A Companion to Assyria

by Eckart Frahm

  A number of fragmentary glazed orthostat tiles of Aššurnaṣirpal’s father, Tukulti‐Ninurta II (890–884 BCE), found in the Anu‐Adad temple at Ashur show military scenes and lion hunts (London, British Museum 115705–115708; Andrae 1925: 25–31, pls. 7–9). A similar well‐preserved glazed tile from Kalḫu, possibly of Aššurnaṣirpal II, shows the king and courtiers (London, British Museum 90859; Reade 1983: fig. 41). From Aššurnaṣirpal’s palace at Kalḫu come fragments of painted bricks and wall paintings – mostly stylized arrangements of geometric, floral, and animal forms, but narrative subjects as well (Layard 1849b: pls. 84, 86; Albenda 2005: 1–14). No wall paintings have been reported from Nineveh, but painted bricks that showed military scenes and geometric patterns were found in the area of the Ištar Temple (Thompson and Hutchinson 1929a: pl. LVII; 1931: 82–3, pls. XXVI, XXVIII–XXXII; Nunn 1988: Abb. 125–30). At least some of these probably date to the time of Aššurnaṣirpal II.

  In 1878 Hormuzd Rassam found bronze strips that had decorated two pairs of wooden gates in what was probably a palace of Aššurnaṣirpal II at Balawat (ancient Imgur‐Enlil), a way station on the road to Babylon some 28 kilometers southeast of Nineveh. One of these had reliefs and inscriptions of Shalmaneser III and the other of Aššurnaṣirpal II. The Aššurnaṣirpal gate reliefs comprised sixteen bronze bands, eight on each gate, each decorated in repoussé with a single register of relief with a floral border. Four of the bands showed the king hunting lions and wild oxen and the remainder depicted military conquest and tribute. The images were each labeled with a brief cuneiform caption. In 1956, Mallowan reinvestigated Balawat and excavated a temple dedicated to Mamu, god of dreams, which contained another Aššurnaṣirpal II bronze gate. It also comprised sixteen bands decorated with scenes of conquest and tribute (London, British Museum 124685–124700; Mosul Museum; Curtis and Tallis, eds. 2008).

  Aššurnaṣirpal’s steles are of two general types: obelisks, carved with images on all sides, and slabs, sculptured only on the front. The fragmentary basalt “Rassam Obelisk” was found just outside the entrance to Aššurnaṣirpal’s temple in the center of Kalḫu citadel, near a stone base upon which it may originally have stood (London, British Museum 118800; Reade 1980). It originally had twenty‐eight horizontal relief panels framed by raised margins, with seven panels stacked vertically on each side and arranged to align with the equivalent panels on adjacent sides, resulting in the effect of horizontal registers of four panels as one walks around the monument. The subject of its reliefs was the delivery of tribute. On the raised margin below each register was a one‐line text that extended around all four sides, labeling the tribute depicted.

  Nearly 300 basalt obelisk fragments were recovered during excavations in the temple and palace precinct on the north side of Ashur. The fragments were carved with images, inscriptions, or both, all documenting the delivery of tribute. In an exemplary study, Orlamünde (2011) divided these fragments on the basis of material and carving style into three types, and Frahm published the inscriptions. On the basis of their analysis, it seems likely that each of these types corresponds to one obelisk, so they will be referred to here provisionally as Obelisks I, II (discussed here), and III (see Shalmaneser III below). Although not enough is preserved to permit a full reconstruction of the layout and size of any one of these obelisks, it is clear that each was divided into registers and panels similar to the Rassam Obelisk. They differ from the Rasssam Obelisk, however, in that each panel has its own short caption (Frahm in Orlamünde 2011: 72).

  Fragments of Obelisk I were found scattered throughout the northern part of Ashur, forming no pattern that would suggest its original location. Concerning its date, Frahm observed that one of its captions includes the place name Lumaš, which is only attested in texts of Tiglath‐pileser I, and consequently he proposed a date of Tiglath‐pileser or his successor Aššur‐bel‐kala. Furthermore, Reade previously observed that a fragment of this obelisk shows tribute of a large reptile, apparently a crocodile, and these two kings are the only ones who include crocodiles in their tribute lists. Nevertheless, Reade felt that the artistic parallels for this obelisk are ninth century. Obelisk I is very similar to the Rassam Obelisk in material, layout, and artistic style, all of which are completely different from both the Broken Obelisk of Aššur‐bel‐kala and the White Obelisk. As Orlamünde observed, if the early date is correct, then no significant stylistic development can have taken place between Tiglath‐pileser I and Aššurnaṣirpal II (Reade 1981: 146; Grayson 1987: 42, 104; Orlamünde 2011: 15, 17–25, 52–3, 59–62, 71, 95, Taf. 1–10, 49).

  The majority of the fragments of Obelisk II were found near the east corner of the outer facade of the Anu‐Adad temple. Reade observed that Andrae excavated a gate here in the space between the Anu‐Adad temple and Old Palace and found an uninscribed basalt base in the angle next to the east jamb that would be the right size for an obelisk. The problem with this suggestion is that the base stood in a corner, so that only two faces would be visible of an obelisk standing there. Stylistically, this obelisk dates to the reign of Aššurnaṣirpal II or Shalmaneser III – the fragmentary captions do not provide enough information to determine which one (Andrae 1909: 68–70, Taf. III, V, XXVIII‐XXX; Reade 1981: 150; Orlamünde 2011: 15–16, 25–37, 53–5, 62–7, 71, 96, Taf. 11–26, 48, 50–1). Basalt and limestone obelisk fragments probably of Aššurnaṣirpal II were also found in the area of the Ištar temple at Nineveh (Reade 1981: 151–4; Börker‐Klähn 1982: Nr. 139–44).

  Aššurnaṣirpal’s steles are divided between his capital of Kalḫu and the periphery of his realm. The “Banquet Stele” is a rectangular sandstone slab that was set up in a small room next to the left entrance of Aššurnaṣirpal’s throne room at Kalḫu. The king is depicted in a small rectangular panel at the top center, standing facing left, holding a staff in his right hand and a mace in his left, and flanked by symbols of deities. The remainder of the slab is covered with an inscription that describes the banquet held to celebrate the completion of the palace (Mosul Museum; Börker‐Klähn 1982: Nr. 137).

  Two more steles, found far apart, are both vertical limestone slabs with an arched top. The image of the standing king, facing left, occupies the full height of the slab, his left hand holding a mace, his right pointing upward toward symbols of deities in the field before his face. The remainder of the surface is covered with a lengthy inscription. One stele stood to the right of the subsidiary entrance in the courtyard of the Ninurta temple at Kalḫu. There was an altar in front of it, suggesting that one could make offerings here to the deities depicted on it. The other was found at Kurkh on the upper Tigris some 20 kilometers southeast of Diyarbakır, Turkey (London, British Museum 118805, 118883; Budge 1914: pl. 2; Börker‐Klähn 1982: Nr. 135–6). A similar fragmentary stele, but with the king facing right, was found at Babil, the source of the ancient Subnat river (Adana Museum; Hawkins 1969; Börker‐Klähn 1982: Nr. 134). This is presumably the stele that Aššurnaṣirpal says he erected at the source of the Subnat, beside steles of his predecessors Tiglath‐pileser and Tukulti‐Ninurta (Grayson 1991: 201–2). Since references to “the source of the river Subnat” recur frequently in Aššurnaṣirpal’s texts as one of the geographical indicators of the extent of his realm, it follows that this stele, and probably the one from Kurkh, was erected both as a territorial marker and as a means of establishing Aššurnaṣirpal’s place in the line of great Assyrian conquerors.

  Shalmaneser III (858–824 BCE)

  One of the best‐preserved paintings from ancient Assyria is a large‐scale arched panel of glazed bricks from Shalmaneser III’s new palace, the arsenal (“Fort Shalmaneser”) at Kalḫu. It was composed of over 300 bricks that included symmetrical images of Shalmaneser flanking a god in a winged disk and bulls flanking a stylized tree (Baghdad, Iraq Museum; Reade 1963). Fort Shalmaneser had no wall reliefs, but at the east end of the throne room was a large limestone throne base decorated with reliefs. On its front was an image of the B
abylonian king Marduk‐zakir‐šumi clasping the hand of Shalmaneser, who had helped him quell a rebellion, while its sides are carved with scenes of tribute being brought before the king, each labeled with a brief text describing the origin and type of tribute shown. Inscribed on its top is a lengthy text summarizing the king’s first thirteen years of rule (Baghdad, Iraq Museum; Mallowan 1966: II, figs. 369–71; Grayson 1996: 101). Marcus (1987) provided a stimulating analysis of the principles of organization of the throne base reliefs, as well as those on the Black Obelisk and Balawat doors.

  Of similar character are the reliefs on the Black Obelisk, found by Layard in front of the Aššurnaṣirpal II temple in the center of the Kalḫu citadel (Figure 24.7). The black limestone obelisk stands 198 cm high and is intact except for some wear at the base. Its twenty relief panels are arranged around all four sides in five registers, each showing the delivery of tribute from a different land, each labeled with an epigraph that identifies the tribute and its source. From the top, the subjects are tribute from Gilzanu, Jehu son of Omri (Ḫumri = Israel), Muṣri (probably Egypt), Suḫi, and Patina. Of particular note are the exotic animals received from Muṣri, including a rhinoceros, and the depiction of Jehu of Israel, whose deeds are also recorded in the Bible (2 Kings 9–10). Marcus argued that these five lands were selected to express the extent and security of the Assyrian commercial network, signifying Shalmaneser’s control over trade by land, river, and sea. In addition to the images, the obelisk’s upper and lower parts carry a long inscription summarizing the events of Shalmaneser’s first thirty‐one years (London, British Museum 118885; Pritchard 1969: no. 351–4; Börker‐Klähn 1982: Nr. 152; Marcus 1987; Grayson 1996: 62, 148–51).

  Figure 24.7 Kalḫu (modern Nimrud), Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, black limestone, H: 198 cm, London, British Museum 118885.

  Source: author.

  Most of the fragments of Obelisk III, the third obelisk from Ashur, were found in the eastern part of the small “Middle Courtyard” of the Assur temple, suggesting that it originally stood near the entrance to the inner “Main Courtyard.” Based on the occurrence of the personal names Puḫame and Katê in the captions on two of these fragments, Frahm dated Obelisk III to Shalmaneser III, an attribution supported as well by similarity of the garments and containers of the tribute bearers to those on Shalmaneser’s Black Obelisk (Orlamünde 2011: 16, 37–51, 55, 67–71, 97, Taf. 27, 51).

  It is noteworthy that all of the obelisks and fragments described here were apparently found in the vicinity of temples. Furthermore, while the few preserved inscriptions on obelisks focus mainly on military successes, the imagery on the Neo‐Assyrian examples features the delivery of tribute. This suggests that the function of obelisks was to display to the gods the economic success of the king, in pictures that depict a flow of wealth into the empire, and in text that describes how this wealth was acquired. In addition, if the placement of imagery on all four sides indicates that obelisks were meant to be walked around, this implies a mobile viewer and a free‐standing setting, suggesting that they were intended for a human audience as well.

  Near the Aššurnaṣirpal building in the center of the Kalḫu citadel were also the remains of a Shalmaneser III building. The largest feature was a pair of bull colossi inscribed on front and back with a text recounting Shalmaneser’s first eighteen years. These should have marked the entrance to a palace or temple, but the building itself has disappeared (Grayson 1996: 42–8; Sobolewski 1982b; Russell 1999a: 72–9). A lion colossus bearing a Shalmaneser inscription was found in the east gate of the Kalḫu citadel (Mallowan 1966: I, fig. 6).

  The most extensive group of Shalmaneser III reliefs were 16 bronze bands that embellished a pair of wooden doors in the palace at Balawat. Each band was divided into two registers, decorated in repoussé with lively images of royal military campaigns and delivery of tribute. The subjects are drawn from the king’s first eleven years, each labeled with a brief epigraph giving the location of the event. A long text summarizing Shalmaneser’s first thirteen years was engraved on two bronze strips, one on the edge of each door (most in London, British Museum 124651‐124663; King 1915; Unger 1920; Grayson 1996: 27). A decorated bronze band, possibly also dating to Shalmaneser III, was found in the Anu‐Adad temple at Ashur (Andrae 1909: Taf. 33).

  Four statues of Shalmaneser III are known, two from Kalḫu and two from Ashur. The best preserved is an under life size (103 cm) standing statue in white limestone from Room NE 50, a workshop or store room in Fort Shalmaneser. As with the Aššurnaṣirpal II statue, the king is bare‐headed and wrapped in a long fringed garment, but this figure’s hands are folded in front of his waist and he wears a necklace with divine pendants. Traces of black paint were preserved on the hair, beard and necklace. The bottom of the statue had been broken and repaired in antiquity by drilling dowel holes, which perhaps explains why it was found in a workshop area. The inscription, carved on the front below the waist, is addressed to Adad of Kurbail, in whose temple the statue must originally have stood. The text continues with accounts of the campaigns of Shalmaneser’s 18th through 20th years, and concludes with the statement that he erected this beautiful image in gišnugallu‐stone before Adad, in hopes that the god would be pleased and bless the king with health and longevity (Baghdad, Iraq Museum 60497; Oates 1962: 16–17, pl. VIII; Kinnier‐Wilson 1962; Grayson 1996: 58–61).

  The other statue from Kalḫu, also in white limestone, was found in pieces by a farmer in the lower town near the southeast corner of the citadel, and reassembled with considerable restoration. The pose is the same as the Kurbail statue, but the figure is taller (140 cm) and wears the traditional royal crown. The fragmentary inscription, which gives no information about the statue’s original dedication or location, records campaigns through the king’s thirty‐first year and concludes with a hunting account (Baghdad, Iraq Museum 60496; Laessøe 1959; Grayson 1996: 72–84).

  According to their inscriptions, both statues from Ashur originally stood in the Tabira gate, at the northwest corner of the city mound. One is a life‐size (135 cm high) headless male figure in basalt, seated on a simple block throne and footstool. It was found by Layard during his brief excavations at the west side of Ashur, and based on Layard’s account Andrae concluded that it came from the area of the Tabira gate. On the sides and back of the throne is an inscription that begins with Shalmaneser’s titles and a brief summary of the campaign of his ninth year, continues with an account of his reconstruction of the city wall from the Tabira gate to the Tigris, his creation of a new statue of the god Kidudu, the guardian of the city wall, and concludes with a list of the city gates. Although the subject of this statue has often been identified in publications as Shalmaneser, it is clear from the text that this is in fact his statue of the god Kidudu (British Museum 118886; Layard 1849a: II, 50–2; Andrae 1913, vol. I: 12, 38, 169–70, Blatt 13; vol. II: Taf. XCVII; Grayson 1996: 97–9; British Museum website, collection search).

  The other Ashur statue, excavated in secondary context in a Parthian building, is a headless standing basalt statue of Shalmaneser III. It was found in fragments and reconstructed in Istanbul with a somewhat odd‐looking head based on the statue of Aššurnaṣirpal II. When complete, the figure would have been slightly over life size, standing nearly two meters tall. The king is wrapped in the usual long fringed garment, holds a mace in his left hand and a sickle in his right, and wears a necklace with divine pendants. The lengthy inscription, carved on the front, left side, and back, summarizes selected campaigns through the 26th year and concludes with the statement that Shalmaneser rebuilt the walls of Ashur and placed this statue of himself in the Tabira gate. It seems possible, therefore, that this statue once stood in front of the statue of Kidudu in a chapel at the Tabira gate (Istanbul, Archaeological Museum 6450; Andrae 1913, vol. I: 12, 37–8, 172, Blatt 13; Grayson 1996: 117–19).

  One stele and three rock reliefs of Shalmaneser III are known. The stele, in limestone, is from Kurkh
and is very similar to the Aššurnaṣirpal II Kurkh stele (London, British Museum 118884; Smith 1938: pl. 1). Two of the rock reliefs are from the tunnel at the source of the Tigris at Birklin, some 65 kilometers north of Diyarbakır, Turkey, and the other is from Kenk Boghazi, on the Euphrates some 60 kilometers northeast of Gaziantep (Börker‐Klähn 1982: Nr. 149–51). All of these reliefs show the standing figure of the king facing left.

  Šamši‐Adad V (823–811), Adad‐nirari III (810–783), and Shalmaneser IV (782–773 BCE)

  Most of the known examples of relief sculpture from the reigns of these kings are steles. Hormuzd Rassam found a very fine limestone stele of Šamši‐Adad V to the right of the inner door in the gate chamber (NT1) of the sanctuary court of the Nabû temple at Kalḫu (Figure 24.8). The standing king faces left – toward the door – in the usual pose with deity symbols in front of his face (London, British Museum 118892; Smith 1938: pl. 2; Grayson 1996: 180).

  Figure 24.8 Kalḫu (modern Nimrud), stele of Šamši‐Adad V, limestone, H: 195 cm, London, British Museum 118892.

  Source: author.

  At Kalḫu, the walls of Adad‐nirari III’s palatial reception suite to the south of Aššurnaṣirpal’s palace were painted with stylized arrangements of bulls and geometric and floral motifs. Similar painted decorations were found on the walls of Adad‐nirari’s palace in area PD 5 (Layard 1849b: pls. 86–7; Mallowan 1954: 70, 153–63, pl. XXXVI; Albenda 2005: 14–20). An obelisk fragment from the area of the Ištar temple at Nineveh that shows the head of a tributary holding a bowl includes the name Zakur, suggesting a date of Adad‐nirari III (London, British Museum 120429; Reade 1981: 151–2, pl. 20c). If correct, this would be the latest known Assyrian obelisk.