Assyria was one of the Great Powers of the Ancient World. (They have been called the 'Romans of the East'.) From the early ninth to the lat seventh century BC they played an important part in history. At the heigh of their power the Assyrians controlled a vast area from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Zagros Mountains in the east, from Lake Van in the north to the Gulf in the south. For a brief period in the mid-seventh century BC Egypt was also incorporated into the empire.

This pamphlet provides an introduction to their extraordinary history...