Map of the Assyrian Empire

Map of the Ancient Assyria Empire in 650 BC under Ashurbanipal

The Assyrian Empire

About the time of King David and Solomon the Assyrians who inhabited the lands in the upper Tigris River region began to move northward and westward in their military expansions. They were searching for booty such as metals like gold, iron and bronze, and horses.

Map of the Assyrian Empire

Note: Scholars have identified 3 stages of development in forming the Assyrian Empire.

The Old Empire - 18th - 14th Centuries BC. (Small Expansion)

The Middle Empire - 13th - 9th Centuries BC (Larger Expansion)

The New Empire - 9th - 7th Centuries BC (Largest and Most Terrorizing Expansion)

The Later Kings and Fall of the New Empire

Under King Ashurnasirpal II (885-860 BC) the New Assyrian Empire began its bloody assault upon the Fertile Crescent communities. The Assyrian capital was moved to Nimrud (Kalhu) and the next set of kings expanded the kingdom of Assyria to beyond the Euphrates River Euphrates. When Tiglath-Pileser III came to power in 747 BC, he conquered nations to form an empire and deported the people of those nations throughout the Assyrian Empire. For the next 100 years the Assyrian kings build new capitals: Sargon built his palace at Khorsabad, and Sennacherib built Nineveh and Esarhaddon not only expanded these new capitals but expanded the empire until Assyrian dominance reached from Persia to the Mediterranean Sea. Ashurbanipal (668-626 BC) fought many wars with Egypt, and Babylonia and Elam were crushed. In 616 BC the new king of Babylon, Nabopolassar joined with the Medes and attacked Assyria. The mighty Empire of Assyria finally fell in 612 BC and Nineveh was destroyed. The Assyrian royalty fled to the city of Haran and the Babylonians came and destroyed them in 609 BC.

See Map of the Fertile Crescent

See Map of Israel

See Map of Assyria

The kings of later Assyria reigned from the 9th century BC until the fall of Assyria in 612 BC.

Later kings of Assyria (885-607 B.C.)

Assur-nasirpal II (885-860 B.C.)

Shalmaneser II (860-825 B.C.)

Shansi-adad (825-808 B.C.)

Adad-nirari (808-783 B.C.)

Shalmaneser III (783-771 B.C.)

Assur-dayan (771-753 B.C.)

Assur-lush (753-747 B.C.)

Tiglath-pileser III (Pul) (747-727 B.C.)

Shalmaneser IV (727-722 B.C.)

Sargon II (722-705 B.C.)

Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.)

Esar-haddon (681-668 B.C.)

Assur-banipal (668-626 B.C.)

Assur-etil-ilani (626-607 B.C.)

Note: Assyrian Military Campaigns are Recorded on Excavated Walls and Palaces.

Assyrian annals mention contacts with some nine Hebrew kings: Omri, Ahab, Jehu, Menahem, Pekah, Uzziah, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh.

In the reign of Hoshea, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, twice invaded (2 Kings 17:3,5) the kingdom that remained, and his successor Sargon II took Samaria in 722 BC, carrying away 27,290 of the population as he tells in his Khorsabad Annals. Later Assyrian kings, notably Esarhaddon (681 BC - 668 BC), completed the task.