Aššur Gate

The gate is mentioned in Akkadian inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib dating to 697-691 B.C. The Akkadian ceremonial name of the gate is Lilbur-iššak-Aššur ("May the Vice-Regent of the God Aššur Endure") in texts dated to 697-695 and 691 B.C. and Libūr-iššak-Aššur ("May the Vice-Regent of the God Aššur Stay in Good Health") in an inscription dated to mid-694 B.C. Most of Sennacherib’s inscriptions record that the Aššur Gate was the second of the south- and east-facing gates. One inscription, however, states that it was the first of those gates.

The gate’s exact position is uncertain and cannot be confirmed from in-situ inscriptions. Most scholarly reconstructions place the Aššur Gate about 150 m west of the southeast corner (approximate coordinates: 36.3364280, 43.1769084). However, as Julian Reade has recently pointed out, the gate was more likely built by Sennacherib about 550 m from the southwest corner and about 350 m west of the southeast corner, near the center of the southern stretch of wall. The visible remains of a once-impressive gate, one befitting a dedication to Assyria’s national god, are clearly visible in an aerial photograph of Nineveh taken in 1929, as well as in Corona and Google satellite imagery. This proposed location may be confirmed from an on-site examination of the gate by Nicholas Postgate in the early 1980s. This proposed location of the Aššur Gate, rather than its traditional placement near the southeast corner, impacts the suggested locations of the remaining south- and west-facing gates. For further details, see, for example, the detail sections of the Sennacherib Gate (= Halzi Gate), Šamaš Gate, and Mullissu Gate.