Assur

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Assur
Aššur
ܐܫܘܪ
آشور
Ziggurat of Assur
Assur is located in Iraq
Assur
Assur
Shown within Iraq
Assur is located in Near East
Assur
Assur
Assur (Near East)
Alternative nameAshur
LocationSaladin Governorate, Iraq
RegionMesopotamia
Coordinates35°27′24″N 43°15′45″E / 35.45667°N 43.26250°E / 35.45667; 43.26250
TypeSettlement
History
FoundedEarly Dynastic Period
Abandoned3rd century AD, fully abandoned 14th century AD
PeriodsEarly Bronze Age to classical antiquity
Site notes
Excavation dates1900–1914, 1988–1990, 2000–2001, 2023–present
ArchaeologistsFriedrich Delitzsch, Robert Koldewey, Walter Andrae, B. Hrouda, R. Dittmann, Peter A. Miglus
Official nameAshur (Qal'at Sherqat)
TypeCultural
Criteriaiii, iv
Designated2003 (27th session)
Reference no.1130
RegionArab States
Endangered2003–present

Aššur,[a] also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, was the capital of the Middle Assyrian Empire for a time, of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–609 BC) and a semi-independent state during the Parthian Empire between the 2nd century BC and mid 3rd century AD. The remains of the city lie on the western bank of the Tigris River, north of the confluence with its tributary, the Little Zab, in what is now Iraq, more precisely in the al-Shirqat District of the Saladin Governorate. Assur lies 65 kilometres (40 mi) south of the site of Kalhu (the biblical Calah, Nimrud) and 100 km (60 mi) south of Nineveh.

Occupation of the city itself continued for approximately 3,000 years,[2] from the Early Dynastic Period to the mid-3rd century AD, when the city was sacked by the Sasanian Empire, after which it was sparsely populated until the massacres of Assyrian Christians conducted by Tamurlane in the 14th century AD after which the remaining population relocated to the countryside. The site is a World Heritage Site and was added to that organization's list of sites in danger in 2003 as a result of a proposed dam, which would flood some of the site.

The city lies on a south facing mountain spur with a triangular layout. The northern, higher, area held public buildings including the palace and temples of Ashur, Anu, Adad, Sin, Shamash, and Ištar.[3]

Archaeology

Ziqqurat Ashur and Ashur city walls

Assur was briefly excavated (as Kala shergat) by A.H. Layard and H. Rassam, in the 1800s while working at Nineveh. Rassam worked there in the 1850s and 1870s, though rarely present in person.[4] Regular exploration of the site of Assur began in 1898 by German archaeologists. Excavations began in 1900 by Friedrich Delitzsch, and were continued in 1903–1914 by a team from the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft led initially by Robert Koldewey and later by Walter Andrae. Working 12 months a year, mainly in the northern public area, they excavated the Anu, Adad, Sin, Shamash, Ištar, Nabu, and Assur temples along with the Assur/Enlil ziggurat and the Old Palace. Additionally, the city's double city was also cleared.[5][6][7][8][9] More than 16,000 clay tablets with cuneiform texts were discovered and are held at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Several thousand shell, stone, glass and ceramic beads were encountered at a deep level with two of the beads being much later determined to be Baltic amber. About 700 worked and unworked bone and ivory objects also found.[10] These excavations were thinly published at the time due to the outbreak of WWI and later efforts have been made to correct that.[11][12][13][14][15][16]

Because of the large construction overburden from later periods a full stratigraphy was only possible at the site of the Istar temple in the Nabu district. Eight primary construction/occupation levels were determined for the Istar temple (A-H). The most recent layers (A-C), called "later temples", began with the oldest built by Tukulti-Ninurta I (1243-1207). The oldest levels (D-H) began with the earliest in the Early Dynastic period. The excavator believed that there was an occupational hiatus in level F during which no temple existed.[17]

Iraqi archaeologists worked at Assur intermittently after 1979, primarily doing restoration work and room clearing but some excavation activity continued. Parthian graves were excavated and an octagonal prism of Tiglath-pileser, and 52 Neo-Assyrian period tablets were found.[18][19][20]

More recently, Assur was excavated by B. Hrouda for LMU Munich and the Bavarian Ministry of Culture in 1990. The team worked in the west-central part of the site about 120 meters south of the Nabu Temple.[21][22][23] During the same period, in 1988 and 1989, the site was being worked by R. Dittmann on behalf of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.[24][25] In 2000–2001 the site was excavated by Peter A. Miglus.[26][27]

Excavation at the site resumed in 2023 by the Assur Excavation Project led by Professor Karen Radner and a team of Iraqi and European colleagues. Work continued in 2024.[28][29][30] In 2023, after a drone survey, a caesium total field magnetometer survey of the mostly Parthian New Town area of Assur on the east side of the city. Data from a small, 2 hectare, magnetometry survey done in the central area of Assur was merged in. A trial electrical resistivity tomography test was conducted and also eight core samples were taken.[31]

In 2024 Iraqi and European archaeologists took four core samples in the deepest layers below the foundation of the Ishtar temple showing that it was built on a thick layer of pure sand, standard practice in Southern Mesopotamia but rare in later temples built at Assur. They retrieved one charcoal sample at the earliest point which was found to have a radiocarbon date of 2896-2702 BC (calibration method used IntCal20). The early excavators had dated the founding of the Istar temple to early in the 3rd millennium BC but later work had revised that to the Early Dynastic III period (2600–2350 BC).[32]

History

Akkadian period statue body found at Assur - Pergamon Museum

Early Bronze Age

Early Dynastic I-III

While there are no textual references to Assur in the Early Dynastic period a number of Early Dynastic III finds were made in the early excavations at the Ištar temple including a number of seated and standing female statues.[17]. More recent work at the Ištar Temple, including a radiocarbon date, suggests a foundation for the city by the Early Dynastic I period.[32]

Ur III period

During the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112-2004 BC), Assur was under the control of Ur. One of the governors of Assur, Zariqum, is known. From references in texts found at Drehem and Umma it is known that he was originally an Ur III official from Shulgi year 44 until year 47 (about 3.5 years) then from Shulgi year 48 until Amar-Sin year 5 (about 6 years) was governor of Assur. He then became governor of Susa from Amar-Sin year 5 until Shu-Sin year 4 (about 8 years). It is thought that at that time Assur and Susa were under the control of a single governor. An inscription was found in the Istar temple at Assur where Zariqum recorded building a temple for Bēlat-ekallim (Ninegal), for the life of Amar-Sin.[33][34][35][36]

Middle Bronze

Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium BC
Golden necklace ( 2000 BC ). Grave 20 of Assur

Isin-Larsa period

Around the end of the 21st century BC the Ur III Empire collapsed at the hands of the Elamites and the control of Assur shifted briefly to Eshnunna. A duck weight found at Assur read "Dāduša, son of Ipiq-Adad, king of Ešnunna, to Inibšina, his daughter, he presented (this duck weight).".[37]

Old Assyrian period

In this period Assur was a central hub the "karum" trading network which stretched through Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia. Kanesh was another important location in this system. The city was ruled at this time by a city assembly which wielded legislative and judicial power. A limum was a city official appointed yearly to head city finances. Transactions were dated by their names in Limmu (eponyms). and example is "month: “Bēlat-ekallim”; eponym: “Qīš-Amurrim, son of Apapa.son of Apapa.”". Excavations found several hundred Old Assyrian period inscriptions on tablets and bricks, many fragmentary.[38][39][40][41] A few cylinder seals from this period were found at Assur (one of a ruler, Irishum I), though only from their clay sealings.[42] Local rulers rarely and lightly affected Assur, mostly on matters of wide trading interest. An example would be Ilusumma where a text of his (BM 115690 found in the Istar temple at Assur) reads:

"The andurārum (debt relief) of the Akkadians and their children I established. I purified their copper. I established their andurārum from the border of the marshes(?) and Ur and Nippur, Awal, and Kismar, Der of the god Ishtaran, as far as Assur."[43][44]

Shamshi-Adad I Dynasty

Shamshi-Adad I's (1808–1775 BC), Amorite ruler of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia, eventually conquered Assur and made it his religious capital (his primary capital being Ekallatum and later Shubat-Enlil). In this era, the Great Royal Palace was built, and the temple of Assur was expanded and enlarged with a ziggurat. However, this empire met its end when Hammurabi, the Amorite king of Babylon conquered and incorporated the city into the First Babylonian dynasty empire following the death of Ishme-Dagan I around 1756 BC, while the next three Assyrian kings were viewed as vassals of Babylon.[45]

Late Bronze

One local ruler early in this period, Puzur-Ashur III, is known from inscriptions. Temples to the moon god Sin (Nanna) and the sun god Shamash were built and dedicated through the 15th century BC. The city was subsequently subjugated by the king of Mitanni, Shaushtatar in the late 15th century, taking the gold and silver doors of the temple to his capital, Washukanni, as spoils.[45]

After the Mitanni Empire was destroyed by the Hittites Ashur-uballit I annexed the eastern portions of that empire forming the Middle Assyrian Empire (1353-1056 BC). The following centuries witnessed the restoration of the old temples and palaces of Assur, and the city once more became the throne of an empire from 1365 BC to 1050 BC. Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244–1208 BC) also constructed a new temple to the goddess Ištar in the location of the original temple. The Anu-Adad temple was established later during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I (1115–1075 BC). The walled area of the city in the Middle Assyrian period made up some 1.2 square kilometres (300 acres).


Iron Age

Neo-Assyrian Empire

An unfinished basalt statue of Shalmaneser III. From Assur, Iraq. 858–824 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul
A statue of the god Kidudu, guardian spirit of the wall of the city of Ashur. Circa 835 BC. From Ashur, Iraq. The British Museum, London
A map of Assyria
A relief of Ashurnasirpal II, with an official

In the Neo-Assyrian Empire (912–605 BC) the royal residence was transferred to other Assyrian cities. Ashur-nasir-pal II (884–859 BC) moved the capital from Assur to Kalhu (Calah/Nimrud). With the reign of Sargon II (722–705 BC), a new capital began to rise: Dur-Sharrukin (Fortress of Sargon). He died in battle and his son and successor Sennacherib (705–682 BC) abandoned the city, choosing to magnify Nineveh as his royal capital. The city of Assur remained the religious center of the empire due to its temple of the national god Ashur.[46]

In the reign of Sennacherib (705–682 BC), the House of the New Year, Akitu, was built, and the festivities celebrated in the city. Many of the kings were also buried beneath the Old Palace while some queens were buried in the other capitals such as the wife of Sargon, Ataliya. The city was sacked and largely destroyed during the decisive battle of Assur, a major confrontation between the Assyrian and Median and Babylonian armies.[46][47]

Achaemenid Empire

After the Babylonians and Medes were overthrown by the Persians as the dominant force in ancient Mesopotamia and Iran, Assyria was ruled by the Persian Achaemenid Empire (as Athura) from 549 BC to 330 BC (see Achaemenid Assyria). The Athura had been responsible for gold and glazing works of the palace and for providing Lebanese cedar timber, respectively. The city and region of Ashur had once more gained a degree of militaristic and economic strength. A revolt by the Assyrians took place in 520 BC but ultimately failed. Assyria seems to have recovered dramatically and flourished during this period. It became a major agricultural and administrative center of the Achaemenid Empire, and its soldiers were a mainstay of the Persian Army.[45]

Parthian Empire

Parthian temple in Assur.

The city revived during the Parthian Empire period, particularly between 150 BC and 270 AD, its population expanding and it becoming an administrative centre of Parthian-ruled Assuristan. Assyriologists Simo Parpola and Patricia Crone suggest Assur may have had outright independence in this period alongside other Assyrian polities such as Adiabene, Osroene, Beth Nuhadra and Beth Garmai. New administrative buildings were erected to the north of the old city, and a palace to the south. The old temple dedicated to the national god of the Assyrians Assur (Ashur) was rebuilt, as were temples to other Assyrian gods.

Eastern Aramaic inscriptions from the remains of Assur have yielded insight into the Parthian-era city with Assyria having its own Mesopotamian Aramaic Syriac script, which was the same in terms of grammar and syntax as that found at the Assyrian city of Edessa and elsewhere in the states of Osroene, Adiabene, Hatra and Nuhadra (modern Dohuk).

German semiticist Klaus Beyer (1929-2014) published over 600 inscriptions from Mesopotamian towns and cities including Assur, Dura-Europos, Hatra, Gaddala, Tikrit and Tur Abdin.[48]

The Roman historian Festus wrote in about 370 that in AD 116 Trajan formed from his conquests east of the Euphrates the new Roman provinces of Mesopotamia and Assyria. The existence of the latter Roman province is questioned by C.S. Lightfoot and F. Miller.[49][50] In any case, just two years after the province's supposed creation, Trajan's successor Hadrian restored Trajan's eastern conquests to the Parthians, preferring to live with him in peace and friendship.[51]

There were later Roman incursions into Mesopotamia under Lucius Verus and under Septimius Severus, who set up the Roman provinces of Mesopotamia and the kingdoms of Osroene and Adiabene.

Assur was captured and sacked by Ardashir I of the Sasanian Empire c. 257 AD, whereafter the city was largely destroyed and much (though not all) of its population was dispersed, with a more sparse Assyrian population enduring until the massacres of Assyrian Christians by Tamurlane in the 14th century AD after which the remaining population spread into the countryside and the area saw an influx of Arabs and Kurds. [2]

Threats to Assur

The site was put on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger in 2003, at which time the site was threatened by a looming large-scale dam project that would have submerged the ancient archaeological site.[52][53] The dam project was put on hold shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Makhoul Dam project has recently been revived.[54]

The territory around the ancient site was occupied by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2015. Since ISIL had destroyed a number of ancient historical sites, including the cities of Hatra, Khorsabad, and Nimrud, fears rose that Assur would be destroyed too. According to some sources, the citadel of Assur was destroyed or badly damaged in May 2015 by members of ISIL using improvised explosive devices.[55] An AP report from December 2016 after the Iraqi forces had retaken the area, said that the militants tried to destroy the city's grand entrance arches, but they remained standing and a local historian described the damage as "minor".[56]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ /ˈæʃʊər/; Sumerian: 𒀭𒊹𒆠 AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: Aš-šurKI, "City of God Aššur"; Also phonetically 𒀀𒇳𒊬 a-šur4 or 𒀸𒋩 aš-šur[1] Syriac: ܐܫܘܪ Āšūr; Old Persian: 𐎠𐎰𐎢𐎼 Aθur, Persian: آشور Āšūr; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר ʾAššūr, Arabic: اشور

References

  1. ↑ Pongratz-Leisten, Beate (2015). Religion and Ideology in Assyria. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-61451-426-8.
  2. 1 2 Karen Radner, "Ancient Assyria: A Very Short Introduction", New York: Oxford University Press, 2015 ISBN 978-0-19-871590-0
  3. ↑ Novák, Mirko, "From Ashur to Nineveh: The Assyrian town-planning programme", Iraq 66, pp. 177-185, 2004
  4. ↑ Rassam, H., "Recent Assyrian and Babylonian research", Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute 14, pp. 182–225, 1881
  5. ↑ Walter Andrae, "Der Anu-Adad-Tempel in Assur", JC Hinrichs, 1909, (1984 reprint ISBN 3-7648-1805-0)
  6. ↑ Walter Andrae, "Die Stelenreihen in Assur", JC Hinrichs, 1913, (1972 reprint ISBN 3-535-00587-6)
  7. ↑ Walter Andrae, "Die archaischen Ischtar-Tempel in Assur", JC Hinrichs, 1922, (1970 reprint ISBN 3-7648-1806-9)
  8. ↑ Walter Andrae, "Hethitische Inschriften auf Bleistreifen aus Assur", JC Hinrichs, 1924
  9. ↑ Walter Andrae, "Das wiedererstandene Assur", JC Hinrichs, 1938, (1977 reprint ISBN 3-406-02947-7)
  10. ↑ Wicke, Dirk, "Bone and ivory working at Assur", Levant. The Journal of the Council for British Research in the Levant, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 197-207, 2016
  11. ↑ Pedde, F., "The Assur Project: The Middle and Neo-Assyrian Graves and Tombs", Proceedings of the 7th ICAANE, London 1, pp. 93-108, 2010
  12. ↑ Zettler, Richard L., "Der Sin-Samas-Tempel in Assur", The Journal of the American Oriental Society 130.3, pp. 458-460, 2010
  13. ↑ Butcher, Kevin, "From Achaemenids to the Arsacids", in Regional History and the Coin Finds from Assur: From the Achaemenids to the Nineteenth Century, ed. by Kevin Butcher and Stefan Heidemann (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz), pp. 7–48, 2017
  14. ↑ Friedhelm Pedde, "The Assur-Project: A new Analysis of the Middle- and Neo-Assyrian Graves and Tombs", in: P. Matthiae – F. Pinnock – L. Nigro – N. Marchetti (Ed.), Proceedings of the 6th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, May, 5th-10th 2008, Sapienza – Università di Roma. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden Vol. 1, 913–923, 2010
  15. ↑ Friedhelm Pedde, "The Assur-Project. An old excavation newly analyzed", in J.M. Córdoba et al. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Madrid, April 3–8, 2006. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Ediciones, Madrid, Vol. II, 743–752, 2008
  16. ↑ Steven Lundström, "From six to seven Royal Tombs. The documentation of the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft excavation at Assur (1903-1914) – Possibilities and limits of its reexamination", in J.M. Córdoba et al. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Madrid, April 3–8, 2006. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Ediciones, Madrid, Vol. II, 445–463, 2008
  17. 1 2 Jürgen Bär, "Sumerians, Gutians and Hurrians at Ashur? A Re-Examination of Ishtar Temples G and F", Iraq, vol. 65, pp. 143–60, 2003
  18. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq, 1977-78", Iraq, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 141–81, 1979
  19. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq, 1979-80", Iraq, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 167–98, 1981
  20. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq, 1981-82", Iraq, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 199–224, 1983
  21. ↑ Wright, G. R. H., "Assur. An Unusual Parthian Grave Form in Its Context", Archiv Für Orientforschung, vol. 52, pp. 186–98, 2011
  22. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq 1989–1990", Iraq, vol. 53, pp. 169-182, 1991
  23. ↑ B. Hrouda, "Vorläufiger Bericht über die neuen Ausgrabungen in Assur, Frühjahr 1990", in Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft (MDOG) 123, 1991
  24. ↑ R. Dittmann, "Ausgrabungen der Freien Universitat Berlin in Ashur und Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta in den Jahren 1986-1989", MDOG, vol. 122, pp. 157–171, 1990
  25. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq 1987-88", Iraq, vol. 51, pp. 249–65, 1989
  26. ↑ Miglus, Peter A., et al., "Assur: Frühjahrskampagne 2000", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin 132, pp. 13-54, 2000
  27. ↑ Miglus, Peter A., "Assur. Herbstkampagne 2001", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 134, pp. 7-39, 2002
  28. ↑ Radner, Karen, and Andrea Squitieri, eds, "Assur 2023: Excavations and other research in the New Town. Vol. 1", PeWe-Verlag, 2024
  29. ↑ Altaweel, Mark, "Assur 2024: Continuing the excavations in the New Town and other research across the site. Exploring Assur, Vol. 2.", PeWe Verlag, 2025
  30. ↑ Radner, Karen, Andrea Squitieri, and Florian Janoscha Kreppner, "Die neuen Ausgrabungen in Assur: die Ergebnisse der Feldarbeiten und Analysen von 2024", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin, pp. 151-179, 2025
  31. ↑ Fassbinder, Jörg, et al., "Magnetometer prospecting at Assur, 2023", Assur 2023: Excavations and other research in the New Town 1, pp. 67-81, 2024
  32. 1 2 Altaweel, Mark; Squitieri, Andrea; Eckmeier, Eileen; Garzanti, Eduardo; Radner, Karen, "The sand deposit underneath the Ishtar Temple in Assur, Iraq: Origin and implications for the foundation of the goddess’s cult and sanctuary", Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 69, Article 105574, 2026 10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105574
  33. ↑ Hallo, William W., "Zāriqum", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 220–25, 1956
  34. ↑ R. Kutscher, "A Note on the Early Careers of Zariqum and Samsi-illat", RA 73, pp. 81-82, 1979
  35. ↑ Poebel, A., "The Assyrian King List from Khorsabad", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 247–306, 1942
  36. ↑ "RIME 3/2.01.03.2001 Composite Artifact Entry", (2012) 2024. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). September 22, 2024
  37. ↑ "RIME 4.05.19.02 Composite Artifact Entry", 2013. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). January 20, 2013
  38. ↑ Donbaz, Veysel., "Four Old Assyrian Tablets from the City of Aššur", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 81–87, 1974
  39. ↑ Veenhof, Klaas R., "Ancient Assur: The City, Its Traders, and Its Commercial Network", Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 53, no. 1/2, pp. 39–82, 2010
  40. ↑ "JNES 16, 170 Artifact Entry." (2003) 2024. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). October 24, 2024
  41. ↑ Veenhof, Klaas R., "Accordance with the Words of the Stele: Evidence for Old Assyrian Legislation", in Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 70, pp. 1717-1744, 1994
  42. ↑ Eppihimer, Melissa, "Representing Ashur: The Old Assyrian Rulers’ Seals and Their Ur III Prototype", Journal of Near Eastern Studies 72.1, pp. 35-49, 2013
  43. ↑ Michel, Cécile, "The Old Assyrian trade in the light of recent Kültepe archives", Journal of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 3, pp. 71-82, 2008
  44. ↑ Grayson, A. Kirk, "Assyrian Rulers of the Third and Second Millenia BC (to 1115 BC)", University of Toronto Press, 2002
  45. 1 2 3 Parpola, Simo, "Assyrians after Assyria", Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 13.2, 1999
  46. 1 2 Potts, D. T., "A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East", Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2012 ISBN 9781405189880
  47. ↑ Lipschits, Oded, The fall and rise of Jerusalem: Judah under Babylonian rule", Eisenbrauns, 2005
  48. ↑ Beyer, Klaus, "Die aramäischen Inschriften aus Assur, Hatra und dem überigen Ostmesopotamien", Göttingen, 1998
  49. ↑ Lightfoot, Christopher S., "Trajan's Parthian War and the fourth-century perspective", The Journal of Roman Studies 80, pp. 115-126, 1990
  50. ↑ Grote, Simon, "Another look at the Breviarium of Festus", The Classical Quarterly 61.2, pp. 704-721, 2011
  51. ↑ Theodore Mommsen, "Römische Geschichte: Die Provinzen von Caesar bis Diocletian", vol. 5, Berlin, 1885
  52. ↑ UNESCO World Heritage in Danger 2003
  53. ↑ At the Iraqi Site of Assur, Ancient History Stands at Risk of Destruction - Smithsonian Magazine - January 2022
  54. ↑ Abbas, Alice, "Bidding Farewell to the Ancient City of Ashur: A Qualitative Case Study of the Social and Cultural Impacts of the Makhoul Dam in Iraq", 2024
  55. ↑ Mezzofiore, Gianluca; Limam, Arij (28 May 2015). "Iraq: Isis 'blows up Unesco world heritage Assyrian site of Ashur' near Tikrit". International Business Times. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  56. ↑ "Iraq Assur | AP Archive". www.aparchive.com. 2016-12-11. Retrieved 2019-03-25.

Further reading

  • Walter Andrae, "Babylon. Die versunkene Weltstadt und ihr Ausgräber Robert Koldewey", de Gruyter, Berlin 1952
  • Beuger, Claudia, "Die Keramik der älteren Ischtar-Tempel in Assur: von der zweiten Hälfte des 3. bis zur Mitte des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr", Harrassowitz, 2013
  • Beuger, Claudia, "Short notes on Chalcolithic pottery research: The pottery sequences of Tell Nader (Erbil) and Ashur (Qal’at Shergat)", The Archaeology of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Adjacent Regions, Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 19-27, 2016
  • Beuger, Claudia, "A short note on prehistoric Pottery from Ashur (Gal'at Sherqat)", II Workshop on Late Neolithic Ceramics in Ancient Mesopotamia. Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura; Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya, 2018
  • Cancik-Kirschbaum, Eva, "Ashur–The Making of an Imperial Capital in the fifteenth and fourteenth Century BC", Mesopotamia 46, pp. 71-78, 2011
  • Creamer, Petra. "Assur's Newcomers: Evidence for the Maintenance of Population in the Imperial Assyrian Capitals Through Resettlement Events," American Journal of Archaeology 129, pp. 491-509, 2025
  • Donbaz, Veysel and Grayson, A. Kirk, "Royal Inscriptions on Clay Cones from Ashur now in Istanbul", Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984
  • Duri, Riad, "Iraqi investigations in the public district of Ashur during the 2002 season", New research on late Assyrian palaces, pp. 83-90, 2013
  • Feller, B., "Seal Images and Social Status: Sealings on Middle Assyrian Tablets from Ashur", in Matthiae, P., Pinnock, F., Nigro, L., and Marchetti, N., eds. Near Eastern Archaeology in the Past, Present and Future. Heritage and Identity Ethnoarchaeological and Interdisciplinary Approach, Results and Perspectives Visual Expression and Craft Production in the Definition of Social Relations and Status, Vol. 1. Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East 5 May–10 May 2009, Sapienza«, Universiti di Roma. Wiesbaden, pp. 721–729, 2010
  • Gries, H., "Der Assur-Tempel in Assur", Das assyrische Hauptheiligtum im Wandel der Zeit, Wissenschaft-liche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesell-schaft 149, Berlin, 2017
  • Harper, Prudence Oliver, "Assyrian origins: discoveries at Ashur on the Tigris: antiquities in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin", Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995
  • Hawkins, John David, "ASSUR letters", Vol 1 Inscriptions of the Iron Age: Part 1: Text, Introduction, Karatepe, Karkamis, Tell Ahmar, Maras, Malatya, Commagene. Part 2: Text, Amuq, Aleppo, Hama, Tabal, Assur Letters, Miscellaneous, Seals, Indices. Part 3: Plates, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 533-555, 2000
  • Stefan Heidemann, "Al-'Aqr, das islamische Assur. Ein Beitrag zur historischen Topographie Nordmesopotamiens", in Karin Bartl and Stefan hauser et al. (eds.): Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient. Seminar fur Altorientalische Philologie und Seminar für Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde der Freien Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Altertumswissenschaften, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin, pp. 259–285, 1996
  • Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, "Die Assyrer. Geschichte, Gesellschaft, Kultur", C.H.Beck Wissen, München 2003 ISBN 3-406-50828-6
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