Early Period (Assyria)
| Early Period of Assyria | ||||||||||
| Aššūrāyu | ||||||||||
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 A map detailing the location of Assyria within the Ancient Near East c. 2500 BCE.
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| Capital | Assur | |||||||||
| Languages | Akkadian language Sumerian language | |||||||||
| Religion | Ancient Mesopotamian religion | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
| King | ||||||||||
| • | fl. c. 2500 BCE | Tudiya (first) | ||||||||
| • | fl. c. 2025 BCE | Ilu-shuma (last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Bronze Age | |||||||||
| • | Established | c. 2600 BCE | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | c. 2025 BCE | ||||||||
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| Today part of | ||||||||||
The Early Period refers to the history of Assyrian civilization of Mesopotamia between 2500 BCE and 2025 BCE. It is the first of the four periods into which the history of the Assyrian civilisation is traditionally divided. The other periods are the Old Assyrian Empire (2025 BCE - 1378 BCE), the Middle Assyrian Empire (1392 BCE - 934 BCE) and the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911 BCE - 609 BCE).
The main settlement of Assyria in the Early Period was Assur, a city-state. The people of Assur in the Early Period spoke an East Semitic language.
Assyria may refer to a geographic area or to the area ruled under the Old Assyrian Empire. The word "Assyria" comes from its first capital city, Assur (Aššūrāyu). Assur was named after its patron deity, Ashur and prior to its rise to a city-state was known as "Azuhinum".
The rise of Assur to the status of city-state was preceded by its being an outpost for Sumerian or Akkadian rulers.
The earliest known king of the Assyrian Early Period according to the Assyrian King List was Tudiya who ruled from about 2450 BCE to about 2400 BCE. Tudiya was succeeded by Adamu. Following Adamu, the Assyrian King List gives a further thirteen rulers prior to Assur reaching the status of city-state. Nothing concrete is yet known of these kings who were likely nomadic.
At about 2300 BCE, Assyria was ruled by Sargon of Akkad. He united all the Akkadian and Sumerian speaking peoples of Mesopotamia under the Akkadian Empire (about 2334 BCE to 2154 BCE).
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