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Coordinates: 35°27′24″N, 43°15′45″E

Ashur (Qal'at Sherqat)¹
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	Iraq
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv
Identification	#1130
Region2	Arab States
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	2003 27th WH Committee Session
In Danger	2003-
WH link:	http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1130
1 Name as officially inscribed on the WH List 2 As classified officially by UNESCO

Ancient Mesopotamia
Euphrates · Tigris
Cities / Empires
Sumer: Uruk · Ur · Eridu
Kish · Lagash · Nippur
Akkadian Empire: Akkad
Babylon · Isin · Susa
Assyria: Assur · Nineveh
Dur-Sharrukin · Nimrud
Babylonia · Chaldea
Elam · Amorites
Hurrians · Mitanni
Kassites · Urartu
Chronology
Kings of Sumer
Kings of Assyria
Kings of Babylon
Language
Aramaic
Sumerian · Akkadian
Elamite · Hurrian
Mythology
Enûma Elish
Gilgamesh · Marduk

Assur also spelled Ashur, from Assyrian Aššur, was the capital of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq

Assur is also the name of the chief deity of the city. He was considered the highest god in the Assyrian pantheon and the protector of the Assyrian state. In the Mesopotamian mythology he was the equivalent of Babylonian Marduk.

The site of Assur is a United Nations World Heritage Site, but was placed on the list of World Heritage Sites in danger in 2003, in part to the conflict in that area, and in part due to a proposed dam, that would flood part of the site.

Exploration of the site of Assur began in 1898 by German archaeologists. Excavations began in 1900 by Friedrich Delitzsch, and were continued in 1903-1913. More than 16,000 tablets with cuneiform texts were discovered. Many of the objects found made their way to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Contents 1 Assur in the Third Millennium BC 2 Assur in the Old and Middle Assyrian period 3 Assur in the Neo-Assyrian period and later 4 See also 5 Bibliography

Archaeology reveals the site of the city was occupied by the middle of the third millennium BC. This was still the Sumerian period, before the Assyrian kingdom emerged. The oldest remains of the city were discovered in the foundations of the Ishtar temple, as well as at the Old Palace. In the following Old Akkadian period, the city was ruled by kings from Akkad. During the "Sumerian Renaissance", the city was ruled by a Sumerian governor.

By the time the Neo-Sumerian Ur-III dynasty collapsed at the hands of the Elamites in 2004 BC, the local princes, including in Assur, had shaken off the foreign yoke. Assur developed rapidly into a centre for trade, and trade routes led from the city to Anatolia, where merchants from Assur established trading colonies. These Assyrian colonies in Asia Minor were called kârum, and traded mostly with tin and wool (see Kültepe). In the city of Assur, the first great temples to the city god Assur and the weather god Adad were erected. The first fortifications were also began in this period.

Assur was the capital of the kingdom of Shamshi-Adad I (1813-1781 BC). He expanded the city's power and influence beyond the Tigris river valley. In this period, the Great Royal Palace was built, and the temple of Assur was expanded and enlarged with a ziggurat. This kingdom came to end when Hammurabi of Babylon incorporated the city into his kingdom following the death of Shamshi-Adad. Renewed building activity is known a few centuries later, during the reign of a native king Puzur-Assur III, when the city was refortified and the southern quarters incorporated into the main city defenses. Temples to the moon god Sin (Nanna) and the sun god Shamash were erected in the 15th century BC. The city then became subjugated by the kingdom of Mitanni.

Assyria regained its independence in the 14th century BC, and in the following centuries the old temples and palaces of Assur were restored. Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244-1208 BC) also started a new temple to the goddess Ishtar. The Anu-Adad temple was constructed during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I (1115-1075 BC). The walled area of the city in the Middle Assyrian period made up some 120 ha, or 300 acres.

In the Neo-Assyrian period (912-612 BC), the royal residence was transferred to other Assyrian cities. Assur-nasir-pal II (884-884 BC) moved the capital from Assur to Kalhu (Nimrud). Yet the city of Assur remained the religious centre of the empire, due to its temple of the national god Assur. In the reign of Sennacherib (705-682 BC), the House of the New Year, akitu, was built, and the festivities celebrated in the city. Several Assyrian rulers were also buried beneath the Old Palace. The end of the glorious days of Assur came in 614 BC, when the city was sacked and destroyed during the conquest of Assyria by the Medes.

The city was reoccupied some centuries later, in the Parthian period. New administrative buildings were erected to the north of the old city, and a palace to the south. The old Assur temple was also rebuilt. However, the city was destroyed again by the Sassanid king Shapur I (241-272 AD). Some settlement at the site is known from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but afterwards only by nomadic Bedouin. Modern Assyrians continue to revere the site.

• Assur (god)
• Assyria
• Babylonia and Assyria
• Rise of Assyria
• Kings of Assyria
• Chronology of Babylonia and Assyria

• Walter Andrae: Das wiedererstandene Assur. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1938 (2. Aufl. Beck, München 1977). ISBN 3-406-02947-7
• Walter Andrae: Babylon. Die versunkene Weltstadt und ihr Ausgräber Robert Koldewey. de Gruyter, Berlin 1952.
• Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum: Die Assyrer. Geschichte, Gesellschaft, Kultur. C.H.Beck Wissen, München 2003. ISBN 3-406-50828-6
• Olaf Matthes: Zur Vorgeschichte der Ausgrabungen in Assur 1898-1903/05. MDOG Berlin 129, 1997, 9-27. ISSN 0342-118X
• P. A. Miglus: Das Wohngebiet von Assur, Stratigraphie und Architektur. Berlin 1996. ISBN 3-7861-1731-4
• Susan L. Marchand: Down from Olympus. Archaeology and Philhellenism in Germany 1750-1970. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1996. ISBN 0-691-04393-0
• Conrad Preusser: Die Paläste in Assur. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1996. ISBN 3-7861-2004-8