= Article =
S. SALMON, « Évolution de la religion assyrienne en milieu syro-hittite et syro-araméen. Syncrétismes religieux et implications politiques », Res Antiquae 4, Bruxelles, 2007, p. 283-295.
The main concepts building the identity of the Assyrian State since the Bronze Age developed around the theology of the Assyrian national god, Ashur, leader of the local pantheon and “true” king of Assyria. At the beginning of the first millennium B.C., Assyrian Empire has been founded on a special application of this powerful political ideology, and technically built by a professional army. In this context, the figure of Ashur became most important. The duty of the Assyrian king was to carry out a program of territorial expansion, submitting the neighbouring lands in order to obtain taxes, booties and tributes to be offered to the god. After the conquests, the Assyrian Elites have been confronted with the question of their cultural relations with the new provinces, especially from the point view of the cult of Ashur. While it seems clear that the national cult could not be exported, Anatolia and North Syria became the melting pot where a new religious ideology, corresponding to the needs of the empire, has been created. Monumental reliefs and architectural plans of buildings from these countries, since Iron Age II-III periods, are the best evidence of the reciprocal exchanges between Assyria and its provinces, and good examples of the creolization of religious concepts and iconographic traditions.
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Acta colloquii in memoriam Louis Delaporte et Eugène Cavaignac
(Institut catholique de Paris, 19-20 mai 2006) :
Les sanctuaires syro-anatoliens de la préhistoire au début de l’ère chrétienne
