Kings of the Assyrian Empire

Isaiah 36:2 - And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.

This chart reveals the Kings of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrian Empire began to arise around 1270 BC, in the area far north on the Tigris River after the fall of Chaldea. The first capital of Assyria was Assur, and after that Nimrod became the capital of ancient Assyria. By the 9th century BC the kings of Assyria began to lead military campaigns in the west, Shalmaneser III went further westward than the kings before him. He led campaigns across to Syria and even into Israel. The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser reveals King Jehu of Israel paying tribute to him. Later in 702 BC Nineveh became capital of Assyria, and this was during the reign of king Sennacherib. Nineveh soon became one of the largest cities of the ancient Near East. At the height the Assyrian Empire the kingdom embraced the lands of the northern Tigris, Armenia, Media, Babylonia, Elam, Mesopotamia, Syria, Israel, Judah, and the northern portion of Egypt. The greatest Assyrian Kings were Shalmaneser, Sargon, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon. The city of Nineveh was finally destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians who came against them at once, and the Kingdom of Assyria was defeated and came to an end in 625 BC.

Isaiah 36:13 - Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

Map of the Assyrian Empire During the Time of its Greatest Monarchs

Also See: Map of the Assyrian Empire