time regained its independence, and took (B.C. 740) Arpad, near Aleppo, after a siege of three years, and reduced Hamath. Azariah (Uzziah) was an ally of the king of Hamath, and thus was compelled by Tiglath-pileser to do him homage and pay a yearly tribute.

In B.C. 738, in the reign of Menahem, king of Israel, Pul invaded Israel, and imposed on it a heavy tribute (2 Kings 15:19). Ahaz, the king of Judah, when engaged in a war against Israel and Syria, appealed for help to this Assyrian king by means of a present of gold and silver (2 Kings 16:8); who accordingly “marched against Damascus, defeated and put Rezin to death, and besieged the city itself.” Leaving a portion of his army to continue the siege, “he advanced through the province east of Jordan, spreading fire and sword,” and became master of Philistia, and took Samaria and Damascus.

He died B.C. 727, and was succeeded by Shalmanezer IV, who ruled till B.C. 722. He also invaded Syria (2 Kings 17:5), but was deposed in favor of Sargon the Tartan, or commander-in-chief of the army, who took Samaria after a siege of three years, and so put an end to the kingdom of Israel, carrying the people away into captivity, B.C. 722 (2 Kings 17:1-6, 24; 18:7, 9). He also overran the land of Judah, and took the city of Jerusalem (Isaiah 10:6, 12, 22, 24, 34).

Mention is next made of Sennacherib (B.C. 705), the son and successor of Sargon (2 Kings 18:13; 19:37; Isaiah 7:17-18); and then of Esar-haddon, his son and successor, who took Manasseh, king of Judah, captive, and kept him for some time a prisoner at Babylon, which he alone of all the Assyrian kings made the seat of his government (2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38).

Assur-bani-pal, the son of Esarhaddon, became king, and in Ezra 4:10 is referred to as Asnapper. From an early period Assyria had entered on a conquering career, and having absorbed Babylon, the kingdoms of Hamath, Damascus, and Samaria, it conquered Phoenicia, and made Judea feudatory, and subjected Philistia and Idumea.

At length, however, its power declined. In B.C. 727 the Babylonians threw off the rule of the Assyrians, under the leadership of the powerful Chaldean prince Merodach-baladan (2 Kings 20:12), who, after twelve years, was subdued by Sargon, who now reunited the kingdom, and ruled over a vast empire.

But on his death the smouldering flames of rebellion again burst forth, and the Babylonians and Medes successfully asserted their independence (625 B.C.), and Assyria was destroyed.

Prophecy fulfilled

This happened just as was prophecied by Isaiah (10:5-19), Nahum (Nahum 3:19), and Zephaniah (Zephaniah 2:13), and the many separate kingdoms of which it was composed ceased to recognize the “great king” (2 Kings 18:19; Isaiah 36:4).

Ezekiel (Ezekiel 31) attests (about B.C. 586) how completely Assyria was overthrown. It ceases to be a nation.

Kings of Assyria

  1. Tiglath-pileser I (founder of Assyria)
  2. Shalmaneser I-V
  3. Pul (Tiglath-pileser III)
  4. Asnapper (Osnapper)
  5. Sennacherib
  6. Sargon of Assyria
  7. Assur-bani-pal, son of Esarhaddon

Also see

Article Version: September 27, 2021