Assyria

Origins and formation

Assyria was a Mesopotamian civilization in Upper Mesopotamia. The history page divides its imperial history into Early, Old, Middle, and Neo-Assyrian phases and dates the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 911 to 609 BCE. The Neo-Assyrian page starts that phase with Adad-nirari II in 911 BCE, after much of the Middle Assyrian Empire had been lost. The religious and older political center was Assur. The guide’s opening, a state in the Fertile Crescent that begins in the city of Ashur, is that heartland. It is not yet the empire that later held Egypt.^{[1] [2] [4]}

Under Ashurnasirpal II, in 883–859 BCE, Assyria was again the dominant power of the Near East, and he moved the capital from Assur to Kalhu, later called Nimrud. Shalmaneser III expanded further, and then a period the Neo-Assyrian page calls the age of the magnates left central control weak. Tiglath-Pileser III, ruling 745–727 BCE, reasserted the king and conquered Babylonia and much of the Levant. The guide’s “long succession of kings” is this sequence. One king is not the whole Neo-Assyrian age.^{[2] [4]}

Defining periods

Under the Sargonid dynasty, from 722 BCE to the fall, the empire reached its apex. Sennacherib, ruling 705–681 BCE, moved the capital to Nineveh. Esarhaddon, ruling 681–669 BCE, brought the empire to its largest extent by conquering Egypt. The Neo-Assyrian page says that at its height the empire ruled Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Egypt, and parts of Anatolia, Arabia, and what is now Iran and Armenia, and that it has been described as the first world empire. The guide’s conquests of Babylon and Egypt are those wars. They are not one campaign, and they are not the reason the empire ended.^{[2] [4]}

The end is a sequence. In 612 BCE the Medes and Babylonians took Nineveh after a siege of two months, and the king Sinsharishkun died in the defense. The capture is described as the effective end of the empire. A prince, Aššur-uballiṭ II, held Harran until late 610 or early 609 BCE, when Babylonians and Medes took the city. An attempt to retake it, with Egyptian help, failed. Assyrian remnants fought beside Egypt until the defeat at Carchemish in 605 BCE. The guide says a Babylonian revolt ended the empire in 609 BCE. That year matches the loss of Harran on the Neo-Assyrian page. It does not match Nineveh in 612 or Carchemish in 605. The Assyria page’s own range, 911–609 BCE, follows the Harran date. This essay keeps all three years.^{[1] [2] [4]}

Legacy and interpretation

The Neo-Assyrian page says the empire influenced the Neo-Babylonians, the Achaemenids, and the Seleucids in culture, administration, and war. The guide says the kings were a conduit for Mesopotamian culture and that the conquests later spelled doom. Both can stand. The doom on the history page is a Median and Babylonian war, not a moral repaid inside one city. The published Babylon essay is the city that later overthrew this empire, not Nineveh retold from the other side. The published Egypt essay is an earlier Nile kingdom. It is not Esarhaddon’s conquest, and this essay does not borrow it.^{[2] [4]}

Dur-Sharrukin, “Fortress of Sargon,” present-day Khorsabad, was the capital under Sargon II. The city page says it was built in the decade before 706 BCE and that, after Sargon died in battle, the capital moved about twenty kilometers south to Nineveh. The guide’s wonder uses the name and attaches science on fortifications and a district that must be conquered. A wonder that strengthens forts is not the move of 706 BCE, and it is not the sack of Nineveh in 612. The Chinese page says this wonder is available in the main game. The English page does not say that. The civilization itself is still described as collection content. A wonder line is not a base-game label for Assyria.^{[3] [4] [5]}

A closer look

The English ability, Treasures of Nineveh, grants a technology and a codex, relic, or artifact the first time a settlement is captured, and it withholds those items from the ordinary technology or civic path. The Chinese ability text, as retrieved, states a technology on first capture and says codices do not come from technologies. It does not repeat the three-age list. The tradition names also diverge. English lists Ashur, Durrānī, Girru, and Miḫiṣtu. Chinese lists a different civic tree, and its tradition names do not match that English list. This essay does not translate one tree into the other. Capture bonuses are rules. They are not the siege of 612 BCE.^{[4] [5]}

The English quarter is Ekallu, with a Royal Library and a Citadel. The civilian is the turtanu, and the cavalry is the magarru. Shalmaneser III’s turtanu was a commander-in-chief who led campaigns when the king did not. A unique commander with a bonus against fortified districts is a unit. It is not Dayyan-Assur’s career, and a cavalry unit that can move after attacking is not the Median army at Nineveh. The Chinese page names those slots in its own words. Yields stay on the guides.^{[2] [4] [5]}

In Civilization VII

The English guide names Treasures of Nineveh, the traditions above, the quarter Ekallu, the buildings Royal Library and Citadel, the commander Turtanu, the cavalry Magarru, and the wonder Dur-Sharrukin. The simplified Chinese guide titles the civilization with its Chinese name and names several of those slots in its own words, without matching the English tradition list term for term. The apex age is Antiquity, which is the codex age. The Chinese guide writes that apex as the classical age. The English page says the civilization can be bought separately, base game required, and is also in the Right to Rule Collection DLC bundle. Owning the bundle or the Founders Edition means the content is already owned. The Chinese footnote, as retrieved, names the collection and the Founders Edition and does not repeat the separate-purchase sentence.^{[4] [5]}

The first step back from the capture ability is to keep Assur, the move to Kalhu, the move to Nineveh, Dur-Sharrukin before 706 BCE, Nineveh in 612 BCE, Harran in 609 BCE, and Carchemish in 605 BCE in that order. The guide’s single year is the middle of the ending, not the whole ending.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}