Xahrozour in Assyrien.

Title

Xahrozour in Assyrien.

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 (c. 1650–1696), Antwerp, was a Flemish engraver and etcher. He specialized in: Book engravings (title pages, illustrations), City views (e.g. Amsterdam, Bergen op Zoom, Deventer, Leiden), Topographical scenes (cities, fortifications, landscapes), Historical scenes (e.g. the assassination of Henry IV), Portraits, and Maps (e.g. Polonia Regnum). Many of his engravings were based on drawings by Jan Peeters I, a well-known draughtsman of topographical views. At the time, Antwerp was a major European center for book printing, map production, and copper engraving. There was a high demand for printed city views, war reports, fortification plans, and maps—driven by wars, trade, and growing scientific interest. His works are now held in museums such as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

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.