Assyria = Syria (1)

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In the Old Persian inscriptions of Darius and Xerxes, the term Athurā ‘Assyria’ goes back to Akkadian Aššur, the name of the city of Aššur and of the original Assyrian territory on the middle course of the Tigris. It corresponds to Akkadian māt ēbir nāri ‘the Land across the River (Euphrates)’, i.e. Syria, in the Babylonian version on Dsf 23, which proves that in the official usage of Persian chanceleries the name Athurā referred to Syria. After the collapse of the Assyrian empire at the end of the 7th century BCE, its original territory became part of Media, and the name of Assyria was gradually transferred to Syria.

Bibliography

Andrea Piras

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