Xahrozour in Assyrien.

Title

Xahrozour in Assyrien.

Description

Decorative and detaield view of Assur ( today: Kalat Scherkât) in the former area of the ancient orient Today the city belongs to Irak.

ca. 1700

Artist

Bouttats (1640-1695-96)

Gaspar Bouttats the Elder was a Flemish printmaker and engraver of the Baroque period. He was born in Antwerp in a family of engravers. He was the son of the engraver Frederick Bouttats the Elder and Marie de Weert. His uncle Philibert Bouttats as well as his younger brother Frederik Bouttats the Younger built reputations as engravers.

Historical Description

Exploration of the site of Assur began in 1898 by German archaeologists. The remains of the city are located on the west bank of the Tigris River, north of its confluence with its tributary, the Little Zab, in present-day Iraq, more precisely in the al-Shirqat district of Saladin Governorate. Aššur is the name of the city, the land it ruled, and its patron deity, from which the locals derived their name, as well as the entire nation of Assyria, which encompassed the territory of present-day northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey. Today, the Assyrians are still found throughout the Middle East, especially in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and in the diaspora in the Western world. Assur is also the origin of the names Syria and the terms for the Syrian Christians, which are originally Indo-European derivatives of Assyria and for many centuries applied only to Assyria and the Assyrians.