Cultural Interaction Between Assyria and the Zagros

The title of this book, Cultural Interaction between Assyria and the Zagros, geographically covers Assyria and the Zagros and historically a period from the early second millennium until the fall of Nineveh in 612 BCE. It focuses on Assyrian interaction with the Zagros and vice versa, an immediate neighbour, which constituted a natural boundary against Assyrian expansion to the north and the east. The landscape, flora, fauna, natural resources and climate of lowland Assyria were...
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The title of this book, Cultural Interaction between Assyria and the Zagros, geographically covers Assyria and the Zagros and historically a period from the early second millennium until the fall of Nineveh in 612 BCE. It focuses on Assyrian interaction with the Zagros and vice versa, an immediate neighbour, which constituted a natural boundary against Assyrian expansion to the north and the east. The landscape, flora, fauna, natural resources and climate of lowland Assyria were different from those of the Zagros highlands, which led to complementary economical activity. The Zagros was the nearest place for Assyria to obtain raw materials, horses, grain and manpower. The Assyrians often conflicted with the Zagros peoples to obtain their goals. But there were also peaceful (commercial and diplomatic) negotiations between them, which led to cultural interaction of various kinds. In this book, the Zagros has been distinguished because it is that part of the Zagros in direct contact with Assyria, while the Central and Southern Zagros were in direct contact with Elam and Babylonia. Zagros was an intermediary for any Assyrian contact with the Central Zagros and beyond. The author's experience as a local archaeologist during a decade of field work and excavations in joint projects and in his own field work has shown that further investigation about the nature of cultural interaction between Assyria and the Zagros is needed. Recent fieldwork and excavations by foreign and local teams in the Zagros, have produced new materials and new texts. Moreover, until now no comprehensive study of Assyrian cultural interaction with the Zagros to include textual, visual and archaeological evidence has been made. In this work the author tried to find answers to questions about the cultural interaction and to expose as complete a view as he can of the culture of the Zagros.