Prosperity and independence produced the first significant fortifications in this period. Soon after in around 2000 BC, Puzur-Ashur I founded a new dynasty, with his successors such as Ilushuma, Erishum I and Sargon I leaving inscriptions regarding the building of temples to Ashur, Adad and Ishtar in the city. The temple likely dates to the original settlement of the site when the people of Ashur established their nation under the patronage of the city's god. The Assyrian king Ushpia who reigned around the 21st century BC is credited with dedicating the first temple of the god Ashur in his home city, although this comes from a later inscription from Shalmaneser I in the 13th century.
#SUN LIFE ASSUR FREE#
The native Akkadian-speaking Assyrian kings were now free while Sumer fell under the yoke of the Amorites.
Old and Middle Assyrian Empire īy the time the Neo-Sumerian Ur-III dynasty collapsed at the hands of the Elamites around the end of the 21st century BC according to the Middle Chronology and mid-20th century according to the Short Chronology following increasing raids by Gutians and Amorites. During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the city was ruled by Assyrian governors subject to the Sumerians. In the subsequent period, the city was ruled by kings from the Akkadian Empire. The oldest remains of the city were discovered in the foundations of the Ishtar temple, as well as at the Old Palace. This was still the Sumerian period, before Assyria emerged. History Early Bronze Age Īrchaeology reveals the site of the city was occupied by the middle of the 3rd millennium BC.
Assur is also the origin of the names Syria and terms for Syriac Christians, these being originally Indo-European derivations of Assyria, and for many centuries applying only to Assyria and the Assyrians (see Etymology of Syria) before also being applied to the Levant and its inhabitants by the Seleucid Empire in the 3rd century BC. Today the Assyrians are still found throughout the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and the Diaspora in the western world. Name Īššur is the name of the city, of the land ruled by the city, and of its tutelary deity from which the natives took their name, as did the entire nation of Assyria which encompassed what is today northern Iraq, north east Syria and south east Turkey. Dittmann on behalf of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. During the same period, in 19, the site was being worked by R. Hrouda for the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Bavarian Ministry of Culture in 1990.
Many of the objects found made their way to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. More than 16,000 clay tablets with cuneiform texts were discovered. Excavations began in 1900 by Friedrich Delitzsch, and were continued in 1903–1913 by a team from the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft led initially by Robert Koldewey and later by Walter Andrae. Assur lies 65 kilometres (40 mi) south of the site of Nimrud and 100 km (60 mi) south of Nineveh.Įxploration of the site of Assur began in 1898 by German archaeologists. The site is a World Heritage Site, having been added to that organisation's list of sites in danger in 2003 following the conflict that erupted following the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq and as a result of a proposed dam which would flood some of the site. Occupation of the city itself continued for approximately 4,000 years, from the Early Dynastic Period to the mid-14th century AD, when the forces of Timur massacred its predominately Christian population. 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. Aššur ( / ˈ æ s ʊər/ Sumerian: ??? AN.ŠAR 2 KI, Assyrian cuneiform: Aš-šur KI, "City of God Aššur" Syriac: ܐܫܘܪ Āšūr Old Persian ???? Aθur, Persian: آشور: Āšūr Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר, Aššûr, Arabic: اشور), also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, was the capital of the Old Assyrian Empire (2025–1750 BC), the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BC), and for a time, of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–608 BC).