Wall relief panel depicting an “urmahlilu” (Lion-Man) (645-640 BCE), a protective spirit, North Palace, Nineveh, in the I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria (unless noted otherwise, ...

In his new book "Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire" (Basic Books), Yale professor Eckart Frahm offers a comprehensive history of the ancient civilization (circa 2025 BC to 609 BC) ...

Ashurbanipal, last major ruler of the Assyrian Empire, depicted in the royal lion hunt bas-reliefs (c. 645 B.C.) that were ripped from the walls of the North Palace at Nineveh during the excavations ...

Ancient Mesopotamia, the fabled land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, was the command and control center of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This ancient superpower was the largest empire of its ...

A relief from the Assyrian capital of Nimrud showing the god Ashur. Assyrians derive their name from Ashur. (Wikimedia Commons) What comes to mind when you think of an empire? Is it the Roman Empire, ...

The Neo-Assyrian Empire, centered in northern Iraq and extending from Iran to Egypt -- the largest empire of its time -- collapsed after more than two centuries of dominance at the fall of its capital ...

A portion of an 1892 circus poster showing Jonah prophesying the Median assault on Nineveh, (Adam Forepaugh, Courier Litho. Co., now in the collections of the Library of Congress) Ancient Mesopotamia, ...

In 763 BCE, within the vast and powerful Assyrian Empire centered around the city of Nineveh, a remarkable and somewhat eerie event occurred. On June 15, in the full light of day, the world ...

The Assyrian Empire was once one of the largest and most powerful empires of the ancient world—and now scientists believe that climate change played a part in its demise. The final decades of the ...

How the first excavations in an ancient city are supporting its claim as the oldest continuously inhabited place in the world The booming city of Erbil (ancient Arbela) in Kurdistan encircles the ...

They came before dawn, under the cover of darkness. Overpowering and killing three village guards, they took hundreds of captives — men, women and children, from the elderly to the very young. Then ...

Yale historian Frahm (coeditor, Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks) delivers a comprehensive and accessible look at the rise, fall, and historical impact of the Assyrian Empire. From its beginnings at the ...