#ashur

• Assur — The supreme god of the Assyrian pantheon and, concurrently, the first historical capital of the Assyrian Empire, located on the western bank of the Tigris River (in modern-day Iraq); the deity, often represented as an archer within a winged disc, was considered the god of war and absolute protector of the state, while the homonymous city, founded in the 3rd millennium BC, was a crucial religious and commercial center in ancient Mesopotamia, the site currently being inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
• Assurbanipal — The last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (reigning from 668 to c. 627 BC), famous both for his brutal military successes and his high level of erudition; he ordered the collection and copying of all literary, scientific, and religious texts across Mesopotamia, establishing the famous Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, where the Epic of Gilgamesh was discovered.
• Ashur — The supreme god of the Assyrian pantheon and protector of the empire, the divine personification of the first capital of Assyria; it also designates the ancient city-state located on the western bank of the Tigris River, which formed the structural and religious core of the Assyrian civilization. As a historical entity, the archaeological site is a UNESCO World Heritage site.