Assyrian Palace Research Articles

Arslan Tash Palace: a reconsideration of the architecture, phases, chronology and use

This study reconsiders the plan of Arslan Tash Palace as presented through the excavations carried out by F. Thureau-Dangin in the early part of the 20th century. The north-eastern part of the Palace is shown to be the royal residence, with a reconstruction attempted by studying the walls and blocks used. A comparative study between the Arslan Tash Palace and Nimrud Palace in Iraq, which is a typical primary palace and the most similar to Arslan Tash’s plan, is undertaken. Arslan Tash is then compared with other Assyrian palaces in western Assyria (Syria). Using the visible architecture, archaeological levels and building materials, this study attempts to reconstruct the various phases the palace went through. The results show that two phases were mixed within the main gate and the southern part, affecting the general layout of the palace. The phases in this area were defined using the differing levels of older buildings, beginning with the structures in the Bâtiment aux Ivoires, the north, the north-east and the south of the Assyrian Palace. Finally, the latest phase that included the Arslan Tash Palace was identified and analyzed. As the archaeological excavations were not completed in some parts of the palace, there are, inevitably, some gaps in relation to the plan, architecture, chronology and stratigraphy.

:Life at Court: Ideology and Audience in the Late Assyrian Palace

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewLife at Court: Ideology and Audience in the Late Assyrian Palace. By Ludovico Portuese. Münster: Zaphon, 2020. Pp. xviii + 326 + 49 figures. €85 (cloth).Kiersten NeumannKiersten NeumannUniversity of Chicago Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 82, Number 1April 2023 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/723882 For permission to reuse a book review in this section, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Ludovico Portuese, Life at court. Ideology and Audience in the Late Assyrian Palace

Ludovico Portuese, Life at court. Ideology and Audience in the Late Assyrian Palace

Drawing Distinctions: Assyrians and Others in the Art of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

Between the ninth and seventh centuries BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire became the largest the world had yet seen. In the process of imperial conquest, the Assyrian state incorporated previously foreign territories and people into their world. Landscapes, materials, and the labor of conquered bodies became a part of the Assyrian royal palaces of northern Iraq, both as elements of their construction and as themes emphasized within the extensive visual programs of the palace reliefs. Within and through visual depiction of enemy bodies and foreign landscapes, in the process of being (often violently) reshaped by Assyrian hands, Neo-Assyrian kings brought the farthest reaches of their world into the center of imperial power. This article considers how specific strategies of representation in palace art allowed the Assyrian palace to serve as a microcosm of the empire and a map of its borders. Palace art emphasized the remade, reworked, or recreated, defining “Assyrianness” as that which remakes and has been remade. As a central act of remaking, I examine representations of captive or submissive foreigners, whose presence in the reliefs commemorates their humiliation while compounding and enhancing it in the very ways that these figures are depicted: cringing, deficient, and physiologically incorrect. I pay particular attention to examples from the late King Ashurbanipal’s reign, in which foreign leaders are singled out through representation with distinctive facial features. I argue that this act of (literally) drawing distinctions was an inherently imperial process, one that both expressed and enabled an ideology of expansion and control.

Ein Ensemble ungewöhnlicher Reliefs im Militärpalast von Ninive

Abstract Out of the looting tunnels on Tell Nebi Yunus at Nineveh, which were dug into the ruins of the Late Assyrian military palace by henchmen of the so-called Islamic State, there came, amongst other objects, relief panels featuring anthropomorphic representations. These figures, shown in frontal view, are unusual when compared to the wider repertoire of Assyrian images known from the royal palaces on Kuyunjik. The decoration and context of these stone slabs raise questions regarding their function.

The Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Southwest: Imperial Domination and Its Consequences

The Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Southwest: Imperial Domination and Its Consequences

Broken guardians: the lamassu and fragmented historical vision in nineteenth-century France

With the rise of interest in ancient Mesopotamia in the nineteenth century, the lamassu, the human-headed winged bull that guarded many Assyrian palace entrances, occupied a unique position in the popular imagination. As a signifier of an ancient civilization that was being revealed to European audiences for the first time, the lamassu embodied multiple discourses of fragmentation with respect to vision, representation, and historical narrativity. This article traces the representation and reception of the lamassu in nineteenth-century France, beginning with the campaign of Paul-Émile Botta in the early 1840s and the subsequent publication of the five-volume Monument de Ninive (1849–50), illustrated by Eugène Flandin. Many of Botta’s discoveries were mounted within the Louvre’s Musée assyrien, inaugurated less than a year before the revolutionary upheavals of 1848. The historical linkages between ancient Assyria and nineteenth-century France were not lost on many contemporaneous commentators, particularly after the archaeological campaigns were resumed by Victor Place in the 1850s. Place’s work culminated in the disastrous loss of a lamassu during a tribal raid on the Tigris River, and his subsequent publication, Ninive et l’Assyrie (1867–70), presents a self-conscious awareness of the limits of objectivity in the construction of history. Ultimately, it is argued that as a monumental yet mobile guardian of space and of history, the lamassu allegorizes the fragmented nature of historical vision in nineteenth-century France. Looking back to an era wracked by repeated revolutionary upheaval, the lamassu reads as a pointed and urgent warning against hubris.

‘Fotografia’ de um ritual neo-assírio (século IX a.C.)

The erection of steles and rock reliefs by the Assyrians was effected by consecration rituals. In royal inscriptions, the information about the structure of those ceremonies is scarce. However, resorting to the visual record of the bronze bands that decorated one set of gates of the Assyrian palace of Imgur-Enlil (Tell Balawat), depicting several stages of the institution of some of such monuments by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, it may be possible to establish degrees of intertextuality between the two supports (visual and written) and to realise if the texts reflect themselves the exact structure of the rituals. It is the purpose of this paper to contribute thus to a better knowledge of those rituals, that were integral to the Assyrian empire’s ideological structures.

Representations of Archers in the Relief of Tiglath-Pileser III

Modern scholarship has tended to focus on the concepts of ideology and propaganda in Assyrian palace reliefs. This paper wrestles with the presence of artistic conventions and their level of stability throughout the Neo-Assyrian period My aim is to draw attention to specific examples of accepted principles that were followed in the reliefs of Ashurnasirpal II and measure their stability throughout the centuries, with particular emphasis on reliefs of Tiglath-Pileser III. To do so, I have selected a relief from the Central Palace of Tiglath-Pileser III which illustrates an Assyrian officer preparing to shoot an arrow in a leftward direction. It is concluded that the violation of illusionistic perspective in this relief can be explained by accepting the presence of Assyrian artistic conventions.

Assyrian Palace Sculptures. By Paul Collins with photographs by Lisa Baylis and Sandra Marshall. pp. 144. London, British Museum Press, 2008.

Assyrian Palace Sculptures. By Paul Collins with photographs by Lisa Baylis and Sandra Marshall. pp. 144. London, British Museum Press, 2008.

The Neo-Assyrians at Tell el-Hesi: A Petrographic Study of Imitation Assyrian Palace Ware

The research described here was conducted to determine the geographical provenance of selected Assyrian Palace Ware sherds unearthed at Tell el-Hesi 1 in strata of the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E. The goal was to establish if the unusually large numbers of Assyrian Palace Ware sherds found at Hesi were imported from Assyria proper or imitation pieces manufactured at or near Hesi. To that end, selected samples of Assyrian Palace Ware from Hesi were thin-sectioned and their petrographic profiles compared with samples of Assyrian Palace Ware from Khirbet Qasrij, Iraq, with the geomorphology of the region surrounding Tell Jemmeh, and with petrographic descriptions of Tell Jemmeh pottery. Data presented here indicate that the Hesi Palace Ware samples were manufactured local to Hesi in the loess depositional region of the Beersheva basin.

Expelling Demons at Nineveh: On the Visibility of Benevolent Demons in the Palaces of Nineveh

As has been shown and extensively dealt with in early and more recent scholarship, Neo-Assyrian palatial wall reliefs went through many thematic changes throughout their two hundred and fifty years of existence. One of their conspicuous traits was a gradual abandoning of magical-religious subject matters, represented by protective supernatural beings, in favour of larger and more detailed historical compositions — mostly of a belligerent nature — revealing, for the first time in antiquity, a truer sense of narrative display. As the narrative-historical themes were rightly considered to be an innovative and prominent contribution of Assyrian imagery to the history of art, extensive efforts have been devoted to the study of these compositions within the context of Assyrian palaces. In the present contribution I intend, however, to concentrate on the “losing” side of Assyrian palatial decoration, namely to focus on the visibility of apotropaic fantastic creatures rendered on wall reliefs and to offer some explanation for their gradual expulsion from the pictorial display of the Assyrian palace. Following Porada, in this essay these hybrids are called demons, in accordance with the Greek term daimon. Benevolent demons appear already in early ninth-century Neo-Assyrian wall reliefs, both in temples, as shown by a small number of slabs from the Ninurta Temple at Nimrud, and much more commonly in palaces, in particular within the North-West Palace.

Expelling demons at Nineveh: The visibility of benevolent demons in the palaces of Nineveh

As has been shown and extensively dealt with in early and more recent scholarship, Neo-Assyrian palatial wall reliefs went through many thematic changes throughout their two hundred and fifty years of existence. One of their conspicuous traits was a gradual abandoning of magical-religious subject matters, represented by protective supernatural beings, in favour of larger and more detailed historical compositions — mostly of a belligerent nature — revealing, for the first time in antiquity, a truer sense of narrative display. As the narrative-historical themes were rightly considered to be an innovative and prominent contribution of Assyrian imagery to the history of art, extensive efforts have been devoted to the study of these compositions within the context of Assyrian palaces.In the present contribution I intend, however, to concentrate on the “losing” side of Assyrian palatial decoration, namely to focus on the visibility of apotropaic fantastic creatures rendered on wall reliefs and to offer some explanation for their gradual expulsion from the pictorial display of the Assyrian palace. Following Porada, in this essay these hybrids are called demons, in accordance with the Greek term daimon. Benevolent demons appear already in early ninth-century Neo-Assyrian wall reliefs, both in temples, as shown by a small number of slabs from the Ninurta Temple at Nimrud, and much more commonly in palaces, in particular within the North-West Palace.

The Writing on the Wall: Studies in the Architectural Context of Late Assyrian Palace Inscriptions

The Writing on the Wall: Studies in the Architectural Context of Late Assyrian Palace Inscriptions

The Writing on the Wall: Studies in the Architectural Context of Late Assyrian Palace Inscriptions. By John Malcolm Russell.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsThe Writing on the Wall: Studies in the Architectural Context of Late Assyrian Palace Inscriptions. By John Malcolm Russell.Ronald H. SackRonald H. Sack Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Archaeology Volume 105, Number 3July 2001 The journal of the Archaeological Institute of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/507380 Copyright © 2001 by the Archaeological Institute of America. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Epigraphs and Assyrian Palace Reliefs: The Development of the Epigraphic Text

Previous articleNext article No AccessEpigraphs and Assyrian Palace Reliefs: The Development of the Epigraphic TextPamela GerardiPamela Gerardi Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Cuneiform Studies Volume 40, Number 1Spring 1988 A journal of ASOR Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/1359704 Views: 1Total views on this site Copyright 1988 American Schools of Oriental ResearchPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Sound Holes and Geometrical Figures. Clues to the Terminology of Ancient Mesopotamian Harps

On the sides of the vertical harps on the Assyrian Palace reliefs in the British Museum one observes a characteristic geometrical figure inscribed in a consistent manner. The figure resembles a rectangle the sides of which are concave (Plate Xa). The oldest (653 B.C.) vertical harps shown on these reliefs ' are played by seven members of King Teumman's Elamite orchestra (S. W. Palace at Nineveh, BM 124802, detail here, Plate Xb). Most of these harps are marked with a pair of concave-sided rectangles. There are six clear marks, five places are too eroded to show distinct marks and three places seem to lack marks. The sculptor's skill and care varies from harp to harp and the workmanship seems generally poor for the instruments where the rectangles are missing. In Assurbanipal's North Palace at Nineveh (645-635 B.C.) there are two meticulously carved musical scenes (BM 124920, 124922) where vertical harps (Plate Xc) are marked with pairs of concave rectangles. Each mark is framed by a narrow border and its centre is gouged deeply into the side of the instruments as if representing a hole through the side of the body (Plate Xa). On the other hand, in the Elamite harps the interior of each concave rectangle is flush with the surrounding. However, in view of their poorer workmanship, these rectangles are probably also meant to represent holes. Vertical harps also existed in Egypt during this time. They closely resemble the Assyrian harps but lack the concave rectangles. Some extant Egyptian harps are known 2 and their construction indicates that the harp body was made from a single piece of wood hollowed out to form a U-shaped cross section. The body was completely wrapped in thin leather, closing the top of the U where it formed the sound board. The thickness of the wooden sides (i.e. the verticals of the U) is about 15 mm in one Egyptian harp. The gouged centres in the concave rectangles, mentioned above, would most likely have penetrated such relatively thin sides. Holes of the type found in the sides of Mesopotamian harps seem to have had a long history prior to the 7th century. Well preserved relief plaques (1950-1530 B.C.)

Assyrian Palace Reliefs in the British Museum. R. D. Barnett and W. Forman.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsAssyrian Palace Reliefs in the British Museum. R. D. Barnett and W. Forman.Edward F. CampbellEdward F. Campbell Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 39, Number 2May 1976 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/3209355 Views: 1Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in The Biblical Archaeologist (1938-1997), which is continued by Near Eastern Archaeology (1998-present). Copyright 1976 American Schools of Oriental ResearchPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Diffusion of the 'salles a quatre saillants'

In 1965 Roman Ghirshman drew attention to a particular element of Elamite architecture which he called the “salle à quatre saillants”: this is a rectangular room with four pilasters placed near the short walls and a large doorway in the middle of its long side, opening on to a courtyard. It must have served as the reception, audience and throne hall. Ghirshman identified this architectural form in successive Middle Elamite levels on the Royal City mound at Susa in houses belonging to officials of the Sukkalmahhu, and so it may reflect Royal Palace designs, as do the Neo-Assyrian Residences at Khorsabad. He has dated these levels from c. 1800 to c. 1300 B.C. He also noted its reappearance at Susa in the Palace of Darius. Here it is slightly modified: there are two “salles à quatre saillants” placed side by side with doorways piercing through them both (see also fig. 11). It would be possible to maintain that the double and single “salles à quatre saillants” are distinct but this has neither chronological nor geographical significance.The eight centuries between these buildings cannot yet be filled with more Elamite examples of the “salle à quatre saillants” because very little Elamite architecture has been discovered. It does not appear in the funerary palaces at Choga Zanbil and has not been found on the Iranian plateau at this period. The Kassite palace at Dur-Kurigalzu shows no trace of it, and Geoffrey Turner in his recent study of Late Assyrian palace plans did not draw attention to this feature.

The State Apartments of Late Assyrian Palaces

As was first observed by Gordon Loud, one of the more distinctive features of Late Assyrian architecture is the striking similarity to be seen in the plans of all palaces of this period, both in their general layout and in the arrangement of the various component parts and individual suites of rooms contained therein. Loud's study was based on buildings excavated at Khorsabad, but the architectural formula which he discovered to govern the planning of both the royal palaces and private residences at this site, are equally applicable to palaces found at other sites of this period and, furthermore, can now be enlarged upon in many details. In the present article a brief resumé is first given of the general characteristics of Late Assyrian palace planning, and this is followed by a comparative analysis of the various types of ‘state apartments’ to be found in such buildings.