Abstract
The first ivories at the Assyrian imperial capital of Kalhu/Nimrud in northern Iraq were found by Henry Layard in the mid-19th century. Max Mallowan and David Oates (both professors at the Institute of Archaeology), together with the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, worked there from 1949–1963 and found literally thousands more, both in the palaces of the acropolis and in a large outlying building known as Fort Shalmaneser. During the last 50 years the majority has been published in the Ivories from Nimrud series, so that it is now possible to look at this remarkable corpus as a whole. It immediately becomes evident that most were not made in Assyria, but imported from the states conquered by the Assyrian kings in the early 1st millennium BC. Many show a debt to the art of Egypt and can be assigned to the ‘Phoenician tradition’, thus recording the otherwise little-known art of the Phoenicians, long famed as master craftsmen. ‘Syrian-Intermediate’ ivories are versions of Phoenician ivories and may represent the art of the recently-arrived Aramaean kingdoms, while the very different ‘North Syrian’ ivories derive from earlier Hittite traditions.
Highlights
The first ivories at the Assyrian imperial capital of Kalhu/Nimrud in northern Iraq were found by Henry Layard in the mid-19th century
More carved ivory has been found at the Assyrian capital city of Kalhu, better known as Nimrud, in Northern Iraq than anywhere else in the Ancient Near East
The majority was brought there by the Assyrian kings as gift, tribute or booty and forms, an unparalleled record of the minor arts of the areas conquered or controlled by Assyria. They present an enormous jigsaw puzzle for so little material has been found on Levantine or Mediterranean sites to enable us to establish their probable places and times of production. Their actual archaeological context only provides a window during which they probably arrived in Assyria, mostly between the reigns of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859) and Sargon II (722–705)
Summary
The first ivories at the Assyrian imperial capital of Kalhu/Nimrud in northern Iraq were found by Henry Layard in the mid-19th century. Fig. 2: ‘Egyptianizing’ ivory of seated goddesses flanking a crowned cartouche, discovered by Henry Layard in the North West Palace and drawn by E. Especially those carved in their narrative style, were found near throne rooms and other ceremonial areas
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