Assyria

Assyria was a city-state on the Upper Tigris River during the Middle Bronze Age. It was named after its capital, the ancient city of Assur, which was in what is now Iraq.

An Assyrian winged bull, or lamassu.

The Assyrians were just to the north of their rivals, the Babylonians. All of the kingdoms of ancient Mesopotamia used the cuneiform writing system, which had been invented by the Sumerians.

Assyrian people

The Assyrians are an ethnic group in what are now Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria, but many have immigrated to the Caucasus, North America, and Western Europe during the past century. Hundreds of thousands others live in the Assyrian diaspora. They are part of the Iraqi refugees communities in Europe, the former Soviet Union, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.

Related pages

• Assyrian genocide
• Nineveh