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Further Reading
The best introduction to Assyrian art in the third and second millennia is Harper et al. (1995, available for free download from http://www.metmuseum.org/research/metpublications), and for the first millennium, Curtis and Reade (1995), both supplemented by Marzahn and Salje (2003). For steles, obelisks, and rock reliefs from all periods, see Börker‐Klähn (1982), with more specialized studies of obelisks in Reade (1975, 1980) and Orlamünde (2011).
There is considerable literature on Neo‐Assyrian sculpture. General introductions are Reade (1983) and Russell (1998–2001). Meuszynski (1981) and Paley and Sobolewski (1987, 1992) provide a comprehensive catalog of the reliefs in the Northwest Palace of Aššurnaṣirpal II, while Russell (1998b) considers their meaning. For Aššurnaṣirpal’s bronze gates, see Curtis and Tallis (2008). King (1915) is still the basic publication of the bronze gates of Shalmaneser III. Marcus (1997) gives a stimulating analysis of Shalmaneser’s relief sculptures, and Reade (1963) documents the remarkable reassembly of that king’s great glazed brick panel.
The fundamental modern publication of the sculptures of Sargon II is Albenda (1986), with additional studies in Caubet (1995). Barnett and his collaborators (1962, 1998, 1976) compiled the catalogs of the palace sculptures of Tiglath‐pileser III, Sennacherib, and Assurbanipal, with additional Tiglath‐pileser reliefs in Paley (n.d.) and more Sennacherib reliefs in Russell (1998a). For an analysis of Sennacherib’s reliefs in their architectural context, see Russell (1991). The most readily accessible guides to the Nimrud tombs are Curtis et al. (2008) and Hussein et al. 2016, available for free download respectively at http://www.bisi.ac.uk and http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/misc/nimrud‐queens‐tombs.
CHAPTER 25
Assyrian Technology
Ariel M. Bagg
Introduction
The complex technical projects realized in ancient Assyria required the existence of considerable technical knowledge and of specialists who held responsible positions and performed ambitious technical and organizational tasks. These specialists correspond to today’s engineers, although engineering emerged as a profession only as recently as the nineteenth century CE. We have no information concerning their instruction or self‐image, and a specific Assyrian concept of “engineer” is nowhere found. However, this does not mean that Assyrian “engineers” did not exist. Professionals such as the etinnu “house builder,” šellapāju “architect,” šitimgallu “chief builder,” or gugallu “inspector of canals” all performed engineering tasks. Their work is documented in written sources, iconography, and archaeological remains. The skills of the Assyrian “engineers” are attested in the fields of city planning, the construction of monumental buildings and bridges, hydraulic engineering, and transportation of heavy loads.
In all major engineering projects, the Assyrian king appears in a key position as the principal client, financier, and manager. Yet although he presents himself as the sole person responsible for building projects, one must rather imagine him as a kind of project manager, who created guidelines, set the deadlines, and provided the resources, demanded to be kept informed about the progress of the construction work, and received all of the honors associated with the success of the enterprise.
City Planning and Monumental Buildings
The foundation of a new capital, or the transformation of an existing city into a capital city, is well‐attested in Assyrian history and has been the object of several studies (Stronach 1994; Parpola 1995). The old trading city and cult center Ashur (Qal‘at Širqaṭ) on the west bank of the Tigris River was the Assyrian capital during the Middle Assyrian period. It was the most important cult center throughout Assyrian history, and the Assyrian kings actively constructed, enlarged, and restored its buildings and fortifications. Nevertheless, with an area of 70 hectares, Ashur remained the smallest of all of the Assyrian capitals.
The first in a series of newly‐founded Assyrian capitals was built by king Tukulti‐Ninurta I (1233–1197), who founded a cult center and royal residence called Kar‐Tukulti‐Ninurta, “Port Tukulti‐Ninurta” (modern Tulul al‐‘Aqar) on the east bank of the Tigris River, only three kilometers upstream from Ashur. Several royal inscriptions refer to the construction of the new city. One description reads: “At that time, the god Assur‐Enlil, my lord, expressed th
e desire for a great city opposite my city and commanded me to build his sanctuary. Beside the ‘dwelling place’ of the gods I built a large city, my royal residence, (and) called it Kar‐Tukulti‐Ninurta. I completed within temples for Assur, Adad, Šamaš, Ninurta, Nusku, Nergal, Sebetti, and Ištar, the great gods, my lords. I opened the ‘Canal of Justice’ wide and (let it flow) to its sacred places” (Grayson 1987: 270, 39–46). The building account ends with the construction of the palace and the city wall.
Kalḫu (Tell Nimrud), located on the left bank of the Tigris River some 8 kilometers upstream from its junction with the Greater Zab, was the first of three sites that would become consecutive capitals of the Neo‐Assyrian kings. Aššurnaṣirpal II (883–859) claims to have found Kalḫu, an ancient town, in ruins. He built there over a period of fifteen years and made it the new royal residence and administrative center of the growing Assyrian empire. The new city covered an area of about 360 hectares; it had a palace, nine temples, and a city wall and was provided, like Kar‐Tukulti‐Ninurta, with irrigation water.
Kalḫu remained the royal capital for about 140 years, until Sargon II (721–705) decided to build a new capital called Dur‐Šarrukin, “Sargon’s Fortress” (modern Khorsabad), on virgin soil some 50 kilometers from Kalḫu. The construction of the city lasted from 717 to 706 BCE and is well documented in the royal inscriptions and in the official correspondence (Parpola 1995). The city covered an area of about 300 hectares; it was planned following geometrical principles and was probably never completed, since Sargon died unexpectedly on the battlefield in 705 BCE and his son Sennacherib moved the capital to Nineveh.
The inscriptions show Sargon’s personal participation during the planning and construction stages (Fuchs 1994: 293, 47–9) and his particular preoccupation with agricultural enterprises. Sargon presents himself as someone interested in the reclamation of unsettled steppes, in the cultivation of wastelands, in the planting of orchards, in the utilization of spring water resources, and in the irrigation of the land (Fuchs 1994: 292, 34–7). He was especially proud of having planted an exotic royal park near Dur‐Šarrukin: “A great park like Mount Amanus wherein all kinds of aromatic trees from the land Ḫatti (i.e., northern Syria) and all of the fruit trees of the mountains were planted, I set out alongside it (i. e. the new city)” (translated from Fuchs 1994: 304, 41–2).
