In the second century BCE the ancient Jews were overrun by the Assyrians, a Greek proxy in the ancient Middle East.

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Man battled the elements in Mesopotamia, and the desert and its ways of plunder and raiding pushed against urban life, but the land gave rise to powerful kingdoms: the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Sumerians, the Abbasids.

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According to the community, the Bnei Menashe are one of the lost 10 tribes of Israel who were exiled when Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom of Israel in the 8th Century BC.

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Strategically positioned on historic trade routes linking East and West, this ancient city has conserved an astounding monumental heritage reflecting the diverse cultures of the peoples that have settled here over millennia including the Hittites, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Umayyads, Ayyubids, Mongols, Mamelukes and Ottomans.

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He reflected on the myriad powers that have come and gone in the Fertile Crescent: Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans, Europeans, Saddam's Baathists.

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