Ashur, or Assur, was the ancient capital of Assyria. Archaeologists think the city was founded some time before 2400 BCE by a people speaking a Semitic language who migrated from the southwest into northern Mesopotamia. They used the name Ashur both for the city and for its guardian god. As their city-state grew in power, the name was also used to describe the kingdom and the people of Ashur. Assyria was the name later given to the region by the Greeks and the Romans.
A Center of Trade
During its early history Ashur, situated in present-day Iraq, was a trading city. Powerful merchant families controlled the trade in textiles and tin from northern Mesopotamia to Kanesh in Anatolia, a region in present-day eastern Turkey. Each year the donkey caravans left Ashur to make their way through the steep passes of the Taurus Mountains, returning with gold and silver. Ashur grew sufficiently wealthy and strong to police the trade routes between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world. The power of the merchant families faded only when the city fell to Amorite invaders in the nineteenth century BCE.
Ashur was built on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Tigris and Lesser Zab Rivers. The site was easy to defend, and the city controlled the traffic of ships on the rivers. However, good farming land in the surrounding area was limited. Water was also a problem, for the Tigris was brackish at this point and unsuitable for drinking. Later rulers moved the capital to more fertile sites. Ashur ceased to be the capital of Assyria around 863 BCE, when King Ashurnasirpal II moved his government to Calah in present-day northern Iraq.
A Center of Religion
Ashur remained the religious center of the kingdom, for the city contained the shrine of the national god. The temple of the god Ashur, overlooking the Tigris River, was the most holy place in the kingdom. Prisoners of war were executed at the temple as a tribute to the god Ashur. Ashur was also an important center for the worship of the goddess Ishtar.
The Assyrian kings were buried at Ashur, and five of their tombs have been excavated on the site of the main royal palace. A surviving document from the seventh century BCE mentions that the city contained thirty-four temples and three royal palaces. Many of these buildings were rediscovered by German archaeologists between 1903 and 1914, close to the modern village of Qal’at Sherqat.
Decline
The city was eventually sacked by the Medes under Cyaxares in 614 BCE. Although it was partly inhabited again in the Parthian period, the city never prospered and was slowly lost to the sands.
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TIGLATH-PILESER I REIGNED C. 1114–C. 1076 BCE |
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Tiglath-pileser I was the first of the great warrior kings of Assyria. During his long reign, the border of the Assyrian kingdom was pushed as far west as Syria and the Mediterranean coast. According to legend, the king even hunted and slew a giant narwhal near the city of Byblos in Phoenicia. Like many Assyrian kings, Tiglath-pileser went on major hunting expeditions in his chariot to show his skill and bravery. On one hunt, his scribes recorded that he killed over 920 lions and 10 elephants. Tiglath-pileser, like many later kings of Assyria, was known for his cruelty. Many of the peoples he had conquered rose up in rebellion after his death.
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