Assyria was a Mesopotamian kingdom which became a brutal empire of the ancient Near East and the Levant. This encyclopaedic text covers the lay of the land, the capital, and other cities, plus the language, cuneiform writing, customs, religion, arts, and architecture of Assyria. The city state of Ashur dates back to about the 25th century BCE. The history deals with the Assyrian conquests of Anatolia, Babylonia, the Iranian plateau, and the Levant, until it suffered a series of defeats at the hand of the Medes, Persians, and Babylonians. The empire finally collapsed between 612 and 609 BCE.