To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Assyrian reliefs.
Journal articles on the topic 'Assyrian reliefs'
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 50 journal articles for your research on the topic 'Assyrian reliefs.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse journal articles on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Seymour, Michael. "Neighbors through Imperial Eyes: Depicting Babylonia in the Assyrian Campaign Reliefs." Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 4, no. 1-2 (June 26, 2018): 129–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/janeh-2017-0022.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractThe Neo-Assyrian campaign reliefs are rich sources for understanding Assyrian ideas of empire, geography, and Assyria’s relationship to the wider world. They are also exceptions: the format of the later Assyrian campaign reliefs is in several respects so unusual in ancient Near Eastern art as to demand explanation. Not the least of the campaign reliefs’ unusual qualities is the extensive and often detailed depiction of foreign landscapes and people. This paper examines one instance of this phenomenon: the particular case of depictions of Babylonia and the far south in Assyrian campaign reliefs. Studies of the textual sources have done much to draw out the complex cultural and political relationship between Assyria and Babylonia in the eighth, seventh, and sixth centuries B.C., revealing tensions between an identification with the cities of the south and their venerable temples on the one hand, and the undeniable political and strategic problems posed by Babylonian rebellions against Assyrian rule on the other. It is argued that the campaign reliefs attempt to resolve this tension by presenting conquest and pacification as accomplished facts, and Babylonia’s abundance as an Assyrian imperial possession. It is also suggested that one function of the reliefs was to process historical victories into a larger, ahistorical image of Assyrian imperial success.
2
Cheng, Jack. "The Horizontal Forearm Harp: Assyria's National Instrument." Iraq 74 (2012): 75–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900000279.
Full textAbstract:
A horizontal harp, strung with seven to nine strings and usually decorated with a finial in the shape of a human forearm, is likely to have been a symbol of the Neo-Assyrian state. Various features distinguish this musical instrument from contemporary Elamite harps, and from other harps in Mesopotamian history. The horizontal forearm harp was the most frequently depicted musical instrument on Neo-Assyrian palace reliefs and bronze doors; pairs of male Assyrians play the harp for the king in official duties of state or cult. The decorative forearm sometimes wears the rosette bracelet associated with royalty. Consideration of the iconographic significance of the forearm suggests possible Neo-Assyrian attitudes toward music.
3
DeGrado, J. "KING OF THE FOUR QUARTERS: DIVERSITY AS A RHETORICAL STRATEGY OF THE NEO-ASSYRIAN EMPIRE." Iraq 81 (September 30, 2019): 107–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/irq.2019.8.
Full textAbstract:
Recent studies of cultural interaction in the Assyrian empire have focused on the process of assimilation and the production of alterity. In this article, I argue that Assyrian royal rhetoric goes beyond emphasizing simple difference, instead using depictions of cultural diversity to demonstrate the truly universal nature of the empire. I elucidate this rhetoric by comparison the world fairs of the 19th and early 20th-centuries. These fairs advanced European imperialism by allowing visitors to explore the vast extent of empire. I argue that the enumeration of exotic tribute in Assyrian texts and the iconographic depiction of foreigners on reliefs similarly served to concretize Assyrian power. Unlike modern European empires, however, Assyrians did not consider ethnicity to be constitutive of citizenship. Thus, while the Assyrian approach to diversity was certainly instrumentalizing, it was also inclusive of cultural difference. In this respect, the Assyrian understanding of human diversity shares much in common with the way the empire treated other types of difference, ranging from topographic variation to biodiversity. From the imperial vantage point, each of these elements had the potential to be tamed in a way that highlighted the control of the king over the four quarters of the world.
4
Mitchell, T. C. "Camels in the Assyrian Bas-Reliefs." Iraq 62 (2000): 187. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/4200489.
Full text
5
Ornan, Tallay. "Expelling demons at Nineveh: The visibility of benevolent demons in the palaces of Nineveh." Iraq 66 (2004): 83–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900001674.
Full textAbstract:
As has been shown and extensively dealt with in early and more recent scholarship, Neo-Assyrian palatial wall reliefs went through many thematic changes throughout their two hundred and fifty years of existence. One of their conspicuous traits was a gradual abandoning of magical-religious subject matters, represented by protective supernatural beings, in favour of larger and more detailed historical compositions — mostly of a belligerent nature — revealing, for the first time in antiquity, a truer sense of narrative display. As the narrative-historical themes were rightly considered to be an innovative and prominent contribution of Assyrian imagery to the history of art, extensive efforts have been devoted to the study of these compositions within the context of Assyrian palaces.In the present contribution I intend, however, to concentrate on the “losing” side of Assyrian palatial decoration, namely to focus on the visibility of apotropaic fantastic creatures rendered on wall reliefs and to offer some explanation for their gradual expulsion from the pictorial display of the Assyrian palace. Following Porada, in this essay these hybrids are called demons, in accordance with the Greek term daimon. Benevolent demons appear already in early ninth-century Neo-Assyrian wall reliefs, both in temples, as shown by a small number of slabs from the Ninurta Temple at Nimrud, and much more commonly in palaces, in particular within the North-West Palace.
6
Guralnick, Eleanor. "Neo-Assyrian patterned fabrics." Iraq 66 (2004): 221–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900001807.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractThe patterns used to decorate Neo-Assyrian fabrics are known mainly through their use in the arts. Stone bronze and ivory sculptures and wall paintings incorporate decorations, sometimes enhanced with a variety of colours. The patterns for which we have evidence varied through time and in response to the use the fabric served. The secondary nature of the evidence allows only inferences on the techniques used to create the decorative patterns, but not certain knowledge. At Nineveh the subtlest distinctions in fabric patterning on stone relief survive. At Nimrud the most complex symbolic motifs are used as fabric decorations. At Til Barsip the most varied and colourful patterns are seen. At Khorsabad stone reliefs with colour-enhance patterns survive. The consistency with which some decorations are used exclusively for the king's garment suggests that there may be a symbolic value for a few decorative patterns.
7
Thomason, Allison Karmel. "The Sense-scapes of Neo-Assyrian Capital Cities: Royal Authority and Bodily Experience." Cambridge Archaeological Journal 26, no. 2 (February 3, 2016): 243–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0959774315000578.
Full textAbstract:
This study approaches the material world of the Neo-Assyrian period in Mesopotamia from the theoretical and methodological standpoint of the field of sensory archaeology. Analysis of relevant royal inscriptions, administrative tablets, bas-reliefs and artefacts excavated from the palaces in the Assyrian capital cities of Nimrud, Khorsabad and Nineveh demonstrates that the Assyrian kings and their courtly advisors participated in activities of biopolitics. The study identifies several phenomena and features of the Assyrian world, including palaces that served as sensorial envelopes, commensal feasts, travelling processions, water-control projects and libation rituals that the Neo-Assyrian royal authority deployed in attempts to control sensory experiences. At the same time, the study reconstructs the sensory experiences of Assyrian bodies as they passed through royally curated structures and landscapes.
8
Watanabe, Chikako E. "The “continuous style” in the narrative scheme of Assurbanipal's reliefs." Iraq 66 (2004): 103–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900001698.
Full textAbstract:
As we walk through the Assyrian galleries in the British Museum, we may observe curious depictions amongst Assurbanipal's reliefs. A scene from the king's lion hunt, for example, shows a lion emerging from a cage, a lion being shot by an arrow in the back and dashing forward in anger, and a lion leaping at the king (Fig. 1). Our eyes follow these images naturally, from right to left, as a series of movements that conclude on the left of the scene. It was E. Unger who first observed this characteristic feature and named it kinematographische Erzählungsform. J. Reade also noted it in his study of narrative composition in Assyrian sculpture, where the style is called the “strip-cartoon effect”. It appeared sporadically throughout the Neo-Assyrian period but became prominent under Assurbanipal. The identification of these animals as the same lion is established by a text on the far left, beyond this scene. This part of the relief only survives in the form of a drawing. It shows the king grasping the lion by the throat and thrusting a sword into the animal's stomach. The epigraph states that a lion was released from a cage in order to be shot with arrows by the king. The lion did not die, however, so he stabbed it with an iron dagger in order to kill it.
9
Braun-Holzinger, Eva A. "DARSTELLUNGEN DER SUḪÄER UND WEITERER NACHBARN DER ASSYRER IM 9. JH. 1. TEIL." Iraq 80 (September 25, 2018): 35–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/irq.2018.12.
Full textAbstract:
Representations of foreigners in their strange attire have a long tradition in the Ancient Near East. While the Assyrian Empire was expanding during the early first millennium BC, the Assyrian kings ‒ with the help of skilled and even inspired craftsmen – attached a growing importance to the differentiation of their near neighbours and people further away. The palace reliefs of Assurnaṣirpal were of excellent craftsmanship, the garments, the hair-styles, the beards and the surrounding landscape were carefully rendered, quite often in every minute detail. Through these details the meaning of the ‘images’ became fully understandable to the well informed Assyrian viewer. Foreign people were not merely enemies, they were people in their own right.
10
Chow, Caleb T. "SWORD CARRY IN THE ART OF ASHURNASIRPAL II: DISPLAYS OF DIVINE AUTHORITY." Iraq 82 (July 14, 2020): 73–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/irq.2020.1.
Full textAbstract:
This paper explores the meaning behind the two methods of sword carry depicted in the iconography of Ashurnasirpal II. While the sword is regarded as a prestigious weapon tied to the owner's identity, the implications of how such an understanding of the sword in the Neo-Assyrian Empire might further delineate the underlying messages of the palace reliefs of Ashurnasirpal II remain unaddressed in secondary literature. As a result, through a combination of a cognitive analysis in regards to the significance of the sword's appearance in Neo-Assyrian texts and iconography as well as an analysis of visual formulas in the palace reliefs of Ashurnasirpal II as identified by Mehmet-Ali Ataç, this paper argues that the visual representation of the sword is intended to communicate not only the wielder's power and wealth but also the wielder's exercise or restraint of divine authority based on the carry method displayed.
11
Albenda, Pauline. "Assyrian sacred trees in the Brooklyn Museum." Iraq 56 (1994): 123–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900002874.
Full textAbstract:
The Brooklyn Museum houses twelve stone slabs with carved decoration from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II. The motif of a stylized tree — the so-called Sacred Tree (see Figs. 1, 4, 6) — appears on seven of those slabs which come from rooms F, I, L, S, T of the ninth century palace at Nimrud. These tree renderings are representative of the sacred tree-type found in ten rooms of the royal residence and the west wing. Approximately 96 sacred trees, in two-register arrangement, appeared on the pictorial decorations in room I; the same motif occurred about 75 times in one-register arrangement on the reliefs of the other rooms. The abundance of the sacred tree motif on the wall decorations of the Northwest Palace attests to the significance of this plant. Its design deserves investigation; in Layard's words, “the tree, evidently a sacred symbol, is elaborately and tastefully formed.”In his study of the Ashurnasirpal II reliefs in American collections, Stearns did not attempt to list the sacred trees, because “variations in the sacred tree occur only in minor details,” and “the tree in itself is rarely useful in identifying the location of the reliefs.” These statements make clear Stearns' belief that the sacred trees were nearly alike. Other scholars, notably Weidner and Reade, have pointed out that on a number of slabs now in American and European museums are carvings of matching half trees, therefore indicating that when paired, these trees belonged to adjoining slabs originally. In trying to match half trees, one finds that individual sacred trees do differ in the rendering of specific details. Bleibtreu, in her analysis of the sacred tree-type, lists three variants of the flower found on the palmette-garland framing the individual tree on three sides. The present author, after examining the sacred trees carved on the slabs in The Brooklyn Museum, concludes that the design of the tree-type is more varied than heretofore presumed, and that its construction is more complex than indicated in previous descriptions of the subjects. An analysis of the Assyrian sacred tree-type may lead to possible conclusions regarding its intended image: a stylized palm tree, a cult object, an emblem of vegetation or “tree of life”, an imperial symbol, or a combination of those forms. In addition, one may consider to what extent the rendering of individual trees was the consequence of artistic inventiveness.
12
Curtis, John. "Recent British Museum Excavations in Assyria." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 2, no. 2 (July 1992): 147–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1356186300002340.
Full textAbstract:
It is a great honour for me to be asked to give the Richard Barnett memorial lecture. I knew Richard Barnett well, and had the privilege of working with him at the British Museum for three years before his retirement. He was a great source of inspiration, and I and many others owe him a considerable debt of gratitude. I have chosen as my subject recent British Museum excavations in Assyria, partly because I believe this would have been of some slight interest to Dr Barnett. Both the British Museum and Assyria were close to his heart. He worked in the Museum for more than 40 years, and from 1955 to 1974 was Keeper of the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities. Throughout this time Assyria was a special interest, and Dr Barnett did some of his most important work on Nimrud ivories, the Assyrian reliefs and the Balawat Gates. Inevitably, the role of the British Museum in making these pioneering discoveries in the nineteenth century held a particular fascination for him.
13
Ziffer, Irit. "Pinecone or date palm male inflorescence – metaphorical pollination in Assyrian art." Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 66, no. 1-2 (March 11, 2019): 19–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/22238980-00001064.
Full textAbstract:
The following contribution focuses on Assyrian stone reliefs depicting winged figures holding a bucket and reaching a cone-shaped object toward a stylized tree. Ever since the discovery of the reliefs, the cone-shaped object was considered as either a conifer cone or a date palm male inflorescence used in the symbolic pollination of the stylized tree, derived from the date palm. Utilizing the visual material combined with textual evidence and based on the importance of the date palm as economic resource that gave rise to a plethora of meanings, religious, royal and popular, I shall argue that the scene refers to the artificial pollination of the tree.
14
Dezső, T. "The reconstruction of the neo-Assyrian army. As depicted on the Assyrian palace reliefs, 745-612 BC." Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 57, no. 1-3 (March 2006): 87–130. http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/aarch.57.2006.1-3.8.
Full text
15
Konstantopoulos, Gina. "PIGS AND PLAQUES: CONSIDERING RM. 714 IN LIGHT OF COMPARATIVE ARTISTIC AND TEXTUAL SOURCES." Iraq 80 (October 4, 2018): 151–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/irq.2018.10.
Full textAbstract:
Rm. 714, a first millenniumb.c.e.tablet in the collections of the British Museum, is remarkable for the fine carving of a striding pig in high relief on its obverse. Purchased by Hormuzd Rassam in Baghdad in 1877, it lacks archaeological context and must be considered in light of other textual and artistic references to pigs, the closest parallel being a sow and her piglets seen in the reliefs of Court VI from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. Unlike depictions of pigs on later cylinder seals, where they are often shown as a dangerous quarry in hunting scenes, Rm. 714's pig appears in a more neutral, non-aggressive posture, similar to the sow in the Assyrian reliefs. Although Rm. 714's highly curved reverse would inhibit its use as a mounted or otherwise easily displayed object, the tablet may still have served as an apotropaic object or sculptor's model, among other potential functions.
16
Ussishkin, David. "SENNACHERIB’S CAMPAIGN IN JUDAH: THE CONQUEST OF LACHISH." Journal for Semitics 24, no. 2 (November 17, 2017): 719–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/1013-8471/3477.
Full textAbstract:
The conquest of Lachish in 701 B.C.E. by the army of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, forms a significant event in the history of the Near East, the history of the kingdom of Judah, and the history of the biblical world. Five different sources, which complement one another, combine to present us with a clear and vivid picture of the events at Lachish: (1) the detailed descriptions in the Old Testament of the Assyrian campaign in Judah; (2) the annals and other inscriptions of Sennacherib; (3) the city level attacked by the Assyrians which was studied in the excavations; (4) the remains of the battle uncovered in the excavations; and (5) the series of reliefs describing the siege of Lachish erected by Sennacherib in his royal palace at Nineveh. This is in fact a unique case in which a major battle of the biblical period can be studied and reconstructed to a significant degree. Much information was obtained in the intensive archaeological excavations which have taken place at Lachish since 1932. Groups of scholars and students from UNISA took part in the excavations of Tel Aviv University each season between 1976 and 1989. They were organised and led by Prof. Ian Eybers until his untimely death in 1981 (Fig. 1). Many of the South African participants were directly involved in uncovering significant remains associated with Sennacheib’s attack on Lachish.
17
Gerardi, Pamela. "Epigraphs and Assyrian Palace Reliefs: The Development of the Epigraphic Text." Journal of Cuneiform Studies 40, no. 1 (March 1988): 1–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1359704.
Full text
18
Jeffers, Joshua. "Fifth-campaign Reliefs in Sennacherib's “Palace without Rival” at Nineveh." Iraq 73 (2011): 87–116. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900000097.
Full textAbstract:
Scholars had once assumed that all of the relief programmes in Sennacherib's “Palace Without Rival” at Nineveh depicted events solely from his first three military campaigns. In 1994, however, E. Frahm successfully reconstructed a heavily damaged epigraph from the throne room specifically identifying the city of Ukku as the topic of the relief programme on Slabs 1–4 of this room's western wall. We know from Sennacherib's annals that Ukku was a target of the king's fifth campaign, aimed at enemies to the north of the Assyrian heartland in the Zagros mountain range. I have therefore re-examined the palace reliefs in order to identify other fifth-campaign programmes that have previously been overlooked. In this article, I argue that Rooms XXXVIII and XLVIII, in addition to the images on the western wall of the throne room, contain representations of Sennacherib's fifth campaign. With this identification substantiated, I then explore the typological aspects of these fifth-campaign programmes to classify their visual features.
19
Edelman, Diana. "WHAT IF WE HAD NO ACCOUNTS OF SENNACHERIB'S THIRD CAMPAIGN OR THE PALACE RELIEFS DEPICTING HIS CAPTURE OF LACHISH?" Biblical Interpretation 8, no. 1-2 (2000): 88–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156851500300046709.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractIn spite of the important information contained in the various accounts of Sennacherib's third campaign and the reliefs of his conquest of Lachish, their absence would have little effect upon the recreation of the events of the reign of Hezekiah by historians of Judah. The results of excavations at Tell ed-Duweir/ Lachish and Tel Miqne/Ekron suggest that sometime in the last decades of the eighth century or in the opening decades of the seventh century bce, there was an Assyrian military presence in the Judean shephelah and a ceding of control over the olive yield in the shephelah and highlands of Judah to the Philistines to fuel a newly established regional olive oil industry. When information about the kings who ruled Judah in the period in question is considered, Hezekiah remains the most logical candidate under whom the ceding of territorial control, which would have required Assyrian consent and agency, can be plausibly posited. The main outlines of the history of the period can nevertheless be posited; only the specific nature of the interregional conflict between Judah and Philistia and the specific Assyrian resolution of the conflict cannot be established.
20
Mohamed, Magdy. "The Arabs in Neo-Assyrian Reliefs العرب فی نقوش العصر الآشوری الحدیث." Conference Book of the General Union of Arab Archeologists 20, no. 20 (December 1, 2017): 348–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.21608/cguaa.2017.29526.
Full text
21
Bartl, Peter V. "Layard's drawings of the incised decorations on the Nimrud reliefs compared with the originals." Iraq 67, no. 2 (2005): 17–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900001315.
Full textAbstract:
The orthostats from the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) at Nimrud are among the most outstanding works of art from the Ancient Near East. Today they are to be found in museums all over the world and are looked at every day by thousands of visitors. Numerous books and articles have been written about their style, their meaning and their reconstruction. Thus one would think that nothing could have escaped the eye of observers. Nevertheless, some details have been largely overlooked by researchers. Among these is the incised decoration on the edges of the garments of some of the figures depicted, showing a wide range of simple geometric and floral designs as well as complex mythical and narrative scenes. It thus forms a valuable part of the repertoire of Neo-Assyrian artistic motifs and can help us understand the essence and meaning of Neo-Assyrian political art. The evidence of these incised decorations is not only of importance for the history of art but is also fundamental to the understanding of the significance of the clothes and of the figures wearing them, forming an integral and essential part of the mythical symbolic character of the figures.
22
Dolce, Rita. "The “head of the enemy” in the sculptures from the palaces of Nineveh: An example of “cultural migration”?" Iraq 66 (2004): 121–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900001716.
Full textAbstract:
The choice of this subject originates from the fact that the area of research to which I have been devoting myself recently includes the figurative cultures of Mesopotamia and Syria in the Early Dynastic and the Early Syrian periods, specifically in the field of war. Some of the data resulting from this research focus on the representation of the “head of the enemy”, which appears repeatedly in the documentation of the second millennium BC in Syria but so far seems to be absent in contemporary Mesopotamia. Despite the evident difference between the forms of representation from these two areas, I perceived in the figurative cycles of the Neo-Assyrian reliefs not only the recurrence of this theme but also the intentional display of severed heads, which reaches its climax in the numerous examples from the South-West Palace in Nineveh. My first aim is, therefore, to suggest a plausible approach towards identifying the origin of the display of “severed heads”, previously absent from Mesopotamian scenes of warfare, in the visual communication of the Neo-Assyrian period. My second aim is to offer an interpretation which may help shed light on ideological, cultural and anthropological aspects essential to the Neo-Assyrian political programme and its visual representation.
23
Amelirad, Sheler. "A STUDY OF IVORY AND BONE PLAQUES FROM ZIWIYE IN THE SANANDAJ MUSEUM." Iraq 81 (October 18, 2019): 11–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/irq.2019.6.
Full textAbstract:
This article introduces a small group of ivories held in the Sanandaj Museum, which were discovered in 1997 during the seventh season of Nasratolah Motamedi's excavations at Ziwiye, northwest Iran. An investigation of the decorative, figurative, and stylistic characteristics of these pieces reveals a strong Neo-Assyrian influence, with close similarities to the palace reliefs of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud, as well as the influence of Assyrianizing Urartian art. These extensive cultural influences on Mannaean art can be seen in terms of political and economic relations with the two regions.
24
Collins, Paul. "From Mesopotamia to the Met: Two Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Sargon II." Metropolitan Museum Journal 47 (January 2012): 73–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/670140.
Full text
25
Harmanşah, Ömür. "‘Source of the Tigris’. Event, place and performance in the Assyrian landscapes of the Early Iron Age." Archaeological Dialogues 14, no. 2 (October 26, 2007): 179–204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1380203807002334.
Full textAbstract:
Performative engagements with specific, culturally significant places were among the primary means of configuring landscapes in the ancient world. Ancient states often appropriated symbolic or ritual landscapes through commemorative ceremonies and building operations. These commemorative sites became event-places where state spectacles encountered and merged with local cult practices. The Early Iron Age inscriptions and reliefs carved on the cave walls of the Dibni Su sources at the site of Birkleyn in Eastern Turkey, known as the ‘Source of the Tigris’ monuments, present a compelling paradigm for such spatial practices. Assyrian kings Tiglath-pileser I (1114–1076 B.C.) and Shalmaneser III (858–824 B.C.) carved ‘images of kingship’ and accompanying royal inscriptions at this impressive site in a remote but politically contested region. This important commemorative event was represented in detail on Shalmaneser III's bronze repoussé bands from Imgul-Enlil (Tell Balawat) as well as in his annalistic texts, rearticulating the performance of the place on public monuments in Assyrian urban contexts. This paper approaches the making of the Source of the Tigris monuments as a complex performative place-event. The effect was to reconfigure a socially significant, mytho-poetic landscape into a landscape of commemoration and cult practice, illustrating Assyrian rhetorics of kingship. These rhetorics were maintained by articulate gestures of inscription that appropriated an already symbolically charged landscape in a liminal territory and made it durable through site-specific spatial practices and narrative representations.
26
Micale, M. G., and D. Nadali. "The shape of Sennacherib's camps: Strategic functions and ideological space." Iraq 66 (2004): 163–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900001753.
Full textAbstract:
Sennacherib's representations of military events on the reliefs which decorate his residence in Nineveh offer some of the most remarkable images of camps. Their iconographic aspect deserves to be explored, especially considering their role in the visual narrative. Unfortunately, many drawings of lost slabs with representations of camps are totally isolated and unrelated to the narrative episodes; the reconstruction of their role in the dynamics of the story is possible only when a nearly complete cycle is preserved.The spatial shape of Sennacherib's camps is exclusively an elliptical line which encloses a space in which there are various items. The items are arranged either together or as alternatives, and consist of representations of the king sitting on the throne, two priests celebrating a ritual (Collon 1999: 24–5), tents, accommodation for the soldiers and the people that followed the Assyrian army when on campaign (Postgate 2000: 89–93). Sennacherib's sculptors defined the Assyrian type of camp by a curved enclosing line, partially reproducing earlier visual modules. A broad band, which could be either a road or a wall, is found inside it. In addition, the band divides the military camp into an upper and a lower part, and the internal space is sometimes divided into rows which are superimposed and aligned. The rows serve to arrange the distribution inside the elliptical perimeter; similar way to the way slabs are subdivided into registers, the rows inside the camps contribute to organising and setting each item in a fixed and precise place. The structural skeleton, formed by the curving perimeter and internal division into two or more departments (registers) is the foundation of the shape of Assyrian military camps, a well-defined and unchanged icon, always clearly recognizable, especially in Sennacherib's sculptures.
27
Baulina, K. "REFLECTION AND RECTIFICATION OF THE SACRAL PALACE CEREMONIAL "PROSKYNESIS" AT THE COURT OF THE ASSYRIAN AND ACHAEMENID RULERS." Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. History, no. 148 (2021): 18–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2021.148.3.
Full textAbstract:
The palace ceremonial "proskynesis" (gr. – προσκύνησις) – which consisted of a kiss and a bow – was considered and interpreted. A comparison of ancient Eastern traditions at the royal court of Assyrian and Achaemenid rulers is highlighted. The author tries to reconstruct the essence and meaning of proskynesis in the lives of kings and ordinary people. The work uses ancient greek written sources and the eastern source heritage, which is represented by reliefs and obelisks from Assyria and the Achaemenid Empire. The pertinence of the topic is an attempt to interpret part of the palace ceremony – proskynesis, and to highlight the royal cult of the ancient Eastern traditions at the court of Achaemenid empire. The purpose of the project is to determine some points in the ceremonial proskynesis, as a reflection of the sacred status of the ruler or as an element of court etiquette. The tradition of the sacralization of royal power was inherent in virtually all the ancient eastern people, but the concrete forms of this sacralization in different states could differ significantly from one another and not always included the "adorable" of the monarch. This ritual from the Persians borrowed from different countries was meant to mean the king's majesty. With his adoration, the ritual had nothing in common. Kings were considered to be the favorites of the gods, their pious choirs and priests. The range of postures to which proskynesis was applied is diverse, and therefore we have to make out the idea which gesture proskynesis can be consist off and we have to interpret this in several different ways, depending on its context, with possibilities ranging between "sending a kiss forward", kneeling down, prostrating oneself, or just a bow. And at all we need to determine is the proskynesis equal to prostration?
28
Ornan, Tallay. "Who is holding the lead rope? The relief of the Broken Obelisk." Iraq 69 (2007): 59–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900001066.
Full textAbstract:
The step-topped, free-standing square monument called in modern literature the Broken Obelisk was found by Hormuzd Rassam at Nineveh, near the Ishtar temple on the mound of Kuyunjik. It is the earliest monument of this kind, and it differs in its pictorial rendering from the later, so-called Assyrian obelisks. Whereas the succeeding examples display reliefs on their four sides, creating consecutive narratives, the Broken Obelisk exhibits a single, motionless relief on its front, the subject of the present paper (Börker-Klähn 1982, Nos. 132, 138–45, 152; Bär 1996, 57-68, 88–99, 101–5, 148–65).My aim here is to shed light on the motif of the king holding prisoners of war by means of lead ropes and to examine the bearing of this motif on the status of the royal image in pictorial renderings. According to different interpretations of the scene, the king holds a ring and rod (Börker-Klähn 1982, 178, No. 131 with earlier bibliography), or a ceremonial mace (Russell 2003, 4) as well as lead rope(s) with which he binds prisoners of war standing in front of him (e.g. Pritchard 1969, 300, No. 440; Strommenger 1964, 437, PI. 188, bottom; Börker-Klähn 1982, 178; Collon 1995, 117; Russell 2003, 4). My initial interest in the iconography of the Broken Obelisk was aroused by the fact that on it the so-called ring and rod symbols of kingship granted by the gods, are held by the king, whereas usually they are held by a deity in compositions conveying the very act of the divine giving (Hallo 2005, 150–1, 161; Suter 2000, 6–7; Ornan 2005, 12).
29
Lukyashko, Sergey. "Horse Ammunition. From the History of a Saddle." Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Serija 4. Istorija. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnoshenija, no. 5 (October 2019): 6–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2019.5.1.
Full textAbstract:
Introduction. Horse ammunition was formed historically on a large geographical area. The most important component of it is a saddle. The ancient history of a saddle is not sufficiently investigated. It should be safely assumed that the oldest forms of seats appear together with the use of a horse for riding. We can confidently say that the appearance of the horsemen of the Cimmerians and Scythians in Western Asia in 8th – 7th centuries BC would not have been possible if there had been no such devices. There is a deep belief that horse riding in Western Asia arose under the Cimmerian-Scythian influence. Methods and materials. The presence of images of horsemen and archaeological material allow us to revisit the issue. Even on the Nimrodical relief we can trace the saddle blanket provided with breeching strap and the girth. This primitive form of soft saddle can be seen on Assyrian reliefs, where it is complemented by a breast collar. Analysis. The well-preserved saddle of the Pazyryk burial mounds, shows that in the 5th century BC a saddle becomes more complicated, paired pillows and hardwood arcs fastening pillows appear. This type of a saddle in the Asian part of the nomadic world survives until the 3rd century BC and is represented in the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang. In the West, in the Scythian world, a simple coating with mounting straps exists in the 4th century BC, probably in the late 4th century BC, a wooden base – lence and pommels – appears in the Scythian saddle. Results. The archaeological material clearly indicates that a saddle was formed within the culture of Eurasian nomads in the 1st millennium BC, a rigid saddle appeared in the Scythian culture in the late 4th century BC.
30
Bahrani, Zainab. "The king's head." Iraq 66 (January 2004): 115–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900001704.
Full textAbstract:
The composition of the battle of Til-Tuba from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh is usually described as a relief depicting a recorded historical event. It is considered a good and solid example of the Assyrian concern with history and the Assyrian propensity for propagandistic depictions of current events. The scene, which is surely saturated in the ideology of empire, has already been discussed from that point of view. Is it true to the historical event? Is it an exaggeration? Did the Assyrians really do these things? How close or how distant is this depiction of the battle from the real historical event of war?The Assyrian method of representation is generally one that is attentive to minute details and concerned with ethnographic accuracy, even when the composition is hierarchical and representations of the body are stylised into abstract patterns. Realism is certainly a distinctive aspect of Assyrian narrative art and accurate details of dress and landscape were used to create what Roland Barthes would have called the effect of the real.
31
Daniels, Peter T. "The Conquest of Assyria: Excavations in an Antique Land, 1840-1860. Mogens Trolle LarsenFrom Nineveh to New York: The Strange Story of the Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum and the Hidden Masterpiece at Canford School. John Malcolm Russell , Judith McKenzie , Stephanie Dalley." Isis 89, no. 4 (December 1998): 748–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/384208.
Full text
32
Bohrer, Frederick Nathaniel. "From Nineveh to New York: The Strange Story of the Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum and the Hidden Masterpiece at Canford School, and: A.W. Franks: Nineteenth-Century Collecting and the British Museum (review)." Victorian Studies 43, no. 2 (2001): 298–301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/vic.2001.0005.
Full text
33
Nadali, Davide. "Assyrian high-relief bricks from Nineveh and the fragments of a royal name." Iraq 70 (2008): 87–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900000887.
Full textAbstract:
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 wordé.gal(“palace”) at the beginning of the inscription that was stamped onto the bricks. However, the wordé.galprobably 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 wordé.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 cannota prioribe totally excluded.
34
Ataç, Mehmet-Ali. "Visual Formula and Meaning in Neo-Assyrian Relief Sculpture." Art Bulletin 88, no. 1 (March 2006): 69–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00043079.2006.10786279.
Full text
35
Bohrer, Frederick N. "BOOK REVIEW: John Malcolm Russell.FROM NINEVEH TO NEW YORK: THE STRANGE STORY OF THE ASSYRIAN RELIEFS IN THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM AND THE HIDDEN MASTERPIECE AT CANFORD SCHOOL. and Edited by Marjorie Caygill and John Cherry.A. W. FRANKS: NINETEENTH-CENTURY COLLECTING AND THE BRITISH MUSEUM." Victorian Studies 43, no. 2 (January 2001): 298–301. http://dx.doi.org/10.2979/vic.2001.43.2.298.
Full text
36
Albenda, Pauline. "Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography, edited by Ada Cohen and Steven E. Kangas. Hanover, NH: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College and University Press of New England, 2010. xx + 268 pp., 125 figures, 26 plates, 1 map, 1 plan. Paper. $40.00." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 363 (August 2011): 102–4. http://dx.doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.363.0102.
Full text
37
May, Natalie N. "Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography. Edited by Ada Cohen and Steven E. Kangas. Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College and University Press of New England, 2010. Pp. xviii + 267 + 2 illustrations + 26 plates + 125 figures. $26.40 (paperback)." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 72, no. 2 (October 2013): 275–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/671443.
Full text
38
Debié, Muriel. "Syriac Historiography and Identity Formation." Church History and Religious Culture 89, no. 1 (2009): 93–114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187124109x408014.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractHistoriographical texts are here read as literary compositions of their time, providing us with various elements of the process of identity construction or reconstruction. The first West Syrian historical texts were produced in the sixth century, when the history of what would become the Syrian Orthodox Church began. An examination of contemporary sources and myths of origins shows that the ethnic origins of the Abgarid dynasty played no part in Syrian 'ethnogenesis', but that there existed a notion of Syro-Mesopotamian origins, closely related to a supposed homeland, that of Aram. An acknowledged common ancestry going back to the Chaldean and Assyrian Empires relies on a common language more than a common homeland or sovereign. Whereas the Assyrians came to personify the ever-hostile Persian neighbour, a sort of stereotypical enemy, the Hellenistic kings were perceived as having effected a synthesis of the double Syro-Mesopotamian and Greek culture. The Seleucid era, as adopted by the Edessans, thus remained in use regardless of the prevailing political powers and is an assertion of independence and a strong local identity marker, being a rejection of the local Antiochene as well as the imperial Byzantine eras. The Syrian Orthodox also developed an innovative method of writing the history of their separated Church, producing a new genre consisting of lengthy chronicles written in several parts or columns, in which political and ecclesiastical history were kept separate. This Syrian Orthodox method of writing history is the only truly distinctive Syrian Orthodox literary genre.
39
Collins, Paul. "Trees and gender in Assyrian art." Iraq 68 (January 2006): 99–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900001182.
Full textAbstract:
The question of identifying cultural symbolism of any period is tortuous without textual or verbal evidence. It is particularly difficult when dealing with an ancient society removed by thousands of years and vast distance in space. Such is the case when interpreting the art of Mesopotamia. Occasionally, textual references help to illuminate possible meanings of imagery. More often than not we are left with nothing but our own culturally conditioned perceptions to explain what we see. However, alternative readings suggested by gender studies raise new ways of approaching familiar scenes. In a recent article I argued that the appearance of a fruiting date palm in the so-called “Garden Party” relief of Ashurbanipal (r. 668–631 BC) from the North Palace at Nineveh helped to situate the scene within a queen's garden. Despite the fact that the climate in Assyria is unfavourable for date-palm cultivation, the image of the tree, closely associated with a goddess, symbolized the feminine space of the garden. I would like to take this proposal further and suggest that the fruiting date palm is a marker of femininity in other images from ancient Iraq and, in addition, that the conifer tree can appear as a symbol of masculinity.
40
Novotny, J., and C. E. Watanabe. "After the fall of Babylon: A new look at the presentation scene on Assurbanipal relief BM ME 124945–6." Iraq 70 (2008): 105–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900000899.
Full textAbstract:
BM ME 124945–6, a relief of Assurbanipal, was discovered in the ruins of Room M (the so-called ‘Throne Room’) of the North Palace in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, and is now on display in the British Museum (Fig. 1). The slabs are divided into two registers: an upper register and a lower register, which are separated by a broad wavy band, each side of which forms the bank of a river. Two rivers flow horizontally in parallel in the centre of the slabs. The presentation scene appears in the lower register, which shows the Assyrian king Assurbanipal (668–631 BC) reviewing war spoils taken from Babylon after the city was captured by the Assyrian army in late 648 BC. The aim of this paper is to examine the spoils represented on the relief and, by carefully analysing Assurbanipal's inscriptions, to clarify how textual accounts of the event or events are reflected in the narrative scheme of the composition.The presentation scene is further divided into three rows by simple horizontal lines, each forming a ground line that normally indicates the recession of space based on the principle of “vertical perspective” in which distant figures are placed higher than nearer ones. The king is represented on the right of the scene, occupying the upper and middle rows (Fig. 2). He is mounted on a chariot and is accompanied by courtiers and soldiers who all face to the left of the scene. An epigraph is engraved above the horses of the king's chariot. On the far side of the scene, Assyrian soldiers, in the upper row, proceed towards the king. The first person is a eunuch raising his right hand; he is followed by a bearded man (Fig. 3). Then there are three soldiers, each holding a particular item of booty (Fig. 4). These men are followed by two wheeled vehicles: one is carried on the shoulders of several men (Fig. 5) and the other pulled by a group of soldiers (Fig. 6). To the far left of the scene, prisoners are led away by soldiers. In the middle row, four foreigners face right (Fig. 7), and behind them stand two scribes making a record in front of one pile of bows and quivers and another of severed heads (Fig. 8). More soldiers follow from the left with a team of horses. The lower row shows a procession of prisoners; all of them move from left to right (Fig. 9). To the far left, there are two sets of chariots, the horses of which are being led by soldiers (Figs. 10 and 11). The overall composition, except for the lower row, is arranged symmetrically facing to the centre, with special emphasis on the king.
41
Gillmann, Nicolas. "À propos du mouvement dans les bas-reliefs néo-assyriens." Ktèma : civilisations de l'Orient, de la Grèce et de Rome antiques 32, no. 1 (2007): 41–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/ktema.2007.1024.
Full text
42
Franke, Sabina. "Der Tempel von Muṣaṣir – ein „normaler“ susi-Tempel." Altorientalische Forschungen 45, no. 2 (November 28, 2018): 156–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/aofo-2018-0014.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract A relief from the palace of Šarru-ukīn (Sargon) at Dūr-Šarrukīn/Ḫorsābād depicts the Ḫaldi temple in Muṣaṣir. Hitherto this representation has been interpreted as a special form of an Urartean temple not otherwise attested. However, the representation of the Ḫaldi temple in Muṣaṣir fits the pattern of Urartian susi-temples if we assume that the Assyrian artist intended to show the peculiarities of the foreign temple by pulling the sides forward and attaching them to the front in order to exhibit its outer decoration and roof.
43
Gillmann, Nicolas. "Le Bâtiment isolé de Khorsabad, Une nouvelle tentative de reconstitution." Iraq 70 (2008): 41–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900000863.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractThe purpose of the present paper is to review the question of the “bâtiment isolé” located at the north-west corner of the royal terrace at Khorsabad. The author seeks first to demonstrate how this building can be connected with the one depicted on relief 12 in Room VII of Sargon's palace, and secondly to propose a reconstruction both of the plan and the elevation of the building, incorporating all the special features belonging to it (column, capital, roof and so on). In order to do so, the author compares typically Assyrian plans, such as those of reception suites, with the remains of the “bâtiment isolé”. The reconstruction of the elevation of this building will partly be based on the relief from Room VII and partly on archaeological remains, such as column bases like those found at Khorsabad (Palace F and Residence K) and at Nineveh.
44
Curtis, John. "The Dying Lion." Iraq 54 (1992): 113–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021088900002539.
Full textAbstract:
The famous Assyrian bas-relief showing a dying lion, missing for many years, has recently been presented to the British Museum. It was excavated at Nineveh in the 1850s but its subsequent whereabouts has been the source of much speculation. A photograph of it was taken by Mansell and Co. in the last century (Plate XV) and this photograph continued to be available; it has been reproduced in many books, which accounts for the notoriety the relief now enjoys.The relief itself is cut down from a larger panel. It now measures 16·6 cm in height and 30·8 cm in length, and is 1·5–2·0 cm thick. At the back, on the right side, is a raised lip. The back itself is well-smoothed, but vertically scored lines are visible (Plate XVIa). On either side of the relief, there is clear evidence of saw marks where it has been cut down to size in modern times. It has probably been also cut along the bottom, but the evidence here is not quite so unequivocal. All along the top is a raised edge 0·5–0·8 cm wide that is probably the original top border of the relief; at any rate, it has the appearance of a finished edge with no signs of having been cut recently. At the bottom, the lion stands on a base line that does not quite extend the width of the slab. Probably in the last century the relief was set into a wooden frame (19·2 × 33·3 cm) with a walnut veneer (Plate XVIb). The frame is open at the back, but a vertical iron strip, held in position by four screws, keeps the relief in place.
45
Kelly, Amanda. "A neo-Assyrian relief in the Weingreen Museum of Biblical Antiquities, Trinity College Dublin—a case study in artefact acquisition." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C 112, no. -1 (January 1, 2011): 61–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.3318/priac.2011.112.01.
Full text
46
Villard, P. "Les structures du recit et les relations entre texte et image dans les bas-reliefs neo-Assyriens." Word & Image 4, no. 1 (January 1988): 422–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02666286.1988.10436262.
Full text
47
Robson, Laura. "REFUGEES AND THE CASE FOR INTERNATIONAL AUTHORITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST: THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS AND THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINIAN REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST COMPARED." International Journal of Middle East Studies 49, no. 4 (October 16, 2017): 625–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020743817000629.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractIn the immediate aftermath of World War I, the newly formed League of Nations saw Middle Eastern refugees—particularly displaced Armenians and Assyrians scattered in camps across the Eastern Mediterranean—as venues for working out new forms of internationalism. In the late 1940s, following the British abandonment of the Palestine Mandate and the subsequent Zionist expulsion of most of the Palestinian Arab population, the new United Nations revived this concept of a refugee crisis requiring international intervention. This paper examines the parallel ways in which advocates for both the nascent League of Nations and the United Nations made use of mass refugee flows to formulate arguments for new, highly visible, and essentially permanent iterations of international authority across the Middle East.
48
Evansluong, Quang, Marcela Ramirez Pasillas, and Huong Nguyen Bergström. "From breaking-ice to breaking-out: integration as an opportunity creation process." International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research 25, no. 5 (August 13, 2019): 880–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijebr-02-2018-0105.
Full textAbstract:
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conduct an inductive case study to understand how the opportunity creation process leads to integration. Design/methodology/approach It examines four cases of immigrant entrepreneurs of Cameroonian, Lebanese, Mexican and Assyrian origins who founded their businesses in Sweden. The study relies on process-oriented theory building and develops an inductive model of integration as an opportunity creation process. Findings The suggested model shows immigrants’ acculturation into the host society via three successive phases: breaking-ice, breaking-in and breaking-out. In the breaking-ice phase, immigrants trigger entrepreneurial ideas to overcome the disadvantages that they face as immigrants in the host country. In the breaking-in phase, immigrants articulate their entrepreneurial ideas by bonding with the ethnic community. In the breaking-out phase, the immigrants reorient their entrepreneurial ideas by desegregating them locally. The paper concludes by elaborating theoretical and practical implications of the research. Originality/value Immigrants act when they are socially excluded and discriminated in the labor market by developing business ideas and becoming entrepreneurs. By practicing the new language and accommodating native customers’ preferences, immigrants reorient their entrepreneurial ideas. The immigrants tailor their ideas to suit their new customers by strengthening their sense of belonging to the local community.
49
Genç, B. "FIRST STEPS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ASSYRIA: BOTTA'S LETTERS AND THE “EXCAVATION HOUSE” AT KHORSABAD." Iraq 81 (October 4, 2019): 145–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/irq.2019.9.
Full textAbstract:
Paolo Emilio Botta, who was sent to Mosul as the French Consul in 1842, explored at Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus and then began investigating ancient stone foundations at Nebi Yunus. Muhammed/Mehmed Pasha and local religious leaders, who were worried that the tomb of prophet Yunus (Jonah) and a local mosque would be destroyed by the excavations, opposed these investigations and the work stopped as a result. After Nebi Yunus, Botta started to work at Kuyunjik in December 1842. While his workers were busy at Kuyunjik, someone from the village of Khorsabad talked about stones with inscriptions and reliefs on them on top of a hill. After three months of exhaustive work at Kuyunjik, on March 20th, 1843 Botta sent a group of workers to Khorsabad for excavation. However, problems arose about Botta's work in Mosul. The Pasha of the province in particular created obstructions. We have done research in the Ottoman Archives of the Prime Ministry of Turkey on Botta's excavation permits and documents, the obstructions created by the Pasha of Mosul, the details of the story of Botta's experiences at Khorsabad and the relevant correspondence. In these archives we have found documents about the problems Botta experienced at Khorsabad, the conditions for excavation permits and the construction of an excavation house, the plan of the excavation house mentioned by Botta, which was drafted like a fortress next to the village houses and sent to Istanbul, as well as petitions of the villagers opposing Botta's work and his excavation house. Here, we attempt to re-read Botta's excavation seasons, permits and the problems he encountered through the documents in the Ottoman Archives in order to understand how this period is to be understood. Through these documents and correspondence, we were able to study the problems that arose between the Ottoman State and France as a result of Botta's excavations at Khorsabad.
50
Melita, Lucia Noor, Katarzyna Węgłowska, Diego Tamburini, and Capucine Korenberg. "Investigating the Potential of the Er:YAG Laser for the Removal of Cemented Dust from Limestone and Painted Plaster." Coatings 10, no. 11 (November 17, 2020): 1099. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/coatings10111099.
Full textAbstract:
A successful application of Er:YAG laser for the cleaning of a restored Assyrian relief sculpture from the British Museum collection is presented. Displayed in the gallery, the sculpture has darkened over time due to the natural deposition of dirt, in particular on restored parts. Since traditional cleaning methods have demonstrated to be unsuccessful, a scientific investigation was performed to identify the composition of the soiling and the materials used for the restoration. The analysis suggested the presence of gypsum, calcium oxalate, carbonates and alumino-silicates on the encrustation. The molded plaster, composed of lime and gypsum and pigmented aggregates, was likely prepared at the end of the 19th century to mimic the stone color. It was repainted with what was identified as a modern oil-based overpaint, applied to cover darkening during a second conservation treatment in the 20th century. Laser trials were first performed on small areas of the objects and on mock-ups to determine the critical fluence thresholds of the surface, investigated through visual examination and analyses using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py–GC–MS). The right parameters and conditions to be used during the cleaning process were, therefore, determined. The chemical selectivity of the cleaning process allowed us to complete the treatment safely while preserving the restoration.