Neo-Assyrian Empire

Overview

The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of the South Caucasus, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean throughout much of the 9th to 7th centuries BCE, becoming the largest empire in history up to that point. Because of its geopolitical dominance and ideology based in world domination, the Neo-Assyrian Empire has been described as the first world empire in history. It influenced other empires of the ancient world culturally, administratively, and militarily, including the Neo-Babylonians, the Achaemenids, and the Seleucids. At its height, the empire was the strongest military power in the world and ruled over all of Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt, as well as parts of Anatolia, Arabia and what is now Iran and Armenia.

Wikipedia: Neo-Assyrian Empire·CC BY-SA 4.0

Borders & accuracy

Dashed borders mark empires whose extent we can date but whose precise frontiers are contested or undocumented.

• SOURCEhand-crafted from scholarly atlases
• DETAILhand-traced (r14) from Roaf, Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia; Times Atlas of World History — Neo-Assyrian Empire at greatest extent c. 671-650 BC. Replaces a pass-2 HBM pull that had matched Taiwan.
• SNAPSHOT670 BCE
• POLITY TYPEstate

Greatest extent under Esarhaddon/Ashurbanipal: Egypt to Thebes, the Levant, Cilicia, upper Mesopotamia to the Urartian frontier, the western Zagros, Elam and Babylonia. Cyprus (tributary) not drawn.

Wars of this empire12

Conflicts whose belligerents name this polity, best-documented first.

• Assyrian conquest of Egypt673–663 BCE
  World-changing
• Sargon II's Campaigns722–705 BCE
  Major conflict · 27K dead
• Battle of Ulai653 BCE
  Significant
• Medo-Babylonian conquest of Assyria626–609 BCE
  Significant
• Battle of Samaria724 BCE
  Regional
• Battle of Eltekeh700 BCE
  Regional
• Battle of Khalule691 BCE
  Regional
• Battle of Azotus659 BCE
  Regional
• Battle of Nineveh653 BCE
  Regional
• Battle of Babylon, Iraq650 BCE
  Regional
• Battle of Nineveh612 BCE
  Regional
• Battle of Harran610 BCE
  Regional