The Assyrians and the Phoenicians were not only people of the Bible, but, they were great people of history. Their empires were not as big like the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire. But, they did the best they could to contribute to their civilization. Assyria was an ancient country on the upper Tigris River in Mesopotamia. The people of Assyria were a Semitic people. In other words, they were descendants of Noah’s son Shem. The Assyrians have been called the Romans of Asia (Finkelstein pg 787). This is because they were great conquerors. They had the technology of weapons, organization and equipment. The Assyrians built their empire by expansion. They had a good military power and an organized government. They also had great agriculture