Fort Shalmaneser

Fort Shalmaneser was the most ambitious building project of Shalmaneser III (r. 858–824 BC). That monumental  palatial complex had numerous workshops, treasuries, barracks, private quarters, and grand state apartments built around several large courtyards. Shalmaneser’s grandson Adad-nārārī III (r. 810-783 BC) added to the work of his grandfather, as evident from in-situ inscriptions. When the Sargon II (r. 721–705 BC) moved the capital of the Assyrian Empire to Dūr-Šarrukīn, the importance of Fort Shalmaneser, a building whose ancient name is not known, was greatly diminished since Sargon and his successors, especially Sennacherib, constructed their own armories at Dūr-Šarrukīn and Nineveh. Esarhaddon (r. 680–669 BC), according to several inscriptions written in his name, renovated Fort Shalmaneser, a building that he referred to as an ēkal māšarti (‘review palace’). The building was twice destroyed, once in 614 BC and again in 612 BC. After the final sack of Kalhu in 612 BC, locals made hasty repairs to the once-grand palatial complex and lived in it for a significant period of time after the fall of the Assyrian Empire.