Who Were the Assyrians?

Typical Assyrian Man (Middle-Class)
The Assyrians were a tribe in Northern Mesopotamia around 1800 B.C. They were very territorial and built a large army to protect their land around 1300 B.C. In 1200 B.C., the Assyrians realized that their army was capable of taking over the rest of Mesopotamia, not just defending their territory. The Assyrians' most important victory was in 1150 B.C., when they destroyed Babylon, their archenemy. Within a short period of time, Mesopotamia, Israel, and Egypt was under the control of the Assyrians, who named their empire the Assyrian Empire. The empire's capital was Nineveh on the Tigris River. It was about 400 miles northeast of Babylon.