Assyrians and their Capital of... what?!

[vplus]

Quick question here. I am no historian, but I thought the big bad Assyrians had their capital at Ninevah - right up until Chaldeans did an Assyria and massacred all the inhabitants. So why does Civ V have Assur as their capital? Is Ninevah to Assyria what Sydney is to Australia?

 

[W|M]

It's because it has Ass in the name

 

[Dachs]

Nineveh was the most prominent city in the Neo-Assyrian Empire - the famous one - but Assur seems to have been the capital of the Akkadian warlords that struck out on their own and founded the first incarnation of Assyria a millennium prior.

 

[Pangur Bán]

The city names for civ games are usually mad anyway, so I wouldn't try to rationalize it too much. But as a happenstance fact it does make sense for Assyria to have as its capital the city that appears to bear the 'empire's' name, so probably a sensible choice.

 

[sydhe]

Because Assur was the capital until the Neo-Assyrian Empire, when the capital was moved to Calah then to Nineveh. Nineveh was only the capital for the last century of the Empire.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Assyria has had many capitals. Assur was likely the first (it's where the name Assyria comes from). They also had capitals at Callah (Nimrud) and Dur-Sharrukin (Khorsabad).

Nineveh might be the most famous (partly because it was an impressive cosmopolitan city, partly because some guy visited that place after spending time in a giant fish).

 

[Dachs]

Also because an apocalyptic war-ending battle was fought there fourteen hundred years ago. Can't forget that one.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Right, true.