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ASSUR

(Heb. ʾaššûr; Akk. aššur)

(PLACE)

The chief city of Assyria for most of that nation’s history. The city (modern Qalʿat Sherqat) was in the heartland of Assyria, along the west bank of the Tigris River, in the fertile region of northern Iraq N of the Lesser Zab tributary and the Jebel Hamrin range. Along with Nineveh and Erbil, Assur formed a triangle of Assyrian towns.

Although little is known about its prehistoric period, Assur was an established city by the early 3rd millennium b.c. when it was a major religious center with various public buildings, including a temple dedicated to the goddess Ishtar. After 2300 Assur became part of the Semitic Akkadian Empire, as evidenced by an inscription of the Akkadian king Manishtushu found at the site.

The name Assur has presented problems to scholars as it was not only the name of the city, but also of the chief deity (often spelled “Ashur” to distinguish it from the city). By 2100 Assur was a vassal town of the Third Dynasty of Ur, as evidenced by numerous building inscriptions of “viceroys of Assur” who wrote in the Old Assyrian dialect of Akkadian.

In the early 2nd millennium Assur appears to have been a substantial city-state with fortified city walls and commercial interests in distant areas, most notably the trading post at Kanesh in central Anatolia. According to the Assyrian King List and other texts (from Mari and Tell Leilan), the Amorite chieftain Šamši-adad I (ca. 1814-1781) conquered Assur and made it part of his far-reaching empire. Little is known of Assur’s fate for the next few centuries. It was apparently under control of the Mitanni state for about a century until the reign of Assuruballit I (1365-1330), when the city became the center of a large polity. The Assyrian king Tukulti-ninurta I (1244-1208) transferred royal power across the Tigris to a brand new city, Kar-tukulti-ninurta, which did not survive for long. Assur reclaimed its title of chief city soon thereafter and continued until the reign of Assurnasirpal II (884-859), who moved to nearby Kalhu. Assur, however, continued as the main religious center of the Assyrian Empire until the city was destroyed in 614.

Bibliography. H. W. F. Saggs, The Might That Was Assyria (1984, repr. New York, 1991).

Mark W. Chavalas

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASSUR

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)