Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T01:56:49.310Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Assyrian high-relief bricks from Nineveh and the fragments of a royal name

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Davide Nadali
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

During the excavations in Nineveh carried out by R. Campbell Thompson on behalf of the British Museum in the years 1929 to 1932, many glazed Assyrian bricks were recovered and partly published in the excavation reports. Bricks were found in the years 1927–8 and 1929–30, respectively, when the Temple of Nabu and the so-called Palace of Assurnasirpal II were being excavated. Bricks were said to have come from the South-East area of the Temple of Nabu, where the excavators thought they had found the palace of King Assurnasirpal II. Actually, as recognised then by Thompson himself, the area between the temples of Nabu and Ishtar, where the palace of Assurnasirpal was thought to be, is characterised by later installations that reused Assyrian materials and structures (Fig. 1a–b). Confusion is due to the frequent presence of the word é.gal (“palace”) at the beginning of the inscription that was stamped onto the bricks. However, the word é.gal probably does not refer to a palace proper, but was used as a production mark: the brick was produced by and/or within the administrative structure (“palace”) of the Assyrian king, whose name usually follows the word é.gal (“palace” of + Assyrian king's name), independently from its final location or use either for a palace or a temple.

Thus, as reconstructed by Julian Reade, the Temple of Ishtar should be considered the likely source for the Assyrian materials found when excavating the South-East quadrant in the years 1927–8 and 1929–30, although the Temple of Nabu itself cannot a priori be totally excluded.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 70 , 2008 , pp. 87 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmad, A. Y. and Grayson, A. K. 1999, Sennacherib in the Akitu House, Iraq 61: 187–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baffi Guardata, F. and Dolce, R. 1990, Archeologia della Mesopotamia. L'età cassita e medio-assira, Rome.Google Scholar
Bleibtreu, E. 1980, Die Flora der neuassyrischen Reliefs, Vienna.Google Scholar
Borger, R. 1956, Die Inschriften Asarhaddons, Königs von Assyrien (AfO, Beiheft 9), Graz.Google Scholar
Borger, R. 1996, Beiträge zum Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals. Die Prismenklassen A, B, C = K, D, E, F, G, H, J und T sowie andere Inschriften, Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Börker-Klähn, J. 1982, Altvorderasiatische Bildstelen und vergleichbare Felsreliefs (BaF 4), Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Dolce, R. 1988, I rilievi decorativi a mattoni modanati: continuità o innovazione?, VO 7: 39–58.Google Scholar
Driel, G. van 1969, The Cult of Aššur, Assen.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fales, F. M. 2001, L'impero assiro, Rome and Bari.Google Scholar
Finkel, I. and Reade, J. E. 1996, Assyrian Hieroglyphs, ZA 86: 244–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frahm, E. 2000, Die Akītu-Häuser von Ninive, N.A.B. U. 2000/2004, No. 66: 75–9.Google Scholar
Frame, G. 1999, My Neighbour's God: Aššur in Babylonia and Marduk in Assyria, Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 34: 5–22.Google Scholar
Fuchs, A. 1994, Die Inschriften Sargons II. aus Khorsabad, Göttingen.Google Scholar
Grayson, A. K. 1987, Assyrian Rulers of the Third and Second Millennia BC (to 1115 BC) (RIMA 1), Toronto.Google Scholar
Grayson, A. K. 1991, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC, Part I (1114–859 BC) (RIMA 2), Toronto.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grayson, A. K. 1996, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC, Part II (858–745 BC) (RIMA 3), Toronto.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, P. O., Aruz, J. and Talion, F. 1992, The Royal City of Susa. Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre, New York.Google Scholar
Hrouda, B. 1978, Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen in Isin (4. Kampagne, Winter 1975–1976), Sumer 34: 86–97.Google Scholar
Kraus, F. R. 1952, Zwei Reliefziegel im Altorientalischen Museum, Istanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri yüliǧi 5: 75–82.Google Scholar
Luckenbill, D. D. 1925, The Black Stone of Esarhaddon, AJSL 41: 165–73.Google Scholar
Matthews, R. J. 1993, Cities, Seals and Writing: Archaic Seal Impressions from Jemdet Nasr and Ur, Berlin.Google Scholar
Matthiae, P. 1996a, L'arte degli Assiri. Cultura e forma del rilievo storico, Rome and Bari.Google Scholar
Matthiae, P. 1996b, La storia dell'arte dell'Oriente antico. I grandi imperi (1000–330 a.C), Milan.Google Scholar
Matthiae, P. 1998, Ninive, Milan.Google Scholar
Matthiae, P. 2002, La magnificenza sconosciuta di Ninive. Note sullo sviluppo urbano prima di Sennacherib, Rend. Mor. Acc. Lincei s. IX v. XIII/4: 543–87.Google Scholar
Miglus, P. A. 1994, «Der Stein des Grafen von Aberdeen»: Interpretation eines assyrisches Flachbildes, in Calmeyer, P.et al. (eds.), Beiträge zur altorientalischen Archäologie und Altertumskunde. Festschrift für Barthel Hrouda zum 65. Geburtstag, Wiesbaden: 179–91.Google Scholar
Nadali, D. 2006, Esarhaddon's Glazed Bricks from Nimrud: The Egyptian Campaign Depicted, Iraq 68: 109–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nunn, A. 1988, Die Wandmalerei und der glasierte Wandschmuck im alten Orient (Handbuch der Orientalistik VII.I.2.B6), Leiden.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oates, D. 1962, The Excavation at Nimrud (Kalhu), 1961, Iraq 24: 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oates, J. and Oates, D. 2001, Nimrud. An Assyrian Imperiai City Revealed, London.Google Scholar
Oded, B. 1979, Mass Deportations and Deportees in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Ornan, T. 2005, The Triumph of Symbols. Pictorial Representation of Deities in Mesopotamia and the Biblical Image Ban (OBO 213), Göttingen.Google Scholar
Pongratz-Leisten, B. 2000, Neujahr(sfest). B. Nach akkadischen Quellen, RIA 9: 294–8.Google Scholar
Porter, B. Nevling 1993a, Conquest or Kudurru's? A Note on Peaceful Strategies of Assyrian Government, in Cohen, M. E., Snell, D. C. and Weisberg, D. B. (eds.), The Tablet and the Scroll. Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William W. Hallo, Bethesda: 194–7.Google Scholar
Porter, B. Nevling 1993b, Images, Power, and Politics. Figurative Aspects of Esarhaddon's Babylonian Policy, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Porter, B. Nevling 1997, What the Assyrians Thought the Babylonians Thought about the Relative Status of Nabû and Marduk in the Late Assyrian Period, in Parpola, S. and Whiting, R. M., Assyria 1995. Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Symposium of the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Helsinki 7–11, 1995, Helsinki: 253–60.Google Scholar
Porter, B. Nevling 2003, Trees, Kings, and Politics. Studies in Assyrian Iconography (OBO 197), Fribourg and Göttingen.Google Scholar
Postgate, J. N. 1979, The Economic Structure of the Assyrian Empire, in Larsen, M. T. (ed.), Power and Propaganda. A Symposium on Ancient Empires (Mesopotamia 7), Copenhagen: 193–221.Google Scholar
Potts, D. T. 1999, The Archaeology of Elam. Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rassam, H. 1897, Asshur and the Land of Nimrod, New York/Cincinnati.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1979, Assyrian architectural decoration: Techniques and subject-matter, BaM 10: 17–49.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1980b, The architectural context of Assyrian sculptures, Ba M 11: 75–87.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1981, Neo-Assyrian Monuments in their Historical Context, in Fales, F. M. (ed.), Assyrian Royal Inscriptions: New Horizons in Literary, Ideological, and Historical Analysis. Papers of a Symposium Held in Cetona (Siena), June 26–28, 1980, Roma: 143–67.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1987, Field observations of glass and glazed materials, in Bimson, M. and Freestone, I. C. (eds.), Early Vitreous Materials (Occasional Paper No. 56), British Museum, London: 31–8.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1995, The Khorsabad glazed bricks and their symbolism, in Caubet, A. (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, Paris: 227–51.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 2000, Ninive (Nineveh), RIA 9: 388–433.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 2005, The Ishtar Temple at Nineveh, Iraq 67/1: 347–90 (= RAI 49/2 [2005]).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roaf, M. and Zgoll, A. 2001, Assyrian Astroglyphs: Lord Aberdeen's Black Stone and the Prisms of Esarhaddon, ZA 91: 264–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, J. M. 1999, Some Painted Bricks from Nineveh, A Preliminary Report, in Boucharlat, R., Curtis, J. E. and Haerinck, E. (eds.), Neo-Assyrian, Median, Achaemenian and Other Studies in Honor of David Stronach (Iranica Antiqua XXXIV), Gent: 85–108.Google Scholar
SAA 15 = Fuchs, A. and Parpola, S., The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II. Letters from Babylonia and the Eastern Provinces, Helsinki.Google Scholar
SAA 17 = Dietrich, M., The Babylonian Correspondence of Sargon and Sennacherib, Helsinki.Google Scholar
Scurlock, J. A. 1997, Assyrian Hieroglyphs Enhanced, NABU 1997/3: 85–6.Google Scholar
Seidl, U. 1989, Die babylonischen Kudurru-Reliefs. Symbole mesopotamischer Gottheiten (OBO 87), Göttingen.Google Scholar
Strommenger, E. and Hirmer, M. 1962, Fünf Jahrtausende Mesopotamien. Die Kunst von den Anfängen um 5000 v. Chr. bis zu Alexander der Großen, Munich.Google Scholar
Thompson, , Campbell, R. 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.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.Campbell, and Hutchinson, R. W. 1929a, A Century of Excavation at Nineveh, London.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.Campbell, and Hutchinson, R. W. 1929b, The Excavations on the Temple of Nabu at Nineveh, Archaeologia 79: 103–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, R.Campbell, 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.Google Scholar
Thompson, , Campbell, R. and Mallowan, M. E. L. 1933, The British Museum Excavations at Nineveh, 1931–32, Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 20: 71–186.Google Scholar
Woolley, L. 1965, Ur Excavations. Volume VIII. The Kassite Period and the Period of the Assyrian Kings, London.Google Scholar
Woolley, L. and Mallowan, M. 1976, Ur Excavations. Volume VII The Old Babylonian Period, London.Google Scholar