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ASSUR (Auth. Vera. Asshur)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 788 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ASSUR (Auth. See also:Vera. Asshur) , a See also:Hebrew name, occurring in many passages of the Old Testament, for the See also:land and dominion of See also:Assyria.' The See also:country of Assyria, which in the Assyro-Babylonian literature is known as See also:mat Assur (ki), " land of Assur," took its name from the See also:ancient See also:city of Assur, situated at the ' The name Assur is not connected with the Asshur of I Chron.ii. 24i ii. 45. See also:Note that it is customary to spell the See also:god-name Allur and the country-name AHur. See also:southern extremity of Assyria proper, whose territory, soon after the first See also:Assyrian See also:settlement, was bounded on the N. by the Zagros See also:mountain range in what is now See also:Kurdistan and on the S. by the See also:lower Zab See also:river. The See also:kingdom of Assyria, which was the outgrowth of the See also:primitive settlement on the site of the city of Assur, was See also:developed by a probably See also:gradual See also:process of colonization in the See also:rich vales of the See also:middle See also:Tigris region, a See also:district watered by the Tigris itself and also by several tributary streams, the See also:chief of which was the lower Zab.' It seems quite evident that the city of Assur was originally founded by Semites from Babylonia at quite an See also:early, but as yet undetermined date. In the See also:prologue to the See also:law-See also:code of the See also:great Babylonian monarch Khammurabi (c. 2250 B.C.), the cities of See also:Nineveh and Assur are both mentioned as coming under that See also:king's beneficent See also:influence. Assur is there called A-usar(ki),2 in which See also:combination the ending -ki (" land territory ") proves that even at that early See also:period there was a See also:province of Assur more extensive than the city proper. It is probable that this non-Semitic See also:form A-usar means "well watered region,"3 a most appropriate designation for the river settlements of Assyria.

The problem as to the meaning of the name Assur is rendered all the more confusing by the fact that the city and land are also called Aiiur(as well as A-usar) ,both by the Khammurabi records° and generally in the later Assyrian literature. Furthermore, the god- and country-name Assur also occurs at a See also:

late date in Assyrian literature in the forms An-gar, An-gar (hi), which form 5 was presumably read Assur. In the Creation tablet, the heavens personified collectively were indicated by this See also:term An-gar, " See also:host of See also:heaven," in contradistinction to the See also:earth = Ki-gar, " host of earth." In view of this fact, it seems highly probable that the late See also:writing An-sar for Assur was a more or less conscious See also:attempt on the See also:part of the Assyrian See also:scribes to identify the peculiarly Assyrian deity Astir (see AssuR, the god, below) with the Creation deity An-sar. On the other See also:hand, there is an epithet Afir or Ashir (" overseer") applied to several gods and particularly to the deity Afur, a fact which introduced a third See also:element of confusion into the discussion of the name Assur. It is probable then that there is a triple popular See also:etymology in the various forms of writing the name Ag.See also:fur; viz. A-usar,6 An-gar and the See also:stem agaru, all of which is quite in See also:harmony with the methods followed by the ancient Assyro-Babylonian philologists 7 See also A. H. See also:Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and See also:Babylon (1853); G. See also:Smith, Assyrian Discoveries (1875); R. W. See also:Rogers, See also:History of Babylonia and Assyria, i. 297; ii.

13; ii. 30, 76, 102; J. F. M'Curdy, History, Prophecy and the Monuments, §§ 74, 171 f., 247, 258, 283; 57, 59 f. (on the god). (J. D.

End of Article: ASSUR (Auth. Vera. Asshur)

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