Ashur

Qal'at Sherqat

Iraq · Saladin

Ancient cityIntermittent excavationUNESCO · 2003
Approximate period2,600 BCE — 256 CEFrom the third millennium BCE onward; Assyrian and Parthian periods See on the map ↓

In brief

Ashur was an ancient Assyrian capital and principal religious centre established on the banks of the Tigris. Excavations have uncovered temples and palaces alongside houses, tombs and written records documenting the city's long history of use.

What was found?

  • 1Temple of Aşur

    It is a temple dedicated to Aşur, the god who gave the city its name. It is one of the principal tangible traces of the city's religious importance to the Assyrians.

  • 2Temple of İştar

    It is one of the temples renovated and decorated by Assyrian rulers. It shows that sacred buildings dedicated to different gods existed together in the city.

  • 3Anu-Adad double temple

    It is a double temple dedicated to Anu and Adad. Its regular renovations document the rulers' continuing interest in sacred buildings.

  • 4Stelae recording royal lineage

    These are inscribed stone monuments erected near the city wall. They show that kings recorded their genealogies in public space.

What does it point to?

Aşur was a center where international trade, kingship, and religion were intertwined. Even after the capital moved to Nimrud, it retained its importance as a sacred city where kings were crowned and celebrated New Year ceremonies.

What did it teach us?

  1. It showed that an old capital could survive as a religious center even after the political capital changed.
  2. It documented the renovation of temples by successive rulers.
  3. It revealed that royal lineage was inscribed into urban space through inscribed monuments.

Images

The only known Assyrian statue of a naked woman, erected at the temple of Ishtar in Nineve
Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Ashur city walls
Fakhri Mahmood · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Record

Culture
Assyrian; Parthian
First modern dig
1903
Team / historical
Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage
Coordinates
35.4567°, 43.2611°

Sources

  1. whc.unesco.org
  2. archeologie.culture.gouv.fr

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