The history of the ancient world is very exciting. A special highlight is the presence of white spots, which only heat up interest, causing a storm of imagination. Among the first civilizations of humanity, Assyria, located in Mesopotamia, in its northern part, deserves attention. The early capital of Assyria is the city of Ashur (or Assur), named after the supreme deity of Ashur. The whole empire was named after him.
A little background
In the second half of the third millennium BC, the climate sharply worsened on the Arabian Peninsula . This forced its inhabitants (Semitic tribes) to move in search of a more suitable place to live. Traveling north and east, they reached Mesopotamia, where their closest relatives, the Akkadians, settled.
One by one they founded villages, which later became part of the empire. The main cities were Nineveh, Ashur and Arbela, which until the XV century. BC. existed on their own, separately from each other.
The first capital of Assyria
It is considered to be such a city Ashur, which has become the center of a small state engaged in trade. The power in it belonged to the merchants, and important decisions were made by their community. They were the first to arrive in Asia Minor, where they founded several colonies. The ruler of the city (Ishshiakkum) did not have full power, and his title was inherited. His area of influence was religion, that is, he was the high priest and commander in chief of the army, and also played the role of head of the Council. Much later, people came to the Council, as close as possible to Ishshiaqkum, which turned into a true monarch.
In the XXIII century. BC. the region (including the capital of Assyria) fell under the power of the Akkadian kingdom, and after its conquest by the people of the Kutis, it gained independence. Today you can see the ruins of this once great city 260 km from Baghdad.
Other settlements
- Dur-Sharrukin. Although this city is not the first capital of Assyria, it played an important role in the life of the state. Located three hours from Nineveh, it was the second residence of the monarch. The settlement was founded in Sargon II in 711 BC. Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad today) was surrounded by massive walls, and inside was an extensive palace with two hundred rooms. The discovered rich sculptural jewelry is currently kept in the Louvre (Paris).
- The ruins of Nimrud (Kalkhu) today are located in Iraq near the city of Mosul. The settlement was founded by Salmanasar I in the 13th century BC, and four hundred years later, Ashur-natsir-apal II made it his capital. Much later, this settlement destroyed the army of the Medes and Chaldeans. Here stood a magnificent palace surrounded by walls and structures. During the excavations, statues of fairy creatures, numerous reliefs, carvings, clay plates with cuneiform writing were discovered. Unfortunately, during the Iraq war, the ancient city was badly damaged.
Terrible Nineveh
This is another capital of Assyria. The city was called the "lair of the lions," the "city of blood." It was located near modern Mosul (Iraq) on the left bank of the Tigris - on the hills of Kuyundzhik. Its name is familiar to all from the Bible. According to historians, Nineveh was founded around the middle of the fifth millennium BC. Sennakhirib and his son Ashurbanipal made it the main city.
During its heyday, Nineveh stretched four kilometers along the river, and the main street was 26 meters wide. The capital of Assyria was distinguished by a clear and strict layout, which was strictly forbidden to violate.
But a powerful settlement was also subdued. The capital of Assyria - the city of Nineveh - was destroyed by the Babylonians along with the Medes. After excavating the ruins, archaeologists discovered the remains of the famous royal Kuyundzhik library, where about thirty thousand clay tablets were stored. They also found polychrome ceramics, bronze sculptures, numerous reliefs and statues of the gatekeepers - winged bulls and lions.
The appearance of the city
The capital of Assyria in ancient times was a small settlement. But in biblical times, when God sent Jonah to Nineveh, she was already unprecedentedly huge. Its founder is considered the son of King Sargon Sinaherib. He made the city his capital and built it on a grand scale.
The capital of Assyria - the “lion's lair” - was surrounded by a massive wall twelve kilometers long. It housed fifteen gates. Water flowed into the city through a canal 20 meters wide and over 50 km long, which went either through a tunnel or through an aqueduct. The ruler was generous with the builders of the canal, as evidenced by the found inscriptions.
The capital of Assyria - the city of Nineveh - was inhabited by 170,000 people! Its circumference reached 150 km. Within the settlement there were not only royal palaces and temples, but also pastures and gardens. Tsarskaya Street, covered with asphalt, was decorated with elaborate statues and had a greater width than Nevsky Prospekt in modern Petersburg.
The fall of the great city
But the capital of Assyria was doomed. The city was called the “lair of lions”, “the city of blood”, and its inhabitants - proud and cruel people. The Bible foretold Nineveh's death, turning into a desert. But she survived the first siege by the Medes during the reign of Ashurbanipal. The end of the power of the Assyrian Empire came when the conquered peoples frantically sought to throw off the yoke.
In 614, the separated Babylon joined forces with the Medes and besieged the city. Its inhabitants gave a worthy rebuff, but the forces were unequal. In addition, the attackers went on a trick: they destroyed the dam, giving the Tiger the opportunity to leave the banks and erode part of the fortress walls. The conquerors plundered the once great capital and razed it to the ground. Only in the middle of the nineteenth century did Nineveh return again from oblivion thanks to the efforts of the archaeologist Aston, Henry Layard.
Mark on history
Although the capital of ancient Assyria fell, marking the death of the whole empire, yet it did not get lost in the labyrinths of history. Mention of its inhabitants continually appears on the pages of later chronicles, which is a rare exception for science.
The Assyrians were not destroyed, not assimilated, but retired to the impregnable mountains of Kurdistan, where they continued to follow the traditions of their ancestors. The inscriptions of the times of Darius I indicate that during the construction of the palace cedar was used, brought by the Assyrians from Lebanon. Arab authors of the Middle Ages claimed that the ancient people continue to live on their own land. And the bishopric of the Armenian church in Mosul is now called the Assyrian. In the first month of the year Nineveh Day is celebrated with unprecedented triumph and scope. Also, the descendants of the Assyrians observe a special post, just as their distant ancestors did. And they wear cone-shaped hats made of felt, exactly the same as those depicted in ancient bas-reliefs. And such hats were not distributed anywhere else in the East.
Instead of a conclusion
The Bible tells of a bad city, which, like Babylon, was drowned in sins and pride. Therefore, he died in the same way as predicted. But historians and archaeologists reveal to us something completely different - a settlement of surprisingly large size for that time was arranged according to a carefully thought-out plan. His wealth could not fail to attract other states that were just gaining strength and needed money. That is why the Assyrian empire was replaced by other cities, which in many respects were inferior not only to Nineveh, but also to Nimrud and Ashur.