Assyria

Assyria was an ancient landscape in northern Mesopotamia, especially at the middle Tigris. She was the heartland of the Assyrian Empire.

Landscape

The area around Assur is not particularly fertile. Today's rainfall is around 200 mm, the minimum for grain cultivation, the soils are thin, the bedrock consists of often less fertile sedimentary rocks (limestone and gypsum), especially in the west of the city. In the Tigrisebene: fertile alluvial clays and silts, clay soils in the hill country ( weathered limestone soils). The potential natural vegetation is sagebrush steppe with sporadic bushes and gallery forest in the valley.

Climate

It is assumed that the air in the first millennium BC was broadly comparable with the present. The current yields are between 400 and 500 kg of barley per hectare on irrigated fields between 700 and 1000 kg / ha.

Agriculture

In New Assyrian period mainly barley was grown in the area. It is assumed that the soil was cultivated by individual small families ( Puru system), but had to pay a portion of the proceeds to the state or the magnates who owned the fields now partially ( Postgate 1989). The long rectangular fields were 1.8 to 14.4 ha ( Freydank 1980). The fields were ( Arl ) edited with a simple wooden plow, pulled by oxen. Prove shards scatter that the fields were fertilized, according to texts grazing sheep and goats on the harvested fields, which also led to fertilization. Altaweel (2008) takes on the basis of simulation results at a one-year fallow.

Among the Sargonids irrigation canals were built reinforced, especially in the area of Nineveh and Calah. Sennacherib reported in great detail. After Zaccagnani an average peasant family needed about five hectares of irrigated land to secure their livelihood

Raw materials

, Came in Assyria, in contrast to Babylonia, stones (limestone and gypsum) and lumber (ash, oak, elm and maple) before, but it lacked metals. Copper, silver and gold have been since Old Assyrian period from Anatolia imported tin from Uzbekistan. In mittelassyrischer time copper and gold also came from Babylonia.

History

To the older history:

Under the Seleucids existed on the territory of ancient Assyria the provinces Apolloniatis, Gorduene, Mygdonien, Sittakene, Sophene and Zabdikene. Under the suzerainty of the Parthians was in the field of ancient Assyria the vassal kingdom of Adiabene. Among the Parthians and Sassanids, the former Babylon was known as Asuristan

116 AD Trajan founded the province of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia. However, they did not last long. In Byzantine times was part of Assyria to the province of Mesopotamia. The Syrian historian Bar Hebraeus used in a chronograph of the term Athor for Assyria.