Kār-Tukulti-Ninurta

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Coordinates: 35 ° 29 ′ 45 ″  N , 43 ° 16 ′ 10 ″  E

Map: Iraq
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Kār-Tukulti-Ninurta​
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Iraq
Figure of a monkey from Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta

Kār-Tukulti-Ninurta ( port of Tukulti-Ninurta ) was briefly the capital of Assyria in the 13th century BC . It was founded by Tukulti-Ninurta I. after his victory over Babylon on virgin soil and with prisoners of war, u. a. from Babylonia and Nairi .

The city was square, with a side length of approx. 800 m, the west side being formed by the Tigris , and had four gates. The city was divided into two quarters by a wall that ran parallel to the Tigris. A canal ensured the supply of fresh water. It contained at least one palace ( é-gal me-šár-ra ) and an Assur temple ( é-kur me-šár-ra ) with a ziggurat . Tukulti-Ninurta had planned the city as a cult center for Aššur and brought - unique in Assyrian history - the statue of the god from Assur . However, this was reversed under his successors and the sacrilege that perhaps led to the ruler's assassination was never repeated.

It is usually assumed that the city was abandoned after the death of its builder, but there are also finds from the time of Tiglat-pileser I and later known.

Founding inscription

The founding of the city is reported on alabaster tablets found in Aššur and Kār-Tukulti-Ninurta:

“At that time, the god Aššur asked me to build a new cult center on the bank opposite my city, the desired object (?) Of the gods and he himself ordered me to build his sanctuary. At the command of the god Aššur, the God who loves me, I built a town for the god Aššur on the opposite bank, next to the Tigris, in uncultivated land and in meadows where there was neither a house nor a dwelling in front of my town where no mounds of ruins or rubble had gathered and where no bricks were laid. I called her Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta. I cut straight like a string through the rocky mountains, I cleared a path through the difficult mountains with stone chisels, I cut a path for a river that supports life in the country and brings prosperity, and I shaped the plains of my city into irrigated fields . I arranged regular sacrifices for Assyria and the great gods, gentlemen, in duration from the products of the canal water. At that time, in my city of Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, I built the cult center that I constructed, a holy temple, a wonderful sanctuary as the residence of the god Aššur, my lord. I called it é-kur me-šár-ra . In it I completed a large ziggurat as the ritual seat of the god Aššur, my Lord, and deposited (there) my stele. "

The urban area

The official part of the city was divided in two by a wall. All public buildings excavated so far were found in the western half, which lies on the Tigris. The function of this dichotomy is uncertain. In the eastern half, hardly any findings were observed on the surface, so it seems that this part of the city was never or at least very sparsely populated. Real information can only be obtained from excavations. Different scenarios can be assumed. Perhaps this part of the city was reserved for fields and pastures. Perhaps this urban area should also be settled and it never came to this because of the death of the king.

In the north, from the east side, a canal led into the city. This ran approx. 300 m east-west and then bent in front of the inner wall to the south and ran along its outside to the south, only to exit the city again in the south.

The city wall

The official area of ​​the city was walled on at least three sides and probably had four gates. Only the southern gate has been excavated. The gate building consisted of the actual entrance, which was flanked by two towers, which in turn were eleven meters wide and protruded 16 meters from the wall. Between them was an eight meter wide entrance. Behind it was a gate courtyard, which was eight meters wide and 15 meters long. It was again flanked by two slightly smaller towers. This part of the gate system protruded completely into the city. To the east there was a staircase through which one could certainly get to the towers of the gate, but also to the wall. The actual city wall was about seven meters thick. At regular intervals of 24.5 meters there were cavalier storms that were five meters wide.

The official part of the city was divided into two parts in the middle from about north to south by another wall. This wall was 3.5 meters thick and had protrusions 15.5 meters apart. There was also a large walled courtyard to the north of the city, about 100 meters long and about 80 meters wide, although it was apparently not walled on the west side. The wall of this courtyard or square was part of the inner wall. In the middle of the courtyard was a tower, the function of which is unknown. There is hardly any evidence of stand-alone towers in Mesopotamian architecture. In 1989 another city wall was recorded, 1.5 km south of the official area. This is also documented in literature (K. Deller / A. Fadhil and KM Ahmad, Two New Royal Inscriptions Dealing with Construction Work in Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, Baghdader Mitteilungen 25, 1994, 459-472).

The Aššur temple

Assortment temple plan

The construction of the temple é-kur me-šár-ra took up an area of ​​about 53.3 by 93 meters and was located approximately in the middle of the western half of the city. The system consisted of two parts. In the west were the remains of the ziggurat and in the east the deep temple with a large courtyard and various rooms around it. The deep temple had the maximum dimensions of 51.8 by 53.3 meters. The subsequent ziggurat took up an area of ​​30 by 30 meters. The inner courtyard of the flat temple was 20 by 17.7 meters. Two gates, one in the north and one in the east, gave access to the temple. To the south, right next to the ziggurat, was a smaller side entrance. Each of the two main entrances led into a large, wide hall, from which three gates led into the courtyard. In the south of the complex there were six somewhat smaller rooms. To the west, to be reached from the courtyard through three gates, was the cell of the temple. The lower part was painted asphalt, so it was black, and above that the walls were painted red. There is no evidence of any painted ornaments. On the back wall was a pedestal with a cult niche. It could be entered via stairs. Most of the passageways in the temple are axial. Only the main entrance in the east is offset to the south, so that one could not look directly at the cult image in the sanctum from outside. The ziggurat was sometimes eight meters high when it was found. A founding inscription was found in a shaft here, giving the name of the temple and the builder. This inscription made it possible to identify Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta. To the west behind the ziggurat was a free-standing staircase, which was probably once connected to the ziggurat by a bridge. However, nothing of this has survived. There were numerous faience rosettes near the temple, which may once have adorned the facade or the interior. The temple probably didn't last long. All the doors have been walled up. Whether this happened shortly after the murder of Tukulti-Ninurta I or even before it cannot be said.

The south palace

Fragment of a wall painting from Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta

The so-called South Palace, like all excavated buildings, was located in the western part of the city, about northwest of the Assur temple. The palace once stood on an adobe terrace that was about 37 meters wide and at least 75 meters long. At the time of the excavation, the remains of the building were sometimes more than twelve meters high, but the top of the terrace could not be identified at any point. A building inscription indicates that it was once perhaps around 18 meters high. The outside of the terrace was decorated with a niche structure. The terrace is particularly badly worn on the river side. A monumental entrance is assumed here, but nothing has survived. Almost nothing has survived from the actual palace that stood on the terrace. However, numerous fragments of wall paintings that show that the building or at least individual rooms were splendidly decorated are noteworthy. There were mainly floral motifs, animal scenes and hybrid creatures, half human, half bird. Various rooms were found on the ground floor and belonging to the palace, but their function assignments are uncertain.

The north palace

The so-called North Palace stood in the northwest corner of the city, close to the Tigris, about 140 meters north of the South Palace. The building was only partially excavated due to lack of time. Many of the halls and rooms were not cleared of rubble down to the floor, but the walls were only exposed until the general floor plan of the building was known. The mighty walls of the building were sometimes up to eight meters high when the excavation was carried out.

In the north was the monumental entrance to the complex, from which one entered a hall, behind which there was a hall or courtyard and then another hall or courtyard. In the north-east there were further representative rooms, which, however, were only partially excavated. The palace may have continued to the northeast. In the southwest there were three more rooms, including a staircase. The function of the building is controversial. At first it was thought to be a temple. It is, however, probably a gateway building with representative halls and courtyards, which then led to the actual palace, the South Palace. After the palace was abandoned, numerous passages were walled up. Probably a short time later, parts of the palace were converted into simple living quarters. The walls of the door were broken open again.

location

The ruins of the city are located near the present-day town of Tulul al-ʿAqar not far from Assur, in today's Salah ad-Din governorate in Iraq . One of the most notable finds is a small stone statue of a monkey.

Excavations

The DOG expedition to Assur dug here for five months between 1913 and 1914 under the direction of the building historian Walter Bachmann , who concentrated almost entirely on architecture. Further excavations were carried out under the direction of R. Dittmann in 1986 (short campaign) and in 1989 by the Free University of Berlin.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A. Kuhrt: The Ancient Near East, c. 3000-330 BC, Vol. I , London, New York 1995 ISBN 0-415-16763-9 p. 357 - translated from English
  2. ^ Eickhoff: Kār Tukulti Ninurta , p. 17
  3. ↑ Eickhoff: Kār Tukulti Ninurta , pp. 10-24
  4. ^ Eickhoff: Kār Tukulti Ninurta , pp. 24-26
  5. ↑ Eickhoff: Kār Tukulti Ninurta , pp. 27–31
  6. ↑ Eickhoff: Kār Tukulti Ninurta , pp. 35–40
  7. ^ Eickhoff: Kār Tukulti Ninurta , pp. 40–45

literature

  • Tilman Eickhoff: Kār Tukulti Ninurta: A Central Assyrian cult and residence city . Deutsche Orientgesellschaft Berlin: Mann, 1985. ISBN 3-7861-1384-X
  • R. Dittmann, T. Eickhoff, R. Stengele, R. Schmitt, S.Thürwächter, Preliminary report on the from the Free University of Berlin with funds from the German Research Foundation and the State Organization of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Iraq in Kar Tukulti Investigations undertaken by Ninurta, in: SUMER 46, 1989-90, 86-97.
  • R. Dittmann, T. Eickhoff, R. Stengele, R. Schmitt, S.Thürwächter, investigations in Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta (Tulul al-'Aqar) 1986, in: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 120, 1988, 97– 138.
  • R. Dittmann, excavations of the Free University of Berlin in Assur and Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta / Iraq in the years 1986–89, in: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 122, 1990, 157–171.
  • R. Dittmann, Assur and Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta. The 1986, 1988 and 1989 campaigns, in: American Journal of Archeology 96, 1992, 307-312 (translated by K. Nashef). together with K. Bastert, notes on some decorative elements of a Central Assyrian temple in Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, in: Altorientalische Forschungen 22, 1995, 8-29.
  • R. Dittmann, The inner and outer borders of the central Assyrian residence town of Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta / Northern Iraq, in: M. Jansen (Ed.), Contributions of the interdisciplinary working group Urban Culture Research 2 (1997) 101–116.
  • R. Dittmann, report on the work carried out by the Free University of Berlin in 1989 in Assur and Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, Sumer XLIX, 1-2, 1997-1998, 29-88. * R. Dittmann, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta through the Ages - A short Note, in; PA Miglus / S. Mühl (Eds.) Between the Cultures. The Central Tigris Region from the 3rd to the 1st Millennium BC, Heidelberg Studies on the Ancient Orient 14 (2011) 165–178.

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