BY: Ben Cooper, Matt Boling,
Ben Brown, and Danny Cameron
 The Assyrians practiced the religion of Ashurism and worshipped the god Ashur,
the supreme god of the Assyrians, until 256 A.D.
In first century A.D., Assyria (under the claim of King Abgar of Edessa) was the first
nation to cooperatively convert to Christianity.
 And in the year of 33 A.D., the Assyrian church, Church of the East,
was founded by Patriarchs Thaddeus, Thomas and Bartholomew .
**Today the church is called the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East
 But the church split in year 451 A.D.
because of the belief whether Christ’s
indivisible
nature was, both human and divine or not.
 After the split, the Syriac Orthodox
Church was
born.
 When the dispute of choosing a new
Patriarch, either by election or hereditary,
for the Church of the East, began, the party
split.
This established an allegiance with the
Catholic Church of Rome. Pope Julius
Caesar III now called this new church,
Chaldean Church of Babylon.
 Today, Assyrians are members of other Christian
denominations including:
-Evangelical,
-Pentecostal,
-Presbyterian,
-Baptist
-And enforced Islamization.
And of course those who don’t have a religious following
 For the Assyrians, life was condemned to small villages. But there were larger
cities, that served as trade and craft centers.
Another part in the Assyrian culture was wall carvings and craftsmanship, which showed
that the Assyrians were high skilled in craftsmanship.
 The architecture for these houses were mostly made out of mud bricks and occasionally
stone. Buildings and houses would never be exceeding one story and had flat roofs.
 The houses only covered small amount of an
area, while temples and palaces covered
large areas in the cities.
 Assyrians created the world’s first written language and Hammurabi’s code of law.
 One of the biggest pieces of art the Assyrians had, were their two languages: Ancient Assyrian
and Modern Assyrian. Also known as Akkadian and neo-syriac.
 But the Aramean’s language, Aramaic , soon replaced the Ancient Assyrian language and
became the second official language of the Assyrian empire in 752 B.C.
 The language of Aramaic is also called
Assyrian Aramaic, by the scholars. The
scholars call it that because the language
the Assyrians used, heavily introduced the
Akkadian words.
 Literature, was one of the finest
cultural achievements of Assyria and
Assyrians initially used the cuneiform
alphabet from the Babylonians, and
wrote it on clay tablets until 750 B.C.
And then the Arameans introduced
writing on leather, parchment or
papyrus.
This literature dealt with legal issues,
medicine and history and a number of
other subjects.
 Assyria had the traditional monarchy, in which the king answered to his court and if the
king died, the son would take over.
 The government of Assyria was built around area rulers who paid taxes to the king as well
as provided men for the army.
 As the Assyrian territories were extended through the military campaigns, the local rulers
had to fulfill their duties to the Assyrian king, so they could be allowed to govern their old
regions.
 Assyria was divided into 70 provinces, under the rule of Sargon 2
** The Assyrians were well acknowledged for they growing knowledge in organization and for
warfare.
He reigned from 2334 to 2279 BC.
Created an empire that united Mesopotamia.
He created the first great Semitic empire.
Sargon of Akkad History:
 He was an orphan adopted by a gardener and not in a royal family.
 He conquered all of the great kings around him to become one of the most dominant Kings.
 The empire did not fall during his reign or his sons reigns it wasn’t until his grandson ruled that
the Akkadian empire fell.
Short Term Impact:
 Approximately 1472 B.C., a Mittanian King took over Assyria, and lasted for about 70 years.
 Mittanian control was taken over in 1365 B.C. by Ashuruballit, who laid the foundation of the
first Assyrian empire.
Short Term cont.:
 Invaders from the Taurus mountains, north of Assyria, posed a significant threat to Assyria,
and occupied Arik-den-ili for a number of years, but were successfully driven out, making the
way for Adad-narari (1307 B.C.) to establish the first Assyrian empire, which lasted until 1248
B.C.
 The Middle Assyrian empire began in 1307 B.C. with Tiglath-Pileser, who greatly expanded
Assyrian territory.
Short Term cont.:
 He also established several zoos in Assyria, as he had a fascination with foreign animals.
 Ashur-dan II would concentrate on rebuilding Assyria within its natural borders, from Tur
Abdin to the foothills beyond Arbel.
Short Term cont.:
 Ashur-danII built government offices in all provinces, and as an economic boost, provided
ploughs throughout the land, which yielded record grain production and made Assyria the
major world power of its time.
 The four Kings that followed Ashur-dan II were Adad-nerari II (his son), Tukulti-Ninurta II,
Ashur-nasir-pal II, and Shalmaneser III.
Long Term Impacts:
 Assyria is comprised of three major cities: Ashur, Nineveh, Arbel
 Sargon of Akkad established his kingdom in 2371 B.C., becoming the first king to assert control
outside of his city-state.
 Sargon of Akkad model for conquering and controlling cities that creates empires is still in use
today.
Long Term Impacts:
Shamshi-Adad I would establish the Assyrian
kingdom in 1813 B.C. uniting the three major cities.
Shamshi-Adad forever united the three cities of
Ashur, Nineveh, and Arbel into one solid unit, and
brought Arrapkha firmly into the Assyrian sphere, so
that henceforth these four cities, and Nimrod, would
constitute the very core of Assyria.
Long Term cont.:

Assyria was where locks and keys were first used.

Assyria was where paved roads were first used.
 Other firsts in Assyria were:
postal system,
use of iron,
magnifying glasses,
libraries,
plumbing and
flush toilets,
electric batteries,
guitars,
aqueducts,
 During his reign, a significant development occurred, the Aramean migrations into Assyria.
Long Term cont.:
 The first epic is written, “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” with its universal and timeless theme of the
struggle and purpose of humanity.
Work Cited Page
 http://www.sloganizer.net/en/
 http://www.aina.org/aol/peter/brief.htm#History
 http://rosiemalekyonan.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/as
syrians-religion-religious-divisions/
 http://lexicorient.com/e.o/assyria.htm
 http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b1sargon.htm