Iraq

Ashur

WHS Score 2.86
rate
Votes 14 Average 3.32
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Votes for Ashur

1.5

  • Philipp Leu

2.0

  • Wojciech Fedoruk

2.5

  • Clyde
  • Loic Pedras

3.0

  • Rvieira
  • Szucs Tamas
  • Timothy C Easton

3.5

  • Afshin Iranpour
  • Christravelblog
  • Zoë Sheng

4.0

  • Thomas Buechler

4.5

  • Alexander Lehmann

5.0

  • ALKAREEMNASSER
  • liu tuo

Ashur (Qal'at Sherqat) comprises the remains of the first capital of the Assyrian Empire.

The city was the centre for worship of the god Ashur and the goddess Ishtar/Inanna. Ashur contained many important religious buildings and a handful of palaces. They show the evolution of the building practice from the Sumerian to the Parthian periods.

Community Perspective: Located near Mosul, it has been off-limits for decades. Thomas managed to visit in 2021 – the site hasn’t seen as much war damage as other Iraqi sites, but not much has been excavated. Clyde went in 2024 and highlighted the site's history.

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Ashur (Qal'at Sherqat) (ID: 1130)
Country
Iraq
Status
Inscribed 2003 Site history
History of Ashur
2003: In Danger
Dam proposal; state of war in the country
2003: Inscribed
Inscribed
In Danger
Dam proposal; state of war in the country Since 2003
WHS Type
Cultural
Criteria
  • iii
  • iv
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Archaeological site: Near Eastern
  • Archaeological site: Rock Art
Travel Information
One thousand visitors or fewer
One thousand visitors or fewer
“There are ca 1,000 visitors per year.” (AB ev)
Red Zone Travel Advisory
Red Zone Travel Advisory
All of Iraq except Kurdistan
Recent Connections
View all (30) .
Connections of Ashur
Individual People
Geography
  • Under control of ISIS
    Since March 7, 2015, the city was in ISIL held territory; As of February 2017, the group no longer controls the site, however it is not secure enough for archaeological experts to evaluate (wiki)
  • Tigris - Euphrates Basin
    West bank of the Tigris River
Trivia
History
  • Seleucid Empire
    "The site survived the fall of the Assyrian empire in the 7th century BCE, and it flourished in the Hellenistic and Parthian periods until the 2nd century CE." (AB ev)
  • Babylonian Empire
    "Hammurabi, the Amorite king of Babylon conquered and incorporated the city into the First Babylonian dynasty empire following the death of Ishme-Dagan I around 1756 BC, while the next three Assyrian kings were viewed as vassals of Babylon." (wiki)

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • Excavated by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft
    Walter Andrae led DOG excavations at Assyrian capital of Assur from 1903 to 1914 (wiki)
  • Assyrian Empire
    "Its most important role was from the 14th to 9th century BC when it was the first capital of the Assyrian empire, the religious capital of Assyrians, and the place for crowning and burial of its kings." (OUV crit iii)
  • Located in a Former Capital
    First capital of ancient Assyrian Empire
  • Mesopotamia
    The ancient city of Ashur is located on the Tigris River in northern Mesopotamia. (AB ev)
  • Oldest Buildings
    Temple of Ishtar 2600BC "The city was occupied from the mid-3rd millennium BC (Circa 2600-2500 BC) to the 14th Century AD" (Wiki). " Early Dynastic period (first half of the third millennium B.C.). Some remains may even date to preceding periods. For this early part the stratigraphic excavation of the temple of Ishtar provided substantial information about the development of the religious architecture. Two of the five major building stages of it belong to this period." (Nom file) "The earliest traces of settlement in Ashur can be found in layer H of the Ishtar temple, but also in the oldest layers beneath the Old Palace, dating to the late Early Dynastic period (in the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C.). In the following Akkadian period (ca. 2340-2200 B.C.) which is represented by layer G of the Ishtar temple, Ashur is under the rule of the kings of Akkad. During the time of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2100-2000 B.C.) a governor of this dynasty is attested in Ashur." (Assur.de)
  • Parthian Empire
    short revival during the Parthian period, "More than 1,000 inhumations in graves and tombs from the Parthian period, mainly located inside the buildings, provide important information on aspects of burial rites and funerary culture. The Parthian palace and a temple close to the ziggurat are architectural testimonies of this period. "(OUV)
  • Eunuchs

    See www.ucl.ac.uk

  • Akkadian Empire
    "buildings of Ashur provide an outstanding record of the evolution of building practice from the Sumerian and Akkadian period through the Assyrian empire" (Crit iv OUV)
Architecture
  • Earth Architecture
    "The majority of the buildings of the city were built with sun-dried mud-bricks" (AB ev)
Damaged
World Heritage Process
Religion and Belief
  • Goddesses
    centre for worship of the goddess Ishtar
  • Mentioned in the Bible
    Asshur, a city characterized by the mounds of Kalah Sherghat, on the west bank of the Tigris (Genesis 2:14)
Human Activity
Constructions
  • Tombs
    "the more than 1,000 inhumations in graves and tombs, mainly located inside the buildings, which provide important information on aspects of burial rites and funerary culture." (AB ev)
  • Ziggurat
    "The major features of the city which are presently visible on-site consist of architectural remains (some of them partly restored): the ziggurat and the great temple of the god Ashur, the double-temple of Anu and Adad (with the remains of two smaller ziggurats)" (AB eval)
  • Tell
    "an exceptional testimony to succeeding civilizations from the Sumerian period in the 3rd millennium BC to the Assyrian empire from the 14th to 9th centuries, and, later, the Parthian revival in the 2nd century BC" (OUV), has mounds with layers from different civilizations (see link)

    See www.assur.de

WHS on Other Lists
Timeline
  • Built in the 2nd Millennium BC
    "the most important role of Ashur was from the 14th to 9th century BCE when it was the first capital of the Assyrian empire" (AB ev)
Visiting conditions
WHS Names
  • Untranslated Toponyms
    Ashur (Qal'at Sherqat): Qalat or kalata (قلعه) in Persian, and qal'a(-t) or qil'a(-t) (قلعہ‎, قلعة) in Arabic, means 'fortress', 'fortification', 'castle',[ or simply 'fortified place'.

    See en.wikipedia.org

News
theartnewspaper.com 06/21/2022
New dam could drown ancient Iraqi …
smithsonianmag.com 01/05/2022
At the Iraqi Site of Assur, Ancien…

Community Reviews

Show full reviews
First published: 06/06/25.

Clyde

Ashur

Ashur (Inscribed)

Ashur by Clyde

I visited this WHS in September 2024 as a long day trip together with Hatra. An early start to the day and a reputable fixer/tour agency with good contacts is essential to allow for the several military checkpoints and to make sure everything goes smoothly. Even though eventually everything went very smoothly and I made it in time for both WHS, I wouldn't have made it without an early start.

Ashur was the capital of the Old Assyrian city-state (2025–1364 BC), the Middle Assyrian Empire (1363–912 BC), and for a time, of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–609 BC). The remains of the city lie on the western bank of the Tigris River, north of the confluence with its tributary, the Little Zab. Unlike Babylon, almost no reconstructions remain or were made. From Ashur onwards, the effects of the conflicts and the tensions and destruction they brought with them are clearly visible. Upon arrival, you'll immediately notice the several bullet holes in the makeshift UNESCO WHS signs.

The oldest remains of the city were discovered in the foundations of the Ishtar temple, as well as at the ruins of the Old Palace. During the Akkadian Empire (around 2334-2154 BC), Ashur was a provincial capital led by a vassal of the Akkadian kings. During the 3rd Dynasty of Ur (around 2112-2004 BC), Ashur continued as a governorate subject to the Sumerians. By the time the Neo-Sumerian Ur dynasty collapsed at the hands of the Elamites around the end of the 21st …

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First published: 27/11/21.

Thomas Buechler

Ashur

Ashur (Inscribed)

Ashur by Thomas Buechler

Ashur (Assur) was the first Assyrian capital and remained so for a long period (1400 to 608 BC). Located on the western banks of the Tigris River, just a bit north of the confluence with the Lesser Zab river, it became an important trading and religious centre with a large ziggurat. The city lies about 140km south of Mosul, and we visited the place on the first day of November 2021, coming from Baghdad on our way to Mosul. Our guide Hayder did his homework. The chief of security at this important archaeological site gave us an entry permit on the spot, and we were even driven around the premises in his private car. Here excavations have been done predominantly by German archaeologists, starting as early as 1903, about 4 years after Babylon. Not surprisingly that many of Ashur's artefacts and statues are kept safe far away, in Berlin's Pergamon Museum, some are in the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul. Good in that case, since the nearby Mosul Museum has suffered severe damage to its collections. Ashur was not destroyed by the ISIS extremists on the same magnitude as Nimrud, Hatra or Mosul/Nineveh, simply because only a few palaces and temples (10 out of 34) are fully excavated. But another threat comes from the Makhul Dam project, an ambitious plan of the Iraqi government, creating a 20 mile-long lake, most likely partially flooding the ancient city of Ashur. After a long pause due to the Gulf war, and political turmoil, construction …

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