After spending years reading about the Assyrian
capitals for my upcoming cookbook Table of Gods I decided to visit them. Four in total.
Ashur, Kalhu, Dur-Sharrukin, and Nineveh. But due to safety reasons things didn't go as planned.
Follow me on an uncertain journey through Iraq or rather to the cradle of civilization
and the first true empire in history, Assyria. I just woke up. I didn't sleep that much and
waiting for my driver to take me to Ashur. Let's see if he comes. The first sign of Ashur
showed itself after two hours of driving. The huge Ziggurat was standing like a
volcano above the otherwise flat landscape. I was thrilled to have arrived. I almost instantly
felt awe and wonder at the history lying beneath my feet, but it was also emotional to come here as a
stranger knowing this was the home of my ancestors. I recorded many videos of me talking to the
camera but I could only use a few since the strong winds ruined the sound. The geography of
Ashur is unique. The cliff the city was built upon still stands and maybe the elevation is why it was
so windy here. Since I only had an hour or so I ran around like a sprinter, from place to place. What's
good is that I already had the whole city map in my head. So I decided to start at the Tabira Gate
and continue from there. Here's the arched Tabira Gate that once welcomed its visitors to Ashur.
It still stands with the help of reinforcements. Ashur was already inhabited around 2500 BCE, but
it wasn't until the fall of the third Ur Dynasty around 2000 BCE the Ashur gained independence
and thrived as a trading center. The people of Ashur were known to be skilled merchants. They
imported tin from Afghanistan in the East, and copper and textiles from southern Mesopotamia.
These commodities were exported through donkey caravans all the way to Karum Kanesh in central
Anatolia where they were sold for silver and gold. While men were traveling back and forth to Karum
Kanesh, women were the financial directors of the household. Responsible for collecting all the
silver and gold, bookkeeping etc. In contrast to other Mesopotamian cities in the early 2nd
millennium BC, women had a lot of rights in Ashur. They went to school, wrote contracts, and of
course did business. One of these women was Ahaha. In a letter she wrote to her brother we learned
how involved women were in the business. Ahaha's brother had been hiding silver from her. Not a
good idea, because Ahaha noticed. A-ha-ha [Music] By the 19th century BCE Ashur's trade with
Karum Kanesh had collapsed, and one hundred years later King Hammurabi from Babylon took away
Ashur's independence. The following 400 years were a dark age in the history of Ashur. But
this changed when King Ashur-ubalit made Ashur the first real Assyrian territorial state around
1350 BCE. Scholars think this was the time when the nation and empire we call Assyria took its
real form and shape. Assyria as a nation would go on to become the world's largest empire. And although the capital changed from Ashur to other places we're going to visit soon, Ashur
remained a kind of religious capital. Which is why all Assyrian Kings were buried here. That is all
but one, Sargon II. Watch the video I made about him to find out why he was the only King not to
receive a burial. The link is in the description. In 879 BC King Ashurnasirpal decided to move
the capital from Assyria from this place to Kalhu. Let's go there and figure out why. Visiting
Ashur was like traveling back in time it's the closest encounter I've had with the past. Walking
around there imagining how the splendid city was teeming with people just a few generations
ago gave me goosebumps. Ashur was the first Assyrian Capital to fall when it was attacked
by Medes and Babylonians by the end of the 7th Century BC. In 2003 Ashur was designated a UNESCO
world heritage site just as the U.S invaded Iraq. In 2015 ISIS took control of the city and now a
dam project threatens to drown the whole area. I took a stone from Ashur in case the city won't
stand in the future and had a last goodbye. The road from Ashur to Kalhu went up north.
We stopped to eat kebab made of lamb. In case you didn't know, kebab derives from the Akkadian
word kebabu. And if you're interested in ancient Assyrian food I'm writing a cookbook called Table
of Gods. Inspired by the world's oldest recipes written on clay tablets 4 000 years ago. If you go
to my website tableofgods.com/yt and sign up for the waiting list you'll get three recipes. One
which actually derives from the city of Kalhu. Assyria's second capital. Now
let's go and visit the place. The excavations of Kalhu started some 180
years ago. They were so successful that James Ferguson had enough sources to paint
the city as the paradise it likely was. A few years ago, Learning Sites Inc took it a step
further and used modern technology to recreate the city. King Ashurnasirpal needed a good reason to
move the capital from the city of the patron God Ashur to Kalhu. That's why I built the most
splendid city the Assyrians had seen so far. Just as with Ashur, Kalhu was built next to the
Tigris River. The area of the city covered some 360 hectares, or 900 acres, or 500 soccer fields, or
I think you get it, the city was big. With Kalhu as the capital the territorial expansion of Assyria
took off. But this was also an era of innovation, technology, and art. Which you can see on these
walls. But also on the Lamassu bulls. Lamassu was originally a female protective goddess, but somehow
in Assyrian art she got a big beard and started to look like the Kings. I wonder who ordered the
construction of them. Entire teams worked on making these sculptures. People thought these sculptures
gave protection and the architects who worked on these sculptures talked with priests about where
the gods should be placed to give most protection. Most entrances of the palace were guarded by them,
and in time these lamassu bulls were made bigger and bigger, always carved in one single stone block.
Each single lamassu bull could weigh up to 40 tons. Which is why the Oriental Museum of Chicago
needed to reinforce the floor before taking in one. But beyond big bulls and carved walls, the people
of Kalhu created metal work, pottery, and textiles that were traded throughout the empire and beyond.
But it wasn't only art that made Ashurnasirpal's new city unique. The king also built a zoo with
botanical gardens and exotic animals such as elephants, rhinos, bears, lions, and tigers. Animals
that don't always go together. And some reliefs show that visitors gave the king animals as gifts
to add to his zoo. But why build a new city if you can't show it off to anyone? In a time without
social media the king threw a party. Or maybe I should say the party. Because this was, without
doubt, the largest party in history until this day. Ashurnasirpal invited 69,574 people. With the world population at that time being around 50 million, Ashurnasirpal had 0.014% of the world's population at his party. With today's population of some 8 billion, the same party would have 11 million guests. Tell me,
who in the world would be able to throw a party like that. A private party with invitations, not a
festival. I made an entire episode about this party. The food menu that included 3500 tons of meat
and 200 000 liters of alcohol among many other items. And I even included a recipe for a special
dish that was likely served to the king Ashurnasirpal on the party of Kalhu. I'll add the link
in the description if you want to watch the video. Although the walls of Kalhu were up to 37
meters or 121 feet thick, they couldn't stand the outrageous Medes and Babylonians who attacked
the city by the end of the 7th Century BC. And although they burned and destroyed parts of the
city it was nothing close to what ISIS did when they took control over it a couple of years ago.
They literally tried to erase the city and destroy all of its ancient artifacts, and unfortunately
they succeeded to some extent. But we should all be thankful to Austen Henry Layard who together
with other archaeologists excavated most of the city, which is why we know so much about it. And
I can't stop imagining how cool it would be if someone would rebuild the city as it used to
be. I'd definitely do it if I could, but not only Kalhu, other cities as well. Not the least Dur-Sharrukin. The shortest lived capital of Assyria. What's interesting about Dur-Sharrukin is that it
was the first city from ancient Mesopotamia that modern archaeologists uncovered. After several
unsuccessful attempts to uncover Nineveh in 1842, Paul-Émile Botta heard from locals about a
village 25 kilometers northeast of Nineveh, with ancient artifacts. Botta didn't believe the rumors
but he sent a team to see whether they were true. Three days later the word came back that they
were. Botta started the excavations and his progress forced him to buy the whole village located on top
of Dur-Sharrukin and pay to relocate the habitants. On the 5th of April 1843, Botta sent a
letter to Paris about his astonishing excavations. He was the first to
uncover the cradle of civilization. French Ministry of culture and the Museum of
Louvre did a great job of rendering Dur-Sharrukin with the help of 3D artists. The geography of
Dur-Sharrukin differed from other Assyrian capitals. It wasn't lying on the banks of the Tigris River
but next to hills and mountaintops. Being the northernmost Assyrian Capital, Dur-Sharrukin received
plenty of rainfall and flourished almost all year round. In 717 BC Sargon II started building the
new city. Eleven years later he moved into it. The king threw a party to celebrate his new
capital just as his predecessor Ashurnasirpal had done almost 200 years earlier. But this was
a feast only for the elite, and was therefore smaller than the party of Kalhu. But sure enough
it included plenty of food, drink, and music. And in a written document we learned that Sargon II in
his prayer to the gods hopes that he'll have an abundance of pleasure and joy, well being of body
and soul, and attain old age in his new capital. Dur-Sharrukin literally means Sargon's fortress. And although
Dur-Sharrukin was Sargon's city, his son Sennacherib was just as responsible for its splendor, if not more
so than the king himself. Here he stands on the left taking orders from his father, the king, to the
right. While the King was out on war campaigns, Sennacherib took care of all the boring stuff. Politics,
governing, and building projects. And this would show to be the perfect training Sennacherib needed,
because he would later build his own capital. Many artifacts found that Dur-Sharrukin ended up
in the Louvre. It took years to transport them. The stone sculptures weighed well over 10 tons and
were transported to Basra, then to the Persian Gulf, then to Le Havre, and eventually to Paris. I've
been to many museums featuring Assyrian art, and in my opinion nothing compares to the findings from
Dur-Sharrukin. Here I am almost 10 years ago standing in front of a sculpture that is around 5 meters in
height. The sculptured man gazes forward which is unusual for Assyrian art where kings were usually
depicted in profile. But this is no ordinary King. It's probably a depiction of the hero Gilgamesh,
someone Sargon II undoubtedly was inspired by. Although the Museum of Louvre stores many
artifacts from Dur-Sharrukin, they would have been more if it hadn't been for a tragedy in
the 1850s. As the French transported the Assyrian finds on the Tigris River, tribesmen attacked them
and most of the artifacts ended up in the river. But I wonder why nobody has tried to bring them
up. With today's technology it's certainly possible. The location where they were lost is more or less
known, and the Tigris is just a river not an ocean. Despite Sargon's prayers of well being
and old age he was unexpectedly killed in battle only one year after
he moved into his new capital. Since his body couldn't be recovered Sennacherib wondered what his father might have done to receive such a fate from the gods. Thus,
Sennacherib left Dur-Sharrukin completely. It became a ghost town. Just as Sargon's soul became
a ghost since he never received a burial. While sargon's death and the subsequent departure
from Dur-Sharrukin was a tragedy, it allowed Sennacherib to make Nineveh one of the greatest cities,
if not the greatest city, of the ancient world. Nineveh is the only Assyrian capital located in
the vicinity of a modern city, Mosul, in Northern Iraq. Not far from it is the Nahla Valley, where the
descendants of Nineveh, the Assyrians, still live. So I made a quick stop to meet a friend, The Great
Kasrani, who lives in one of the villages in Nahla. We made an authentic Assyrian breakfast
and had a great time together. I made an entire episode of this delightful encounter which you
can watch through the link in the description. I also put Kasrani's recipe, the most incredible
egg breakfast I've ever had, on my website. Don't forget to check that out if you want to
eat like the ancient Assyrians of Nineveh. With a belly filled with 8 eggs or more, I was
ready for the last capital of the Assyrian empire. But the weather almost stopped us.
This is not Sweden, nor the Alps. This is the Nahla Valley in Iraq. And the cars do not
have winter tires here. Fortunately, the snow was all gone back in the lowlands and
we arrived at Nineveh in the afternoon. During the 7th Century BC, Nineveh was known to
be the largest and most beautiful capital in the world. A metropolis. A city that
flowered no matter what time of year. When archaeologists came to the near east to
excavate, it was Nineveh they were looking for. Before arriving, the only source they had was from
the Bible, where Nineveh was portrayed as a city of sins. But also a city of greatness. One that took
three days to walk through. But nothing in the Bible pointed to its location. And despite being
in ruins for 2500 years, locals who lived in Mosul 200 years ago knew that this place was called
Nunia. And that convinced Paul-Émile Botta that the mound next to Mosul was in fact Nineveh. Isn't it
amazing that the name and the knowledge of Nineveh went verbally from generation to generation for
2500 years. Nineveh was walled and had some 15 gates leading into the city. On my right was the
Adad Gate and on my left was the Nergal Gate. From the Nergal Gate you would go into what was called
the Artisan's Quarter. The Nergal gate was the Gate of the god Nergal, the god of death. And while
it sounds horrible to enter such a gate, life was bustling behind it. It was the most lively
quarter of Nineveh in the 7th Century BC. Potters, shoemakers, carpenters, goldsmiths, stonemasons,
and tailors occupied this area. Talking to each other and their customers in many different
languages. After all, Nineveh was a metropolis. The road passing the Artisan's Quarter was the
King's Road and had a width of an eight-lane highway. Paved beautifully to hold parades,
festivities, and other ceremonies. The King's Road went all the way down the Khosr River and to
Egalzagdinutukua, the palace without a rival. Sennacherib's palace covered an area of 18 soccer fields.
That's 500 meters or 1640 feet in length, and 250 meters or 820 feet in width. It was so big you
could run around it 28 times and have completed a marathon. With experience building his father's
capita, Dur-Sharrukin, Sennacherib turned Nineveh into a paradise. But his most remarkable feat, one that
would make the list of the world's seven wonders, was the Hanging Gardens of Nineveh. You've probably
heard of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Iif that's true, I'm sorry to say you've been misinformed. The
Hanging Gardens of Babylon were hanging, in fact, in Nineveh. Greek historians mistook the city
of Babylon for Nineveh when they made the list of the Seven Wonders. This is why scholars have
never been able to locate the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, not even in literature. Nebuchadnezzar
II, the king of Babylon, who was supposed to have built them never mentioned them. Which is strange
since he mentioned most other things he built. But Sennacherib on the other hand described
his palace as a wonder for all the people. If you want to delve deeper into it, professor
Stephanie Dalley has made this case much clearer. To me, this stone relief from the north palace in
Nineveh dated to the rule of Sennacherib's grandson, Ashurbanipal, says it all. The king stands at the
top, next to a pavilion and a whole ecosystem of trees. The trees are depicted to rise from
the ground to the top, watered through canals. Sennacherib built these canals to ensure his
Hanging Gardens wouldn't dry out. And evidence for this is a place called
Khinnis. Located on the outskirts of Nineveh. Sennacherib built Khinnis in order to celebrate the
complex system of irrigation canals and aqueducts, especially that
we're supplying Nineveh with water. And especially the Hanging Gardens. Some of these
aqueducts were drawn 50 kilometers to Nineveh. Khinnis still shows the might of King Sennacherib. Here's
a huge depiction of him carved on the cliff. Here Sennacherib was standing and watching his image
some 2 700 years ago. From Khinnis we went to the Jerwan Aqueduct, also built by Sennacherib. And I wish
I could read cuneiform because there was so much of it there. But before we end the subject of
the Hanging Gardens, which I believe is intrinsic to talk about while discussing Nineveh, how did
the water reach the top of the Hanging Gardens? While Nineveh certainly received rainfall,
it wasn't enough to have the Hanging Gardens flourishing all year round. Especially not during
the ferociously hot summers. So how do you move tons of liters of water upwards? Well, you could use
a shadoof. A Mesoptamian invention dating to around 3000 BC. But if you're going to move the water up
an artificial mountain, you need something more potent. An invention that is today known as the
Archimedes screw, which is a little ironic since Archimedes wasn't even born when Sennacherib made
the Hanging Gardens. Through this screw anyway, the water is used as power to move more water upwards.
All that it takes is an easy rotation from the top. But everything that rises eventually falls. So did
the Hanging Gardens, and so did Nineveh. When Sennacherib was murdered in 681 BC a brutal civil war
broke out in Nineveh. On one side the king's wife Naqia and their youngest son Esarhaddon, and on the
other side Esarhaddon's half brothers. If you want to know how it ended watch the episode I made about
this true story. The link is in the description. In the summer of 612 BC the Medes and Babylonians
attacked Nineveh. And after three months they took the city. What the Medes and Babylonians didn't
know was that burning the city to the ground actually made the clay tablets more durable. And
the clay tablets I'm talking about are the clay tablets from Ashurbanipal's library. More than 30 000
of them are today at the British Museum. And it's thanks to Ashurbanipal and his obsession
with literature that we know so much about Assyrian and Mesopotamian history today. This is
what one of my idols, Irving Finkel, said about it: "Ashurbanipal's library ought to be in the
minds of everybody who walks about on the surface of the globe, because it is one of
the major triumphs of archeology, and in terms of the history of the humanities you can
hardly, possibly, over exaggerate its importance." Nineveh's libraries house the first pieces of
literature. And its scholars made significant contributions to astronomy, mathematics,
and medicine. Although Nineveh's glory has faded, its legacy lives on in the artifacts and
ruins that remain. And through the indigenous descendants of the empire, the Assyrians. Let
us cherish and preserve the memory of this remarkable city whose contributions to human
civilization continue to inspire us today. This was the last capital of the Assyrian empire. Let me
know in the comments which one you liked most, and which one you would
like to travel to. And if you liked this episode, please hit the like
button and subscribe to my channel.
