The Land of Assur and the Yoke of Assur Author(s): J. N. Postgate Source: World Archaeology, Vol. 23, No. 3, Archaeology of Empires (Feb., 1992), pp. 247- 263 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/124761 Accessed: 07-09-2016 19:40 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Taylor & Francis, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to World Archaeology This content downloaded from 86.18.92.122 on Wed, 07 Sep 2016 19:40:43 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Land of Assur and the yoke of Assur J. N. Postgate The Assyrian state had its origins early in the second millennium, as the small self-governing merchant city of Assur, became a territorial power in the fourteenth to thirteenth centuries BC, and survived until 605 BC, by which time it had created an empire which set the pattern for its successors: Babylon, Persia and Macedon. Both as a phenomenon in its own right, and as the originator of the Near Eastern style of empire, Assyria demands to be included in any study of empires.