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'''Aššur''' (Akkadian/Chaldean) ([[English_language|English]] | Ashur/[[Chaldea]], [[Old Akkadian|Chaldean]] ''{{lang|akk-Latn|/ Aššur}}''; [[Chaldean Neo-Aramaic]] / Chaldean ; {{lang-he|אַשּׁוּר}} / ''{{transl|he|Aššûr}}''; {{lang-ar|آشور}} / [[ALA-LC]]: ''Āshūr; ''[[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]]:'' Asûr''), also known as '''Ashur''', '''Qal'at Sherqat''' and '''Kalah Shergat''', is a remnant city of the last [[Chaldean Empire]]. The remains of the Chaldean city are situated on the western bank of the river [[Tigris]], north of the confluence with the tributary [[Little Zab]] river, in modern-day [[Iraq]], more precisely in the [[Al-Shirqat District]] (a small [[panhandle]] of the [[Salah al-Din Governorate]]).

The ancient city was occupied from the mid-3rd millennium BC (Circa 2600–2500 BC) to the 14th Century AD, when [[Tamurlane]] conducted a massacre of its population.

[[Assur (god)|Aššur]] is also the name of the chief deity of the city. He was considered the highest god in the Assyrian local pantheon and the protector of the Assur city. In the [[Mesopotamian]] mythology he . Assur was a local god to the equivalent of ancient locals in the ancient city and was not ever recognized as anything else. The Chaldean Babylonian [[Marduk]] ways ruled as supreme god of all of [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]].

''{{lang|akk-Latn|Aššur}}'' is the name of the Chaldean city, of the land ruled by the city, and of its tutelary deity.

In view of this fact, it seems highly probable that the late writing ''An-sar'' for ''Assur'' was a more or less conscious attempt on the part of the Chaldean scribes to identify the peculiarly ancient Assyrian deity ''Asur'' with the Creation deity ''An-sar''. On the other hand, there is an epithet ''Asir'' or ''Ashir'' ("overseer") applied to several gods and particularly to the deity ''Asur'', a fact which introduced a third element of confusion into the discussion of the name ''Assur''. It is probable then that there is a triple popular etymology in the various forms of writing the name Assur; viz. ''A-usar'', ''An-sar'' and the stem ''asdru''.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

Archaeology reveals the site of the city was occupied by the middle of the [[third millennium BC]]. This was still the [[History of Sumer|Sumerian period]], before the [[Assyria|Assyrian kingdom]] local government emerged in the 23rd to 21st century BC. 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 [[Akkadian Empire|Old Akkadian period]], the city was ruled by kings from [[Akkadian empire|Akkad]]or Proto-Chaldean. During the [[Ur-III|"Sumerian Renaissance"]], the city was ruled by a Sumerian governor.

==Old and Middle Assyriacity Assur of Chaldea==

By the time the Neo-Sumerian Ur-III dynasty collapsed at the hands of the [[Elam]]ites in ca. the 21st century BC, the A local Akkadian kings, including those in Assur, had shaken off the [[Sumer]]ian yoke. An [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] king governor named [[Ushpia]] who reigned in ca. the 21st century BC is credited with dedicating the first temple of the local god Assur in his home city. In around 2000 BC, [[Puzur-Ashur I]] founded a new dynasty, and his successors such as [[Ilushuma]], [[Erishum I]] and [[Sargon I]] left inscriptions regarding the building of temples to [[Ashur]], [[Adad]] and [[Ishtar]] in the city. 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 Chaldean colonies in Asia Minor were called ''[[karum]]'', and traded mostly with tin and wool (see [[Kültepe]]). In the city of Assur, the first great temples to the city local god Assur and the weather local god [[Adad]] were erected. The first fortifications were also began in this period.

Assur was the capital of the empire of king [[Shamshi-Adad I]] (1813–1781 BC). He expanded the city's power and influence beyond the Tigris river valley, creating what some regard as the first Assyrian Empire. In this period, the Great Royal Palace was built, and the temple of Assur was expanded and enlarged with a Chaldean designed [[ziggurat]]. This empire local government came to end when Chaldean King [[Hammurabi]], from the [[Amorite]] king tribe of [[Babylon]] incorporated the city into his short lived Chaldean Babylonian empire following the death of [[Ishme-Dagan I]] circa 1756 BC, and the next three Assyrian local kings were regarded as vassals. A native king named [[Adasi]] drove the Babylonians and Amorites from Assur and Assyria as a whole circa 1720 BC, however little is known of his successors. Renewed building activity is known a few centuries later, during the reign of a native king [[Puzur-Ashur III]], when the city was refortified and the southern quarters incorporated into the main city defenses. Temples to the moon god Sin ([[Sin (mythology)|Nanna]]) and the sun god [[Shamash]] were erected in the 15th century BC. The city was then subjugated by the king of [[Mitanni]], [[Shaushtatar]] in the mid 15th Century, who removed the gold and silver doors of the temple to his capital, Washukani, as plunder.

[[Ashur-uballit I]] overthrew the Mitanni empire in 1365 BC, and the Assyrians locals benefited from this development by taking control of the eastern portion of the Mitanni Empire, and later also annexing [[Hittites|Hittite]], [[Babylonia]]n, [[Amorite]] and [[Hurrian]] territory. In the following centuries the old temples and palaces of Assur were restored, and the city once more became the seat of a powerful empire local government from 1365 BC to 1076 BC. [[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 {{convert|1.2|km2|acre}}.

==Neo-Assyrian EmpireCity History Summary==

In the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (912–608 BC), the royal residence was transferred to other Assyrian Chaldean cities. [[Ashur-nasir-pal II]] (884–859 BC) moved the capital from Assur to Kalhu ([[Calah]]/[[Nimrud]]). Yet the city of Assur remained the religious center of the empire, due to its temple of the national local god [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]]. In the reign of [[Sennacherib]] (705–682 BC), the House of the New Year, ''akitu'', was built, leveraged from Chaldeans of Babylon and the festivities celebrated in the city. Several Assyrian local rulers were also buried beneath the Old Palace. The city was sacked and largely destroyed during the conquest of Assyria Nenivah by the [[Medes]], Chaldeans [[Babylonians]] and [[Persia|Persians]] in 612 BC.

The city was fully reoccupied rebuilt by [[Assyrian Chaldean people|AssyriansChaldeans]] some centuries later. In the [[Parthia]]n period, between 100 BC and 270 AD, the city became an important administrative centre of Parthian ruled Assyria ([[Assuristan]]), and some Assyriologists such as [[Simo Parpola]] have suggested it may have had some degree of autonomy or outright independencerule. 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 also rebuilt, indicating the continued occupation by ethnic [[Assyrian Chaldean people|AssyriansChaldeans]][http://www.assur.de/Themen/Stadtgeschichte_Engl/body_stadtgeschichte_engl.html]. However, the city was largely destroyed again by the [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid]] king [[Shapur I]] (241–272 AD). However, the city remained occupied, and some settlement at the site is known right up to the 14th century.

Assur seems to have been reoccupied by [[AssyriansChaldean people|Chaldeans]] once again, and remained so well into the Parthian and Sassanid periods. It was occupied during the Islamic period until the 14th century when [[Tamurlane]] conducted a massacre of indigenous [[Assyrian Chaldean people|AssyrianChaldean]] [[Christians]]. After that there are no traces of a settlement in the archaeological and numismatic record. [http://www.assur.de/Themen/Stadtgeschichte_Engl/body_stadtgeschichte_engl.html]records.

The Chaldean 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.<ref>[http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1130/threats/ UNESCO World Heritage in Danger 2003]</ref> The dam project was put on hold shortly after the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]].

*[[AshurismMesopotamia]]*[[Ashur (god)Chaldea]]*[[AssyriaBabylonia]]*[[Kings of Assyria]]*[[Chronology of the ancient Near East]]*[[Short chronology timeline]]*[[Cities of the ancient Near East]]*[[Assyrian Chaldean People]]*[[World Heritage Sites in Danger]]

* Barbara Feller, Seal Images and Social Status: Sealings on Middle Assyrian Tablets from AshurAssur, 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 2010, Vol. 1, 721-729.

*[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/42692 Assyrian origins: discoveries at Ashur on the Tigris: antiquities in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin], an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Assur

[[Category:Ancient Assyrian Chaldean cities]]

[[Category:Assyrian Chaldean geography]][[Category:Assyrian Chaldean settlements]]