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Where in the world
Iraq
Dur-Sharrukin
Assyrian · Iraq
Field notes
- civilizations
- Assyrian
- types
- Village
- built
- 706 BCE
- occupied
- 717 BCE — 605 BCE
- country
- Iraq
The site
Dur-Sharrukin, 'Fortress of Sargon,' today the village of Khorsabad in northern Iraq, was the Assyrian capital built for king Sargon II. The entire city rose in the single decade before 706 BCE, an act of royal will made stone. When Sargon fell unexpectedly in battle, the capital was abandoned and moved south to Nineveh, leaving Dur-Sharrukin a short-lived monument to one king's ambition.
