About the Assyrians: Facts, Developments, Culture
Just like any other empire, the Assyrians spoke a language, had a religion, and made outstanding advancements. Here are a few interesting facts about the Assyrians: 1. The Assyrians were the first nation/empire to accept Christianity Of course, the Assyrians also practiced Ashurism - a polytheistic religion - and worshipped gods such as Ashur, Ishtar, Sin, Adad, Nabu, Ea, and so on (after all, it was the first religion ever in Assyria). However, people were converted into Christians and three men named Thomas, Bortholemew, and Thaddeus founded the first Assyrian church in 33 A.D. 2. The Assyrian history can be divided into 6 periods: The Emergence (2400BC) and the First Golden Age (2400BC to 612 BC) and the First Dark Age (612 BC to 33 AD) and the second Golden Age (33 AD to 1300 AD) and the Second Dark Age (1300 AD to 1918 AD) and then the Diaspora (1918 AD). 3. The Assyrians spoke two languages throughout its rule: Ancient Assyrian (also known as Akkadian) as well as Modern Assyrian (also known as neo-Syriac)
A picture of the Assyrian alphabet.
Source: http://www.saveyourheritage.com/images/Assyrian-Alphabet-797124.gif
4. The Assyrians were very advanced in mathematics The Assyrians were the first to divide a circle into 360 degrees, as well as the first to come up with the concept of longitude and latitude. 5. The Assyrians made medicine The Assyrians were very advanced in terms of medical science. Whether this is from the their obsession with war or not is not clear; but, the Assyrians’ knowledge of medical science was very advanced.
Here is a picture of a circle, divided into 360 degrees.
Source: http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/images/degrees-360.gif