Aššurnaṣirpal II

The throne room of the North West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud has been the subject of several studies, mainly focused on its decorative program. Scholars have long acknowledged that this space was used, especially in a political sense, to separate the more public area from the more private, or ceremonial, wing of the palace: a sort of reception suite. Despite many insightful ideas on some particular aspects, there appear to be few works or even no specific studies on this room as a whole, with special regard to the audience. This paper fills part of this gap by reconsidering the throne room as transitional or borderline context – both for Assyrians and guests – and as a sensory space that is both manipulative and synesthetic. In this way the room is evaluated holistically: the images and the so-called „Standard Inscription“ are seen to cooperate with the immaterial aspects, such as 1) the management of the entrances and the space – judged on the basis of a ‘seen’ and ‘unseen’ rule; 2) the manipulation of fields of view, interplay of light and shadow; 3) the emotional responses to the auditory, visual and olfactory stimuli which allowed the audience to fully experience the space, even activating what is commonly referred to as ‘non-sense’ or ‘sixth sense’. Following the methodologies used in the recent archaeology of the senses, I argue that the throne room of Ashurnasirpal II was a melting pot of sensorial stimuli, intended to cause the phenomenon of the arousal for a psychological control of the minds.

Aššurnaṣirpal II (r. 883-859 b.c.e.) moved his capital from Aššur to the old, long-deserted city of Kalḫu, which he proceeded to rebuild. His new official residence, the Northwest Palace, he described as his "palace for eternity." The rooms of the palace had carved stone relief slabs, previously unknown in Assyria. Ten of the, known, rooms had depictions of stylized trees, as well as other figures. This chapter identifies the stylized trees as female date palms and their offshoots-clones of the original tree-together offering a stylized view of a date palm plantation. By exploring the scientific and linguistic data of date palms and the artistic and historical aspects of the reliefs, it appears that Aššurnaṣirpal used this stylized depiction of a date palm plantation as his stemma, an analogy of his unchanging hereditary right to rule.

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. (Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right). When it comes to religion, many people who seek it out, even the most powerful ones, do so to cope with difficult times or events. The innate fragility of the human mind forces the human being to create the desire to find out who is behind anything, good or bad. The fear of the unknown future, the desire to achieve a complete state of health, security, and happiness, and the continuous attempt to counteract inevitable events, combine altogether to bring into existence the play of worshipping the superhuman controlling power.

This article offers a new iconographic and textual perspective about the Banquet Stele, one of the most famous and peculiar Neo-Assyrian monuments, erected by King Ashurnasirpal II. Through a synoptic and comparative study of the iconography and of the text of this stele, it is possible to put forward a new interpretation: the long sceptre/rod, represented on the monument, was used by the king in situations of non belligerency, to promote his own image of pacific sovereign and ‘marvellous shepherd’.

This contribution analyses the group of bas-reliefs B-17/20 decorating the east side of the Throne Room of the Northwest palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Kalḫu. The non-bellicose aspects of one of the motifs depicted, the royal hunt, together with the extreme calm and simplicity featuring the narrative composition of the battle and tribute scenes, make this group an evident exception within the decoration of the Throne Room, whose west side is in contrast mainly characterized by bloody and complex images of war. Although some scholars have touched on this issue, no one has carried out a thorough analysis or provided a convincing and reasonable explanation. Therefore, this paper aims to fill this gap by scrutinizing the slabs B-17/20 in the light of 1) their spatial context and their meanings, 2) the identity of the figures portrayed and 3) the visual consumption by an audience. In particular, from a close examination of the battle and tribute scenes, it is concluded that these represent the middle Euphrates kingdom of Suḫu, and carry a message specifically intended for visitors from this kingdom.

The lists of foodstuffs served at the banquets of the Assyrian and the Achaemenid kings show a strong resemblance to each other and are probably closely related. These banquets were centered on a variety of meat dishes, together with baked goods using wheat and barley. A wide range of seasonings accompanied these dishes, mingling sometimes quite different tastes and flavors. The cultic meals offered to the Mesopotamian gods in the first millennium B.C. were along the same lines, but preserved more traditional aspects. By contrast, the simple meals of daily life had less meat and more cereal products, with side dishes consisting mostly of leeks and onions.

This paper analyses the use of concluding formulae, namely blessings and curses, in the monumental inscriptions of Ashurnasirpal II, found in Kalḫu, the royal capital. There is extensive use of formulae among the inscriptions issued by this king. However, on examining the surviving material an interesting anomaly emerges as not all inscriptions bear protective formulae. A few scholars have touched on this phenomenon but none have offered an explanation. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining the monumental inscriptions of Ashurnasirpal II in the light of the architectural context in which they have been found. From this analysis, it is concluded that inscriptions with formulae were mainly confined to entrances and doorways and that they were placed there specifically to meet a need for protection from outside.

RESUMO O presente artigo tem como objetivo providenciar uma breve introdução a respeito das narrativas textuais e imagéticas que são encontradas na assíria, bem como sua evolução e desenvolvimento desde o final do período Médio Assírio até o final do Império Neoassírio. O surgimento da assíria, sua localização e interações regionais especialmente durante o seu período de reavivamento e expansão imperial são aspectos essenciais para compreendermos a origem dessas narrativas. De objetos mais comuns como altares e obeliscos durante o período Médio Assírio, até complexos mais sofisticados como palácios reais durante o período neoassírio, as narrativas imagéticas e textuais na assíria passaram por vários processos de desenvolvimento ao longo dos séculos, mas sempre mantiveram um padrão temático. Portanto, uma análise comparativa dos relevos assírios durante o império neoassírio é também realizada para que se possa compreender seu desenvolvimento, diversas transformações e propósito ao longo do império. Palavras-chave: Narrativas textuais; narrativas imagéticas; império neoassírio; relevos assírios.

During the last decades, a large amount of research has been carried out concerning Neo-Assyrian palaces. The most well-known features of these palaces are the wall reliefs that adorned the palace walls, which have been extensively studied as well. These wall reliefs are mainly studied in isolation, often focussing on the iconography of the images and their meaning, without looking at their spatial context. The aim of this study is to investigate the purpose of the wall reliefs in the Northwest Palace of Nimrud, combining both the images depicted on the wall reliefs and their spatial context. Since the wall reliefs are often associated with ideologies and propaganda, this study will investigate other possible functions of the wall reliefs as well. First, the wall reliefs and the suites in which they are located will be considered, in order to see if a connection can be detected between them. Second, the wall reliefs will be examined in connection to the rooms that had the same function.

Das Ziel dieses Aufsatzes ist es, zu untersuchen, wie Aššurnaṣirpal II. infolge seiner wiederholten militärischen Feldzüge jenes Territorium innerhalb der traditionellen Grenzen beherrschte, in welchem Tukultī-Ninurta I. und Tiglatpilesar I. zuvor in mittelassyrischer Zeit die direkte und indirekte assyrische Herrschaft etabliert hatten und dem später durch die Aramäer weite Teile geraubt wurde.

The prominent figure of the Neo-Assyrian stone bas-reliefs is always the king, depicted in varied roles, and featuring: power, courage, magnificence, piousness, and even paternalism and benevolence.
Indeed, among the different roles in which the Assyrian king is depicted, the most unusual is the king as ‘shepherd’, shown holding a long staff. This image, which throughout the Assyrian royal inscriptions can be read as the metaphor of the shepherd who cares for his flock, is most frequently represented in peaceful scenes. However, very few academic studies have focused on such a specific and unusual image and, where they have, the authors have barely recognised this role or at most made only a passing reference to it.
This paper fills part of this gap by analysing the king as shepherd depicted on the figurative programmes of the Neo-Assyrian kings, from Ashurnasirpal II up to Sargon II. The paper will 1) examine the subtle peculiarities within such image, 2) scrutinise the related architectural context(s) and 3) present a ‘reconstruction’ of the steps by which the viewer would have approached, perceived and ‘consumed’ the images, the aim being to outline the identity of the expected audience.

The throne room of the North West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud has been the subject of several studies, mainly focused on its decorative program. Scholars have long acknowledged that this space was used, especially in a political sense, to separate the more public area from the more private, or ceremonial, wing of the palace: a sort of reception suite.
Despite many insightful ideas on some particular aspects, there appear to be few works or even no specific studies on this room as a whole, with special regard to the audience.
This paper fills part of this gap by reconsidering the throne room as transitional or borderline context – both for Assyrians and guests – and as a sensory space that is both manipulative and synesthetic. In this way the room is evaluated holistically: the images and the so-called „Standard Inscription“ are seen to cooperate with the immaterial aspects, such as 1) the management of the entrances and the space – judged on the basis of a ‘seen’ and ‘unseen’ rule; 2) the manipulation of fields of view, interplay of light and shadow; 3) the emotional responses to the auditory, visual and olfactory stimuli which allowed the audience to fully experience the space, even activating what is commonly referred to as ‘non-sense’ or ‘sixth sense’.
Following the methodologies used in the recent archaeology of the senses, I argue that the throne room of Ashurnasirpal II was a melting pot of sensorial stimuli, intended to cause the phenomenon of the arousal for a psychological control of the minds.