Cities, sites and homelands
The geography of Assyrian history
Explore 12 ancient cities, living places and historical regions without confusing imperial frontiers, present borders or shared homelands.
12 profiles
Ashur
Assyria’s oldest political and sacred centre, set on a rocky terrace above the Tigris.
Salah al-Din Governorate, IraqView profile Ancient cityNineveh
An ancient city opposite modern Mosul that Sennacherib made the monumental capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Mosul, Nineveh Governorate, IraqView profile Ancient cityKalhu / Nimrud
The royal city created by Ashurnasirpal II, renowned for palaces, reliefs, ivories and colossal gateway figures.
Nineveh Governorate, IraqView profile Ancient cityDur-Sharrukin / Khorsabad
Sargon II’s purpose-built capital, occupied by the royal court only briefly before his death.
Nineveh Governorate, IraqView profile Living cityArbela / Erbil
A continuously important northern Mesopotamian city and cult centre of the goddess Ishtar of Arbela.
Kurdistan Region, IraqView profile RegionNineveh Plains
A diverse region east and north of Mosul containing towns and villages with deep Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac, Yazidi, Shabak, Arab and Kurdish histories.
Nineveh Governorate, IraqView profile RegionHakkari
A mountainous historical homeland of Assyrian tribal communities and Church of the East dioceses before the upheavals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Primarily south-eastern Türkiye and adjoining borderlandsView profile RegionTur Abdin
A limestone plateau known for Syriac Orthodox monasteries, villages and a long Syriac literary and liturgical tradition.
Mardin and Şırnak provinces, south-eastern TürkiyeView profile Living cityUrmia
A city and fertile plain with a major modern Assyrian cultural, ecclesiastical and printing history.
West Azerbaijan Province, IranView profile Ancient cityKaneš / Kültepe
An Anatolian royal city whose lower town preserves thousands of letters and contracts from Assyrian merchant households.
Kayseri Province, TürkiyeView profile Ancient cityKar-Tukulti-Ninurta
Tukulti-Ninurta I’s planned royal city opposite Ashur, with palace terraces, a canal and a new temple of Aššur.
Salah al-Din Governorate, IraqView profile Living cityHarran
A long-lived city and sanctuary of the moon god Sîn that became the final base of Assyrian royal resistance after Nineveh fell.
Şanlıurfa Province, TürkiyeView profile