Assur founded
2499 BCE.
Shown on the map at 35.457°, 43.263°.
Aššur, also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, was the capital of the Middle Assyrian Empire for a time, of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–609 BC) and a semi-independent state during the Parthian Empire between the 2nd century BC and mid 3rd century AD. The remains of the city lie on the western bank of the Tigris River, north of the confluence with its tributary, the Little Zab, in what is now Iraq, more precisely in the al-Shirqat District of the Saladin Governorate. Assur lies 65 kilometres (40 mi) south of the site of Kalhu (the biblical Calah, Nimrud) and 100 km (60 mi) south of Nineveh. Occupation of the city itself continued for approximately 3,000 years, from the Early Dynastic Period to the mid-3rd century AD, when the city was sacked by the Sasanian Empire, after which it was sparsely populated until the massacres of Assyrian Christians conducted by Tamurlane in the 14th century AD after which the remaining population relocated to the countryside.
Text from the Wikipedia article Assur, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.