Ashur

Ashur, also Assur or Ashshur, earliest capital of Assyria, on the western bank of the River Tigris, south of Nineveh. The modern village of ash-Sharqat, Iraq, is on the site of Ashur. Systematic excavations of the ruins of Ashur were first undertaken in 1903-1913. The city wall, according to an inscription, was built by Kikia, a king reigning probably in the earlier part of the 3rd millennium bc. Enlarged by various rulers of Assyria, Ashur was a great centre of the religious and political life of the nation. Even after Calah (modern Nimrud, Iraq) was made the seat of government about 880 bc and Nineveh became the new capital of the empire about 705 bc, the Assyrian monarchs still continued their building operations in Ashur. The city was destroyed by the Medes in 614 bc. In 2003 Ashur was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.