Bible Figure
Ashur
son of Shem, the second son of Shem, son of Noah, ancestor of the Assyrians in Iraq and Syria
Asshur was a son of Shem and the ancestral name associated with Assyria.
Biography
Genesis 10 and 1 Chronicles 1 list Asshur among Shem's sons. The same Hebrew name is used in Scripture for Assyria, which later became one of the ancient Near East's dominant empires and conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. Genesis 10:11 has a grammatical ambiguity over whether Asshur or Nimrod went from the land into Assyria, so detailed claims about the ancestral figure should be cautious.
Biblical Significance
Asshur connects the Table of Nations with the later biblical world of Assyria. The individual ancestor should be distinguished from the empire and territory that bear the same name.