Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum gives a concise introduction to the history of one of the most important peoples in the ancient Orient. She describes the beginnings of the Assyrian culture in the third century B.C., the development of its society, economy, culture and religion, the origins of its empire, its powerful expansion, and finally its fall in the war against the Medes and the Babylonians in the late 7^th century B.C.