Relying on the Holy Scriptures, we firmly acknowledge and faithfully believe that God, by His almighty word, created the entire universe out of nothing in six days. At last, from the dust of the earth, He fashioned the first man, Adam, and from Adam’s rib, He formed the first woman, Eve. He placed them in a delightful and fertile land – the earthly paradise – between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Adam and Eve were wholly blessed, yet their sin – breaking God’s command – deprived them of that blessed state.

Mankind multiplied, and soon, forgetting God, they fell into vices and wickedness. Yet, fortunately for humanity, virtue still had a place on earth. Many served the one true God and were blessed by Him with long lives. In this period, the elders of families – the patriarchs – exemplified a royal character, and their authority over their households resembled a form of monarchical rule. People offered sacrifices to God from the fruits of the earth and from livestock. By this time, music, ironworking, and certain crafts had already been invented.

In due course, however, mankind fell into the gravest of sins. God, seeing no sign of their repentance, chose to destroy them by a great flood. Only one righteous man, Noah, along with his family, was spared by God from the universal destruction.
Once again, through Noah’s family, people multiplied. But due to the Tower of Babel, an ambitious endeavor they undertook, God scattered them across various lands. At last, around 2000 years before Christ, people began to unite into civil societies, and it was then that the first monarchies appeared in Asia, with the Assyrian and Babylonian being among the oldest and most revered.

The founding of the Assyrian monarchy, established along the banks of the Tigris, is attributed to Asshur. Among his descendants, Ninus conquered the Babylonian monarchy as well as Persia and Media. Concerning Ninus’s wife, Semiramis, tales abound of her remarkable military achievements and the splendid adornment of Babylon, which she made the capital of the Assyrian monarchy. However, the accounts of Greek historians about Semiramis seem greatly exaggerated.
During the reign of Sardanapalus, a grave threat arose to the Assyrian monarchy. Arbaces, the governor of Media, led a rebellion, and Sardanapalus, unable to withstand him, took his own life by setting himself and all his treasures aflame. The Assyrian monarchy collapsed, yet from its ruins sprang three new monarchies: Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Median.
The Neo-Assyrian monarchy became the most powerful in Asia; yet, weakened by excessive luxury and moral decline, it eventually fell under the rule of Cyrus, the Persian king.

Nimrod is credited with founding the Babylonian monarchy along the banks of the Euphrates. During the reign of Ninus and Semiramis, Babylon was annexed to the Assyrian monarchy; however, following the death of Sardanapalus, it regained independence under the name of the Neo-Babylonian monarchy. Under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon rose to its greatest strength and prosperity. The kingdom became a center for learning – particularly in astronomy – as well as for the arts, manufacturing, and trade.
Yet, corruption took deep root in Babylon, drawing upon it the wrath of God. During the reign of Belshazzar, Babylon fell to the Persian King Cyrus, bringing an end to its independence.

A region of Asia stretching between the Tigris and the Indus was known as Media. Ninus conquered this land, and it remained under Assyrian rule until the time of Arbaces, who restored Media’s independence and established the Median monarchy. However, luxury and moral decay soon weakened the kingdom to such an extent that Cyrus, with a single victory over the Median king Astyages, brought Media under his control.