Bit-Istar was an Assyrian town and a local kingdom (c. 12th century BC - c. 710 BC) at western Zagros that according to inscriptions of

Tiglath Pileser III Tiglath-Pileser III ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, Ti ...

and

Sargon II Sargon II (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727), Sargon is general ...

. It was located close to the source of a river to the east of Dyala. Stronach and Calmeyer proposed

Ravansar Ravansar ( fa, روانسر; also Romanized as Ravānsar and Rawānsīr) is a city and capital of Ravansar County, Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 16,383, in 3,838 families. Archaeology and history Ravansar ha ...

as a possible candidate for the place of Bit-Istar. Recent surveys by Y. Hassanzadeh led to discovery of new evidence indicating presence of rich 1st-millennium remains close to the spring of Ravansar (). The ruler of this town during reign of

was Burburazu who brought his tributes to Sargon during his campaign to the region in 714 BC. A column base at the edge of Ravansar spring could belong to a temple that was built for Ishtar near "Water hole". Tang-i Var, famous Assyrian inscription from reign of Sargon II is located about 30 km to north of Ravansar. Tang-i Var 2012, F

References

{{reflist * Hassanzadeh, Y., M. Karami, F. Bahrol’oloomi, K. Taheri, A. Tahmasbi, A. Moradi Bisetouni and F. Biglari (2010) Khanileh: "New evidence of Chalcolithic and Early Historic occupations from northwest of the Kermanshah Plain, Central Zagros", ''Iranian Journal of Archaeology and History''. * Parpola, S. & M. Porter (2001) ''The Helsinki Atlas of the Near East in the Neo-Assyrian Period'', Edited by: Simo Parpola & Michael Porter, The Casco Bay Assyriological Institute The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Finland. * Radner, K., (2003) "A Median Sanctuary at Bit-Ištar". In G.B. Lanfranchi, M. Roaf & R. Rollinger (ed.), ''Continuity of Empire: Assyria, Media, Persia''. History of the Ancient Near East Monographs 5 (Padova 2003) 119-130. Former populated places in Iran Archaeological sites in Iran Iron Age Asia Buildings and structures in Kermanshah Province History of Kermanshah Province