PARTHIAN ASHUR AS A POSSIBLE PILGRIM HUB IN LIGHT OF ARCHITECTURE AND ARAMAIC EPIGRAPHY

Abstract

wo of ancient Assyria’s most important cities, namely, the Assyrian religious city of Ashur and the capital Nineveh, survived after the downfall of the Assyrian Empire at least for eight centuries, from 612 BC to ca. 230 AD. Although Zephaniah said that Nineveh had “become a desolation, a resting place for beasts! Everyone who passes by her will hiss and wave his hand in contempt” (Zeph 2:15), the palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh was partially rebuilt presumably by the remaining Assyrians who continued to reside in the city after its destruction. It was inhabited until at least the 4th century AD, by which time some Assyrians embraced Christianity and left us some Christian artifacts, including gypsum crosses and oil lamps decorated with crosses.1 Similarly, the city of Ashur also continued to be inhabited, continuing to function in a less than affluent state over the subsequent Achaemenid and Seleucid periods. During this time, the cult of the national god Ashur also persisted, but was observed in a more modest sanctuary. This, however, all changed in the Parthian period when the city began to prosper once again, leading us to the question: what caused Ashur’s sudden change of fate? It may have been that the initial success of the city in the early 2nd century AD was attributed to Hatra, but it ultimately prospered by the early 3rd century AD as a pilgrim destination to the deities housed in the sanctuaries of the north-eastern plateau.2 In this respect, a thriving economy generated by pilgrimage helped the construction of monumental temples, including that of a new Temple of Ashur, where the god’s cult began to flourish once again. It is, therefore, reasonable to assert that the city of Ashur was not “resurrected” during the Parthian period: it simply witnessed an economic surge that facilitated an increased relevance of its god Ashur, an elevation that is further reflected in the Aramaic inscriptions found in the city.