Philistines

When examining the mysteries of the 8th century BC, all one has to do is look in the Bible or an ancient history book to realize that Assyria had no outside threats. The Hittites and Egyptians were a shell of their former glory and imposed no threat to the Assyrian borders. The once mighty United Kingdom of Israel, under the reign of King David, and later his son Solomon, divided into two separate kingdoms after Solomon’s death. The kings of Israel were too busy fighting amongst themselves. Syria, to the northwest of Assyria, was not a threat to Assyrian expansion either. As for Phoenicia, they were unstable on land and had no real standing army other than those they relied