I.

Introduction

Assyria (ancient Ashur, Ashshur, or Assur), ancient country of Asia, extending from about the northern border of present-day Iraq south to the mouth of the Little Zab River, in the northern part of Iraq. About the size of the state of Kansas and roughly triangular in shape, Assyria included the valley of the Tigris River. The western part of the country consisted of steppe land suitable only for a nomadic population. The eastern section, however, was fit for agriculture, with wooded hills and fertile valleys watered by good-size streams. To the east of Assyria lay the Zagros Mountains; to the north, terrace upon terrace led up to the Armenian Massif; the Mesopotamian plain stretched to the west. To the south was the country known first as Sumer, then as Sumer and Akkad, and still later as Babylonia. Mesopotamia is the name that the ancient Greeks gave to the general region in which all these countries, including Assyria, flourished. The best-known cities of Assyria, all situated in the territory of present-day Iraq, were Ashur, now Ash Sharqāţ; Nineveh, now the excavated mound Kuyunjik; Calah, now Nimrud; and Dur Sharrukin, now Khorsabad.