[1] The name Assur is not connected with the Asshur of 1 Chron. ii.
24; ii. 45. Note that it is customary to spell the god-name _Asur_
and the country-name _Assur_.
[2] Cf. Rassam, _Asshur and the Land of Nimrod_, 250-251, and many
other works.
[3] Robert Harper, _Code of Hammurabi_, pp. 6-7, lines 55-58.
[4] Thus already Delitzsch, _Wo lag das Paradies?_ p. 252. The
element _a_ means "water," and in _u-sar_ it is probable that _u_
also means "water," while _sar_ is "park, district." See Prince,
_Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon_, s.v. _usar_.
[5] The name appears as _As-sur_ (_ki_) and _As-su-ur_ (_ki_). See
King, _Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi_, iv. p. 23, obv. 27;
and Nagel, _Beitrage zur Assyriologie_, iv. p. 404; also _Cun. Texts
from Bab. Tablets_, vi. pl. 19, line 7.
[6] Meissner-Rost, _Bauinschrift Sanheribs_, K. 5413a; K. 1306, rev.
16.
[7] See on this entire subject, Morris Jastrow, Jr., _Journal Amer.
Orient. Soc._, xxiv. pp. 282-311; also _Die Religion Bab. u. Assyr._,
pp. 207 ff.
[8] On the philological methods of the ancient Babylonian priesthood,
see Prince, _Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon_, Introduction.
ASSUR, the primitive capital of Assyria, now represented by the mounds
of Kaleh Sherghat (Qal'at Shergat) on the west bank of the Tigris,
nearly midway between the Upper and Lower Zab. It is still doubtful (see
discussion on the name in the preceding article) whether the national
god of Assyria took his name from that of the city or whether the
converse was the case. It is most probable, however, that it was the
city which was deified (see Sayce, _Religion of Ancient Egypt and
Babylonia_, 1902, pp. 366, 367). Sir A.H. Layard, through his assistant
Hormuzd Rassam, devoted two or three days to excavating on the site, but
owing to the want of pasturage and the fear of Bedouin attacks he left
the spot after finding a broken clay cylinder containing the annals of
Tiglath-Pileser I., and for many years no subsequent efforts were made
to explore it. In 1904, however, a German expedition under Dr W. Andrae
began systematic excavations, which have led to important results. The
city originally grew up round the great temple of the god Assur, the
foundation of which was ascribed to the High-priest Uspia. For many
centuries Assur and the surrounding district, which came accordingly to
be called the land of Assur (_Assyria_), were governed by high-priests
under the suzerainty of Babylonia. With the decay of the Babylonian
power the high-priests succeeded in making themselves independent kings,
and Assur became the capital of an important kingdom. It was already
surrounded by a wall of crude brick, which rested on stone foundations
and was strengthened at certain points by courses of burnt brick. A deep
moat was dug outside it by Tukulti-Inaristi or Tukulti-Masu (about 1270
B.C.), and it was further defended on the land side by a _salkhu_ or
outwork. In the 15th century B.C. it was considerably extended to the
south in order to include a "new town" which had grown up there. The
wall was pierced by "the gate of Assur," "the gate of the Sun-god," "the
gate of the Tigris," &c., and on the river side was a quay of burnt
brick and limestone cemented with bitumen. The temples were in the
northern part of the city, together with their lofty towers, one of
which has been excavated. Besides the temple of Assur there was another
great temple dedicated to Anu and Hadad, as well as the smaller
sanctuaries of Bel, Ishtar, Merodach and other deities. After the rise
of the kingdom, palaces were erected separate from the temples; the
sites of those of Hadad-nirari I., Shalmaneser I., and Assur-nazir-pal
have been discovered by the German excavators, and about a dozen more
are referred to in the inscriptions. Even after the rise of Nineveh as
the capital of the kingdom and the seat of the civil power, Assur
continued to be the religious centre of the country, where the king was
called on to reside when performing his priestly functions. The city
survived the fall of Assyria, and extensive buildings as well as tombs
of the Parthian age have been found upon the site.
See _Mitteilungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft_ (1904-1906).
(A. H. S.)
ASSUR, ASUR, or ASHUR, the chief god of Assyria, was originally the
patron deity of the city of Assur on the Tigris, the ancient capital of
Assyria from which as a centre the authority of the _patesis_ (as the
rulers were at first called) spread in various directions. The history
of Assyria (q.v.) can now be traced back approximately to 2500 B.C.,
though it does not rise to political prominence until c. 2000 B.C. The
name of the god is identical with that of the city, though an older form
A-shir, signifying "leader," suggests that a differentiation between the
god and the city was at one time attempted. Though the origin of the
form Ashur (or Assur) is not certain, it is probable that the name of
the god is older than that of the city (see discussion on the name
above).
The title _Ashir_ was given to various gods in the south, as Marduk and
Nebo, and there is every reason to believe that it represents a direct
transfer with the intent to emphasize that Assur is the "leader" or head
of the pantheon of the north. He is in fact to all intents and purposes
of the north. Originally like Marduk a solar deity with the winged
disk--the disk always typifying the sun--as his symbol, he becomes as
Assyria develops into a military power a god of war, indicated by the
attachment of the figure of a man with a bow to the winged disk.[1]
While the cult of the other great gods and goddesses of Babylonia was
transferred to Assyria, the worship of Assur so overshadowed that of the
rest as to give the impression of a decided tendency towards the
absorption of all divine powers by the one god. Indeed, the other gods,
Sin, Shamash (Samas), Adad, Ninib and Nergal, and even Ea, take on the
warlike traits of Assur in the epithets and descriptions given of them
in the annals and votive inscriptions of Assyrian rulers to such an
extent as to make them appear like little Assurs by the side of the
great one. Marduk alone retains a large measure of his independence as a
concession on the part of the Assyrians to the traditions of the south,
for which they always manifested a profound respect. Even during the
period that the Assyrian monarchs exercised complete sway over the
south, they rested their claims to the control of Babylonia on the
approval of Marduk, and they or their representatives never failed to
perform the ceremony of "taking the hand" of Marduk, which was the
formal method of assuming the throne in Babylonia. Apart from this
concession, it is Assur who pre-eminently presides over the fortunes of
Assyria.[2] In his name, and with his approval as indicated by
favourable omens, the Assyrian armies march to battle. His symbol is
carried into the thick of the fray, so that the god is actually present
to grant assistance in the crisis, and the victory is with becoming
humility invariably ascribed by the kings "to the help of Assur." With
the fall of Assyria the rule of Assur also comes to an end, whereas it
is significant that the cult of the gods of Babylonia--more particularly
of Marduk--survives for several centuries the loss of political
independence through Cyrus' capture of Babylonia in 539 B.C. The name of
Assur's temple at Assur, represented by the mounds of Kaleh Sherghat,
was known as E-khar-sag-gal-kur-kurra, i.e. "House of the great mountain
of the lands." Its exact site has been determined by excavations
conducted at Kaleh Sherghat since 1903 by the German Oriental Society.
The name indicates the existence of the same conception regarding sacred
edifices in Assyria as in Babylonia, where we find such names as E-Kur
("mountain house") for the temple of Bel (q.v.) at Nippur, and E-Saggila
("lofty house") for Marduk's (q.v.) temple at Babylon and that of Ea
(q.v.) at Eridu, and in view of the general dependence of Assyrian
religious beliefs as of Assyrian culture in general, there is little
reason to doubt that the name of Assur's temple represents a direct
adaptation of such a name as E-Kur, further embellished by epithets
intended to emphasize the supreme control of the god to whom the edifice
was dedicated. The foundation of the edifice can be traced back to Uspia
(Ushpia), c. 2000 B.C., and may turn out to be even older. Besides the
chief temple, the capital contained temples and chapels to Anu, Adad,
Ishtar, Marduk, Gula, Sin, Shamash, so that we are to assume the
existence of a sacred precinct in Assur precisely as in the religious
centres of the south. On the removal of the seat of residence of the
Assyrian kings to Calah (c. 1300 B.C.), and then in the 8th century to
Nineveh, the centre of the Assur cult was likewise transferred, though
the sanctity of the old seat at Assur continued to be recognized. At
Nineveh, which remained the capital till the fall of the Assyrian empire
in 606 B.C., Assur had as his rival Ishtar, who was the real patron
deity of the place, but a reconciliation was brought about by making
Ishtar the consort of the chief god. The combination was, however, of an
artificial character, and the consciousness that Ishtar was in reality
an independent goddess never entirely died out. She too, like Assur, was
viewed as a war deity, and to such an extent was this the case that at
times it would appear that she, rather than Assur, presided over the
fortunes of the Assyrian armies. (M. Ja.)