page_title: Achaemenid Assyria
section_title: Assyria after the Achaemenid period
hierarchical_section_title: Achaemenid Assyria / Assyria after the Achaemenid period
context_page_description: Athura, also called Assyria, was a geographical area within the Achaemenid Empire in Upper Mesopotamia from 539 to 330 BCE as a military protectorate state. Although sometimes regarded as a satrapy, Achaemenid royal inscriptions list it as a dahyu, a concept generally interpreted as meaning either a group of people or both a country and its people, without any administrative implication.
  It mostly incorporated the territories of Neo-Assyrian Empire corresponding to what is now northern Iraq in the upper Tigris, the middle and upper Euphrates, parts of modern-day northwestern Iran, modern-day northeastern Syria and part of southeast Anatolia. However, Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula were separate Achaemenid territories. The Neo-Assyrian Empire collapsed after a period of violent civil wars, followed by an invasion by a coalition of some of its former subject peoples, the Iranian peoples, Babylonians and Cimmerians in the late seventh century BCE, culminating in the Battle of Nineveh, and Assyria had fallen completely by 609 BCE.
  Between 609 and 559 BCE, former Assyrian territories were divided between the Median Empire to the east and the Neo-Babylonian Empire to the west.
context_section_description: In the late fourth century BCE, Alexander the Great led his Greco-Macedonian army to conquer the Achaemenid Empire. The empire's vast territory and numerous tributary peoples ensured that rebellion would be a constant problem. This new Greek Empire relied upon the administrative system put in place by the Persians to govern these new lands; consequently, the Assyrian lands of Athura and Mada were administrated as such by their own satraps. When Alexander the Great died, the Greek successor state of the Seleucid Empire, created in the Babylonian War, retained control of much of the Persian Empire. The Babylonian Chronicles now show the vitality of Greek culture in ancient cities like Babylon.
  Whilst Greek rule beyond the Euphrates was subject to constant and eventually successful Iranian incursions, Assyria was forced to take the role of a frontier province, first defending the Seleucid Empire against the Parthians and later defending the Parthian Empire against the Romans. Greek rule in the East did not last long, although the cultural impact did - by the mid-third century BCE, the satraps began revolting against the Seleucid Empire in Iran and Bactria, establishing their own domains. A temporary revival of Seleucid power reestablished Imperial authority in these regions in the late 3rd and early 2nd century BCE, but afterward the Parthians came to incorporate the lands known as Assyria once again by the mid-second century BCE.
  Rule by the Parthian Empire aimed to emulate that of their Persian predecessors, the Achaemenids, with a similar system of administration involving satraps and smaller provinces. Indeed, the main rebel behind the rise of Parthia from Seleucia was a satrap himself. On top of this, the Parthian Empire was more decentralized and power was shared amongst clan leaders, hinting at the possibility of the retention of the provinces. Mesopotamia became the heartland of the Seleucid Empire with a new capital, Seleucia, founded. As a result, much culture and knowledge was exchanged between the Greeks and the Assyrians. The invasions of Alexander the Great consisted not only of soldiers but scientists and historians.
  Beginning in the first century BCE, the Romans began expanding their Empire at the cost of the Parthians. Initially, the nomadic military tactic of circling and shooting worked to deadly effect against the slow, heavy-moving infantry of the Romans. In time, however, superior technology and strategy drove the Parthians out of the Mediterranean and most of Anatolia. The Parthians continued to resist Roman rule, invading and in turn being invaded by the Romans many times, with their capital Ctesiphon being sacked three times. The consequence of these bloody and inconclusive wars meant that the Assyrian provinces bore the brunt of the fighting, with Assyrian troops fighting for one side and then, at the change of the governing of the lands of Mada and Athura, fighting for the other side. Naturally such events served to undermine the Assyrians.
  Assyrians had begun to adopt Christianity from the first century and Aramaic remained the spoken language of the region.
  By the second century, the Roman Empire under Trajan began to achieve the upper hand against the Parthians and established the province of Assyria along the Euphrates and Tigris.
  From 226, Assyria became a province of the Sasanian Empire and was known as Asōristān ("Asōr-land") in Middle Persian.
  In 650, the area fell to the early Muslim conquests. However, the region remained Aramaic-speaking and largely Christian well into the Middle Ages. Assyrians remain in the area to this day, and there are a number of Assyrian towns and villages in the region. In addition, cities such as Mosul, Dohuk, Erbil and Kirkuk have Assyrian populations. Most Assyrians remain Christian and retain the Aramaic language and script.
caption: Coin of Alexander bearing an Aramaic inscription reflect the continuous impact of the Assyrian language after the Achaemenid period.
exif: {}