Assur(Qala'at Sherqat)
As early as the second half of the third millennium BCE, the city of Assur (Aššur) was an important trade centre located at a crossing of the river Tigris and on important trade routes. From the 14th century BCE, the Sumero-Akkadian metropolis became a major power in Mesopotamia.Between the tenth and the seventh century BCE, the Assyrian Empire was one of the most powerful nations on earth. From 669 to 627, King Ashurbanipal ruled almost the entire Middle East, from Nubia and Egypt well into Iran and Anatolia. Soon after his death, the empire disintegrated - and with the fall of the Assyrian capital Nineveh in 612 BC, hegemony shifted to the Babylonians.
Assyria - the Empire of Assur
The Assyrians
Originating as one of several Akkadian city-states, Assur (or Ashur) grew into the capital of the Assyrian Empire that dominated Mesopotamia. The city boasted a huge temple to Ishtar - and a little altar showing king Tukulti Ninurta that is a forerunner of films…▶The Museum of the Ancient Near East, Berlin▶ Assur (Qalat Sherqat)
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Inside an Assyrian Palace
From Ashur, the capital of the Assyrian Empire was moved first to Nimrud, then to Nineveh. Guarded by frightening, winged colossal shedu, we enter the hall of an Assyrian palace as it would have looked in the first and second millennia B.C. …▶The Museum of the Ancient Near East, Berlin▶ Assur (Qalat Sherqat)
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Power and Doom of the Assyrians
Water was at the heart of Assyrian power, as is shown by a basin, pieced together from a mess of fragments. Just how great its power was, a stele from Zincirli points out with a rather drastic threat – and elaborate ways of humiliating enemies…▶The Museum of the Ancient Near East, Berlin▶ Assur (Qalat Sherqat)
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