History
Ashur is the head deity of the Assyrian pantheon in Mesopotamian religion. Besides being the chief god of Assyria he was an important god of war, he became the omniscient king of the pantheon. Ashur was worshiped mainly in the northern half of Mesopotamia, and parts of north-east Syria and south east Asia Minor which constituted old Assyria. The worship of Ashur dates about the mid 3rd millennium BC and was the capital of the Old Assyrian kingdom.
Ashur did not originally have any significant regions which practiced his faith but as the cult started to be influenced by the southern Mesopotamian he would rise in popolarity. Ashur later came to be regarded as the Assyrian equivalent of the chief god of Nippur Enlil. Enlil was the most important god of the southern pantheon from the early 3rd millennium BC until Hammurabi founded an empire based in Babylon in the mid-18th century BC, after which Marduk replaced Enlil as the chief god in the south.
Ashur along with many other Mesopotamian gods continued to be worshiped by the Assyrian long after the fall of Assyria. They also still constructed temples in his honor until the 3rd and 4th centuries of the Christian era. By this time most Assyrians had adopted other faiths and discontinued practicing worship to Ashur.
History in Comics
Modern History
Ashur has been an inspiration in comic titles throughout the years and each character published with his name has taken his aspects as a god of the war from ancient history.
Essential Story-lines
Elementals
In the comic series the Elementals published by Comico Ashur appears in a few installments of the following story lines Elementals (1989), Elementals (1995), and Elementals: How The War Was Won (1996). He is later recruited by Tommy Czuchra the Elemental known as Monolith to join his newly created Super Nation which consisted of all the superhuman inhabitants on Earth. An ancient and evil planet with deadly inhabitants was hiding behind the moon and treatening to conquer Earth. Ashur is seen challenging Thor and winning during a session of arm wrestling.
Powers and Abilities
Ashur possess the standard physical attributes of an god with superhuman strength enabling him to lift at least 30 tons, superhuman speed far superior to that of the finest human athlete, stamina enabling him to perform at his absolute peak for at least 24 hours before even starting to tire, superhuman reflexes greater than a human’s, superhuman durability that allows them to withstand powerful impact forces.