Assyrian Dynasty
Assyria was an ancient name for that part of Mesopotamia on the upper Tigris River now included in the northern Iraqi provinces of Ninawa (Nineveh), Sulaymaniya, Tamim, and Irbil. Watered by the Tigris and its tributaries, the Greater and Lesser Zab, ancient Assyria stretched from just west of the Tigris to the Zagros Mountains on the east and from about 34 deg north latitude up to the hills of Armenia. With moderate rainfall that permitted farming without irrigation and with considerable resources of stone for building, Assyria had advantages over Babylonia, where irrigation was necessary and mud brick was the principal building material.
Assyria took its name from its original capital, Ashur, situated just north of the junction of the Tigris and the Lesser Zab. Its founders, who are now called Assyrians, were a Semitic-speaking people who arrived from the southwest shortly after 2000 BC. During the Old Assyrian period (c.1900-1550 BC) the territory was unified by a series of vigorous rulers, and its influence was felt along the middle Euphrates and westward into central Anatolia (modern Turkey), where Assyrian traders established commercial colonies.
By 1800 BC, however, the coming of the Hittites drove the Assyrians out of Anatolia, and the rise of Babylon under Hammurabi soon afterward caused a contraction of Assyrian power in Mesopotamia. By 1550 BC Assyria was part of the Kingdom of Mitanni; it did not regain independence until the collapse of that regime about 1365 BC.
General map of the Assyrian Dynasty Period (1350 - 612 BC) Major cities include: Assur, Nimroud, Nineveh, and Khorsabad.
