# Assyrians vs. Babylonians vs. Persians and Medes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assyrians-vs-babylonians-vs-persians-and-medes/97302>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 6, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assyrians-vs-babylonians-vs-persians-and-medes/97302 "2001-12-06T21:29:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assyrians-vs-babylonians-vs-persians-and-medes/97302/1 "2001-12-06T21:29:49Z")

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In the Staff Report [What’s the origin of “Good Samaritan”? (04-Dec-2001)](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgoodsamaritan.html), Dex and Euty say

> [@](#):
>
> In the year 722 BC, after two centuries of independence, the northern kingdom of Samaria was conquered by the Assyrians and transformed into a province of the Assyrian Empire. (This is well-documented in non-Biblical sources, such as the annals of King Sargon II of Assyria.) …  
> Now skip ahead to 586 BC, when the southern kingdom of Judah was conquered by Babylon. Unique among conquered peoples, the Jews did not disappear but retained their identity in Babylon. Fifty years later, King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and restore their nation.

So the Assyrians (in the part of the world that is now south Turkey and Northern Iraq) conquered Samaria. The Babylonians (in the part of the world that is now southern Iraq) later conquered Judah. Then Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to Persia. Which Jews? The exiles from Samaria, the exiles from Judah (assuming there were exiles from Juday), or both? What happened to the Assyrians? Did Cyrus, by conquering Bablyon, also assimilate in one fell swoop the old Assyrian empire?

Related question - What happened to the Assyrian empire between its conquest of Samaria and the advent of King Cyrus?

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assyrians-vs-babylonians-vs-persians-and-medes/97302/2 "2001-12-06T23:26:30Z")

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More on this in the coming Staf Reports on the composition of the Bible. It’s hard to give a “little” background. The northern tribes disappeared, as covered by an earlier staff report: [What’s up with the ten lost tribes of Israel?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtentribes.html)

The southern tribes were taken in captivity to Babylonia, and the remnant of those tribes are the ones who were allowed to return to Judah under Cyrus. Somewhere around there, they were called Judeans or Jews rather than Israelites. That help?

On the history of Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, and so forth, I suggest any World History (Ancient) text book to set you aright.