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Assyria was one of the earliest true city-states that we have records of. It was located in modern day Iraq along the rivers, in the area known as the Fertile Crescent. Burgeoning city-states gave rise to monarchies along the rivers. This is the start of civilization as we know it, as people transitioned to farming, aided by irrigation. Monarchies developed, the first permanent governments.
Why Monarchies? It's a combination of war and a need for a strong central government, which was needed to both organize social projects (irrigation) and resolve disputes with the rule of law. In the beginning, that "rule of law" was simply one person, the king/godhead. Surpluses allowed for this sort of political system to develop.
But enough theory. Assyria developed from c. 744-623 BCE. Ashur, named after the god of the Assyrians (a god of war), was the capital. Nieveah, another city, reaches 120,000 citizens. Assyria was good at conquering, spreading towards modern-day Turkey and Egypt. The monarchy was "appointed" in antiquity by Ashur, and all claimed to be descended from that first king. Assyrians danced around the idea of apotheosis; the process of becoming a God. For example, they had a specific word for their god *or* their king, placing them on much the same level. In the end, the king was a proxy of sort for the god. Their statues were in the temples, and were treated in much the same reverence as the god's. It's an important idea.
Access to the king was limited to the extreme to promote reverence. His chambers would be decorated in frescoes about the power of the king, telling of his exploits. The rights of the kings were almost total; all laws were his to hand down, all land was owned by him. There was no higher appeal past the king; in the end, he might as well have been god. Of course, the nobles could have overthrown him, but that's bloody work.
Assyria was not known for its abundance of natural resources. It could grow a nice crop, sure, but that wasn't worth very much. Assyria sat at a natural crossroads, where they could tax anyone coming through. Tribute, as well, was a source of income. Conquered lands had to pay a tribute to the king, who then distributed it to the cities, who used it for public works, which people liked. If, of course, either revenue stream dried up, everyone's out of luck. Eventually, the economies of scale doom the economy. The economy becomes risk-averse because there's no profit in it. Supply-demand economics were sort of broken, because the supplies were related to who they conquered last.
The army was the basic meaning for Assyria's existence. The king led the army as his main job. The army was composed of a small number of professional soldiers, the ILKU (farmer-soldiers), and the "Special Service," the general enlisted man. Archery formed the core of the army, and each archer was protected by one man with a giant shield, and another with a spear. Horse-drawn chariots with archers and archer trios on horses. Effective, but not efficient. And these people could win a siege. Pontoon bridges, scaling walls, tunneling and collapsing walls, battering rams with covers and wheels! And irrigation as a weapon. As in floods. The violent reputation of the Assyrians preceded them. And they liked it that way. Made things easy.