A tight theme focused on the armies and enemies of Assyria from the peak of its might to its rapid fall, 745 BC - 610 BC.  This period, covering the reigns of Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727), Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbnaipal, marks the greatest expansion of the Assyrian Empire, which extended from Egypt and Cyprus in the west, through Anatolia, to the Caspian in the east.  But the Assyrian Empire collapsed, tipped by the rise of Egypt in the west and the Medes in the east.  Babylon threw off its Assyrian yoke in 625 AD, followed by the Mede conquest of Ashur in 616 AD and the joint Babylonian-Mede conquest of Niniveh in 612 AD.  Haran, Ashur-uballit's last stronghold, was taken in 610, ending the Assyrian empire.

Eligible Army Lists:

• I/6c. Early Bedouin
• I/29b. Philistine
• I/34c. Later Hebrew
• I/35bc. Phoenician
• I/37b. Zagros Highlanders
• I/38. Libyan Egyptian
• I/39b. Urartu, Kingdom of Van
• I/40abc. Medes
• I/41. Phrygian
• I/42. Neo-Elamite
• I/43a. Skythian
• I/44a. Neo-Babylonian
• I/45. Neo-Assyrian Empire
• I/46ab. Kushite Egyptian
• I/51. Neo-Assyrian Later Sargonid
• I/53. Saitic Egyptian

Based on Historicon 2010 Theme developed by David Kuijt and David Schlanger.