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.
Major Countries of the Ancient Near East
By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide
Ancient Assyria
Transport of Lebanese Cedar - King Sargon II palace bas relief c. 716-713 B.C.
Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons.
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.
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