Syria's communities and civilizations – history, sites and heritage
Assyrians in ancient Syria (Middle and Neo-Assyrian Empire)
الآشوريون (الإمبراطورية الآشورية الحديثة)
Civilizations and historical peopleshistorical
Assyria ruled the Khabur and middle Euphrates from the 13th century BC and conquered the Aramean and Syro-Hittite states of Syria in the 9th–8th centuries BC. Provincial centres included Dur-Katlimmu, Til Barsip (Kar-Shalmaneser) and Guzana. This is a historical empire; modern Assyrians are covered in the ethnic section.
Shalmaneser I (r. 1263–1234 BC) made Dur-Katlimmu (Tell Sheikh Hamad) the capital of a new province. Shalmaneser III took Til Barsip in 856 BC and renamed it after himself, fought at Qarqar in 853 BC and annexed the middle Euphrates in 838 BC.
Sources and details
Guzana became an Assyrian province in 808 BC. Tiglath-pileser III captured Arpad (740) and Damascus (732), and Sargon II destroyed Hamath (720) and took Carchemish (717). Dur-Katlimmu yielded 550 Akkadian and 40 Aramaic texts, and records of 604–599 BC suggest administration lasted briefly after the empire's fall.
Assyrian rule left provincial palaces and archives in the Khabur and Euphrates valleys; the empire's Syrian provinces passed to Babylon after its collapse.
Sites connected with this community 6
- Tell Fekheriye (Sikani)Hasakah · Churches & monasteries
Tell Fekheriye, Neo-Assyrian Sikani.
- Tell Halaf (Guzana)Hasakah · Churches & monasteries
Guzana, Assyrian province from 808 BC.
- Tell Ahmar (Til Barsip / Masuwari / Kar-Shalmaneser)Aleppo · Churches & monasteries
Til Barsip, renamed after Shalmaneser III in 856 BC.
- Dūr-KatlimmuDeir ez-Zor · Archaeological sites
Dur-Katlimmu, Assyrian provincial capital.
- QarqarHama · Archaeological sites
Qarqar, battle of 853 BC.
- ResafaRaqqa · Archaeological sites
Resafa, where the Assyrians built a military camp in the 9th century BC.
Further sites (not yet in the atlas)
- Arslan Tash (Hadatu) أرسلان طاشAleppo
Late Assyrian palace with a relief inscription of Tiglath-pileser III and important ivories; not in the atlas data.
Sources (7)
These categories describe history, language and faith – not exclusive identities. Many Syrians belong to several, and some names refer to civilizations of the past.