Nimrud

Fragments of several glass bowls were found at Nimrud, in the North-West Palace and in Fort Shalmaneser, by the British School of Archaeology in Iraq and the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l’Asia. In the Late Assyrian period, from the late 8th century B.C., the glass industry revived and the new products were very different from Late Bronze Age core-formed vessels. One major improvement was the production of naturally coloured vessels, cast in double moulds, probably with the lost-wax technique,
and then finished by grinding and polishing. During the Italian excavation a fragment of a shallow glass bowl was found in A1/SW37 room in Fort Shalmaneser. The bowl has slightly straight sides, flat base, and is
decorated with an engraved stylized design of a blue lotus flower. The motif certainly has its origin in Egyptian art and it is quite possible that Egyptian or ‘Egyptianizing’ luxury objects were transported through tribute or trade into Assyria and consequently influenced Assyrian art. The pattern may have been a royal prerogative, having a symbolic meaning of life and abundance, and probably has even an apotropaic value. Glass fragments were found gathered along the north-eastern wall of the A1/SW37 room. It has been stressed that this storage room was also a place for repairing peculiar objects, such as ivories, shells, glass pasts and stone vessels; however, the findings of the Italian expedition seem to show that it was also a kind of workshop for making original objects. Indeed, the above mentioned glass fragments could be crushed for being moulded with the purpose of creating new vessels, or re-shaped to be used as inlays.

Simpson, E., ed. The Adventure of the Illustrious Scholar: Papers Presented to Oscar White Muscarella. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

The Adventure of the Illustrious Scholar: Papers Presented to Oscar White Muscarella, edited by Elizabeth Simpson, is a Festschrift celebrating the career of one of the foremost archaeologists of the ancient Near East. Oscar Muscarella is a former curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a formidable scholar who has excavated at sites in Turkey, Iran, and the United States. He has published eight books and nearly 200 articles, excavation reports, and reviews on topics ranging from the arts of antiquity and the importance of connoisseurship, to the difficulties of dating and the problems of forgeries, the looting of ancient sites, and the antiquities trade. The forty-seven contributors are experts in the areas of Muscarella's interests and are major scholars in their fields. This volume constitutes an unusual, important, and timely addition to the archaeological and art historical literature.

The universality of the Maltese Cross: The Maltese Cross is found in virtually all corners of the world. It is basically an eight-pointed, equilateral cross with each arm gradually expanding in width at the outer edge. The Arabic numeral 8 turned on its side represents infinity, whereas the octagonal shape was incorporated into Christian baptismal fonts. This cross looks like a grouping of four arrowheads with their apexes converging at a central point. It symbolizes the four cardinal directions or possibly the four points on the horizon corresponding to the sunrises and sunsets of the summer and winter solstices. In this context it represents the sun.

This is the publication of a PhD thesis that was successfully submitted in 1979. The works aims to be a comprehensive study of Late Assyrian metalwork (9th-7th centuries BC) mainly from the  sites of Nimrud, Nineveh, Khorsabad and Ashur. It includes much previously unpublished Assyrian metalwork, mostly from the excavations of Sir Henry Layard (1845-51) and the British School of Archaeology in Iraq (1949-1963) at Nimrud. Most of this metalwork is now either in the British Museum or in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. This study has not been updated since 1979, but it is published here in its original form in order to put a large amount of previously unpublished data into the public domain. The book has an appendix by Matthew Ponting giving the results of metallographic examination and analysis.

This study of items of adornment articles excavated between 1988 and 1990 from the Nimrud tombs in Iraq illuminates the multicultural aspects and imperial implications of Neo-Assyrian royal dress during the eight and ninth centuries BCE. These spectacular finds also attest to the significance of royal women as embodiments of imperial fashion and, in turn, of the empire itself. The adornment ensembles incorporated elements of different styles, which I categorize as “Royal Assyrian,” “Near Eastern,” “Intercultural,” and “Composite. Just as the Neo-Assyrian palace asserted imperialism through quotations of and allusions to foreign culture, these categories of royal fashion would have contributed to the rhetoric of imperialism as they, too, materialized imperial networks of power and diplomacy.

In this paper the development of lion protome bracelets in the Ancient Near Eastern between the 14th and the 6th century BC will be examined. For the reason a lion protome bracelet from tomb 36 at Marlık, a pair of lion protome bracelets from Nimrud Tomb II and Tomb III Coffin I, a lion protome bracelet made of bronze and gold by the Museum of Van, lion motif and a lion protome bracelet from Ziwiye, a lion protome bracelet from the Tumulus A at Gordion and a pair of blue glass bracelets with golden lion protomes were identified. The comparison of the seven bracelets, which are quite different from each other, will include the questions of their dating, their ownership, their findspot, their manufacturing techniques and the chracteristics in style. The study also specifically come to a conclusion by looking at their interaction with style properties. In the conclusion of this study the styles of the seven bracelets from, In this study, Marlık, Tomb II, Tomb III Coffin I, Museum of Van, Ziwiye, Gordion A Tumuli and Toptepe Tumuli lion prome bracelets will be compared in detail. The results will put forth the typology of the bracelets.

This article argues that the campaign of antiquities destruction waged by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) should be understood in the context of the group's rejection of the nation-state. The Ba'athist regimes of Iraq and Syria used archaeology not only as a tool to promote national unity but also as an ideological narrative to portray their states as continual recapitulations of their pasts. As a result, the pre-Islamic past came to be associated with secular nationalism. Since the secular state demands obedience to secular law, ISIS views it as idolatrous as it demands allegiance apart from God. The group considers the secular sacralization of antiquities in support of nationalism to be an aspect of this form of idolatry that justifies their destruction. Future efforts at cultural heritage preservation in the region will need to take into account the decline of Arab nationalist movements which once supported them.

Through an analysis of the ninth- to eighth-century B.C.E. mortuary assemblages from the Queens’ Tombs of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace in Iraq, this paper interprets dress elements and ensembles in terms of identity and ideology. The Queens’ Tombs offer the only in situ evidence for royal Neo-Assyrian female dress. The finds, which have never before been studied as comprehensive ensembles, correspond to the few surviving images of Neo-Assyrian queens and greatly expand our evidence for the manner in which a queen’s ideal appearance was constructed and embodied. Considering dress in death, as well as in life and the afterlife, this paper proposes a standard, but flexible, queenly ensemble. To facilitate analyses, I present a figural model, based on an aggregation of archaeological, art historical, and literary evidence for ideal royal women. I then analyze the dress elements and ensembles as expressions of courtly, queenly, and individual identity. Finally, I interpret queenly dress as an ideological mechanism that manifested imperial power through its materials, style, and iconography. Overall, this article aims to provide a new foundation for more thoroughly integrating the visual and material presence of queens into interpretations of the Neo-Assyrian court and its eternally conceived universe.

This article provides an edition, commentary and the provenance of an exemplar of Ashurnasirpal II’s Wall Inscription (RIMA 2 A.0.101.26) which is kept in the Australian Institute of Archaeology (Melbourne).  The inscription’s excavation number is ND 1121 and is now registered in the AIA with the catalogue number IA5.034

I was attending an event at the Royal College of Physicians of London in early March 2016, and I had a plenty of time to spare. One of my targets was, of course, the British Museum. Two years ago, Jan van der Crabben (founder and CEO of the Ancient History Encyclopedia) asked me to draft a blog article about the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, but I lacked detailed and high-quality images of all aspects of the obelisk. Nowadays, I’m equipped with a Nikon D750 full-frame camera and incredible lenses. So let’s spend some time looking at the obelisk and enjoy its wonderful artistic scenes. The obelisk lies at the heart of Room 6 of the Ground Floor. The overall surrounding lighting is unfortunately scarce, but who cares, my camera can overcome this very easily! Remember, no “flash” photography is allowed.

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.

The key to interpreting גִּבּוֹר צַיִד לִפִנֵי יְהוָה in Gen 10:9 lies not so much in לִפְנֵי , but יְהוָה , which posits a relation between Nimrod and YHWH that expresses the superlative with regard to the
strength of Nimrod’s abilities. Connections between Gen 10:8-12 and 11:1-9 reinforce a negative assessment of Nimrod’s character.

ABSTRACT:  This lecture (no. 3) focuses mainly upon the early to recent re-discovery, explorations, and excavations of Ancient Mesopotamia, starting with medieval to early Renaissance travelers, concentrating upon the 1800s to early 1900s, and finishing with post- World War II and more recent times. The lecture then proceeds to introduce selected sources for study, including primary resources (translations/textual-pictorial sources; archaeological reports) and peer-reviewed and professional secondary sources. REVISED: Adding new text, 9 slides, new formatting, etc. (completed Spring 2020; uploaded in Fall 2020). UPDATED: 2022 Spring offering.

The chapter discussed the worked ivory and bone artifacts from Eilat Mazar's excavations at the Ophel, Jerusalem. Key finds include typical Middle Bronze geometric bone inlays, Late Bronze Age incised inlays, and some intriguing Iron Age II inlays shaped as uraei snakes, or cobras in an Egyptian style. These colorful inlays may have once adorned a piece of wooden furniture, a box, or even an architectural model. They form an important contribution to our understanding of the Iron Age ivory assemblages found in sites such as Samaria and Nimrud, as these are inlays used locally in Jerusalem itself.

This paper has been published in Iraq, Volume LXXVII, pp. 41-58. For copyright reasons the paper cannot be published here. The attached document is the final version of the paper submitted for publication.

Publication of two previously unpublished images of Layard's excavations at Nimrud in June 1850 on the sharat niphi and Ninurta temple. In the discussion seeking to identify the artist, the paper argues that they were completed by S.C. Malan. The paper includes a catalogue of all the S.C. Malan water colours of excavations at Nimrud and Nineveh and publishes those images not previously published.

Each year over seven billion people across the world are drawn to see the latest feature films at the cinema. This episode reveals how the most powerful storytelling medium ever created exploits visual techniques invented by artists in the ancient world.

The investigation starts with the oldest recorded story, that of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. The story tells the tales (and adventures) of Gilgamesh and Enkidu.  One scene from the story, in particular, captured the imagination of Bronze Age people, and that was the slaying of a pride of lions. The story inspired the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal, in around 645BC, to cast himself in the leading role of Gilgamesh in a series of carved friezes for his throne room. The success of these lead Ashurbanipal to depict the battle against the Elamites and in particular visualised the prisoners grinding their ancestors bones to make their bread. Although mankind had discovered the power of the protagonist, in particular that of a hero, Ashurbanipal’s stories lacked emotion and so are hard to engage with.

Jumping forward several hundred years to the Ancient Greeks, we find the next missing element crucial to storing telling. In the grotto of the Villa de Tiberius in Spurlonga, Italy, a collection of sculptures were found that depict Odysseus‘s encounter with the cyclops. The statues show Odysseus getting the cyclops drunk and then tricking him, and driving a stake though his eye. By depicting the emotions in the scene we, as the viewer, get a greater connection with the story. If we care about the characters, we care about what happens next.

The Romans refined this process more when Emperor Trajan, celebrated his conquest of the Dacians, and created Trajan’s column in the heart of Rome. The 35m high marble column has the story of the event, spiraling around the column, from the base, right to the very top. Admired by Napoleon and Mussolini, it depicts an Epic with Trajan as the protagonist hero and the Dacian king Decebalus as the antagonist. The sculptors used many visual techniques still used today such as cut scenes, and birds eye and low views to add drama. The whole story can be summarised by looking up the western axis of the column. Although this captivated viewers there was still something missing.

The final piece in the jigsaw can be found in Australia which has some of oldest known painted images, some known to be over 40k years old. The aborigines still draw gods and spirits the same way their early ancestors did, for example images of barramundi fish. This consistency has lead to these images becoming symbols, triggering the viewer to recall well known stories passed down generation to generation. The real magic happened when the Aborigines came together to celebrate these stories, they recounted them adding drum beats, rhythm and chanting. Now two senses were being stimulated, the eyes and the ears.

When the pioneers of the nineteenth century created the first moving images, they were silent, but as soon as cinematographers added sound, cinema as we know it today took off.

Presentation of the unequivocal identification of Robert Clive (1824-1859) as the artist who drew and painted scenes at Layard's excavations of Nimrud in 1850. This corrects my (2015) attribution to C.S. Malan as the author of the pictures. The original versions of the worked up published drawings and a previously unpublished drawing are presented. An account is included of the journey and the political environment in which Clive and his cousin, Herbert Clive, travelled from Mosul through Kurdistan to Trebizond on the Black Sea. The pictures are now in the ownership of the Earl of Plymouth who gave gracious permission from me to study and publish them.

This general paper provides a very brief introduction to the textual sources and the scribes who wrote them, as well as give some information on historical events and personal interests of the kings that appear to have impacted the content and nature of the source material. Although the Neo-Assyrian period starts in earnest with Ashurnsirpal II, this contribution covers only the very end of the eighth century and most of the seventh century, thus limiting itself to the reigns of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal, as well as their four lesser-known successors.

This paper critically analyses the building accounts of the late Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions by interrelating and comparing those from various periods. The book chapter shows that the “building history” given in the royal inscriptions refer only selectively to the predecessors’ building works and often appear misleading or incorrect.

In 1863 Ludwig I, the king of Bavaria from 1 825- 1 848, acquired seven bas-reliefs from Nimrud. During the recent restoration of these reliefs remains of the original painting were recovered. The paper discusses the problems and possibilities of reconstructing the original polychromy.

The three archaeological missions led by Professor P. Fiorina between 1987 and 1989 in Nimrud, for the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l'Asia, focused the attention on the topographical survey of the lower city and on the excavation of selected areas of Fort Shalmaneser and some portions of the external and internal city walls.
In Fort Shalmaneser's rooms SW 36 and 37 large amounts of ivory and metal objects were found together with lots of glass paste cast inlays. The glass inlays were blue, green, turquoise and yellow. Some raw matter was also found. Although these small objects could be interpreted for filling and refining ivory plaques, the large variety of typologies and their compatibility suggest that these small elements weren't merely meant to complete some figurative schemes on existing decorated objects, but could be combined in order to create large polychrome patterns and schemes in which glass paste was the main feature. It is possible to think about large surfaces belonging to panels or furnitures. Other kinds of vitreous paste objects were found in the soundings of the external and internal city walls, like seals and beads.
Shell and stone objects came both from Fort Shalmaneser rooms and the other soundings. Shell artifacts mainly consisted in inlay plaques, beads and a considerable quantity of semi-worked or unworked specimens; some of the typologies among inlay plaques are identical in shape to other ones made out of vitreous paste. Stone artifacts are mainly made out of alabaster, limestone or marble; they include beads and inlays, some stamp or cylinder seals (some unfinished) and an interesting lot of incomplete alabaster-gypsum carved elements.

This article presents the first comprehensive edition of a royal inscription of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE) which is incised on three Assyrian reliefs. It includes a composite transliteration, translation, and score of the three copies of this royal inscription, along with philological commentary, investigation of its compositional features, and attempt at recovering the primary context of the reliefs on which it is incised.

On October 4, 1961, the Sulaymaniyah Museum received several artifacts, part of the so-called “Nimrud Ivories.” The package was sent from the Iraqi Museum at Baghdad and authorized personnel delivered it. The accompanying documents were written in the Arabic language and very briefly and superficially describe each and every item. I was able to get access to the archives of these ivories at the archives department of the Sulaymaniyah Museum; no details of their excavation history, travel journey, reparation work, or exhibition are available. All these details can be found at the Iraqi Museum, of course.

When you enter Room 7 of the British Museum, after passing through two colossal lamassus, you are taken through time to the NorthWest Palace of the Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE). This is the imperial palace of the King in Nimrud (ancient Kalhu or Biblical Calah; Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq), the capital city at the heart of the Assyrian Empire. Room 7 is a long hall " decorated " with alabaster-bas wall reliefs from that palace. After being neglected for more than 2500 years, British archaeologist Sir Henry Layard and his workmen unearthed the remains of the NorthWest Palace in 1845. Layard shipped many reliefs on the Apprentice and these large and heavy slabs reached the British Museum in January 1849. I will publish a series of articles about these reliefs, addressing their finer details, which are not easily recognised.