Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural BiographyAda Cohen, Steven E. Kangas UPNE, 2010 - 268 ˹éÒ The well-known narrative images of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 B.C.E.) at war and at the hunt are discussed frequently in studies of ancient Near Eastern art. By comparison, the iconic reliefs depicting the ruler, his genies, and the “sacred tree,” which are repeated over and over within the decorative scheme of Ashurnasirpal’s palace in Nimrud, part of modern-day Iraq, are less studied and imperfectly understood by scholars. This volume of collected essays on the reliefs at Dartmouth College and related works in other museums across the United States and in international institutions sheds new light on their meanings, importance, and history. Following the discovery of the reliefs in the nineteenth century, institutions and individuals in Europe and North America competed to acquire them. The greatest number went into European collections in the countries of their discoverers, but “surplus” relief fragments, usually of supernatural figures and trees, were shipped to America, and many found their way to colleges and universities. The essays in this volume explore the iconography of the reliefs, the fascinating story of their discovery and dispersal throughout the West, their biblical connections, and their cultural, artistic, and historical meanings. The book takes the reader from the ancient world of Assyria to its modern rediscovery to the digital reconstruction of the Nimrud palace. Lavishly illustrated with over 115 color and 35 black-and-white images, Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II will engage and inform the student, the scholar, as well as the museum visitor. |
à¹×éÍËÒ
Our Nineveh Enterprise | 1 |
The Early Exploration of Assyria | 86 |
Archaeology and Politics in Iraq | 107 |
Assyria in the Bible | 124 |
Decorations Political Posters Time Capsules and Living Gods | 143 |
Time and Eternity in the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud | 159 |
Attending the King in the Assyrian Reliefs | 181 |
Banquets Baubles and Bronzes | 198 |
The Northwest Palace in the Digital Age | 216 |
Plates | 49 |
Notes | 227 |
245 | |
Contributors | 261 |
263 | |
Back Cover | 269 |
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Ada Cohen al-Husri ancient Mesopotamian antiquities apkallus Apsû Arab archaeology Ashur Ashurbanipal Ashurnasirpal II Ashurnasirpal's Assyrian art Assyrian king Assyrian reliefs Ataç Ba'th Babylon Babylonian Baghdad Bible biblical British Museum bronze bull courtiers culture Dartmouth College depicted director divine Egypt Egyptian eighth century B.C.E. eunuch example excavations flanked foreign Hood Museum Hosea Hubbard images incised decoration inscriptions Iraq Iraqi Isaiah Israel Israelites ivory Jerusalem Judah Khorsabad king and genie king’s Layard Lobdell Meuszyński 1981 missionaries monuments Mosul Museum of Art Neo-Assyrian Nimrud Nineveh Northern Kingdom Northwest Palace object Palace of Ashurnasirpal Paley panels Photo courtesy pre-Islamic Rassam reconstruction regime ritual Room G rosette royal sacred tree Saddam Hussein sages Sargon Sargon II scenes scholars sculptures Sennacherib Shalmaneser Shalmaneser III Sir Henry Rawlinson slabs Sobolewski Stearns stone suggested symbol textiles texts throne room Tiglath-pileser Tiglath-pileser III tion visual walls whisk winged disk winged figures Wright Yahweh