As'shur (Heb. Ashshur', "lilffiN, prob. i. q. 1*ltt3& a step ; Sept. 'Aaaovp and 'Airoovpioi ; Auth. Vers. "Asshur," in Gen. x, 11; Num. xxiv, 22, 24; 1 Chron. i, 17 ; Ezek. xxvii, 23 ; xxxii, 22 ; Hos. xiv, 3; " Assur" in Ezra iv, 2 ; Psa. lxxxiii, 8; "Assyr- ian" or "Assyrians" in Psa. xiv, 25; xix, 23; xxx, 31; xxxi, 8; lii, 4; Lam. v, 6; Ezek. xvi, 28 ; xxiii, 9, 12, 23 ; Hos. v, 13 ; xi, 5 ; xii, 1 ; Mic. v, 5, 6 ; elsewhere and usually "Assyria" in very many oc- currences) appears in the O. T. to be the name (1.) properly (Gen. x, 11 ; see Michaelis, Spic. i, 235 sq. ; Vater, Comm. i, 125, in loc.) of a state in Western Asia, different from Babylonia (Shinar), of which it was ac- counted a colony. The metropolis was Nineveh (q. v.), i. e. the Kinus of the Greeks ; besides which the, cities Resen, Rehoboth, and Calnah (q. v. severally) are named, apparently as included in the same dis- trict, although the signification and application of these names are uncertain. (2.) In the books of the Kings (and the prophets) it designates a victorious and ty- rannical kingdom, which (according to 2 Kings xviii, 11) included also Mesopotamia, Media (comp. Isa. vii, 20; x, 8, 9; xxii, 26), as well as (according to 2 Kings xvii, 20; 2 Chron. xxxiii, 11) Babylonia, and whose inhabitants are described (Ezek. xxiii, 6, 17, 23) as wealthy (Nineveh being a mart, Nah. iii, 16, the entrepot between the eastern and western trade), but also arrogant (Isa. x, 9 sq. ; Zach. x, 11), and oc- cupying a fertile tract (Isa. xviii, 2, 7; Nah. iii, If). It is the region also well known to the Greeks as As- syria (once, Mic. v, 5, called "the land of Nimrod"), which, together with its capital Ninus, was destro)-ed by the Medes and Chaldueans. As in the Bible, we find likewise (a.) in Greek and Roman writers Assyr- ia CAtrovpia, Ptol. vi, 1; oftener 'Arovpia, Strabo, xvi, 507, or 'Arvpia, Dio Cass, lxviii, 28) named as the country shut in on the north by the high mountain range (Mt. Niphates) of Armenia, on the south almost entirely level, watered by several rivers, and hence very fruitful ; which was bounded on the east by Me- dia, on the south by Susiana and Babylonia, on the west (by means of the Tigris) by Mesopotamia, and now forms the greater part of the province of Kurdis- tan (comp. Plin. v, 13; Strabo, xvi, 736; see Bern- hard, ad Dionys. Perieg. p. 730). (6.) Far oftener As- syria was the name given 1 y the ancients to the pro- vincial satrapy of the Persian empire, consisting of the joint districts Assyria and Babylonia (Herod, i, 178; comp. 10G; Strabo, xvi, 507; Ammian. Marc. xxiii, £0), including Mesopotamia (Arrian, Alex, vii, 21, 2 ; Ammian. Marc, xxiv, 2), and even extended at times its name to a part of Asia Minor (Dionys. Pe- rieg. 975 ; comp. Mannert, V, ii, 424 sq.). Assyria Proper (Herod, i, 102, "the Assyrians who live in Ninus") is, on the other hand, called Adiabene (Plin. v, 13, 6; Strabo, xvi, 512; Ammian. Marc, xxiii, 6; in the Syriac, Chedib, Assemani, Biblioth. Or. Ill, ii, 708; by the Talmudists, Clmdib, ^IPT; comp. Dib, the Arabic name of two streams of this province, Ro-
ASSHUR
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senmuller, Alterth. I, ii, 113), which was only a prov- ince of Assyria, lying between Arrapachitis and the Garamaeans (Plin. vi, 1G; Mannert, V, ii, 450 sq.). See Babylonia ; Mesopotamia.
Little is known of the early history of the Assyrian empire, for the ancient accounts are not only scant}-, but confused, and in some cases contradictory, so that the most deserving efforts of modern (especially recent) scholars have scarcely availed to clear it up (see Schroer, Imperium Babylon, et Nini ex monument, antiq. Frckf. 1726 ; Uhland, Chronologia sacra in prw- c!p. chron. et hist. Babylon. Assyr. monumentis vindi- cata, Tubing. 1763). The Biblical notices, which em- brace but a small part of its history, do not form a connected whole with those of profane (Greek) au- thors. According to the former (Gen. x, 10) the king- dom of Assyria was founded by Nimrod (q. v.) of Babylon, but its princes are not named earlier than the Israelitish king Menahem (2 Kings xv, 19 sq.), and they appear subsequently in the hostile collisions with the two Hebrew kingdoms (comp. Hos. v, 13 ; vii, 11). Those thus mentioned are the following: (1.) Pul (2 Kings, as above), who exacted tribute (B.C. 7G9) of Israel (under Menahem). (2.) Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings xvi, 7-10 ; 1 Chron. xxviii, 16 sq.), in the time of Ahaz of Judah and Pekah of Israel, the latter of whom, with his ally Rezin (of Damascene Syria), was beaten by him (as a mercenary ally of Ahaz), and many of their subjects carried into captivity (B.C. 739). (3.) Shal- maneser, who (B.C. 720) overthrew the kingdom of Israel and carried away the rest of the inhabitants into exile (2 Kings xvii, 5 sq. ; xviii, 9). Judah was also tributary to him (2 Kings xviii, 7). Media and Per- sia formed part of this Assyrian king's dominions (2 Kings xviii, 11), and he made successful incursions against Phoenicia (Joseph. Ant. ix, 14, 2). (4.) Sen- nacherib, who (B.C. 713) appeared before Jerusalem under Hezekiah after sin attack upon Egypt (2 Kings xviii, 13 sq. ; xix, 39 ; Isa. xvii, xviii). (5.) Esar- haddon (B.C. post 712), the son of the preceding (2 Kings xix, 37 ; Isa. xxxvii, 38 ; Ezra iv, 2). There is, moreover, mention made of Sargon (only Isa. xx, 1), who probably reigned but for a short time between Shalmaneser and Sennacherib (B.C. 715). None of these names except Sennacherib (Sanacharib, 2«i'a- Xcuujioc, Herod, ii, 141), the contemporary of the Egyptian king Setho (comp. Berosus, in Joseph. Ant. x, 1, 4), occur in Grecian authors (allusion is made to Shalmaneser in the passage cited by Joseph. Ant. ix, 14, 2, from Menander the Ephesian, although the name does not occur in the extract). Moreover, Cte- sias (in Diod. Sic. ii; comp. Agathias, I)e rebus J us- tiniani, 2), Julius Africanus, Eusebius (Chron. Armen. i, 98 sq., 599; ii, 15 sq.), and Syncellus begin their series of proper Assyrian kings, whose empire ex- tended during its prime to the Euphrates (although the notices in the Hebrew writers from the time of David are silent respecting its growth), with Ninus (Belus), and close it (260 years before Cyrus) with Sardanapalus (after a duration of 6520 vears, accord- ing to Herod, i, 95, 130; of 1306 [1360] years accord- ing to Ctesias, in Diod. Sic. ii, 21, 28; of 1460 years according to Syncellus, p. 165; of 1240 years accord- ing to Eusebius, Chron. Armen. ii, 16, 167) or (in Syn- "II ii- | Thonoscon-Colerus (Euseb. Chron. ii, 167, places this Sardanapalus in the time of Jeroboam II, and makes him a contemporary of Lyeurgus). From this point they begin, with Arbaces, the conqueror of Sar- danapalus, a new Median dynasty (comp. Athen. xii, 528 sq.), which is continued down to Astyages (.Marsh- am, Can. Chron. p. 517 sq., 525 sq. ; Vignoles, Chro- nologie^ ii. 161 sq.). Herodotus, who, however, gives merely general references to Assyrian history, names (i, 98 8q. | as the first independent king of Media, De- joces (comp. Joseph. Ant. x, 2, 2), and reckons to Astyages only four (comp. Dion. Hal. i, 2) Median princes, including Astyages (according to him, these