Creating Capitals

Aris Politopoulos is an archaeologist whose research focuses on ancient Near Eastern empires, the development of cities, and the study of play in the past. He is a lecturer of Near Eastern Archaeology at the Faculty of Archaeology (Leiden University) and a post-doctoral researcher for the Past-at-Play Lab in the Leiden University Centre for Arts in Society.

• 1: Creating Capitals – Approaches, Perspectives, and Methodology 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Classifying Cities 1.3 Capital Creation as a Form of Statecraft 1.4 Capital Creation and the Study of Empires 1.5 Methodology 2: Assyria and A..ur 2.1 Choosing Assyria 2.2 A..ur, the Traditional Capital of Assyria 3: K.r-Tukult.-Ninurta – Capital Creation in the Middle Assyrian Empire 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Setting the Stage – Historical Overview of Middle Assyria 3.3 Why – Building a Capital, Building an Empire 3.4 How – The Realization of a New Capital 3.5 What – The Function and 'Demise' of K.r-Tukult.-Ninurta 4: Kal.u – The First New Neo Assyrian Capital 4.1 Introduction 4.2 From Decline to Empire - Political History of the Early Neo Assyrian State 4.3 Why – The Case of a New(?) Foundation 4.4 How – The Construction and Opening Festival of Kal.u 4.5 What – City Design and Function of Kal.u 4.6 Concluding Remarks on the Creation of Kal.u 5: Dur-.arruk.n – A Short-lived Capital 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Paving the Way – from Decline to Tiglath-Pileser III 5.3 The History of the Sargonic Period 5.4 Why – An attempt of Imperial Consolidation 5.5 How – Building Dur-.arruk.n 5.6 What – Urban Design of Dur-.arruk.n 5.7 What – The Citadels 5.8 What – Conclusions 6: Nineveh – The Largest Capital of Assyria 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Middle Assyrian Nineveh 6.3 Neo Assyrian Nineveh 6.4 Historical Context 6.5 Why – A capital waiting to happen? 6.6 How 6.7 What – Urban Layout 6.8 What – Citadels 6.9 What – Waters of Nineveh 6.10 What – Conclusions 7: Creating Capitals – Comparative Analysis and Conclusions 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Why – The Reasons Behind Capital Creation in Assyria 7.3 How – The Construction Process of Assyrian Capitals 7.4 What - A Conceptual Challenge 8: Conclusions 8.1 A Model for Assyrian Capital Creation 8.2 Applicability of the Model through History 8.3 Recommendations Acknowledgements Bibliography List of Figures List of Tables Appendix 1 Appendix 2