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Assyria
Assyria, an introduction
The Assyrian Culture
The Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian capitals of Nimrud, Dur-Sharrukin, and Nineveh are known today for their ruins of great palaces and fortifications.
Nimrud and Ashurnasirpal II
Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located in southern, modern Iraq on the River Tigris. In ancient times the city was called Kalhu. The ruins of the city are found some 30 kilometers (19 miles) southeast of Mosul.
The Assyrian king Shalmaneser I made Nimrud, which existed for about a thousand years, the capital in the thirteenth century BCE. The city gained fame when king Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria (c. 880 BCE) built a large palace and temples on the site of an earlier city that had long fallen into ruins. Nimrud housed as many as 100,000 inhabitants and contained botanic gardens and a zoologic garden. Ashurnasirpal’s son, Shalmaneser III (858–824 BCE), built the monument known as the Great Ziggurat and an associated temple. The palace, restored as a site museum, is one of only two preserved Assyrian palaces in the world. The other is Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh. Nimrud remained the Assyrian capital until 706 BCE when Sargon II moved the capital to Dur-Sharrukin, but it remained a major center and a royal residence until the city was completely destroyed in 612 BCE when Assyria succumbed under the invasion of the Medes.
Excavations at Nimrud in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries revealed remarkable bas- reliefs, ivories , and sculptures . A statue of Ashurnasirpal II was found in an excellent state of preservation , as were colossal winged man-headed lions, each guarding the palace entrance. The large number of inscriptions pertaining to king Ashurnasirpal II provide more details about him and his reign than are known for any other ruler of this epoch.
Gate Guardians: The Man-Headed Lions: This Portal Guardian (Lamassu) from Nimrud guarded the entrance to the palace at Nimrud.
Portions of the site have been also been identified, such as temples to Ninurta and Enlil, a building assigned to Nabu (the god of writing and the arts), and extensive fortifications. Furthermore, the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, discovered in 1846, stands six-and-a-half-feet tall and commemorates the king’s victorious campaigns from 859–824 BCE. It is shaped like a temple tower at the top, ending in three steps.
Black Obelisk: The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III commemorates the king’s victorious campaigns from 859–824 BCE.
On one panel, Israelites led by king Jehu of Israel pay tribute and bow in the dust before king Shalmaneser III, who is making a libation to his god. The cuneiform text on the obelisk reads “Jehu the son of Omri” and mentions gifts of gold, silver, lead, and spear shafts . The “Treasure of Nimrud” unearthed in these excavations is a collection of over 600 pieces of gold jewelry and precious stones.
Obelisk detail: Depiction of either Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi, or Jehu’s ambassador, bowing before Shalmaneser III.
Sargon II and Dur-Sharrukin
Dur-Sharrukin, or present day Khorsabad, was the Assyrian capital in the time of King Sargon II. Today, Khorsabad is now a village in northern Iraq, and is still inhabited by Assyrians. The construction of Dur-Sharrukin was never finished. Sargon, who ordered the project, was killed during a battle in 705. After his death, his son and successor Sennacherib abandoned the project and relocated the capital with its administration to the city of Nineveh.
Palace of Khorsabad (artist’s reconstruction)
Dur-Sharrukin was constructed on a rectangular layout. Its walls were massive, with 157 towers protecting its sides. Seven gates entered the city from all directions. A walled terrace contained temples and the royal palace. The main temples were dedicated to the gods Nabu, Shamash, and Sin, while Adad, Ningal, and Ninurta had smaller shrines. A ziggurat was also constructed at the site. The palace was adorned with sculptures and wall reliefs, with its gates flanked by winged-bull shedu statues weighing up to 40 tons. On the central canal of Sargon’s garden stood a pillared pleasure-pavilion which looked up to a great topographic creation—a man-made Garden Mound. This mound was planted with cedars and cypresses and modeled after the Amanus mountains in northern Syria.
Winged bull: The winged bull figure, known as a shedu or a lamassu, was a common guardian figure in palace architecture.
The colossal bull statue (above) was uncovered outside the throne room. It was found split into three large fragments. The torso alone weighed about 20 tons. Since Dur-Sharrukin was a single-period site that was evacuated in an orderly manner after the death of Sargon II, few individual objects were found. The primary discoveries from Khorsabad shed light on Assyrian art and architecture.
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul in Iraq.
Today, Nineveh’s location is marked by two large mounds, Kouyunjik and Nabī Yūnus “Prophet Jonah,” and the remains of the city walls. These were fitted with fifteen monumental gateways which served as checkpoints on entering and exiting the ancient city, and were probably also used as barracks and armories. With the inner and outer doors shut, the gateways were virtual fortresses. Five of the gateways have been explored to some extent by archaeologists.
Nineveh was an important junction for commercial routes crossing the Tigris. Occupying a central position on the great highway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, Nineveh united the East and the West, and received wealth from many sources. Thus, it became one of the oldest and greatest of all the region’s ancient cities, and the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The area was settled as early as 6000 BCE, and by 3000 BCE had become an important religious center for worship of the Assyrian goddess Ishtar.
It was not until the Neo-Assyrian Empire that Nineveh experienced a considerable architectural expansion. King Sennacherib is credited with making Nineveh a truly magnificent city during his rule (c. 700 BCE). He laid out new streets and squares and built within it the famous “palace without a rival”, the plan of which has been mostly recovered. It comprised at least 80 rooms, many of which were lined with sculpture. A large number of cuneiform tablets were found in the palace. The solid foundation was made out of limestone blocks and mud bricks. Some of the principal doorways were flanked by colossal stone-door figures that included many winged lions or bulls with the heads of men. The stone carvings in the walls include many battle and hunting scenes, as well as depicting Sennacherib’s men parading the spoils of war before him.
Royal Nineveh carving: The king hunting lion from the North Palace, Nineveh, seen at the British Museum.
Nineveh’s greatness was short-lived. In around 627 BCE, after the death of its last great king Ashurbanipal, the Neo-Assyrian empire began to unravel due to a series of bitter civil wars, and Assyria was attacked by the Babylonians and Medes. From about 616 BCE, in a coalition with the Scythians and Cimmerians, they besieged Nineveh, sacking the town in 612, and later razing it to the ground .
The Assyrian empire as such came to an end by 605 BC, with the Medes and Babylonians dividing its colonies between them. Following its defeat in 612, the site remained largely unoccupied for centuries with only a scattering of Assyrians living amid the ruins until the Sassanian period, although Assyrians continue to live in the surrounding area to this day.
Architecture in Assyria
Assyrian architecture eventually emerged from the shadow of its predecessors to assume distinctive attributes, such as domes and diverse building materials, that set it apart from other political entities.
During the Assyrian Empire’s historical span from the 25th century BCE to 612 BCE, architectural styles went through noticeable changes. Assyrian architects were initially influenced by previous forms dominant in Sumer and Akkad. However, Assyrian structures eventually evolved into their own unique style.
Temples
Little is known of the construction of Assyrian temples with the exception of the distinctive ziggurats and massive remains at Mugheir. Ziggurats in the Assyrian Empire came to be built with two towers (as opposed to the single central tower of previous styles) and decorated with colored enameled tiles. Contemporaneous inscriptions and reliefs describe and depict structures with octagonal and circular domes, unique architectural systems for the time. Little remains of the temple at Mugheir, but the ruins of its base remain quite impressive, measuring 198 feet (60 m) long by 133 feet (41 m) wide by 70 feet (21 m) high.
Dur-Sharrukin
Building plans remained rectangular through much of the empire’s history. The fortress of Sargon II (reigned 722–705 BCE) at Dur-Sharrukin, or Khorsabad, was the best known. Consisting of a stone foundation punctuated by seven gates, the fortress housed the emperor’s palace and a ziggurat among massive load-bearing walls with regularly spaced towers.
Reconstruction of the palace of Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin: Image shows the typical rectangular plan and massive fortified walls of Assyrian palace architecture.
Despite the intended political symbolism of Assyrian superiority, these fortified walls signify preparation for an attack by enemy invaders. Among the ornamental features excavated was a monumental lamassu outside the throne room. After the death of Sargon II, the site was abandoned.
Lamassu from Dur-Sharrukin
Nimrud
Lamassu figures abounded throughout the Assyrian Empire, featuring in the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (reigned 883-859 BCE) at Nimrud. Reconstructions show that they adorned the gateways of the palace, including an entrance marked by a round arch . According to contemporaneous inscriptions, the palace consisted of wood from a diverse number of tree species, alabaster , limestone , and a variety of precious metals. As with Dur-Sharrukin, the palace of Ashurnasirpal II was surrounded by fortified load-bearing walls.
Balawat Gates
Builders increasingly used wood, particularly cedar and cypress, in architecture. As a result, much of the architecture has decayed, leaving archaeologists to produce reconstructions for present-day scholars. One example is the Balawat Gates, from the Assyrian outpost of Balawat, or Imgur-Enlil. Two sets were commissioned during the reign of Ashurnasirpal II and one addition set under the reign of his son Shalmaneser III (859–824 BCE). Assyrian inscriptions suggest the gates were made of cedar. Experts estimate that the gates stood over 22 feet high. The metal bands that adorned the gates suggest that they measured 285 feet wide. Lacking hinges, the gates opened by turning enormous pine pillars that rotated in stone sockets. Despite the long-term fragility of wood, the scale of the gates and the mechanisms by which they opened and closed point to the political instability of the time and the need to defend all parts of the empire.
Reconstruction of the Balawat Gates at the British Museum: Woman in photograph provides an idea of the scale of the gates.
Artifacts of Assyria
Assyrian artifacts consist of a variety of media and range in size from hand-held to monumental.
Artifacts produced during the Assyrian Empire range from hand-held to monumental and consist of a variety of media , from clay to bronze to a diversity of stone. While reliefs comprise the majority of what archaeologists have found, existing sculptures in the round shed light on Assyrian numerical systems and politics.
Assyrian Lion Weights
Assyrian Lion Weights: These weights represented one of only two known systems of weights and measures in Mesopotamia at the time.
The Assyrian Lion Weights (800-700 BCE) are a group of solid bronze weights that range from two centimeters (approximately 0.8 inches) to 30 centimeters (approximately 12 inches). Admired as sculptures in the round today, the weights represent one of only two systems of weights and measures in the region at the time. This system was based on heavy mina (about one kilogram) and was used for weighting metals. Additionally, they bear inscriptions in Assyrian cuneiform and Phoenician script, indicating use by speakers of both languages. Eight lions in the set bear the only known inscriptions from the reign of Shalmaneser V (reigned 727-722 BCE).
Statue of Ashurnasirpal II
Statue of Ashurnasirpal II: The king’s beard and hairstyle set him apart from his subjects. He holds a sickle as a form of mythological defense and a mace as a symbol of authority.
This magnesite (magnesium carbonate) sculpture of Ashurnasirpal II (9th century BCE) serves as a rare example of sculpture in the round produced during the Assyrian Empire. The kings stands stiffly with a sickle in his right hand (at his side) and a mace in his left, which he holds to his torso. Both objects are symbolic; the sickle was used as a weapon against monsters, while the mace was a symbol of political and religious authority. The inscription on his chest announce his genealogy, titles, and military triumphs. Although the sculpture is stylized , it gives the viewer a glimpse into fashion norms for rulers at the time. The length of the king’s hair and beard set him apart from commoners, who would have found such styles impractical.
Lamassu
Lamassu: Each lamassu figure faced a specific cardinal direction.
The lamassu was a mythological guardian figure with large wings, the head of a human, and the body of a lion or a bull. Originally a protective spirit to the households of Babylonian commoners, the lamassu was later adopted by Assyrian royalty to protect political and religious interests. In Assyrian sculpture, lamassu figures bear similar beards and hairstyles to those of Ashurnasirpal II in the sculpture discussed above. These monumental sculptures usually appeared in relief form in pairs at major entrances to cities, palaces, or fortresses. Each lamassu directed its gaze toward one of the cardinal directions, which explains why some look straight ahead and others have their heads turned.
Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III
Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III: This limestone obelisk contains 20 registers depicting conquered kings paying tribute to Assyrian power and celebrating the military campaigns of Shalmaneser III.
Erected during a time of civil war (825 BCE), the limestone Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III is the most intact Assyrian obelisk found to date. Each side consists of five registers of bas reliefs that celebrate the achievements of King Shalmaneser III (reigned 858-824 BCE). Three registers on each side focus on conquered kings from specific regions paying tribute to the Assyrian ruler. The registers at the top and bottom of each side bear an inscription from the annals of Shalmaneser III, celebrating his annual military campaigns.
Leveraging their enormous wealth, the Assyrians built great temples and palaces full of art, all paid for by conquest. Although Assyrian civilization, centred in the fertile Tigris valley of northern Iraq, can be traced back to at least the third millennium B.C.E., some of its most spectacular remains date to the first millennium B.C.E. when Assyria dominated the Middle East.
Ashurnasirpal II
The Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II established Nimrud as his capital. Many of the principal rooms and courtyards of his palace were decorated with gypsum slabs carved in relief with images of the king as high priest and as victorious hunter and warrior. Many of these are displayed in the British Museum.
Ashurnasirpal II, whose name (Ashur-nasir-apli) means, “the god Ashur is the protector of the heir,” came to the Assyrian throne in 883 B.C.E. He was one of a line of energetic kings whose campaigns brought Assyria great wealth and established it as one of the Near East’s major powers.
Ashurnasirpal mounted at least fourteen military campaigns, many of which were to the north and east of Assyria. Local rulers sent the king rich presents and resources flowed into the country. This wealth was use to undertake impressive building campaigns in a new capital city created at Kalhu (modern Nimrud). Here, a citadel mound was constructed and crowned with temples and the so-called North-West Palace. Military successes led to further campaigns, this time to the west, and close links were established with states in the northern Levant. Fortresses were established on the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and staffed with garrisons.
By the time Ashurnasirpal died in 859 B.C.E., Assyria had recovered much of the territory that it had lost around 1100 B.C.E. as a result of the economic and political problems at the end of the Middle Assyrian period.
Later kings continued to embellish Nimrud, including Ashurnasirpal II’s son, Shalmaneser III who erected the Black Obelisk depicting the presentation of tribute from Israel.
During the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E. Assyrian kings conquered the region from the Persian Gulf to the borders of Egypt. The most ambitious building of this period was the palace of king Sennacherib at Nineveh. The reliefs from Nineveh in the British Museum include a depiction of the siege and capture of Lachish in Judah.
Part of a series of wall panels that showed a royal hunt. Struck by one of the king’s arrows, blood gushes from the lion’s mouth. There was a very long tradition of royal lion hunts in Mesopotamia, with similar scenes known from the late fourth millennium B.C.E. The Dying Lion, panel from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, c. 645 B.C.E., Neo-Assyrian, alabaster, 16.5 x 30 cm, Nineveh, northern Iraq (British Museum; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The finest carvings, however, are the famous lion hunt reliefs from the North Palace at Nineveh belonging to Ashurbanipal. The scenes were originally picked out with paint, which occasionally survives, and work like modern comic books, starting the story at one end and following it along the walls to the conclusion.
The Assyrians used a form of gypsum for the reliefs and carved it using iron and copper tools. The stone is easily eroded when exposed to wind and rain and when it was used outside, the reliefs are presumed to have been protected by varnish or paint. It is possible that this form of decoration was adopted by Assyrian kings following their campaigns to the west, where stone reliefs were used in Neo-Hittite cities like Carchemish. The Assyrian reliefs were part of a wider decorative scheme which also included wall paintings and glazed bricks.
The reliefs were first used extensively by king Ashurnasirpal II at Kalhu (Nimrud). This tradition was maintained in the royal buildings in the later capital cities of Khorsabad and Nineveh.
Winged, human-headed bulls served as guardians of the city and its palace—walking by, they almost seem to move.
Lamassu (winged human-headed bulls possibly lamassu or shedu) from the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin (now Khorsabad, Iraq), Neo-Assyrian, c. 720–705 B.C.E., gypseous alabaster, 4.20 x 4.36 x 0.97 m (Musée du Louvre, Paris). These sculptures were excavated by P.-E. Botta in 1843–44. Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker
Human-headed genie watering sacred tree, 883–859 B.C.E., gypseous alabaster with traces of paint, 224.8 x 184.8 cm (Yale Art Gallery, New Haven)
The architecture and sculptural decorations of Neo-Assyrian palaces dating to the first half of the 1st millennium B.C.E. are not only unique in the Ancient Near East but exceptionally powerful and beautiful. Huge courtyards and halls led the visitor deeper and deeper into the king’s realm, revealing more and more complex sculptural programs along the progression. Images depicted the brutal destruction of enemy cities, the ruthless extraction of natural resources, the king hunting lions with a bow and arrow, and sacred spirits (winged men call genii) tending a tree of life.
Between these courtyards and halls, punctuating these scenes of power and prestige are massive pairs of doorway sculptures called Lamassu. The Lamassu are distinctive to Neo-Assyrian architectural sculpture (although the creatures which they represent have a long history in the Ancient Near East, dating to the Early Dynastic period) and several pairs of them survive to this day. The remains of more than 100 Lamassu have been identified at Neo-Assyrian palace sites. Because of their massive size and formidable form, since the discovery of Neo-Assyrian palaces in the 19th century, they have been a source of awe and fascination, even living on in art deco architecture of the 20th century.
A hybrid monster
A lamassu (also called a šedu, aladlammû or genii) is an apotropaic or protective hybrid monster with the bearded head of a mature mane, crown of a god, and the winged body of either a bull or lion. They are massive, up to 20 feet tall and weigh as much as 30–50 tons. Remarkably, each is carved from a single slab of limestone, gypsum alabaster, or breccia.
Winged human-headed bull (lamassu or shedu), 721–705 B.C.E. (reign of Sargon II, Neo-Assyrian Period, Khorsabad, ancient Dur Sharrukin, Assyria, Iraq), gypseous alabaster, 4.20 x 4.36 x 0.97 m, excavated by P.-E. Botta 1843–44 (Musée du Louvre, Paris; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
This pair at the Louvre is from the Palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad and dates from 720–705 B.C.E. and represents a winged bull with the bearded head of a man wearing a double horned crown. The face of the Lamassu is broad, with a strong nose and thick eyebrows which are double arched across his whole forehead. The massive beard is represented as thickly curled and braided, nearly doubling the size of the Lamassu’s face. His wide eyes look straight out over the head of the viewer, as if engaged in matters beyond the human realm. His crown, feather-topped, is decorated with rows of rosettes (a motif associated with divinity and possibly the goddess Ishtar) and set with a double-horned crown, marking the Lamassu as divine. His pointed bovine ears, ringed with gold hoops suspending beads, emerge from beneath the crown as well as long flowing locks which end in rows of tight curls giving a sense of buoyancy. The fur of the bull’s body is also richly curled, although in very organized straight rows which run along its breast, back, side and rear flank. Even the Lamassu’s tail is curled and braided.
Winged human-headed bull (lamassu or shedu), 721–705 B.C.E. (reign of Sargon II, Neo-Assyrian Period, Khorsabad, ancient Dur Sharrukin, Assyria, Iraq), gypseous alabaster, 4.20 x 4.36 x 0.97 m, excavated by P.-E. Botta 1843–44 (Musée du Louvre, Paris; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Huge cloven feet
The huge cloven feet of the Lamassu show him both standing and walking, courtesy of the carving having five legs instead of four. This is to present a kind of split view: when one approaches the Lamassu from the front, they look as if they are standing still guarding the door, but when you pass between them, you see all four of their legs walking forward. This odd detail, which is not common to all Lamassu, is done for two reasons. Firstly, because as much of the bulk of the stone must be left intact as possible to help support the weight of arch of the doorway. To carve out the space around the legs of the Lamassu, which would make the fourth front leg visible while passing between them, would weaken the arched doorway. The other reason is to ensure that no matter from what angle one sees the Lamassu, it looks formidable. The legs of the Lamassu are not only massive but very muscular, giving a clear sense of the power of this hybrid creature. Added to this complex sculptural representation, we must recall, was color. Several examples of Neo-Assyrian sculpture have been examined for the remains of their pigment and have been found to still hold microscopic traces of white calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate, bone black and charcoal, hematite red, cinnabar red, and cobalt blue.
Standard inscription in cuneiform (detail), Winged human-headed bull (lamassu or shedu), 721–705 B.C.E. (reign of Sargon II, Neo-Assyrian Period, Khorsabad, ancient Dur Sharrukin, Assyria, Iraq), gypseous alabaster, 4.20 x 4.36 x 0.97 m, excavated by P.-E. Botta 1843–44 (Musée du Louvre, Paris; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
On two panels between the hind legs of the Lamassu is a long inscription in cuneiform called the standard inscription. This is a statement listing the victories and virtues of King Sargon, his piety and the ways in which the gods have favored him. It also threatens a curse on whomever should seek to harm his palace. This kind of standard inscription is common on many Neo-Assyrian wall reliefs and Lamassu and can be seen as a scriptural representation of the images they are layered upon.
Winged human-headed bull (lamassu or shedu), 721–705 B.C.E. (reign of Sargon II, Neo-Assyrian Period, Khorsabad, ancient Dur Sharrukin, Assyria, Iraq), gypseous alabaster, 4.20 x 4.36 x 0.97 m, excavated by P.-E. Botta 1843–44 (Musée du Louvre, Paris; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Awe-inspiring
What is so awe-inspiring about these sculptures is not only their size but the powerful clarity with which they are sculpted and the terrifyingly precise repetition of forms. Curls and horns are incised with deep, powerful cuts in high relief and smoothed into sharp readability. The strict linear, mathematical arrangement of feathers, curls, and rosettes gives the Lamassu a perfected restraint, humanizing the frightening and chaotic hybridity. Possibly the most terrifying and impressive aspect of the carving of the Lamassu, however, is the precision of its sculptural repetition. Dating to an era much before “cut and paste” or any sort of mechanical reproductive methods in sculpture, we find the craftsmen of the Lamassu were masters of scrupulous and endlessly repetitive imitation.
Winged human-headed bull (lamassu or shedu), 721–705 B.C.E. (reign of Sargon II, Neo-Assyrian Period, Khorsabad, ancient Dur Sharrukin, Assyria, Iraq), gypseous alabaster, 4.20 x 4.36 x 0.97 m, excavated by P.-E. Botta 1843–44 (Musée du Louvre, Paris; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Backstory
The lamassu in museums today (including the Louvre, shown in our video, as well the British Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, and others) came from various ancient Assyrian sites located in modern-day Iraq. They were moved to their current institutional homes by archaeologists who excavated these sites in the mid-19th century. However, many ancient Assyrian cities and palaces—and their gates, with intact lamassu figures and other sculptures—remain as important archaeological sites in their original locations in Iraq.
In 2015, a chilling video circulated online, showed people associated with ISIS destroying ancient artifacts in both the museum in Mosul, Iraq and at the nearby ancient archaeological site of ancient Nineveh. Their targets included the lamassu figures that stood at one of the many ceremonial gates to this important ancient Assyrian city. Scholars believe that this particular gate, which dates to the reign of Sennacherib around 700 B.C.E., was built to honor the god Nergal, an Assyrian god of war and plague who ruled over the underworld. Islamic State representatives claimed that these statues were “idols” that needed to be destroyed. The video features footage of men using jackhammers, drills, and sledgehammers to demolish the lamassu.
The Nergal gate is only one of many artifacts and sites that have been demolished or destroyed by ISIS over the past decade. Despite the existence of other examples in museums around the world, the permanent loss of these objects is a permanent loss to global cultural heritage and to the study of ancient Assyrian art and architecture.
Only the king was permitted to kill lions—and doing so signified his power and ability to keep nature at bay.
Ashurbanipal Hunting Lions, gypsum hall relief from the North Palace, Ninevah, c. 645-635 B.C.E., excavated by H. Rassam beginning in 1853 (British Museum)
Ashurbanipal wasn’t just an Assyrian king, he was a propaganda king. The layout, decorations and even the landscaping of his palaces were all made to point to one major fact – he was more powerful than you.
