Asshur (אַשּׁוּר), son of Shem, the son of Noah. Asshur's brothers were Elam, Aram, Arpachshad and Lud. The Hebrew text of Gen. 10:11 is somewhat ambiguous as to whether it was Asshur himself (eg. as reads the KJV), or Nimrod who built the cities of Nineveh, etc. in Assyria, since the name Asshur can refer to either the person or the country.
Asshur was also the name of the principal deity of the Assyrians, and an alternate name for the Babylonian deity Anshar.
The city of Aŝŝur (Asshur), oldest capital of Assyria: see Assur.
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Whether the name Assyria is derived from that of the god Asshur, or vice versa, or whether Asshur was originally the name of a particular city and afterwards applied to the whole country cannot be determined.
According to the author of the tenth chapter of Genesis, the Assyrians are the descendants of Assur (Asshur) one of the sons of Sem (Shem -- Gen., x, 22).
For strategic reasons he transferred the seat of his kingdom from the city of Asshur to that of Kalkhi (the Chale, or Calah, of Genesis) forty miles to the north, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and eighteen miles south of Nineveh.
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