The states of Western Asia

In the 2nd millennium BCE states such as Assyria, the Hittite kingdom and Mitanni and the Phoenician city-states began to form in Western Asia. Assyria arose in the upper Tigris and Euphrates; its capital was first Ashur, then Nineveh. The Assyrians conquered neighbours with a strong army and collected tribute. King Ashurbanipal (7th century BCE) gathered a huge library of cuneiform clay tablets in Nineveh. Nineveh was taken in 612 BCE by Babylonian and Median armies and Assyria came to an end (the last remnants until 605 BCE). The Hittites built a state in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), with its capital at Hattusa; they used war chariots and iron weapons. In the early 12th century BCE the kingdom collapsed under attacks by the “Sea Peoples” and other enemies. In present-day Syria Mitanni had a strong cavalry. Urartu (capital Tushpa) lay around Lake Van, in eastern Turkey and Armenia, and flourished in the 9th–8th centuries BCE. Phoenicia lay on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean (present-day Lebanon) and was famous for trading cities such as Tyre, Sidon and Ugarit. In the 11th–10th centuries BCE the Phoenicians created an alphabet of 22 consonant letters; the Greeks adopted it and added vowels. In the 11th century BCE the Kingdom of Israel appeared in Palestine. The religious books of the Jews were collected in the Bible (meaning “books” in Greek).