Welcome to the History of the World Podcast. My name is Chris Hasler.

And you're listening to volume 2, The Ancient World. This is episode The Assyrian Empire.

This is episode 7, the Assyrian Empire. Oh, Let's have a look at previous mentions of the Assyrian Empire during this

podcast series. If we go back to episode 4 which concentrated on the first Babylonian dynasty, we went into a good

amount of detail regarding the old Assyrian Empire. Assyria takes its name from the city of Asher, which appears to have

started out as a small town that served as a good stop-off point for 3rd Millennium BC Isumirians

looking to trade with peoples of the Iranian Plateau.

The demand for goods was healthy and this would be good for the health of Asher. It was in a great strategic location on the banks of the Tigris in northern Mesopotamia,

and subsequent southern Mesopotamian empire such as the Acadians and the Neo-Sumirians ensured that Asher was kept under their direct influence.

It would be during an intermediate period of southern Mesopotamia that Asieu would need to learn to stand on its own two feet and take advantage of its opportunity for independence.

The Neo-Sumerian Empire had collapsed and the Assyrians had the infrastructure

to become a self-governing kingdom in its own rights.

The people of Assyria were believed to be Semitic, like many of the other successful Mesopotamian dynasties.

It is very likely that we can trace their origins to be from a similar route to the Acadians and the Amorites for that reason.

The Assyrians knew that their wealth would be coming from the mountainous regions directly to their north.

By establishing trading posts in the Taurus Mountain Range, the Assyrians would be able to gather enough metals

and precious stones to become an essential trade partner to its neighbors. We believe that during this period the

Kings of Asher went from living intense to living in palaces with temples being built to honor the city's deities.

One of the biggest political shifts of the old Assyrian period is when the Assyrian king Erysham II was removed from his position

by Shamshi Adad. Shamshi Adad had been removed from the throne of his kingdom at the city of

Turka in the modern Deere-Ezao Governorate of Syria.

Shamshiadad came Governorate of Syria.

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