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ā€œRestore the might of the Assyrian Empire under Adad-nirari II and terrify your enemies as the supreme Assyrian archers darken the sun with the shafts of their arrows.ā€
—Description[1]

The Assyrians are a playable civilization in Age of Empires, based on the inhabitants of the ancient Assyrian Empire, which once controlled Mesopotamia and parts of Northeast Syria.

Characteristics[]

Civilization bonuses[]

Team bonus[]

Siege Workshops work 20% faster.

Missing technologies[]

Bronze Shield, Nobility, Architecture, City Watch, Aristocracy

Missing units[]

Slinger, Improved Bowman, Heavy Horse Archer, Elephant Archer, Scythe Chariot, War Elephant, Phalangite, Catapult Trireme

Overview[]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.

They are strictly an aggressive civilization and are excellent in small maps and games that start out with low resources.

Changelog[]

ReturnRome-AoEIcon Age of Empires[]

RomeIcon The Rise of Rome[]

  • Villagers move 18% faster (but stated 30%).

Age of Empires Definitive Edition icon Definitive Edition[]

  • Villagers move 10% faster.
  • Archers fire 33% faster (but stated 25%).
  • Heavy Transport, Engineering, and Chain Mail are available.
  • With update 46777, Alchemy is available.

AoE2Icon-ReturnRome Return of Rome[]

  • Team bonus added.
  • Siege units upgrades cost -50% added.
  • Upon release, Alchemy is unavailable. With hotfix 85208, it becomes available again.
  • With update 93001, archers fire 11%/22%/33% faster in the Tool/Bronze/Iron Age.

Campaign appearances[]

The Assyrians appear as AI players in:

NuRoR hoplite idle Glory of Greece[]

NuRoR priest idle Voices of Babylon[]

  • 2. The Tigris Valley
    • Elamite Raiders - Enemy (only since Return of Rome)
    • Elam Raiders - Enemy (only before Return of Rome)
  • 3. Lost (original only)
    • Hittites - Enemy
  • 4. I Shall Return (since Return of Rome)
    • Elamite Army - Enemy
  • 5. The Great Hunt
    • Elamites - Enemy (since the Definitive Edition)
    • Elamites - Enemy (since Return of Rome)
  • 6. The Caravan (since the Definitive Edition)
    • Elamites - Enemy
    • Elamites - Enemy
  • 7. Lord of the Euphrates
    • Western Aramaeans - Enemy
  • 8. Nineveh (original)
    • Enemy - Enemy
  • 8. The Conquest of Nineveh (since the Definitive Edition)
    • Nineveh - Enemy
    • Nimrud - Enemy
    • Assyrian Defenders - Enemy

Yamato, Empire of the Rising Sun[]

  • 3. Capture (original only)
    • Izumo - Enemy

Reign of the Hittites[]

The Rise of Rome[]

Ave Caesar[]

RoR Sargon of Akkad Sargon of Akkad[]

AI player names[]

Names shown in italics are only used in the original game, names shown in bold are used in both the original game and its expansions.

  • Tiglathpileser (š’†Ŗš’‹¾š’€€š’‚š’ˆ—š’Š) - Name of 3 kings of Assyria, most famously Tiglath-Pileser I, king of Assyria 1114-1076 BC
  • Ashurbanipal - King of Assyria 668-627 BC
  • Shalmaneser - Name of 5 kings of Assyria; Shalmaneser I: King of Assyria 1265-1235 BC
  • Sargon II (š’ˆ—š’„€š’ˆ¾) - King of Assyria 722-705 BC
  • Adad-Nirari II - King of Assyria 911-891 BC
  • Esharhaddon - King of Assyria 681-669 BC
  • Shalmaneser II - King of Assyria 1030-1010 BC
  • Tiglath-Pileser - Corrected from Tiglathpileser
  • Sargon (š’ˆ—š’ŗ) - King of Assyria c. 1920-1881 BC
  • Adad-Nirari - King of Assyria 1307-1275 BC (Adad-nirari I); 811-783 BC (III)
  • Essarhaddon - Corrected from Esharhaddon
  • Sennacherib (š’Œš’‰½š’ˆØš’Œš’‹¢) - King of Assyria 705-681 BC
  • Shamash (š’€­š’Œ“) - Assyrian Sun God and God of Justice
  • Ashurnasirpal - King of Assyria 1050-1031 BC (Ashurnasirpal I); 884-859 BC (II)

History[]

Main article: /History
ā€œ1800 to 600 BC

Lord Byron began his poem "The Destruction of Sennacherib" with "The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold." At the height of their power, the Assyrians were very much like a wolf among sheep, although their reputation is enhanced by several references to them in the Old Testament and by the extensive battle scenes that were found on their ruins. For a period they rose to the challenge of being surrounded by enemies and became the most powerful military force in the known world. Their legendary barbarity and fierceness was a deliberate policy intended to foster the submission of enemies and minimize the threat of revolt by vassals.
ā€
—Excerpt from the Age of Empires manual

Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom centered on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia (present day northern Iraq), that came to rule regional empires a number of times throughout history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur. Assyria was also sometimes known as Subartu, and after its fall as Athura, Syria and Assuristan. The term Assyria can also refer to the geographic region or heartland where these empires were centered. Their descendants still live in the region today, and they form the Christian minority in Iraq.[2] After the fall of the Akkadian Empire in 2080 BC, it eventually coalesced into two separate nations; Assyria in the north, and later Babylonia in the south.

Originally, the early Assyrian kings would certainly have been regional leaders only, and subjects of Sargon of Akkad, who united all of the Akkadian speaking peoples of Mesopotamia under the Akkadian Empire, which lasted from 2334 BC to 2154 BC. The Akkadian nation of Assyria (and later on also Babylonia) evolved from the dissolution of the Akkadian Empire. In the Old Assyrian period of the Early Bronze Age, Assyria had been a kingdom of northern Mesopotamia, competing for dominance with its fellow Mesopotamian rival, Babylonia which was often under Kassite rule. During this period it established colonies in Asia Minor. It had experienced fluctuating fortunes in the Middle Assyrian period.

Beginning with the campaigns of Adad-Nirari II from 911 BC, it again became a great power, conquering many of their neighbors. Eventually they weakened after so many wars and their empire would fall in the 7th century B.C.

Trivia[]

  • The civilization crest (icon) introduced in Return of Rome portrays an image of Ashur on a shape resembling large shields which were used in shield-walls.
  • Despite being a Mesopotamian people, they have the Egyptian architecture. The Sumerians also were in the same category before being moved to the Mesopotamian set in Return of Rome.
  • Before Return of Rome, they had extra speed on Villagers, which was the same bonus as the Yamato. Since the expansion's release, it has been removed from the Yamato.
  • The UI emblem art is a Lamassu, a protective spirit of Sumerian origin representing the zodiacs, parent-stars or constellations, often featured at the entrances of palaces.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ā†‘ https://www.forgottenempires.net/age-of-empires-definitive-edition
  2. ā†‘ Saggs, The Might That Was Assyria, pp. 290, "The destruction of the Assyrian empire did not wipe out its population. They were predominantly peasant farmers, and since Assyria contains some of the best wheat land in the Near East, descendants of the Assyrian peasants would, as opportunity permitted, build new villages over the old cities and carry on with agricultural life, remembering traditions of the former cities. After seven or eight centuries and various vicissitudes, these people became Christians."
Civilizations in Age of Empires categorised by architecture set
East Asian architectureChoson AOE DE ROR icon Choson Ā· Lac Viet AOE DE ROR icon Lac Viet Ā· Shang AOE DE ROR icon Shang Ā· Yamato AOE DE ROR icon Yamato
Egyptian architectureAssyrian AOE DE ROR icon Assyrians Ā· Egyptian AOE DE ROR icon Egyptians Ā· Hittite AOE DE ROR icon Hittites
Greek architectureGreek AOE DE ROR icon Greeks Ā· Minoan AOE DE ROR icon Minoans Ā· Phoenician AOE DE ROR icon Phoenicians
Mesopotamian architectureBabylonian AOE DE ROR icon Babylonians Ā· Persian AOE DE ROR icon Persians Ā· Sumerian AOE DE ROR icon Sumerians
Roman architectureCarthaginian AOE DE ROR icon Carthaginians Ā· Macedonian AOE DE ROR icon Macedonians Ā· Palmyran AOE DE ROR icon Palmyrans Ā· Roman AOE DE ROR icon Romans
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