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Assyrian Reliefs (Nimrud, B.C. 9th c.)


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Assyrian Art

The reliefs from the palace of King Assurnasirpal II at Nimrud play an important role in portraying the power and importance of the Assyrian king. These reliefs are similar to other Assyrian reliefs in terms of their purpose; however, there is a contrast in the methods used to glorify the king. By examining such factors as style, iconography and historical significance, we find many similarities and differences between the "ceremonial" reliefs and the more common reliefs depicting war and hunting.
The reliefs belonging to the sacred or "ceremonial" category consist of panels depicting a sacred tree, a human headed genius fertilizing a sacred tree, a griffin fertilizing a sacred tree, and a scene of King Assurnasirpal (whose name comes from the god "Assur") followed by a winged genius. Dating to about 870 B.C., these reliefs were originally located in the antechamber to the royal throne hall and in the living room where it would have been viewed by distinguished guests.
Because of their location and larger than life size, the reliefs "…instill in the beholder a sense of awe and reverence for the king…."
Moreover, the reliefs overwhelm the viewer by depicting the king's power and god-like divinity through propagandistic iconography and stylization.
To portray the king's god-like divinity, the reliefs represent the deities and Assurnasirpal in a similar manner. First of all, hierarchic scale is almost absent since all the figures are closely related in size, with Assurnasirpal being only slightly shorter than the deities.


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Ashurnasirpal II and an attendant

In historical context, this shows that Assyrian kings were closely associated with deities, but were not considered gods themselves. This lack of hierarchic scale is also seen in the Lion Hunt of Assurbanipal, where king Assurbanipal is shown slightly larger than his servants.
Secondly, the deities and Assurnasirpal are similar in stance and stylization. All the figures have their head and legs shown in profile, while the torso is shown halfway frontal. In addition, the figures maintain a stiff vertical stance with their arms extended in either straight lines or are stiffly bent into a ninety-degree angle. In the third panel, both a winged deity and Assurnasirpal are depicted facing towards the right with their left feet forward; however, in contrast, the human headed genius and the griffin genius are facing towards the left with their right feet forward. Because of their stiff stance, these figures highly contrast the movement and action shown in the hunting scenes of Assurbanipal and war scenes of Assurnasirpal.


In term of stylization, both the human headed deities and Assurnasirpal have very stylized hair falling in straight locks to the back of their necks; furthermore, they possess highly stylized beards of intricate waves and ringlets which end evenly at the bottom. Because these features are similar to that of Assurbanipal and the mythological bullmen at the palace at Khorsabad, it can be construed that it is "a coiffure characteristic of royalty and divinity alike" .
Moving on to the facial expression, we find that all the human headed figures contain large eyebrows, large eyes that are deeply undercut, an elongated nose, conventionalized ears, and highly conventionalized lips which appear as a simple slit. On the other hand, the beardless griffin has an eagle's head adorned with a feather headdress and a curved beak with a long tongue. To show the strength of the deities and Assurnasirpal, the artist depicts muscles within the arms and legs through simple lines and curves. This style of depicting the facial and body features is common in other Assyrian reliefs including the hunting scenes of Assurbanipal.

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An eagle-headed protective genie

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A feminine protective genie

Although there are many similarities in body structure, there is also a distinctive element that separates the deities and the king. Each deity possesses a set of four highly stylized wings made up of very detailed feathers. Besides the use of stance and stylization, clothing is used as a means of displaying the king's importance in relation to the gods. Again a similarity between the deities and Assurnasirpal is shown through their attire. Each one is dressed in a similar fashion in both heavy short-sleeved tunics that come down to the knees, and ankle-length shawls that contain geometric designs and tassels along the hem. The figures also possess accessories such as bracelets, necklaces, earrings and a pair of daggers. Also important is the royal cap, which identifies Assurnasirpal as a king, as well as the bow he holds, which is a symbol of "might and military prowess" (Art History Anthology 28). The pair of daggers and the symbolism of the bow are important to the Assyrian culture because they portray their war-like nature. This war-like nature is a common factor that relates these "ceremonial" reliefs to the reliefs described by Henri Frankfort in The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient. Another detail typical of the reliefs from the palace of King Assurnasirpal II, are the sandals that the deities and the king wear. In contrast to the war and hunting scenes where the figures wear boots, the sandals worn express the peacefulness in the "ceremonial" reliefs. As we can see, clothing and accessories play an important role in depicting the king's comparison to the gods as well as the similarities and differences with other Assyrian reliefs.


Finally, the action taking place within the "ceremonial" reliefs exhibit the power and importance of the king. First off, the panels depicting the deities fertilizing the sacred tree are important. The sacred tree is shown artistically in a symmetrical manner with intertwining branches, stylized leaves, and a fan of leaves above the trunk. The winged geniuses are fertilizing the sacred tree with a date blossom in their right hand and holding a sacred bucket in their left. In addition, panel three shows a winged deity following Assurnasirpal with his right hand raised over the king "in a gesture of benediction and divine protection" (Art History Anthology 28). By placing these reliefs in his antechamber and living room, Assurnasirpal "emphasizes the sacred character of the Assyrian king, elected by the gods, although not himself of divine substance" (Frankfort 87).
In conclusion, we find that the reliefs from the palace of King Assurnasirpal II play an important role in exhibiting the power and importance of the king. While an Assyrian king's power can be depicted is a war-like manner by his military might, we learn that "ceremonial" reliefs are also effective by placing the king in relation to gods. The power and importance of the king is shown through a peaceful manner that highly contrasts the scenes of death and fighting found in such reliefs as the lion hunt of Assurbanipal and the battle scene of Assurnasirpal.

Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, about 730-727 BC
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Stone panel from the Central Palace of Tiglath-pileser III

A successful Assyrian campaign against the Arabs
This alabaster panel decorated the mud-brick walls of the Central Palace of King Tiglath-pileser III (reigned 745-727 BC). It is one of a series of panels that depicts a procession of prisoners and booty captured during one of the king's campaigns against Arab enemies.
A woman leads a herd of camels. The one-humped camel, or dromedary, was probably domesticated by the inhabitants of Arabia at the end of the second millennium BC.
Under Tiglath-pileser the administration of defeated territory was reorganized by extending direct Assyrian rule over them, transforming them into provinces of an empire. These provinces included territory as far west as Damascus. Increasingly Assyrian kings came into conflict with Arabs.
The Arabs first appear in Assyrian records in the ninth century BC. Assyrian texts tell of Arab tribes led by queens, and show how they became increasingly important for escorting trading caravans or military expeditions in northern Arabia and Sinai.

Height: 99 cm Width: 162 cm

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Nineveh [Ninive] (Iraq)


The site of Nineveh lies on the east bank of the River Tigris. The ancient tell, now known as Tell Kuyunjik, was occupied from the seventh millennium BC. A deep excavation at the site, carried out by Max Mallowan, established a chronology against which many of the other sites in north Mesopotamia are compared.
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In the later second millennium BC, Nineveh was an important city with a prestigious temple of the goddess Ishtar. Sennacherib chose it as his capital and laid out a city surrounded by walls approximately twelve kilometres in circumference. The old tell formed the main citadel and was where, at the beginning of the seventh century BC, Sennacherib built the so-called Southwest Palace, decorating it with carved stone reliefs. As at Nimrud and Khorsabad, there was also an arsenal. This was situated on the river wall south of the citadel mound at Tell Nebi Yunus (so-called because later legend claimed this was the tomb of the prophet Jonah). Ashurbanipal built a second palace on Tell Kuyunjik, the North Palace, which contained the famous lion hunt reliefs. In the summer of 612 BC, Nineveh fell to the combined forces of the Medes and Babylonians. Occupation continued, however, for a further 1000 years before Nineveh was eclipsed by the city of Mosul, on the other side of the river.
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Nineveh (Ninive), northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, about 700-681 BC
Stone panels from the South-West Palace of Sennacherib
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The siege and capture of the city of Lachish, in the kingdom of Judah, in 701 BC
Length: 172 cm Width: 61 cm

These alabaster panels were part of a series which decorated the walls of a room in the palace of King Sennacherib (reigned 704-681 BC).

These three surviving slabs complete the royal entourage. The right-hand end shows more cavalry and chariots waiting behind the king. It also shows an aerial view of the Assyrian camp with its oval wall and defensive towers at intervals shown flattened out. Other Assyrian camps shown on reliefs were sometimes round or rectangular. The camp seems to have been methodically planned with a road running through the middle. There are two pavilions, like the one behind the king, and five open tents in which various activities can be seen, including the amusing scene of two men gossiping over a drink. The pair of chariots in one corner of the camp have a standard in each of them; these are the chariots of the gods, sometimes seen charging in battle. On this occasion two priests in tall hats are performing a ceremony; an incense burner stands higher than the priests, and a sacrificial leg of meat sits on an altar.

Conquista di Lachish
The siege and capture of the city of Lachish in 701 BC
Length: 269 cm Width: 180 cm

Having been exiled from their city, the people of Lachish move through the countryside to be resettled elsewhere in the Assyrian Empire. Below them high officials and foreigners are being tortured and executed. It is likely that they are being flayed alive. The foreigners are possibly officers from Nubia.
The Nubians were seen as sharing responsibility for the rebellion. Much of Egypt at this time was ruled by a line of kings from Nubia (the Twenty-fifth Dynasty) who were keen to interfere in the politics of the Levant, to contain the threat of Assyrian expansion. As Sennacherib's forces laid siege to Lachish, an Egyptian army appeared, led by a man called Taharqa, according to the Old Testament.
He may be the later pharaoh of Egypt with the same name (690-664 BC). Sennacherib's account claims that the rebels had called on the support of the kings of Egypt (Delta princes) and the Kings of Kush (Nubia). The armies clashed on the plain of Eltekeh. While Sennacherib claimed victory, he was still not able to capture Jerusalem.
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Nineveh, northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, about 645 BC

Assurbanipal.Caccia con cani

Stone panel from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal
Hunting with hounds

This stone panel decorated a mud brick wall of the palace of King Ashurbanipal (reigned 669-630 BC) at Nineveh. It was originally part of a much longer composition relating to the royal sport of lion hunting. The figures leading the hounds are hunt attendants.

The use of such mastiffs is well represented on the wall reliefs at Nineveh. They are used to guard the edge of an arena in which the king kills lions and, in a separate hunting composition, they are used to bring down wild asses. Scenes of hunting are a common motif in Mesopotamian art reflecting the king's conquest of chaotic and dangerous nature.

Dogs may have been the earliest animals to be domesticated by humans, perhaps by 10,000 BC or earlier. In Mesopotamia some of the earliest evidence for the presence of dogs comes in the form of skeletons found in the graves at Eridu in the south and dating to around 5000 BC. They have been identified as greyhounds.

It has been suggested that the disease of rabies was present in Mesopotamia by the beginning of the second millennium BC and representations of dogs, possibly for magic protection, make their appearance.

The Mesopotamians considered the dog family to include not only domestic dogs, wolves, hyenas and jackals, but also lions.

Height: 107 cm (approx.)
Width: 102cm (approx.)
Depth: 18cm (approx.)

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Nineveh, northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, around 645 BC
leone morente
The Dying Lion, a stone panel from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal

The triumph of the Assyrian king over nature

This small alabaster panel was part of a series of wall panels that showed a royal hunt. It has long been acclaimed as a masterpiece; the skill of the Assyrian artist in the observation and realistic portrayal of the animal is clear.

Struck by one of the king's arrows, blood gushes from the lion's mouth. Veins stand out on its face. From a modern viewpoint, it is tempting to think that the artist sympathized with the dying animal. However, lions were regarded as symbolizing everything that was hostile to urban civilization and it is more probable that the viewer was meant to laugh, not cry.

There was a very long tradition of royal lion hunts in Mesopotamia, with similar scenes known from the late fourth millennium BC. The connection between kingship and lions was probably brought to western Europe as a result of the crusades in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD, when lions begin to decorate royal coats of arms.

Height: 16.5 cm
Width: 30 cm
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Neo-Assyrian, 7th century BC
From Nineveh, northern Iraq
Leggenda del re Etana
Tablet telling the legend of Etana

Part of the library of King Ashurbanipal (reigned 669-631 BC)

The story told on this tablet centres on Etana, a legendary king of the southern Mesopotamian city of Kish.

An eagle has its nest in the branches of a tree while a snake nests at its base. The two animals swear an oath of friendship by Shamash, god of the sun and justice. They both raise their young, but the eagle eats the young snakes. The snake cries to Shamash who tells it to hide in the carcass of a dead wild bull. The eagle flies down to eat from the bull, but is seized by the snake, who ties its wings and throws it into a pit.

Meanwhile, Etana, a pious man, prays to Shamash for a son and the plant of life. Shamash tells Etana where to find the eagle, so that it can help him to find the plant. For seven months Etana teaches the eagle how to fly again. But the eagle is unable to find the plant, and suggests that they fly up to heaven to speak with the goddess Ishtar. Etana is frightened by the height they fly and they have to make several attempts at the journey.

We do not know whether they were successful, as unfortunately the rest of the text is missing and the end of the story is unclear. Versions of the legend are known from as early as the seventeenth century BC, but the story is certainly much older.


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Neo-Assyrian, 7th century BC
From Nineveh, northern Iraq
leggenda di Gilgamesh
The Flood Tablet, relating part of the Epic of Gilgamesh

The most famous cuneiform tablet from Mesopotamia

The Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (reigned 669-631 BC) collected a library of thousands of cuneiform tablets in his palace at Nineveh. They recorded myths, legends and scientific information. Among them was the story of the adventures of Gilgamesh, a legendary ruler of Uruk, and his search for immortality. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a huge work, the longest literary work in Akkadian (the language of Babylonia and Assyria). It was widely known, with versions also found at Hattusas, capital of the Hittites, and Megiddo in the Levant.

This, the eleventh tablet of the epic, describes the meeting of Gilgamesh with Utnapishtim. Like Noah in the Hebrew Bible, Utnapishtim had been forewarned of a plan by the gods to send a great flood. He built a boat and loaded it with everything he could find. Utnapishtim survived the flood for six days while mankind was destroyed, before landing on a mountain called Nimush. He released a dove and a swallow but they did not find dry land to rest on, and returned. Finally a raven that he released did not return, showing that the waters must have receded.

This Assyrian version of the Old Testament flood story was identified in 1872 by George Smith, an assistant in The British Museum. On reading the text he

" ... jumped up and rushed about the room in a great state of excitement, and, to the astonishment of those present, began to undress himself."

Length: 15 cm
Width: 13 cm
Thickness: 3 cm


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Nineveh, northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, about 700-681 BC


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Stone panels from the South-West Palace of Sennacherib
One of the last Assyrian relief carvings

This carved alabaster slab is part of one of the last series of sculptures carved at Nineveh to decorate the interior walls of the palace of King Sennacherib (reigned 704-681 BC). It originally lined a corridor.
The scene depicted on the slab is part of a story that began on one side of the corridor, with a battle in southern Mesopotamia. The region is known as Babylonia or Chaldaea, after the local Chaldaean tribal groups. This scene was placed on the opposite wall of the corridor. It shows careful records being kept of captured goods which the soldiers are piling up. The objects appear to float in the air, due to the sculptors limitations in dealing with perspective. The palm trees indicate the southern landscape.
One scribe hold a hinged writing board covered in wax. Actual examples of the boards have been excavated at the Assyrian city of Nimrud. Information could be recorded and then the wax melted and reused. The bearded man is writing in a scroll, probably in Aramaic - the main spoken language of the Near East. Alternatively, he may be a war artist, recording details of the campaign for use by sculptors creating reliefs such as this one back in Nineveh.


It is ironic that these reliefs, among the last Assyrian sculptures to be made, show the conquest of a people who would soon be rampaging through the cities of Assyria itself.

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This panel was one of a group found, out of position, somewhere between the palace of King Sennacherib (reigned 704-681 BC) and the Temple of Ishtar, the principal goddess of Nineveh. The panels may have lined a bridge or corridor used by the king when visiting the temple.

The scene shows the king and his entourage in formal court dress. The two figures on this panel formed part of the king's bodyguard. The archer on the left is one of the lightly-armed soldiers who were probably drawn from the Aramaic-speaking communities in and around the Assyrian heartland, which the Assyrians had conquered. The Assyrians incorporated soldiers from all parts of the empire into their forces. The spear-man on the right wears a turban fastened by a headband with long ear-flaps, and a short kilt curving upwards above his knees. His clothing tells us that he comes from around Palestine. An almost identical uniform is worn by the men of Lachish, in the kingdom of Judah, as represented in panels showing Sennacherib's siege of the city in 701 BC from another part of the palace.

Height: 160 cm
Width: 111 cm
Depth: 9 cm (extant)

Nineveh, northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, about 700-695 BC

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Stone panel from the South-West Palace of Sennacherib

Soldiers of the royal guard


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Nineveh, northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, around 645 BC
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Stone panel from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal

Assyrian troops pursuing Arabs on camels

By the date that this panel was carved, the Arab tribes of northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Sinai were becoming increasingly important. They relied for long-distance travel and rapid movement on the one-humped camel or dromedary, which had been domesticated in Arabia.

The Arabs first appear in Assyrian records in the ninth century BC. Texts tell of tribes, often led by queens, living in the southern borders of the Assyrian Empire. Sometimes they guarded the borders, escorted armies in desert country, and controlled the caravan trade, especially the lucrative incense trade from Yemen.

Some tribes were also ready to take advantage of any sign of weakness in the central government. They then raided settled communities, supported rebellions, robbed caravans, and disrupted communications. The Assyrian kings launched several attacks against them without much success, since the Arabs conducted guerilla-style warfare, and were usually able to escape into the desert.

Both the Assyrians and their successors, the Babylonian and Persian kings, tried to maintain peaceful relations with Arabia by threats and diplomacy. one Babylonian king, Nabonidus (555-539 BC) resided for several years at Teima, a centre of the incense trade in Saudi Arabia.

Length: 134 cm
Width: 226 cm
Depth: 15 cm

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From "The Palace With No Equal"

In the Assyrian capital of Ninevah was excavated partially by Austin Henry Layard in 1846.
Sir Layard was probably the luckiest archaeologist to ever live, In 1845, on the first day of his first dig he penetrated to two royal palaces on the mound of Nimrud. When he moved to Ninevah the following year it was only days before he uncovered the southwest palace. By 1847 he had uncovered no less then 8 royal Assyrian palaces, uncovered countless hundreds of sculptures and brought to light a magnificent culture that before had been mostly unknown. Layard's second period of excavation came to an end in April 1851, when he returned to England. By that time, large parts of the palace had been unearthed. As a result he tells us:    Louvre: Toro con sembianze umane
Nimrud-Oggi al Louvre "In this magnificent edifice I had opened no less than twenty-one halls, chambers, and passages, whose walls, almost without exception, had been paneled with slabs of sculptured alabaster recording the wars, the triumphs, and the great deeds of the Assyrian King (Sennacherib). By rough calculation, about 9880 feet, or nearly two miles, of bas- reliefs, with twenty-seven portals, formed by colossal winged bulls and lion sphinxes were uncovered" (TCOLBS 66)
There has been an argument of late put forward by the American School of Oriental Research that suggest that the reliefs found throughout the palaces and courts of Assyrian ruins are generic in nature not really accurate pictures and descriptions. I would argue that in the case of room XXXVI, the focal point of the entire southwest palace's (Sennacherib's Palace Without Equal) main hall would in fact depict an accurate representation of events.
Slabs 3 and 4 depict an assault ramp at the center and right-hand side of the city and the assault ramp found at Tell ed Duweir is at the southwest corner of the city. the center and right-hand side would be visible as the south west if the army was attacking from the hill just opposite the southwest corner of the city.
Slabs VIII and IX show the position of the king as being to the right of the city and sitting on a hill looking at the city. As there is only the one hill other than the Tell nearby and it is to the south we can guess that this is the vantage point from which the artist viewed the attack.
sharkeen.jpg (28K) In the 1st slab many different types of archers and slingers are depicted, as the Assyrian army was made up of many different ethnic groups pressed into service this is possible. The archaeological evidence at the site that supports the idea of many different groups, as depicted in the reliefs is they fact that as many as 30 different styles of arrow heads are found stuck into the destruction rubble at level 3 of the tell. (BASOR) Most of the arrow heads are Iron, but copper and even bone arrowheads are mixed into the bunch. The bone arrowheads are probably just a contaminate to the record.
In Slabs IV to VII rows of deportees are show in different forms of ethnic dress and booty being taken away. In Slab VII we even see some defenders that are being tortured and they are circumcised, very unusual unless this is a Judean city.

Technology and Material Culture

In the bas-reliefs we see examples of the technology and material culture present at this time. In the areas of technology we see classic Assyrian chariots and the device that made them the master of so much of the known world, the first siege engine, the battering ram. We see the usage of the bit and bridle on the Assyrian horses. The archaeological data obtained from stratum three also showed evidence of two ramps on opposite sides of the south western revetment and main wall.
In slabs III to V of the Lachish reliefs we see a depiction of the outside of that wall with a large ramp running up close to the wall. The Assyrians developed a siege engine that we also see depicted in the reliefs. From the depiction we see it has a large shielding face and wheels on which to move and the center of it has a large battering ram.

Political Aspects of the Reliefs

Images of the political situation are also depicted in these bas-reliefs. In one of the reliefs we see the governor of Lachish bowing down before Sennacherib offering his surrender while around him we see Judean garrison officers being tortured and put to death.
We also see the deportation of the population of the city to Ninevah to be slaves. In the depiction's we see whole families, cattle, and booty being carried off to where Sennacherib had sent them. The fact that this room with these reliefs was so prominent indicates that this was a sign of Sennacherib's military poweress. It was something he considered worthy of pride. It showed the destruction of a powerful force by his army.

 

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