Context: An empire is defined as "an aggregate of nations or people ruled over by an emperor or other powerful sovereign or government, usually a territory of greater extent than a kingdom, as the former British Empire, French Empire, Brazilian Empire, Russian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Byzantine Empire or Roman Empire." An empire can be made solely of contiguous territories such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or of territories far remote from the homeland, such as a colonial empire., Near East is a geographical term that roughly encompasses Western Asia. Despite having varying definitions within different academic circles, the term was originally applied to the maximum extent of the Ottoman Empire. The term has fallen into disuse in English and has been replaced by the terms "Middle East" and "West Asia"., Assyria was a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East. It existed as an independent state from perhaps as early as the 25th century BC in the form of the Assur city-state, until its lapse between 612 BC and 599 BC, spanning the Early to Middle Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age., The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period of time in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) when the dominant toolmaking material was iron. It is commonly preceded by the Bronze Age in Europe and Asia with exceptions and the Stone Age in Africa. Meteoric iron has been used by humans since at least 3200 BC, but ancient iron production did not become widespread until the ability to smelt iron ore, remove impurities and regulate the amount of carbon in the alloy were developed. The start of the Iron Age proper is considered by many to fall between around 1200 BC to 600 BC, depending on the region. In most parts of the world, its end is defined by the widespread adoption of writing, and therefore marks the transition from prehistory to history., A city-state is a sovereign state that consists of a city and its dependent territories. Historically, this included cities such as Rome, Athens, Carthage, and the Italian city-states during the Renaissancebut today only a handful of sovereign city-states exist, with some disagreement as to which are city-states. A great deal of consensus exists that the term properly applies to Singapore, Monaco, and Vatican City., Aššur (Akkadian; 'shr; : shr : shr, Kurdish Asûr), also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, was an Assyrian city, capital of the Old Assyrian Empire (20251750 BC), Middle Assyrian Empire (13651050 BC), and for a time, the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911605 BC). The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of the Tigris River, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab River, in modern-day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District in the Saladin Governorate., Aššr - reš - iši II , inscribed maš - šur - SAG - i - ši , meaning `` ( the god ) Aššur has lifted my head , '' was the king of Assyria , 971 -- 967 BC , the 96th to be listed on the Assyrian Kinglist . His short five - year reign is rather poorly attested and somewhat overshadowed by the lengthy reigns of his predecessor , Aššur - rabi II , and successor , Tukult - apil - Ešarra II., Subject: ashur-resh-ishi ii, Relation: occupation, Options: (A) academic (B) bank (C) carbon (D) emperor (E) major (F) sovereign
Output: sovereign