Major Countries of the Ancient Near East

By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide

Ancient Assyria was a kingdom located in what is now northeastern Iraq. The earliest inscription naming a ruler of Assur -- the settlement after which the kingdom took its name -- was Shalim-ahum, in about 1900 B.C. Assyria is known for its military conquests in the area of southwestern Asia. King Ashurbanipal (669-627 B.C.) collected a large library of Mesopotamian literature at Nineveh. Archaeologists excavated this baked-clay treasure trove in the 19th C. A.D.

Source: John A. Brinkman "Assyria" The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible. Ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan. Oxford University Press, 2001.

• Introduction to Assyria

Next:

1. Sumer
2. Babylonia
3. Assyria (this page)
4. Judah (Judaea)
5. Persia
6. Lebanon
7. Egypt
8. Syria
9. Anatolia
10. Fertile Crescent Map

_{Photo: Transport of Lebanese Cedar - King Sargon II palace bas relief c. 716-713 B.C. H. 2.41 m (7 ft. 10 ¾ in.), W. 38 cm (14 ¾ in.) Excavations of Paul-Émile Botta, 1843–1844.
Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons.}