Iraq / Mesopotamia: Winged genie with pollen and a pollen bucket, giving blessing. Relief from the north wall of the Palace of King Sargon II at Dur Sharrukin (now Khorsabad in Iraq), 716–713 BCE, Louvre, Paris

Dur-Sharrukin, present day Khorsabad, was the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria. Khorsabad is a village in northern Iraq, 15 km northeast of Mosul. The great city was entirely built in the decade preceding 706 BCE. After the unexpected death of Sargon in battle, the capital was moved 20 km south to Nineveh.

On 8 March 2015 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) reportedly started the plunder and demolition of Dur-Sharrukin, according to a Kurdish official from Mosul. The Iraqi Tourism and Antiquities Ministry launched the related investigation on the same day.

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