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The World Cultural Heritage of Iraq
There are two items in Iraq's World Heritage List, namely, the ancient city of Assyria and Khatla, both of which belong to cultural heritage.

1. The ancient Assyrian city of ashur was approved in 2003. Accreditation criteria: C (iii) (iv).

In 2003, it was listed on the World Heritage List in Danger.

Reason for selection:

Standard (3): The ancient city of Assyria was founded more than 3000 years BC, but its most important historical stage was from the 4th century BC to the 9th century BC, when it was the first capital of the Assyrian empire.

The ancient city of Assyria is also the religious center of the Assyrian empire, where the king was crowned and held a funeral;

Standard (4): The unearthed public facilities and houses in the ancient city of Assyria describe the architectural prosperity history of the Assyrian empire from Sumerian period to Akkad period, and the remains also include the ancient city of Assyria in the short revival period of Parthia period.

Introduction to the ancient city of Assyria;

Ashur is the ruins of an ancient city in northern Iraq, which is now called Fort Sherkat.

Located on the west bank of Tigris River, south of Mosul 150km.

It was the first capital of the ancient Assyrian kingdom and the holy land of ashur, the ancient Assyrian god.

Because of this, although the ancient city of Assyria is not comparable to other cities in geographical location and population, it can still become the capital of the Assyrian empire for a long time, and even the name of the empire is named after this ancient city. Even after 880B. After the C Empire moved its capital, many residents still lived here.

By 6 14 BC, the city was destroyed by the Babylonians.

Since then, it has become a waste.

The layout of the city of Assyria is triangular, with walls in the west and north.

The city wall is about 4 kilometers long and is divided into two layers, inside and outside. Eight doors have been identified.

The inner wall is 7 meters thick, and the city gate is decorated with colored glazed tiles; There is a moat about 20 meters wide outside the outer wall, with both ends crossing the Tigris River, and masonry dike walls in the east and north to prevent floods.

Most of the buildings in this city are located in the north.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the German archaeological team came here to excavate and found that its inner city was surrounded by a circular wall with a circumference of 4 kilometers.

On the east bank of the Tigris River, Adadeni Larry I (reigned in 1307- 1275 BC) built a large wharf here.

In the north of the city, the bends and overhanging rocks of the Tigris River are barriers. Senna Sherib (ruled in 705-68 BC1year) built a series of city walls with prominent buttresses and a prominent port fortress named Mouche Lalu, which is a semi-circular tower made of coarse stones. This architectural style is considered to be originated by Senna Sherib.

The oldest palace was occupied by Sham Hayada I (BC1813-1781) and later became a cemetery.

Most residential areas are in the northwest corner of the city.

In addition, sites such as Baota Temple have also been unearthed.

Although the city of Assyria was robbed and killed when it was broken, it was still inhabited by some people when the kingdom of Parthia (rest in peace) rose in 140 BC, and then it became barren and unknown.

Assyrian culture has absorbed the advantages of West Asian countries (mainly Babylon) and has its own characteristics.

Assyria has many magnificent palaces, temples and other buildings.

The building is decorated with a large number of reliefs and has a high artistic level.

The Nineveh King's Library built by Asubani contains a large number of clay tablets, including religious myths, works of art, astronomy, medicine and so on. , is an important material for studying the history of Assyria.

Cultural relics unearthed in Assyria include stone carvings, cylindrical seals, various slates and jewels, weapons and metal bowls.

The unearthed inscriptions with the names of Assyrian kings and top officials contain Assyrian calendars, which are important historical materials for studying the replacement and dating of Assyrian dynasties.

The relief The Dying Lion (668 ~ 627 BC) depicts a lion with several arrows in it, which is a sad image when his life is dying.

Its hind legs are unable to lift the second half of its body, while its strong front paws are still extremely powerful, struggling to make the whole body stand up.

It roars and groans with its head held high, and its image is moving, giving people a tragic feeling.

When other Assyrian sculptures are very stiff, the perfection of this relief is particularly prominent.

As a kind of court decorative relief, it has gone beyond the meaning of decoration itself and become one of the most cherished realistic masterpieces in ancient Assyrian art.

Guardian in the Palace of Sargon II (742 ~ 706 BC), the beast carved on both sides of the palace was called Shedu by Assyrians, with a head, a lion's body and a cow's hoof. He wore a high crown on his head, a long combed beard hanging over his chest, a pair of big eyes full of deterrence, and a pair of spread wings on his body, which looked awesome and awesome.

The stone carving of this image stands at the gate of the palace, which is a symbol of the inviolability of kingship.

The images of these two animals in front of Sargon II Palace have always influenced other ethnic groups, and they are also very popular in ancient Persia and western Asia. They gradually become auspicious animals with mysterious power.

In the long history, the ancient city of Assyria has accumulated a large number of important religious buildings and palaces (the literature left over from the 7th century BC tells us that there should be 34 temples and 3 palaces in the ancient city of Assyria). So far, only a few archaeological excavations have been carried out, so there will be more ancient glories in the future.

Assessment by the World Heritage Committee:

The ancient city of Assyria is located in the Tigris River special zone in northern Mesopotamia, at the junction of rain-fed agriculture and irrigated agriculture, and its history can be traced back to 3000 BC.

From the 0/4th century BC to the 9th century BC, the ancient city of Assyria was the first capital of the Assyrian empire and an important platform for international cultural and trade exchanges.

The ancient city is also the religious capital of the empire, which is closely related to ashur.

The ancient city of Assyria was finally captured by the Babylonians, but it experienced a short revival in the 1 century and the Parthian era in the 2nd century.

2.Hatra Hatra approval time: 1985 approval criteria: c (2), (3), (4) and (6).

1985 is listed in the World Heritage List according to the cultural heritage selection criteria C (2), (3), (4) and (6).

Hatra is the main military town of the kingdom of Parthia.

In A.D. 1 16 and A.D. 198, it resisted many Roman attacks, which mainly benefited from its tall and thick walls and castles.

The ruins of this city, especially the temple building which combines the Greek and Roman architectural style with the oriental decorative features, show the glory of Parthian civilization.

Khatla is the ancient city of ancient Parthia kingdom in northern Iraq, located 50 kilometers southwest of Mosul.

BC 1 century, the remnant occupied this area and made it a military base. Later, it gradually developed into a city and became the heart of the kingdom built by local people.

In the 2nd century AD, the city was quite large and became a military fortress of the Parthian Empire.

Looking at the whole city, its shape is round, made of stone, with a tower on each side, which is magnificent and tall.

There are many temples in the city, which are built on a rectangular holy land and surrounded by a city wall consisting of seven doors. The existing magnificent temples still stand tall and straight here, with a concave body, a gate in the middle, cloisters on both sides, a prominent roof and multi-layered lines, supported by huge stone pillars, which are magnificent.

They are the product of the combination of late Greek architecture and Roman architectural style, and their decorative colors are full of oriental charm, showing the glory of Parthian civilization.

The Sun Temple in this city is famous for its precious sacrificial supplies.

On the front of the temple gate is the stone head of Medusa, the gorgon in Greek mythology, and the name of the craftsman who founded the city is engraved on the bottom of the head.

The "Condor" is enshrined in the temple, and its sculptures are lifelike, and everyone who goes to visit will be amazed.

For a long time, the city of Hatra has been one of the main gathering places for caravans from the East and the West.

Kings rule here constantly, and their statues are often found here. Now these statues have been exhibited in Iraqi museums one after another.

The city of Hatra has been attacked by Romans and Persians many times, but it finally failed because of the tenacious resistance of the tall and thick walls, castles and residents in the city.

In 207 AD, it was occupied by Shapur I, king of Sassanian dynasty in Persia. Soon after, the city of Hatra was in ruins.

Today, this ancient city has been restored to its former style and become a famous tourist attraction.

From 65438 to 0985, the ancient city was listed as a world cultural heritage.