Assyrians briefly rose to power in Mesopotamia after the Israelites established their kingdoms and the Egyptians were beginning to be threatened by invaders from the sea, or "Sea Peoples", as they called them. The "Sea Peoples" were possibly Vikings or the Greeks/Macedonians since Egypt had peaceful trade relations with other Mediterranean cultures. The Bible recorded Assyrian rulers conquering Syria & Phoenicia (then known as the Northern Kingdom of Israel) and almost took out the Southern Kingdom of Judah, too.
At the height of its dominance, the Assyrians held control of the Levant, Sinai peninsula & even took control of a good portion of Egyptian lands. Israel attempted to get help from Egypt to thwart the attacks. But, the Assyrians had superior strength and turned their attention on Egypt since they had shown aggression against Israel when Shishak attacked Israel during the tenure of Solomon's son, Rehoboam. To be sure they would be no threat, Egypt also fell prey to the Assyrians. In the period when they were taking lands, there was turmoil all over Asia leading to their downfall by Scythians, Cimmerians and the Babylonians.
Modern day countries that reside in the boundaries of the Assyrians include Turkey, Syria, & Iraq.
Sargon in Isaiah 20:1 attacked Ashdod in Philistia (before it was known as Palestine).
Pul (also known as Tiglath-pileser) in 2 Kings 15:29,
16:7-10 & 1 Chronicles 5:6,
26; 28:20
Shalmaneser in 2 Kings 17:3-4 & 18:9
Sennacherib in 2 Kings 18:13, 19;
2 Chronicles 32 & Isaiah 36:1;
37
Esarhaddon in 2 Kings 19:37; Ezra 4:2 & Isaiah 37:38
Ashurbanipal in Ezra 4:10
Prophecies against Assyria: Isaiah 8:1-10; 10:5-19; 14:24-27
One of the Assyrian towns/cities was Ninevah.
