Tossup
In a blank-verse drama, a ruler of this civilization shares a nightmare about his ancestors with his lover, who responds, “The dust we tread upon was once alive, / And wretched.” A 30-book epic poem titled for this civilization’s capital was published in installments from 1828 to 1868 and is by Edwin Atherstone. Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli (“gwee-CHOH-lee”) was the possible inspiration for the character of Myrrha in a play named for a ruler of this empire by Lord Byron. A poem describes a dead soldier from this empire “With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail” who is part of this empire’s army, which “melted like snow in the glance of the Lord” when the Angel of Death breathes in their faces. For 10 points, the army of what empire “came down like the wolf on the fold” in Byron’s poem “The Destruction of Sennacherib ■END■
ANSWER: Assyria [or Assyrian Empire; or Ashur; accept Neo-Assyrian Empire] (Atherstone’s epic is The Fall of Nineveh and the Byron play is Sardanapalus)
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