Learn More About Ancient Assyria!

Interested in finding out more about the Neo-Assyrian Empire or Mesopotamia in general?

Standing in front of Asb's library.jpg

Ashurbanipal’s Library, British Museum

I’ve collected some of my favorite resources for the public, educators, and specialists alike here and will continue to update as more resources become available.

Want accessible and accurate historical information about the Assyrian Empire? You can:

If you’re interested in primary source material, there’s a wealth of Assyrian texts available online in the original Akkadian (and sometimes Sumerian) with English translations.

So, if you are curious about what our text sources are like, you can freely read through them, thanks to the hard work by a number of different projects! You’ll find we know a surprising amount of detail about this ancient period.

Not strictly just Assyria, but close to my heart as someone who works on ancient Mesopotamian religion, is Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses Here, you can find overviews of some of the most important Mesopotamian deities across history

Want to learn Akkadian? Or, are you teaching Akkadian for the first time (even perhaps to yourself)? Just want an introduction to what Akkadian is? Try these resources:

Excellent videos and visuals for your classroom or personal entertainment:

Add some Assyriology to your social media!

On Facebook, you can follow pages of specific collections such as the Yale Babylonian Collection and the Oriental Institute-University of Chicago and individual departments such as the Assyriology at the University of Leiden and Altorientalisches Institut Leipzig (Ancient Near Eastern Department, University of Leipzig). Many of these pages post both local events and more general information.

For those interested in individual projects, groups such as University of Helsinki’s Ancient Near Eastern Empires tend to have a presence on several social media platforms and their own websites, so look them up and follow them for the latest news!

There are also less academically-focused pages that are quite interesting, such as Popular References to the Ancient Near East, which is really valuable for anyone teaching about reception history, modern identities in the Middle East, and orientalism.

Speaking of popular culture, you might enjoy some of the Mesopotamia-themed board games, such as Assyria or  Tigris and Euphrates and the educationally-minded offerings at Esagil Games (designed with teachers in mind!).

But if you like games, you should try out the modern adaptation of the Royal Game of Ur, a game that was found in the Royal Tombs of Ur in southern Mesopotamia and dating to around 2500 BCE. There’s a great video about this amazing find and how it’s played, featuring Tom Scott and Irving Finkel, check it out!

Individual assyriologists, museums, and departments are also active on Twitter. I won’t name specific accounts but if you search “Assyriology” or “cuneiform” you will find it quite well represented!

If you still can’t find information about a topic that you’re looking for related to ancient Assyria, let me know!

Hopefully this will get you started and more will be added soon ~

lamassu and me

Lamassu at the Louvre with an Assyriologist for scale

Last updated: October 2020