Regional History and the Coin Finds from Assur
From the Achaemenids to the Nineteenth Century
by Stefan Heidemann and Kevin Butcher
In July 1914, the excavation of one of the most significant capitals in human history, Assur, ended successfully. After a division of finds, the objects were dispatched to Berlin on the eve of the First World War. Assur is currently the most important reference site for coin finds in northern Iraq. They constitute an independent source for the history of the settlement, the Tigris region, and for coin circulation after the fall of the Assyrian empire in 614 BC, from the Achaemenid to the late Ottoman empire. These coin finds fill an important gap in the history of Assur, whose name in the post-Assyrian period is hardly attested to. For the Arsacid period, the coin finds highlight the surprising permeability of the border from the Roman provinces to Arsacid north-eastern Mesopotamia. With the Sasanian conquest in about 240/1, life in Assur apparently stopped. For the following 1,600 years we can distinguish at least three separate settlement phases, and almost each phase corresponds to changing names for the city. While we do not know what the settlement between the 7th and 8th century was called, in the 12th and 14th centuries it was referred to as al-‘Aqr. For this period, we have more literary references to its history, at least compared with the preceding 1,800 years. The coin finds, together with the textual references, allow for an insight into the political and economic development of “a large village”. For the 17th and 18th centuries, the coins point to a revived settlement, now under the name of Qal’at Shirqat.
In July 1914, the excavation of one of the most significant capitals in human history, Assur, ended successfully. After a division of finds, the objects were dispatched to Berlin on the eve of the First World War. Assur is currently the most important reference site for coin finds in northern Iraq. They constitute an independent source for the history of the settlement, the Tigris region, and for coin circulation after the fall of the Assyrian empire in 614 BC, from the Achaemenid to the late Ottoman empire. These coin finds fill an important gap in the history of Assur, whose name in the post-Assyrian period is hardly attested to. For the Arsacid period, the coin finds highlight the surprising permeability of the border from the Roman provinces to Arsacid north-eastern Mesopotamia. With the Sasanian conquest in about 240/1, life in Assur apparently stopped. For the following 1,600 years we can distinguish at least three separate settlement phases, and almost each phase corresponds to changing names for the city. While we do not know what the settlement between the 7th and 8th century was called, in the 12th and 14th centuries it was referred to as al-‘Aqr. For this period, we have more literary references to its history, at least compared with the preceding 1,800 years. The coin finds, together with the textual references, allow for an insight into the political and economic development of “a large village”. For the 17th and 18th centuries, the coins point to a revived settlement, now under the name of Qal’at Shirqat.
- By (author) Kevin Butcher
- By (author) Stefan Heidemann
Other Titles in this Series
Lexikalische Texte aus Assur I
ur5-ra = hubullu, mur-gud = imru = ballu, Lu-Listen. Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts 8
Volume 153
Mittelassyrische Rechtsurkunden und Verwaltungstexte X
Mit einem Beitrag zu den Siegelabrollungen von Barbara Feller
Volume 134
Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft in Fara und Abu Hatab. Die Inschriften von Fara, Band 4. Wirtschaftstexte aus Fara II
Texte der Viehverwaltung von suruppak
Volume 143
Divinatorische Texte III
Astrologische Omina. Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts 13
Volume 160
Graber und Grufte aus Assur von der zweiten Halfte des 3. bis zur Mitte des 2. Jahrtausends. v. Chr.
Volume 129
Aramaic and figural stamp impressions on bricks of the sixth century B.C. from Babylon
With Drawings of the Aramaic and Figural Impressions by Noga Z'evi
Volume 127
Die Jungeren Ischtar-Tempel und der Nabu-Tempel in Assur
Architektur, Stratigraphie und Funde Mit interaktiven Architekturplanen und Fotos auf CD-ROM
Volume 137
Bannlosung (nam-erim-bur-ru-da)
Die Therapie eines auf eidliche Falschaussage zuruckgefuhrten Leidens
Volume 155
Die Keramik der Alteren Ischtar-Tempel in Assur
Von der zweiten Halfte des 3. Jahrtausends bis zur Mitte des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr.
Volume 138
Die Terrakotten aus Assur im Vorderasiatischen Museum Berlin
Von der fruhdynastischen bis zur parthischen Zeit
Volume 156
Texte verschiedenen Inhalts
Mit Beitragen von Hanspeter Schaudig. Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts 17
Volume 164
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