A Companion to Assyria

by Eckart Frahm

  Pinches, T.G. 1883. Assyrian Antiquities: Guide to the Kouyunjik Gallery, London: W. Clowes and Sons, printed by order of the trustees of the British Museum.

  Pittman, H. 1996. “The White Obelisk and the Problem of Historical Narrative in the Art of Assyria,” Art Bulletin 78, 334–55.

  Place, V. and Thomas, F. 1867–70. Ninive et l’Assyrie, 3 vols., Paris: Imprimerie Impériale.

  Porada, E. 1989. “Problems of Late Assyrian Reliefs,” in: A. Leonard and B. B. Williams (eds.), Essays in Ancient Civilization Presented to Helene J. Kantor, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 47, Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 233–48.

  Postgate, J.N. 1973a. The Governor’s Palace Archive, Cuneiform Texts from Nimrud 2, London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq.

  Postgate, J.N. 1973b. “The Inscription of Tiglath‐pileser III at Mila Mergi,” Sumer 29, 47–59, figs. 1–7.

  Postgate, J.N. and Reade, J.E. 1976–80. “Kalḫu,” Reallexikon der Assyriologie 5, 303–23.

  Preusser, C. 1954. Die Wohnhäuser in Assur, WVDOG 64, Berlin: Gebr. Mann.

  Preusser, C. 1955. Die Paläste in Assur, WVDOG 66, Berlin: Gebr. Mann.

  Pritchard, J.B. 1969. The Ancient Near East in Pictures Relating to the Old Testament, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  Radner, K. 2012. “The Stele of Adad‐nērārī III and Nergal‐ēreš from Dūr‐Katlimmu (Tell Šaiḫ Ḥamad),” Altorientalische Forschungen 39, 265–77.

  Rassam, H. 1897. Asshur and the Land of Nimrod, Being an Account of the Discoveries Made in the Ancient Ruins of Nineveh, Asshur, Sephravaim, Calah, Babylon, Borsippa, Cuthah, and Van, New York: Eaton and Mains.

  Reade, J.E. 1963. “A Glazed‐Brick Panel from Nimrud,” Iraq 25, 38–47.

  Reade, J.E. 1975. “Assurnasirpal I and the White Obelisk,” Iraq 37, 129–50.

  Reade, J.E. 1976. “Sargon’s Campaigns of 720, 716, and 715 B.C.: Evidence from the Sculptures,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 35, 95–104.

  Reade, J.E. 1978. “Studies in Assyrian Geography, Part I: Sennacherib and the Waters of Nineveh,” Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archéologie Orientale 72, 47–72, 157–75.

  Reade, J.E. 1979a. “Assyrian Architectural Decoration: Techniques and Subject‐Matter,” Baghdader Mitteilungen 10, 17–49.

  Reade, J.E. 1979b. “Narrative Composition in Assyrian Sculpture,” Baghdader Mitteilungen 10, 52–110.

  Reade, J.E. 1980. “The Rassam Obelisk,” Iraq 42, 1–22.

  Reade, J.E. 1981. “Fragments of Assyrian Monuments,” Iraq 43, 145–56, pls. 18–21.

  Reade, J.E. 1983. Assyrian Sculpture, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

  Reade, J.E. 1985. “Texts and Sculptures from the North‐West Palace, Nimrud,” Iraq 47, 203–14.

  Reade, J.E. 1987–90. “Maltai,” Reallexikon der Assyriologie 7, 320–22.

  Reade, J.E. 1995. “The Khorsabad Glazed Bricks,” in: A. Caubet (ed.), Khorsabad, le palais de Sargon II, roi d’Assyrie, Actes du colloque organisé au musée du Louvre par le Service culturel les 21 et 22 janvier 1994, 227–51.

  Reade, J.E. 1998–2001. “Ninive (Nineveh),” Reallexikon der Assyriologie 9, 388–433.

  Reade, J.E. 2001. “Assyrian King‐Lists, the Royal Tombs of Ur, and Indus Origins,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 60, 1–29.

  Reade, J.E. 2002a. “The Ziggurat and Temples of Nimrud,” Iraq 64, 135–216.

  Reade, J.E. 2002b. “Sexism and Homotheism in Ancient Iraq,” in: S. Parpola and R.M. Whiting (eds.), Sex and Gender in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 47th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Helsinki, July 2–6, 2001, vol. 2, Helsinki: The Neo‐Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 551–68.

  Reade, J.E. 2005. “The Ishtar Temple at Nineveh,” Iraq 67, 347–90.

  Russell, J.M. 1991. Sennacherib’s Palace Without Rival at Nineveh, Chicago and London: Chicago University Press.

  Russell, J.M. 1995. “Layard’s Descriptions of Rooms in the Southwest Palace at Nineveh,” Iraq 57, 71–85.

  Russell, J.M. 1997. “Sennacherib’s Palace without Rival Revisited: Excavations at Nineveh and in the British Museum Archives,” in: Parpola and Whiting (eds.) 1997, 295–306.

  Russell, J.M. 1998a. The Final Sack of Nineveh: The Discovery, Documentation, and Destruction of Sennacherib’s Throne Room at Nineveh, Iraq, London: Yale University Press.

  Russell, J.M. 1998b. “The Program of the Palace of Assurnasirpal II at Kalḫu (Nimrud),” American Journal of Archaeology 102, 655–715.

  Russell, J.M. 1998–2001. “Neuassyrische Kunstperiode. III. Reliefs,” Reallexikon der Assyriologie 9, 244–65.

  Russell, J.M. 1999a. The Writing on the Wall: Studies in the Architectural Context of Late Assyrian Palace Inscriptions, Mesopotamian Civilizations 9, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.

  Russell, J.M. 1999b. “Some Painted Bricks from Nineveh, a Preliminary Report,” Iranica Antiqua 34, 85–108.

  Russell, J.M. 2003–05. “Obelisk,” Reallexikon der Assyriologie 10, 4–6.

  Safar, F. 1957. “The Temple of Sibitti at Khorsabad,” Sumer 13, 193–6 and figs. 1–4 [in Arabic; English version 219–21].

  Schmitt, A.W. 2012. Die jüngeren Ischtar‐Tempel und der Nabû‐Tempel in Assur: Architektur, Stratigraphie und Funde, WVDOG 137, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

  Scott, M.L. and MacGinnis, J. 1990. “Notes on Nineveh,” Iraq 52, 63–73.

  Seidl, U. 1989. Die babylonischen Kudurru‐Reliefs: Symbole mesopotamischer Gottheiten, OBO 87, Fribourg: Universitätsverlag.

  Smith, S. 1938. Assyrian Sculptures in the British Museum: from Shalmaneser III to Sennacherib, London: The British Museum.

  Sobolewski, R.P. 1979. “Preliminary Report on the Third Season of Polish Excavations at Kalḫu Nimrud (March–April 1976),” Études et Travaux 11, Travaux du Centre d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne de l’Académie Polonaise des Sciences 22, 253–65.

  Sobolewski, R.P. 1982a. “The Polish Work at Nimrud: Ten Years of Excavation and Study,” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 71, 248–73.

  Sobolewski, R.P. 1982b. “The Shalmaneser III Building in the Central Area of the Nimrud Citadel,” Archiv für Orientforschung 19, 329–40.

  Soden, W. von 1975. “Zur Datierung des ‘Weißen Obelisken,’” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 64, 180–91.

  Sollberger, E. 1974. “The White Obelisk,” Iraq 36, 231–8.

  Spurrier, T. 2012. “Discovering a Long Lost Queen: The Investigation and Identification of the Individuals Buried in the Bronze Coffins in Tomb III at Nimrud,” paper delivered at the Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Chicago, November 14–17.

  Stein, D. 1993–97. “Mittelassyrische Kunstperiode,” Reallexikon der Assyriologie 8, 299–308.

  Strommenger, E. 1970. Die neuassyrische Rundskulptur, Abhandlungen der Deutschen Orient‐Gesellschaft 15, Berlin: Gebr. Mann.

  Stronach, D. 1997. “Notes on the Fall of Nineveh,” in: Parpola and Whiting (eds.) 1997, 307–24.

  Suleiman, A. 1971a. “Excavations at Tarbiṣu (in Arabic),” Adab al‐Rafidain 2, 15–49.

  Suleiman, A. 1971b. “Excavations at the Adad Gate of Nineveh (in Arabic),” Adab al‐Rafidain 1, 45–97.

  Tadmor, H. 1967. “Introductory Remarks to a New Edition of the Annals of Tiglath‐Pileser III,” Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, English Series 2, no. 9, 168–87.

  Tadmor, H. 1994. The Inscriptions of Tiglath‐pileser III, King of Assyria, Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

  Tadmor, H. and Yamada, S. 2011. The Royal Inscriptions of Tiglath‐pileser III (744–727 BC) and Shalmaneser V (726–722 BC), Kings of Assyria, RINAP 1, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.

  Teissier, B. 1994. Sealing and Seals on Texts from Kültepe Kārum Level 2, Uitgaven van het Nederlands Historisch‐Archaeologisch Instituut te İstanbul 70, Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch‐Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul.

  Thompson, R.C. and Hutchinson, R.W. 1929a. “Excavations on t
he Temple of Nabu at Nineveh,” Archaeologia 79, 103–48.

  Thompson, R.C. and Hutchinson, R.W. 1929b. A Century of Exploration at Nineveh, London: Luzac & Co.

  Thompson, R.C. and Hutchinson, R.W. 1931. “The Site of the Palace of Ashurnasirpal at Nineveh, Excavated in 1929–30 on Behalf of the British Museum,” Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 18, 79–112.

  Thompson, R.C. and Hamilton, R.W. 1932. “The British Museum Excavations on the Temple of Ishtar at Nineveh, 1930–31,” Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 19, 55–116.

  Thureau‐Dangin, F., Barrois, A., Dossin, G., and Dunand, M. 1931. Arslan‐Tash, 2 vols., Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 16, Paris: P. Geuthner.

  Thureau‐Dangin, F., Dunand, M., Cavro, L., and Dossin, G. 1936. Til‐Barsib, 2 vols., Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 23, Paris: P. Geuthner.

  Tomabechi, Y. 1983/84. “Wall paintings from Til Barsip,” Archiv für Orientforschung 29/30, 63–74.

  Turner, G. 1970a. “Tell Nebi Yūnus: The Ekal Māšarti of Nineveh,” Iraq 32, 68–85.

  Turner, G. 1970b. “The State Apartments of Late Assyrian Palaces,” Iraq 32, 177–213.

  Turner, G. 2001. “Sennacherib’s Palace at Nineveh: The Drawings of H.A. Churchill and the Discoveries of H.J. Ross,” Iraq 63, 107–38.

  Turner, G. 2003. “Sennacherib’s Palace at Nineveh: The Primary Sources for Layard’s Second Campaign,” Iraq 65, 175–220.

  Unger, E. 1920. “Die Wiederherstellung des Bronzetores von Balawat,” Archäologisches Institut des Deutschen Reichs, Athenische Zweiganstalt, Mitteilungen 45, 1–105.

  Unger, E. 1932. Der Obelisk des Königs Assurnassirpal I. aus Ninive, Mitteilungen der Altorientalischen Gesellschaft Bd. 6 Hft. 1–2, Leipzig: O. Harrassowitz.

  Ur, J.A. 2005. “Sennacherib’s Northern Assyrian Canals: New Insights from Satellite Imagery and Aerial Photography,” Iraq 67, 317–45.

  Waetzold, H. and Hauptmann, H. (eds.) 1997. Assyrien im Wandel der Zeiten: XXXIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Heidelberg, 6.–10. Juli 1992. Heidelberger Studien zum alten Orient 6, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Orientverlag.

  Wäfler, M. 1975. Nicht‐Assyrer neuassyrischer Darstellungen, AOAT 26, Neukirchen‐Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag.

  Werner, P. 2009. Der Sîn‐Šamaš‐Tempel in Assur, WVDOG 122, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

  Werr, L. 1988. “Cylinder Seals Made of Clay,” Iraq 50, 1–24, pls. 1–4.

  Wicke, D. 2010. “Die Goldschale der Iabâ – eine levantinische Antiquität,” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 100, 109–41.

  Wiggermann, F.A.M. 1985–86. “The Staff of Ninšubura: Studies in Babylonian Demonology II,” Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch‐Egyptisch Genootschap “Ex Oriente Lux” 29, 3–34.

  Wilson, K.L. 1995. “Oriental Institute Discoveries at Khorsabad (1929–1935),” in: A. Caubet (ed.) 1995, 107–18.

  Winter, I.J. 1981. “Royal Rhetoric and the Development of Historical Narrative in Neo‐Assyrian Reliefs,” Studies in Visual Communication 7, no. 2, 2–38.

  Winter, I.J. 1982. “Art as Evidence for Interaction: Relations between the Assyrian Empire and North Syria,” in: H.J. Nissen and J. Renger (eds.), Mesopotamien und seine Nachbarn: Politische und kulturelle Wechselbeziehungen im Alten Vorderasien vom 4. bis 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr., Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient 1, Berlin: D. Reimer, 355–82.

  Winter, I.J. 1997. “Art in Empire: The Royal Image and the Visual Dimensions of Assyrian Ideology,” in: S. Parpola and R. M. Whiting (eds.) 1997, 359–81.

  Yon, M. and Malbran‐Labat, F. 1995. “La stèle de Sargon II à Chypre,” in: A. Caubet (ed.) 1995, 159–79.

  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).