Author name:
راكان فرج عازر ميخا الخياط
Supervisor name:
خالد سالم اسماعيل
Abstract:
Water is one of the most important necessities of life and settlements, and its supply on a permanent basis in Mesopotamia was of concern to people and rulers alike, wherein irrigation and control of water have been nerve of life, and the extent of its development shows the degree of development of the city in any spot.Assyria, despite its reliance in agriculture, almost absolutely, on the rain, but irrigation was necessary for the settlement that it has reached an advanced degree of development, taking advantage of accumulated experience of the residents of southern Mesopotamia.This thesis studies irrigation projects during the modern Assyrian era (911 - 612 B.C.), a topic that occupies a great importance in the Assyrian field studies, which although taken by a number of studies, yet these studies often suffer from generalization and superficiality in judgments, the lack of the physical evidence and the obsoleteness of the documentation. The goal is to show two things; first is the large number of Assyrian irrigation projects such as digging canals and wells, etc., and second is the development of irrigation systems and methods in Assyria in various aspects, the spread of settlements and land investment in agriculture, thus Assyria producing its food, not depending on the submissive regions.This thesis consists of three chapters. The first has been divided into four sections, which deal with Assyria in terms of geography, agricultural and water potentials, the appropriateness of Assyria for irrigation, and the degree of influence of Babylonia on Assyria in terms of establishing irrigation projects and mentioning some details about the Assyrian experience in establishing various methods of irrigation and presentingevidence about the irrigation business of kings and rulers of the provinces.Chapter II deals with the irrigation projects in the cities of Kalhu, Imgur - Enlil (Balawat), Dur - Sharrukin, the city of Ashur, and Arbailu and the latest developments in information about these projects in addition to mentioning some details of a project that has not been known before is Imgur - Enlil (Balawat) city irrigation project.Chapter III concerns Sennacherib project to irrigate the capital of Nineveh, several aspects of which are still in need of further clarification. This chapter has been divided into six sections. The first deals with the city of Nineveh and its location and need for water.The rest of the sections relate to the stages of the project starting from the first stage of Kisiri canal to Musri mount canals, Eighteen canals, and canals of the Northern System, which include canals Malthayaa (Malti), Faida, Tarbisu, Tel - Uskof, and Khinis system stage.This study, in addition to highlighting the Assyrian expertise in the field of irrigation, has come up with results such as adding new information in several aspects, the most notable of which is the presence of irrigation project to the city of Assyrian previously unknown by researchers namely Imgur - Enlil city as this project probably dates back to the era of its founder Ashur - Nasir - Pal II(883 - 859B.C). or the reign of his son, King Shalmaneser III (858 - 824 B.C.), and considering the project of Sennacherib composed of five stages not four as previously thought, with redefining the locations of many cities such as the location of Me, Kukut and Bitura cities, and the mountains such as Tas mountain in addition to mentioning information for the first time concerning the canal Faida, its depth and its extent and newly discovered sites.
