THE MYTHOLOGY OF KINGSHIP IN NEO-ASSYRIAN ART
MEHMET-ALI ATAsojJo/flJnirlll !liftlgic: '[ex/ltdl, HiJtoriml, (tilt:! [n...
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THE MYTHOLOGY OF KINGSHIP IN NEO-ASSYRIAN ART
MEHMET-ALI ATA In addition to the actual slabs carried
to
the British Museum, more than one hundred in number,
Austen Henry Layard also drew twenty of Tiglath-Pilcser Ill's reliefs, the two sources hence constituting our primary understanding of the an of this king. A tentative arrangement of these disjoimed slabs was piritual Authority and Temporal Power in the Indian Theory of Government. [) I
current approaches, rather than a device through which ro propose a literal polarization and srratificacion of layers of meaning in Assyrian art.
have made considerable use of this source from a theoretical angle, with its contribution oftcn
I stress, in any event, that my analyses prioritize the said covert meaning as the primary and
documented in the footnotes. The many fundamental conceptions pertaining to kingship and
most important message of the Neo-Assyrian palace rdiefs. The possible layers at which this art can be read can hence be summarized as follows:
priesthood traced in Coomaraswamy's work cranscend the Indian case and may be considered of relevance to the traditions of kingship in ancient western Asia and Egypt as well.
Nature of Visual
In my reading of these concepts in the reliefs from the Northwest Palace, in addition to some of the throne-room slabs, particular emphasis is placed on the large-scale compositions, especially those from Room G. I have already referred to these large-scale relief scenes that have a
Type of Visual Rhetoric
Rhetoric
Political-Propagandistic
Overt, exoteric,
Possibly for the king and his court,
historical
as well as his foreign or local visitors from the outside
distinctively emblematic and ceremonial character as "hieratic," a word derived from the Greek
hieros, "sacred," used here again in reference to a sacral language thought to be embedded in the art of Ashurnasirpal II. Although my argument is that Ashurnasirpal's relief program in Nimrud as a whole is essen-
Metaphysical
Audience
Covert,
For informed insiders, the scholars
esoteric
of the Assyrian court, master
tially a hieratic art, I nevertheless maintain a distinction here betwecn directly hieratic scenes
craftsmen, and the king himself
and those that are indirectly so, or "narrative" at first look, such as the battle scenes from the
inasmuch as he may have been
throne room. l(i My principal objective is at least to layout and survey in the art of As hurnasir pal
informed about or initiated into
II the visual configurations that might be considered to encompass messages pertaining to the
Assyrian sacerdotal lore by his
dialectics of the regnum and thc saccrdotium, whether or not at this stage a full identification
advisors; this perhaps depends on
and interpretation of these messages are possible.
the personal qualities of the killg lO
Not that there havc not becn attempts to bring alternative explanations to the purpose and meaning of the Nco-Assyrian palace reliefs beyond the political. Luc Bachelor, for instance, questioned the accessibility of the royal palace and the presence of a regular external audience in it and proposed to understand the purpose of the reliefs as primarily serving the "megalomania" of the Assyrian king. [7 Bachelot, however, did not undertake a derailed novel analysis of rhe iconography per se and its consrituent clemems. One particular scholar who engaged in an interpretive endeavor as proposed here is M. A. Brandes, on whose 1970 work I draw significantly in this study. If! Even though Brandes pinpoints the duality in the representation of the king and kingship in Ashurnasirpal's Room G, he does not further his observations with the relevam theocratic concepts and instead gravitates toward an understanding of the relevant imagery as an emblematized representation of what was going on in the il1lerior of the palace, a putative ceremony that involves ablmions and the cleansing of weapons, J
'c n,
!OI
Room G, Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpai II at Nimfud. I.ondon, British
Mll~CLlIll ANI~ 124565. Photo: author.
Museum ANE 124564. Photo: author.
visual impression that they arc wrning along the curvature of the bucket. rn1cse schemes can be taken as further support to the idea that the bird protomcs here are abbreviated apka!!us, because aspects of this mydlOlogical icollography arc clearly at home in such miniature contexts as well.
A further distinction in the depiction ofbmh buckets is created by overlap. On the Ief-I:-hand side of the compositioll, the hucket overlaps the pendant straps of the officiating eunuch's robe (Figs. 74, 75, and 77), the only dress elemenr thal sets him apart from the military eunuchs
J
behind the king, whereas on the right, the bucket overlaps the Iion-proromed .~word end of one
of the military eunuchs (Fig. 73). As already indicated, the lion is clearly more appropriate for military connotations than the bovine, stressing a martial character associated with the king, whereas the hird protollles, hy evoking the flpkrdlus, may be thought ({) enhance the side that has the ofliciating eunuch, who acts as a priest. 'Ihe king is at the center, seeming to belong more to the priestly side than to the military. 'Jhe bull protomes that terminate the "saddle" of his scat (Fig. 79) call be further taken as an indication of the king's association here with a more indoors sacerdotal aniviry, in line with the ideas expressed earlier n:garding the sacerdotal nature of [he Iibalion over the bull depicted in the throne room. Finally, a further diHerence between the renditions of the two buckets is the cOlUinuation
of Ashurnasirpal's so-called Standard inscripri()fl, a synoptic lext outlining the major military aClivities of the king and repealed along the onhostat .~Iab.~ with only minor variations, along rhe body of the bucket overlapping the lion prorome, and the way the bucket overlapping the shoulder towel is "spared" frolll this incision (Figs. 7J and 77). f f my perception of-- the vari,uions in the renditions of the two huckets as devices to enhance the semantic distinction bel weell the FIGURE 78. RccoJlstnlccjO!l drawings or Pands 7~20, Room I, NonhweSl Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at
Nimrud. Photo: Paley and Soholewski, /?c('ofIJtrucliofJ /I, plare
I,
Reproduced by permission.
two sides of this composition has validity, and if all such details are meaningful rather than random or f(>rluitollS, olle could see [he presence of a text of' a primarily military content as more appropriate on rhe bucket on rhe left.
011
the right and [he absence thereof more appropriate on that
The numerousness and pervasiveness ofrhe animal protomes, and their punctuating effect on the figures and the garments of rhe king, the officials, both men and eunuchs, as well as the genii
102
THE MYTHOLOGY OF KINGSHIP IN NED-ASSYRIAN ART
"LA SALLE DITE 'G'"
10)
in [he art of Ashurnasirpal II, naturally lead one to consider a system of decorum behind their placement as well. These animated details arc not unlike the incised designs on the garments of the figures sometimes depicting designs evoking the older or more archaic phases of Assyrian art - not immediately salient, but perceivable upon closer inspection. I ~ If the artists intended such animated decails to be viewed, at least by an informed indoors audience, there is no reason a set of correspondences and meanings was not intended through their placement either. Far from being randomly placed, animated protomcs of the art of Ashurnasirpalll may be thought to punctuate, enhance, and aniculate the grammar of the composition of the reliefs. Given the compartmentalized na(Ure of Ashurnasirpal II's palace and its decorative program, some caution is needed, however, in suggesting patterns in the placement of protomes throughout the relief program. Whether or not there was a chronological sequence to the execution of the reliefs on a room-by-room basis, it is certainly the case that the decorative program of each room has a distinctive character and appearance of its own.!) 1his character is dictated by style and/or the nature of the iconography. Perhaps, this compartmemalized distribution of style and iconography in the Northwest Palace was an intentional scheme, with each room more or less conceived of as unique.)4 Hence, it makes more sense not to generalize certain observations pertaining to the Assyrian sense of visual decorum in the use of protomes and to focus instead on specific aspects of this proposed system on a room-by-room basis. Cenain over-
FIGURE
Ro. Detail showing protomc
011
human-headed
apkalltt, Panel
2,
Room G, Northwest Palace of
Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud. London, British Museum ANE 124564. Photo: author.
arching principles do emerge as valid, nevertheless, for the tOlality of the relief program. As is the case with many facets of ancient Mesopotamian iconography, the lack of rigidly consistent
in proximity and morphology to the head of the wild goat that the genius is shown holding;
rules governing the design of compositions does nor entail complete randomness, and many
only tbe protomes do not have horns (Fig. 82). What is more, the very same goat held in
patterns art in fact embedded within a distincdy Mesopotamian sense of order characterized
the genius' arms appears incised on the sleeve of the latter in miniature scale, perched on a
by an overall denial and avoidance of order in the strictly mechanical sense.
palmene, with the same anatomy delineated on its body. Further, it is as if the protoIlle.~ on the
Within the extant corpus of the relief program of Ashurnasirpal, Room G has a special phtce with its large scale, more
two armbands worn by the genius, along with the wrist and forehead rosettes, acted as nodal
less unified iconography and design, and technical and artistic
fi·aming dements, one armband in the front and the other at the back of the goat, delimiting
refinement, suggesting almost a sense of the "classical" with its proportions and plastic quality. It
the zone in which the animal f-igure is placed (Fig. (). l-he artist here seems to have placed the armbands in well-calculated locations.
01'
is as if an already existing artistic tradition were here summed LIp, taken to its optimal perfection, and presel1(ed as final fruition. 'Ihis is perhaps the case with both Room G and Room H, the throne room. Rooms C and B arc hence the principal and nuclear spaces where the main iconographic threads and rhis most refined styk of the art of Ashurnasirpaill are conccnrr,ned.
It is as if the rest of the decorative program, except the so-called West Wing, consisted either of a piecemeal emanation of this concentratcd iconography to other spaces or of rather repetitive and formulaic slabs of sons highlighting, almost like a visllallitany, some of the fundamental hieratic messages of the art of the Northwest Palace. Room G may be thought
LO
bc charactcri:lJ:d by an intcrnal set
of rules in the use and place-
ment of animal protomes. We have already seen how the lioll protomes are more at home on sword ends. In contrast, herbivorous animal pl'Owmes tend to be It is also the case that in Room G animal protome handles in waistbands occur only on genii sllch as those depicted on Panels C
2
(Figs. 74,
75, and 80) and C 4 (Figs. 74 and 81). 'lhis scheme is (nline with the previously suggested semantics of the herbivore and its ontology as an animal somehow associated with priesdy and nonmilitary concepts. Examples (hat demonstrate this affinity exisl outside Room C as well. For instance, the protomes of the armbands seen on the genius depicted on Panel Z a I (Figs.
I
and
2)
correspond
FIGURE
8!. Detail showing protollle on human-rlj!k"lIlt, Panel
Ashurnasirpal
(J
4, Room C, Northwesl Pabce of al Nimrud. London, British Museum ANE 12456(-). Photo: r the yin-
wearing the sword (Panels H 9, 16, and 26; Pigs. 9! and 96), occupies a full slab all by himself
yang effect.
in a space twice as large as that used up by each division in the G 6--8 series (Fig. 84)· On Panels H 8-JO and
1 5-17,
two genii flank him (Fig. 91), each on a separate slab, wearing distinctive
or the sacerdotium, thc king holding the bowl and bow (H
18-20,
Finally, a f(Hmh variam can be seen in Room N, Panel N 6 (Fig. 95). 'fhe Room G variant depicted with the bow and arrows is here added a sword. Hence, we view here the king in his
headbands rather than horned crowns. '[his composition is the unified version of the series G
utmost military identity. 'lhis variant is in a way the counterpal'l of the unified image depicted
6~8 (Fig. 8,:1.) bw depicted between genii as opposed to eunuch officials. [".fence, the nanking
on H 9, H
of the mixra persona by genii rather [hall armed officials, as well as the doubled space allowed
space. Its difftrence consists of the arrows, which have replaced the bowl, and the lack of bovine
5~17, Fig. 91) may be indications that this,
rather than the Room G groups, is tbe fully imegrared representation of the dual aspects of
protomes on the king's armbands, perhaps constituting the king's ulcimate military appearance, albeit shown in the midst of genii.
kingship, a highly sacral phenomenon. FI11e same double-spaced group occurs in Room N (N 5-7) as well, with the genii wearing
through (he genii, in addition to hosting the most pronounced represenr Room H, Northwest Palace al NimJ"ud. MClIszynski, /?l'kowtmktiou, 'Eifel [2. Rcproduu:d by perrni,~sioll.
rooms, Room L (Fig. 97}, Room I (Fig. 78), and Room F (Fig. 98), aj"c decor:ued solely with slabs depicting difFerent kinds orgenii Ranking rhe "sacred tree," These fl.!prCsclltariom have an iconographically less complex disposition
[0
[hem, btH they
the sp;lces gradually lake [hose purely sacerdotal aspects, Illulriply them, and present an entire array of rhe one and the same message, like a visuailitany, in a highly emblematic fe:>nnat. It is as if a dissipation of iconographic complexity took place as one moved away from the twO nudear spaces, Rooms Band C. Within this decrease in complexity, even [hough there is a disimegration of semalltic tellsion, one call hardly talk about any "loss of meaning," because what is depicred ill Rooms E t, and L is perhaps the kernel ofAshurn;1.~irpal's ,~acerdotal message.
arc purely sacerdotal in message. "lhus, whereas Room C and Room B act as nuclear spaces
From lhis standpoint, I separate myself from theories that see dues in the reliefs regarding
and present the tension and relationship between the regnum and the sacerdotiUIll, rhe fest of
rhe fUl1ccioll of the spaces that they decorate, promoted particularly by Brandes, Paley, and
THE MYTHOLOGY OF KINGSHIP IN NED-ASSYRIAN ART
120
THE MIXTA PERSONA
RusseH.9 Given the highly formulaic character of Ashurnasirpal's art, my tendency is to see
..
121
L
most aspects of this visual program primarily as the component parts of a visual language that were meant to be viewed and contemplated, perhaps enhanced by ritual action associated with the spaces as well, rather than to take iconographic features as literal pointers to the activities carried out in the rooms of the palaces. Nevertheless, special credit should be given to Brandes's work in laying out the terrestrial versus celestial pattern so crucial to the art of Ashurnasirpai,
•8"
which has nO( been emphasized sufficiently in past and current literature. We can thus see how the designers of the relief program of Ashurnasirpal II have woven themes and variacions throughout the palace with each visual attribute of the king's figure acting as a semiotic element in the communication of messages regarding the complex philosophy of kingship. We can further see how, far from being fuHy in the service of historical narrative, the an of Ashurnasirpal II is deeply rooted in cenain conveIHions and rules of pactern and variation, with its primary strength lying in an almost architectonic body of formulaic principles. The emblematic or hieratic reliefs of Ashurnasirpal II are also meaningful to observe and analyze within their architectural context in the Northwest Palace in Nirnrud. For instance,
"
'"
it has been noted time and again that when one enters the throne room from the principal courtyard of the palace, one not only comes face to face with one of the principal hieratic reliefs of the palace on the opposite wall, the "sacred tree" slah (rig. 3 I), one also needs to make a right-angle turn to the left to face the throne and another panel behind it that depicts the
2
same scene (Fig. 71). [Q '1l1is right-angle turn has been characterized by scholars as a deliberate evocation of the age-old Sumerian bent-axis temple plan. j j
A similar spatial configuration can be seen in Room G as well (Fig. 7I). When onc cnters the room from the secondary courtyard of the palace, even though no outstanding emblematic image placed right on the axis of the entrance greets the beholder from the opposite wall, one needs to make a right-~lngle turn [() the left to see the main scene in which rhe king is depicted
'"
"
enthroned (Figs. 74 and 75). Whereas in thc thronc room, it is likely that the viewer faced the living king seated on his throne upon the lUrn to the left, in Room C;, he or she rather came
3
across with his image dcpicted in the samc enthroned po,~itiol1. 'n1e spatial relationship among the hieratic reliefs of Ashurnasirpal condnucs heyond rhe right-angle turn. As Rita Dolce has noted, in both the throne room and Room G, the main emblematic composition of the room is along thc samc longitudinal axis with another hieratic composition that appcars on the rear wall of a subsidiary room all thc way across from dH.:se main rooms. In the case of Room C, (his subsidiary space is Room N (Fig. 7 (), and the
"
[1
b"
representation that faces the Room G audience scenc i!l the af()[cmemioned composition in which the king is depicted in his full military incarnadon, holding the arrows and wcaring the sword (N 6, Fig. 95). '] he same correspondence betwecn a main room and a subsidiary one can also be seen in the throne room suitc. In this case, the auxiliary room that opens up ro rhe main !lpace is Room C (Fig. 71), with its celHerpiece located aU the way across from the "sacred tree" slab in the throne room on the !lame axis (C 6-H, Figs. 7 rand 94). Further, one of rhe representations in Room H that preselH the unified king shown holding the ritual bowl and wearing the sword (H 9, Fig. 91) is again piaced prominently on one of'the shon walls ofrhis space such (hat it can be viewed at a right-angle turn [() the Ide when one enters rhe room from Room G through doorwaye. Finally, in Room S, one again sees a hieratic representation placed on the shon wall of the longitudinal space on a right-angle turn to the left as one enters the room from [he counyal'd
4 Reconstruction drawing of Panels 5-17, Room F, Norrhwesl Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud. Paley and Sobolewski, RcconstructioN If, Platc 6, Reproduced by permission.
FIGURE 98.
through doorway t' (Fig. 71). As is rhc case in Rooms C, H, and N, this image also depiers the king in the double-spaced f(mnat this timc with a difI-ercllt aHribute. As a change from the other rooms that display hieratic rei ids, the king, wearing the sword and flanked by eunuch officials, here appears holding a long srafFagainst the ground line (Fig. 99). 'lhe king evidently also appears in thL~ guise on the panels that Hank one of the "sacred-uce" slabs in the thronc room, the onc that bees the viewer directly on the oppositc wall upon e11lry from rhe main
122
THE MYTHOLOGY OF KINGSHIP IN NEG-ASSYRIAN ART
THE MIXTA PERSONA
12 3
99. Reconstruction drawing of Panels 2-5, Room 5, Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud. Photo: Mellszynski, Rekonstruktion, Tafel 7. Reproduced by permission.
FIGURE
courtyard (Fig. roo). Whatever the precise connotations of the staff may be, along with the bowl, arrows, and the sword, it is clearly among the visual attributes that constitute the semiotic of the art of Ashurnasirp~ll II in the Northwest Palace. 1 j Finally in Room 5, Dolce has drawn attention to how the composition on the rear wall of Room T that opens lip to Room S is again in axial correspondence with the hieratic scene located on the short wall of the latter (Fig. 71).14 The Room T composition is a rather generic
one, however, one of the many slabs that depict the "sacred tree" flanked by genii. It is nevertheless located on the axis directed wward the king's image on the Room S panel, the line of symmetry that bisects the tree coinciding with the same axis. One can see from the foregoing visual survey how the an of Ashurnasirpal II is densely but paratactically woven wilh themes and variations that pertain to what might be understood as different facets of kingship, especially ahernating between, as well as reversing and blending, the military and the sacerdotal, with each attribute of the king acting as a semiotic device in the expression of this complexity. What is more, the function of these images is enhanced and even dictated by the spaces within which they arc placed. When one looks at a plan of the portion of the Northwest Palace dealt with here (Fig. 7I), one miglu indeed think that the geometric statement is as important as whatever practical fUllction may have been accommodated in each space. ~r he entire "stateapartment" section of the palace is designed on a quadrilateral basis, with each of the four "blocks" comaining its own main longitudinal space, enriched and inscribed with the hieratic
Reconstruction drawing of the "Sacred Tree," Panel 13, Room B, Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud. Photo: Meuszynski, Rekorl.ftruktion, -rufd 2. Reproduced by permission.
FIGURE 100.
FIGURE IOJ. AshurnasirpallI hunting lion, Panel WFL 14, Room WG, Northwest Palace of Ashllrnasirpal II at Nimrud. London, British Museum ANE 124579. Pholo: author.
iconography here traced in a basic fashion. [ have in fact dealt with only three of these four quadrants, because the so-called West Wing did not yield many extant reliefs that would lend themselves lO detailed analysis.!) Nevertheless, the little that remains of this wing, with its emphasis on the royal lion and bull hunt (Fig. 101), also speaks for a hieraric content that may have furthered and complemented the messages of what is extant from the other wings. As for the geometry and cosmology of the Northwest Palace as a whole, the palace is oriented coward the cardinal directions, further betraying its cosmographic scheme (Fig. 7')' [t is noteworthy that Assyrian astrologists considered the cosmos as comprising four main regions, which they aswciared with the four countries that f"(mned the four segments of the world: Akkad or Babylonia to the SOllth, Subartll or Assyria to the North, Elam to the East, and Amurru co the West. l(i Indeed, olle of the epithets of the Assyrian king is Sill' ki!n'fit ",·ba'im, the "King of the Four Quarters," an epithet that goes back to the Akbdian period (2334-2 154 BeE). [7 Further, in the throne room of rhe Northwest Palace, the throne is located to rhe r:lr east, and most of the anion on the south wall Bows from the east to the west (Figs. 7' and I02). [8 This directionality is further enhanced by the god inscribed in the winged disk who is shown shoming arrows toward the same direction. Whether tbe god inside the disk is the Assyrian national god Ashur or the sun-god Shamash, [he solar connotations of the winged disk as a design would have been clear [0 the original audience of the relief-s. The entire configuration would hence betray a solar scheme, almost making a sun-king out of the enthroned Ashurnasirpal II. 'I11e Assyrian winged disk was in great likelihood derived from rhe E61J'FHian winged disk, which is a solar symbol signaling the path of the sun, mostly on door lintels, along the cast-west axis in Egyptian temples. I ') [11 sum, the Assyrian palace is as much a physical model of the cosmos and Assyrian theocracy as it is a utilitarian and ceremonial edifice. Given the complex grammar of the reliefs, it is in any event more likely that dlese so-called state apartments were meant as spaces of display and contemplation, likely enhanced by ritual and ceremony as well, for an "initiated" audience who knew how to look at this art. Given also the highly sophisticated system of messages inherent in
124
THE MYTHOLOGY OF KINGSHIP IN NED-ASSYRIAN ART
4 THE KING AND THE "SACRED TREE"
I
N ROOM G, THE ALTERNATING IMAGES OJ! THE KING BETWEEN EUNUCH OHICIALS AND
genii further continue along the east wall, south of door e, on Panels 9-16, in the same
fashion as displayed by Panels 6-8 themselves (Figs. 71 and 84). However, these scenes arc not as punc(U;tred and articulated with animal protomes as is the core compositions constituted by Panels 1-8 lip to door e. If we label the eunuch groups "a" and the genius groups "b," the pattern on Panels 9 through 16 is "ababa" (Fig. 84), a symmetrical design. ~rhe only lise of the waistband protomes in this scheme is on the genius to the right in the first "b" (G 12) and the genius to rhe left in the second (G 14), again a symmetrical configuration. Nevertheless, these protomes may not be the kind of armatures that distinguish one particular side from the other. Looking at the first "b" from the left, Panels
I I
and
I 2,
one would think that the
waistband proto me is placed on the genius whom the king faces. However, the second "b," Panels '4 and Reconstruction drawing of Panels l~! 2, Room B, NonhwcH Palace Nimrud. Photo: MeuszYllski, Rt'kotl.l'truktiorJ, 'Ed-d].. Reproduced hy permission.
FIGURE 102.
or Ashurnasirpal II at
f
5, does not confcmn to the samc pattern, because the protome is on the genius
behind the king. Perhaps one should take the second "b" as a mere mirror image of the first "b," in which case the whole composition is strictly symmetrical with respect to the central "a." [n light of these observatiollS,
011C
may be inclined (() postulate that it is rather on Panels (-4
this art, especially in that of AshurnasirpallI, the main audience of the rdid!> were probably [he
(Figs. 74 and 75), and Panels 6-8 (Fig. 84) that rhe themes and messages arc set up and that
royal rcsidcms of the palace as wdl as the Assyrian intellectual or scholarly dire who constituted
rhe repetitive colltilluity of these themes along the rest of the wall surfaces of Room G takes on
the king's inner circle. 'Ihe representations thus imbued the spaces with a hicralic
that
a rather neutrally emblematic quality. It is noteworthy that there is no repetition whatsoever
directly pertained to the theology of kingship developed and studied by this vcry dite.
in either of the slab groups 1-4 (Figs. 74"""75) and 6-8 (Fig. 84). 'lilus, these compositions can
rI11c idea that the king combines in himsdfbmh the administrativdmilitary and the religious functions of the state and mcdhucs between the divine and human domains is oftcll cited in
be considered as those in which meaning is concemr;;ll"ed, bd(He meaning in a way dissipates or becomes slightly mon: immalerial, not in any negative or pejorative sense, along the more
the scholarship on bmh ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian kingship. What the f(lregoing
repetitive slabs in the room.
aUfa
visual survey discloses, however, is a rhetoric that goes lx:yond the thought that the king is a
One call reiterale the Elet [hat Room G and the throne mom are especially unique spaces
bridge between gods and humanity and one that rather points toward a fundalllelHal dualiry,
in the Northwest Palace. In both, [here is a tightly interwoven composition to some of the
or a split between complementary opposites on the one hand and a mutual imerdependencc
reliefs, unlike most of rhe other rooms where certain themes take
and reconciliation of these opposites on the other within a cosmological fi·amework. From (his
character. With their proximity
standpoinr, what the images may be telling us, with their hieratic grammar and geometry, is
well as their paratacric composition with significant use of empty spaces to balance the figures
to
011
a repetitive and f()fInulaic
the location of lhe throne and the "sacred tree" panel, as
that this dialectic does not neces,~arily operate 011 any pragmatic or even ordinary religiolls level,
themselves, the libation scenes and their hunt counterparts in the throne room (B 20 and B I9,
stich as the king's day-to-day administr:.uive and cui tic duties, bw rather in an emphatically
Figs.
philosophical, and, if YOLl will, metaphysical dimension.
they are to the rest of the throne-room reliefs.
10
and 7') are especially dose in character to the Room G panels, perhaps more so than
'Jhe location of these .~Iabs in the thronc room may reflect a sense of decorum in placement so that they would have been closer to rhe hieratic focus of the throne room, the throne itself I 25
THE MYTHOLOGY OF KINGSHIP IN NEO-ASSYRIAN ART
MEHMET-ALI ATArker-Kbhll, AlflJOIdemsitftiJchl' Bildfll'lm, [52 B
brauns, 19R9): 36. See also J. M. Aynard, "Animals ill Mesopotamia," ill A. Houghton Brodrick, cd.,
2.1. "Gesture and Alterity," ].14~' 5·
Ll. Ihid., 210.
tion Scene of Ashurbanipal," in H. L H. Prince Ti.lkahito Mikasa, ed., Clllt and Ritltdl ill thl' Ancient
Nefu' !itlst (Wiesbaden: OtlO Harrassowitz): 91- [04, esp. 93; and eadem, Anirrwl Symbolism, 7R. ro. See below Figs. 25 and '26. For the identification of (his prostrate figure
;IS
Jehu, sec GraysoJl, WMA
3, Shalmaneser!II A.O.102.88. On the appearance of Jehu on the Black Ohelisk, sec also Marcus, "Geography as an Organizing Principle," 87. For drawings of all f{)ur sides of the Black Obelisk, sec Jutta Bi.'Irker-KHihn, Altvol't!mlSifltische lJildftelt'fl lind vl'l'gleich/Jtlrt, Felsl'di~fi: (MainI'. am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1982): (90-1, no. 1)2. Grayson, RIMA 2, ANP II A.O.IOl.I, 11. 64"-5. 12. "I here arc actually twO scenes of river crossing in dIe throne room (Room H), the first, Panel 17a, and I J.
the second, the horizomal sequence 9- f 1, examined here. In the !{)rrner, the river (Tossers anc draped, [0
be non-Assyrians, because Assyrian archers on the shore aim at [hem, and one of
the fugitives has been shot by
tWO
25. Ibid., 2!!. 26. See, Ii)!' instance, Julia M. Asher-Creve and Cehhard Sdz, (;mim lIlld /(ri(xl'J' M'/l(lS,~)'rifd/{'
Hclhi': AJSllrfUlS;'!I(/{S If. lind
'/~f!,1(11 Pi/(,Jd/'J
III. (/.i.irich:
(/I/.\'
Nill/rut!:
Arch;i(llo~ische Sammlung der
Universil:it, (l)Ro); 37 and 43. Julian Reade indicau.'s, however, that even though dlC traditional distinction bClwecn "men" and "eulluchs" on Assyrian rclid~, primarily hased on the presence oC lht'
9. See Winter, "Royal Rhetoric," 14.
and they seem
On exmic animals as fauna or distanr or
AlliultllJ· ill ;/rciJflCO{OrJ' (London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1972): '-12-6R, ('sp. )" I; Breniqu("t, "/\nilllais ill Mesopotamian An," I 67; and Benjamin R. Foster, "Animals in Mesopotamian I .iterature," ill C:o!!ins, cd., I-lis/(II:V a/the Anilliitl W1orld, '27 I-J06, esp. 2R6. 'lhe rhetoric of the ,~tr;Jnge and wondrous plants anti beaS[s hrought by Assyrian kings, such as Sennacherih, from their campaigns also "included trees that bore wool ft)r making clothing instead or f(lOd LO cat (OIP2 tl (: 50, I (0: 0'1) and ptlgli and pagitll 'male and kmalc monkeys,' which arc depicted in Nco-Assyrian rdiefs with almost-human heads, hands, and leet, but animal hodies" (Horowitz, Mcsopo{(lIf1iflll CO.l'll/ic (,'('(Igmp{~y, 330).
365; and eadem, "Royal Rhetoric,"
(l.
,j.
tlIythic.:allan(k sec Wayne Horowitz, !l1esopottlmitlll Cosmic (;{,(Jgraph)' (Winona I .ake, Indiana: Eisen-
Politische Itnd klllturelle Wechsl'lbl'z;e/JUngen im Alten Vordems/en 110m 4. Vis I. jrlhrtrltlsend IJ. Un: XXv. Rencontl'e AssYl'iologique {mentat/of/rtle, Berlin (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1982) 35S-R2, esp. 7. Winter, "Royal Rhetoric," 2 I; and eadem, "Art in Empire," 361. 8. On the possible sacrificial aspects of the royal hunt, see Chikako Watanabe, "A Problem in [he Liba-
arrows.
13. On the negative implications of the lack
1+
ment is noted. Sec further William Coffman McDermott, Ibc Ape in ;/Iltiqlli~y (Baltimore: ., he Johns
of clothing
in human figures on [he Neo-Assyrian palace
heard, is supported by Layard, A. T. Olmstcad, and Tllally Ol'her scholars, "the pictorial evidence is by itself /:11' li·om condusive, bccause the.~e 'eunuchoid' ({'atmes could simply be a sty!i.~tic cOllvention" ("'Ihe Nco-Assyrian C:oun and Army: Evidence frolllihe Sndpturt's," Imq H [1972.\: R7-[ [2, esp.9[-2). 27. Oil eUlluchs in Assyria, see also A. Kirk Grayson, "Eullllchs in Power: 'Iheir Role in the Assyrian Bureaucracy," ill .Ii!'; Prosed,)" cd., Itltdlectltft/ 14;' oj'lhl' Al/cinJ! NedI' /:'flJl: {}'jleH /'1'I'St'flll't! rlllh,. 4Pt! RCliconlrl' dJ.lyriologiquc illtal/Iltiowde, Prtlf!,UC, ./u(y 1-,),1996 (Prague: Academy or Ih(' (:z('ch Repuhlic, ()rielHallnstirute, 199R): X5-98; and Ha)'im 'EKirnor, "'I he Role or tilt' (:hid· Eunuch alld lhc Place of EUIlLH:hs ill lhe Assyrian Empire," in Simo Parpola and R. M. Whiting, ('ds., Sex 1/1/(1 (,'t'II(/tr /n tlJt' Anc/l'I/t Netll' !:'rut, Proceedings of the Xl.VII'· ReLlCOlllrc Assyriologique imernatiollak, Helsinki, Pan 2 (l"'lclsinki: 'Ihe Neo-A~syrian 'li:x( Corpus Project, 2002): 60.1-11.
rdiefs, see Megan CiEtrd!i, "Gesture and Alrerity in the Art of Ashurnasirpal II," AU Ro (1998):
2R. "( ;esture and Alterity," 220.
210-28, esp. 219. See Postgate, "Land of Assur,"
29. Ibid., 212. JO. Michelle Marcus, "Geography as VisLlalldeology: Landscape, Knowledge, and Power in Nco-Assyrian
2
5 1-5; and Julian Reade, "Ideology and Propaganda in Assyrian Art,"
in Mogens "rolle Larsen, ed., Pow£,/, (tnd Pmptlg(lfItlil: A ~~ymposillm on Ancient Empires (Copenhagen:
An," in Mario Liverani, cd., N('o-AsJyri(lJ/ Geogl'ilplry (Rom;!: Universit;l tli Roma, DipartimenlO dl
Akademisk Forlag, 1979): 329-43, esp. 334.
scienze storiche, archeologiche e aIHropologiche ddl'Antichita, 19(5): 19.,-}.01, esp. 19 J.
210
NOTES TO PAGES
NOTES TO PAGES 32-36
3 r. The conservative mode in (he representation of the A~syrian king can be thought [0 be in line with the understanding of rhe ruler image (falmll), whether two-or three-dimensional, as the depiction of the king in his kingly office or "self." Winter has underlined the fact thar the term .salmlt ("image") is often put together with rhe Akkadian word for king, s'arJ'll, to form the expression, "image of the king" or "image of (my) kingship," !idmn farnltiya, which itself must have adhered to very strict fules of decorum and hence allowed less freedom of representation ("Art in Empire," 364). }2. The animal illustrated in Figs. 29 and 30 has been identified by Albenda as an example offallow deer ("Assyrian Royal HUlHs," 65). As for rhe animal that appears in Figs, I and 2, Albenda identifies it as a species of wild goat "known to inhabit the western Caucasus Mountains," the Kuban tur (Capra C{luCllsia) (ibid" 72), 33, For this basic typology, see John Malcolm Russell, "1he Program of the Palace of Assurnasirpal II at Nimrud: Isslles in the Research and Presentation of Assyrian Art," American Jour/wi o.fArchaeology [02 (1998): 655-71 5, esp, 674, 34, Among the Greeks, one of the important stages in animal sacrifice was the extraction of the noble viscera, Jplallklwfl, from the thoracic and abdominal cavities of the carcass to be dressed. See JeanLouis Durand, "Greek Animals: Toward a ·typology of Edible Bodies," in Marcel Detienne and JeanPierre Vernam, eds., Thl' Cuisine 0/ Sacr{fice among thl' Cree"J, trans. Paula Wissing (Chicago and London: -'he University of Chicago Press, 1989): 92. 35, See Donald P. Hansen, "Rearing goat with a Aowering plant," in Joan Arm, with Ronald Wallenfels, cds., Art o/thefirst Cities: The ThiJd Millennium D.c./Tom the Ml'ditermnefw to the Indus (New York: rIlle Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003): 121-2, esp. 122; Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, Godr, DemollS alld S.ymbo/s ojMeJopotamitl: An !lll/Stl'tited DictiOllfll), (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997): s.y. "rosene." .'16. A "salvific" role ill the symbolism of Ishtar has especially been argued by Simo Parpola, Assyrian Proph(,cit's, State Archive~ of A~syria 9 (Helsinki: "Ille Neo-Assyrian 'Iext Corpus Project, 1997): xxxixxxvi. ,37. ()n the role of the goddess Ishtar in the Assyrian state religion, sec ibid., xlvii-xlviii; Elnalhall Weissert, "I{oyal Hunt and Royal Triumph in a Prism Fragment of Ashurballipal (8 )~5~22,2)," in Parpola and Whiting, cds., As~yri(/ [99), 339--58, esp . .'146-49; and W. G. Lambert, "!Star of Nineveh," ill Dominique Collnn and Andrew George, cds., Ninel!eh: PaperJ o/the XL/Xl' Rencontre Assyriologiqlle Interl/ationale. /.Ollfioll, 7-11 jilly 200J (London: "lhe British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2OOS):
41. 42. 43.
44. 45.
.'15-9· \8. 'Ihis type of headgear seems to be highly characteristk: of many foreigners represented on the rdief~, especially those identified by W~iHer as originating from western provinces sLlch ;lS Damascus, I-Lunar, Bir-Adini, Carchcmish, ett. (Nich/-As.~yrer, 125 [Abh. 661, 143 [Abb. 73), 21 s [Abh. ! 22-1241, 231
IAhh. [161). 39. "Bilgames lOok a white kid in hand, / as all animal ofFering he held a brown kid to his heart," Gi(l(fllllfSIJ and Hlfwawtl, Version A 1,1'-14; George, l:jJic of Gi/gffltlt'Jh, 15 I; also ciwd in Claudia Suter, "A Shulgi Stattlene hom 'tello," jC~' 43-4 S (1991-3): 6.'1-70, esp. 67. 40. "Program of lhe Palace," 70'1, Even though Kolbe assigns these animal-bearing genii [0 the category ripkallll, "antediluvian sage," he assens rhat they arc ill certain ways different from the sages and that we do not know the specific Nco-Assyrian names !(H them. I-Ie further points out dla( although we do not know ft>r certain the full idem it)' and role of the animals held hy the genii, the animals lila), he scapegoats (Die Relit:fpmgrmnml> rdigiiis-m)'tI}()logh'chen C/Jllrtltfl'r.l ill )J('II-Ilss)'rischm PrdiiJtl'll: Oil' Figllrt'lJt),pm,ilm' Bet/ennul/g IItld Hnleutltng [Bern and Frankfurl am Main: Peter I), Lang, 1'-)8 I): JO4 I). According to E A. M. Wiggerman, the identification o( the goat as f)utf!I/I!tUp/J/I, "goat hi((ing evil" or the apotropak rituals, is plausible, hut deserves further etJhoratioll (lv/eJopotfllnit/n ProtectilJe Spirit:;: flit' Riflltllfi'_'(/s, Cuneiform Monographs I [Groningen: Styx and PI' Publications, 1992]: 77). C';If) defines mftl!JIII~ltfpti as "go,~t (used in rituals) to aven evil." On the fllt/f!JII/tlljJjJl( riwal, see also A. Cavigneaux, "MAS-I:IUL-DUB-BA," in U. Finkbeiner et aI., cds., Bei/riige zlIr Klllturypchithte Vordl'J'tHims: h'slJrhr~li pir Railler 1I1ic/)(lel HoclHIleI' (Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, ! 99 5): 5367; and Joann Scurlock, "Animals in Ancient Mesopotamian Religion," in Collins, cd., History o/the AniNial Wlorld, 361-87, esp., 37,-)-80. On apkalllls, see also Wiggermann, Me'sol)(J/tlmilU/ Protectflle .\jJiritJ, 73, and Parts II and III of the present study. On anciem Mesopotamian rituals of aversioll or evil that include Ille manubcture of figurines as well as the ritual slaughter of certain animals as
46.
36- 3 7
211
substitutes for "evil," see also Irene Huber, Ritlutie der Sellchen-und SchadmJabwe/;r im lIOrderm Orimt und Griechmland, Oriens et Occidens IO (Wieshaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005): 30-45. Another crucial point to be noted about Ashurnasirpal Irs animal-bearing genii is that some also hold plants, in addition to the genius that holds only plants. The twigs or branches the apkallus are shown holding can be understood as belonging to mythical "sacred" trees or plants. The "Seven Wise Men," or the "Seven Sages" ~ in other words the IIp)~ftilus - are known from ritual texts to have carried "em-twigs" or shoots of the date-palm, as an incantation text indicates: "The lIflll'tu of Ea is in my hand I The ent-tree, the elevate weapon of Anu, 1 hold in my hand. 11he palm-twig of the great oracles I hold in my hand" (CT 16 PI. 6: 209-213, quoted in Geo Widengren, The King and tIJe Tret' of Life in Ancient Nmr Ftwern Religion (King ({lid S({viour IV), Uppsala Universites Arsskrift 4 [Uppsala: A.-B. Lundequis(ska Bokhandeln, 19511: 20-21). For a comprehensive treatment of the phenomenon of sacred trees, plants, and date palms in ancient Near Eastern art and thought, see Mariana Giovino, Thl' AJ~}lri,U/ 5ilcred Tree: A History ofInterpretation.!' (Fribourg, Switzerland: Academic Press Fribourg; Goningen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprec1u, 2007). Glucklich, Elldo/lvIagic, 190. Ibid., 194Scurlock, "Animals in Ancient Mesopotamian Religion," 360. See also Walter Burkert, The Orien/alizing Refl()/lition: Nellr Emtem IlIjlllmcc Oil Gn'ek Cultllre in the Eml)' Archaic Age, trans. Margaret E. Pinder and Walter Burkert (Cambridge, MA and l.ondon: Harvard University Press, 1992): 58, for the memion of a bilingual ritual text hom the collection Asttkki nlm;riiti ("Evil Demons of Illness") that prescribes the slaughter of a suckling pig and the use of its dismemhered physical pans for the healing of a sick man. Scurlock, "Animals in Ancient Mesopotamian Religion," _372 . See Leo Oppenheim, Andent Ml'sopottlmia: Portmit O/tl Dt'tld CilJiliztltioti (Chicago and London: 1he University of Chicago Press, 1977): 207. -Iltere were also omens derived from abnormal births of anima!5 colllpiled in the corpus fUJIlma iZ/J/I ("If a Monstrous Birth "); sec [
4:
'sENNAC![!W[l\
On this text, see H. 'Eldl1lor, B. i.andsbergcr, and S. Jlarpola, "'/he Sin o(Sargoll and St'llllachnih's Last Will," Sltut' ArthilJt'.( o/AJ'J)!}'itl 81l11etin .3/2 (1989); and Ann M. Weaver, "'I he 'Sin of Sargoll' and Esarhaddon's reconception oCScnnacherib: A Study in Divine Will, I--hunan Politics :Ind Royal Ideology," in Collon and C;eorge, eds., Nif/{'II{'/;, 61~6. 2. Luckenbill, ;/Ilcimt Nl'corc/J, tlos. 4.\4-5 [; Julian Reade, "S(udies in Assyrian Ceography. Pan I: Senllacherih and the Waters of Nineveh," RelJUc cI'A.\'J]'ri%gic 71 ([978): 47-72; Dalley, "Ancient Mesopotamian Gardens," 6; and eadem, "Nineveh, Babylon and tite Hanging C;trdells: CUneif(lI'Ill and Classical SOL!l'ces Reconciled," [/'iff] 56 (199tl): 4,)-'·5l{, esp. ')0. I.
J. On Sennacherih 's innovations in palace design and rdiefsculprure, see Russell, "Bulls for the Palace," and idcm, 5)"enn{u·/terib~· Palace {{'ithollt Rillal at Ninelll'h. Chicago: -Ihc University of Chicago Press, [99 1 . 4. Sec Barnett et aI., Sout/JI{JCSl Pa/a('(' oj'St'flllrlcherib, 9[-2,110. }62-J. 5. 6. 7. 8.
See ihid., 8J, no. 284"-5. See ibid., 90, no. 347"-'9. State Archives of Assyria .{ (Helsinki: 'Ihe Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1989): Fig. JJ. For translations of this poell), sec Rene l.abat, I.e pohfl(' bdky/ouien de !rl Cl'M/ioll (Paris: Librairic d'Amcrique et d'Oritnt, 19 .l 5); Alcxander Heidel, fhc lJrd~y/o"ir1!l Genesis: fIJe ,')'lory oj' CrMtiO/l (Chicago and London: -Ihe University of Chicago Press, 1951); and Stephanie Dalley, N(yt/lJjlWf} Me.wpol({fnitl: CrMlioJ/, fhf' Hood, Gi~')>mbo!ism, (48. On the symbolism and meaning of cattle in ancient Egypt, see Frankfort, Kingship {tnd the Gods, r62-8.
0/
CI-IAI'TER 5: ASI-IURHANII'AL
I. Oates and Oates, Nimmd, '13; Cunis and Reade, Artrwd Empirc, 30. 2. Oates and Oates, Nimmd, 2.4. J. Sec S. Parpoia and K. \'(Iatanabe, Neo-As.~yri(ltI 7i'erffies tlnd Lo}rt/ty ()rlthJ, State Archives of Assyria (Helsinki: The Nco-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1988). 4. Curti.~ and Reade, Art [{fld Empil~', }o.
2
5. Ibid. 6. Barnett, North Fa!ace o/AsfJllr/J(lIlip(li, }6, pI. IV. For similar dyads and triads of guardian figures located at gateways, see ibiel., pis. XXI, XXXI, and XXXVII. 7. See Pauline Albenda, "Symmetry in the An of the Assyrian Empire," in Charpin and Joannes, cds., Cirmltltioll ric.\' bicw, 297-J09, csp . .30.:1. 8. See Barnett, North Pa!([cc (if'AJ/Jllr/J{lIIiprt/,48. 9. Sec ihid., .P, pI. ViI. 10. On representations or dogs in A~syrian and Mher Mesopotamian an, sec also Aynard, "Animals in Mcsopotamia," 50-7. 1 I. Sec, for example, the gold repoussc howl from Ugarit illuslrated ill Feldman,
Fig.J5. 12. hH ([ 99)):
26. See Barnet(, North Pa/a(c ojAshllrb{flliprf/, 44, pI. XXX.
!.
J.
21
Society, 1987): 257-"7H, esp. 257· 15. New {-'-laven, CT: AmericlIl Oriental Society, [9 'the one who dwdb at Nuhe[, the I.ord or Upper F.gypt'" (VilKellt Adeh "j(lhin, "I )ivine C:onflict in the Pyramid Texts," jO!ll'lwl 4il;(' Amaimll R{'sCtlrch CCNler if} Egypt W [199.1): 9J-1 10, esp. 1(0). On the idel that Horus illessellCt.' helongs to Lower I'~gypt, sec Alan H. (;ardiner, "Horus the Behdetilc," jO/lmal (II Fg)'Pliflll Archaeology JO (19'14): 23-,60, esp. 2'). 7· On the conceptual hases or Egypt as IWO lands, sec Harry Kemp, ANdm( hy]!": An{{(owy (~('rl C'illilizlItioll (I.ondoll and New York: ROlltb.lge, 199 [): 27-5 _,; idem, "Unif-icatioll and Urhaniz:lIion oC Ancient FgYJlr," CAN!:' 2, 679-,)0, esp. 679; John Baines, "Origins of Fgyptian Kingship," in David O'Connor and David E Silverman, cds" Ant;l'lIt t:;f(yplir/JI [(illphil! (l.cideJl, New York, [({illl: I·:. J. Bril!, 19(5): 95-1 ,)6, esp. ! 10; and (;ay Rohins, 'II/(' Art {{AI/rim/ Fgypl ((:amhridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1(97): J7. H. (}n this relatiomhip betwecil Rooms (: and (; as wei! as problems in lIle reconstruction of this rather the '1Ilroo('"wO!ll," 24. fragmelltary SCl'!I!:, sec Winter, "Ilrograill 9· See Russell, "Program oCrhe Palace," 7[ ,\'-[4; and Brande_~, "I.a salle dite 'C,'" I SJ. to. See f(1f instance Winter, "Program or (he' I hrolH.'-!'Oo!ll," [7. I [. See (}ppenheim, AI/timl Mc.wpotrllllid, J 2H; and Winler, "Program 0(' the '[ hrone-roo!))," ! 7. [2. "j)ualit;i e realti. vinuale!lel P;lla1.1.o Nord-Ovest di AshlHnasirpalli a Nimrud," in Paolo iVlalthiae, cd., COll/filmli {' !IIdleriali di {{}'{'hat'%gid oriCl/tri/t' VI/ (11)97): Studi in mClJ/o}'i" rli /-Jt'J/rf ['iwII11iHI (181)7-19)4) (Roma: lJniversit;i degli SUH.li tli ROill;\ "La Sapienza," J,)97): 141-61. 1 3. A~hllrnasirpa! II 1.\ also shown holding mch a stafron the relief panel carved into his so~called "Banquet Stell'," Oil which see D . .1. Wiscman, "A New Stele of' Assur-nasir-pal II," I}'((q 1'1 (195H): 2'1-'H; and M. E. l.. Mallowan, Nimmd tlllt! It.\' ROlliliuJ (I.ondon: Collins, 19(6): 62. A similar motif' also occurs Oil [he glan:d-brick panels of' Sargon located at temple entrances in the king's city Khorsabad/l)ur-Slwrrukin; sec Irving L. Finkel and Julian Reade, "Assyrian Hinoglyphs," /.citJe/Jf'ijr jill' As.~yri()l{)gi{' H5 ([995-6): 244-69, esp. 2'17. It is a human figure holding a staff in exactly the saille way as Ashurnasirpalll in his reliefs. 'Jill' difference, however, is that the f-igure on Sargon's glal.ed-hrick panels does no( wear lile royal headdress, and in this respect, he is probably not the king. 1:1. Dolce, "Uualitil e realt:.," 149. [5. 011 Ihl: so-called West Wing or the West Suite, .'>ee IZussell, "Program of' the Palace," 665-71.
or
4:
THE KING AND THE "SACRED TREE
'Iwo works that have concentrated on this matter arc Barbara Nevling Porter, "Sacred 'liTes, Date Palms, and the Royal Persona of Ashurnasirpal II," JNES )2 (1993): 129-39; and Simo Parpola, "Assyrian Tree ofLif't~." Discussions oft-he semantics of the "sacred tree" can also be found in the works of Irene Winter, "Royal Rhetoric," esp. 10; "Program of the Throneroom," esp. 16; and "Ornamellt and the 'Rhetoric of Abundance' in Assyria," Eretz-f.rmel: Arc/}(te%gicrt/, Hh-{(Jriert/ and Ccogmphiml Siudin 27 (2003): 2)2-64, esp. 25,j. On the formal development, variarions and interpretations of the "sacred tree" in the eastern Medirerranean and the Ncar East, sec Helene Danthine, Le l!illmier-d(lftier {'I Ics ill'bl't'J mereJ dam l'ico}Jogmphic de I'Ask occidmttllc allcienne (Paris: Librairie Orklllalisle Paul Cemhner, 1937); Banhel i"Irouda, "Zur Herkunft des Assyrischen Lebensbaumes," Har,hd(lda Mitldlllllr,m J (1964): 41~5 I; H. York, "Heiliger Ihum," RIA 4, 269-82; Kolbe, Re!i~r progmmme, 21; (:hristine Kepinski. L 'arlm' styl;s£! m Asie ()ccidmtale /lll 2" mi!lell(f;re /lvtllli /-C (Paris: (':ditiolls Rechercht' sur Ics civilisations, 1(82); Magen, AJJp'iJche [(onigdrtrJtc!!lIngen, 78-81; and W. C. Lambert, "'Ihe Background of the Nco-Assyrian Sacred Tree," in Parpola and Whiting, eds., S('X rlfld G"lIdl'l', 32(-6. A critical ovt'rview of the scholarly works on the "sacred tree" from tht' laiC nineteenth and early twentiedl centuries onward has been undertaken by Ciovino, AJsyri(fIi
Sacred 1i'fC. Sec, Cor example, Wintl:r, "Royal Rhetoric," [0; Magen, Ib:yrisc/Jt' /(iilligdtlJ'Jtdiungen, 78. J. A number of these variations have been pointed out by Burchard Brentjes, "Sdhslverherrlichung odeI' l,egitimitiitsansprllch? (;edanken zu delll 'Ihrnnreliervoll Nimrud-Kalab," A!toril'fllrl!isc/Jt' FOJ'JclulIIgm 21 (J994): 50-04, esp. 50-'1. + Opinion.\ vary as to the identity of rhis god. Magen is persuaded that till' god is Shamasb on account or the importance and role of rhis god in the Assyrian tradirion ofincanrarion and purification rituals, such as the ritual of bil rimk;, with which she associates rhe entire religious imager), of the Northwest Palace of As hurnasir pal II (AJJyriJ"c/;e Kiinigdl!n;le!!ulIgm, 7R and 11, 3 [). According to Black and Green, lhe disk in Assyria was a symbol of Sham ash, though it has also been atrributed to Ashur or Ninurta (Gods, ,~'y",/JoIJ, dtld f)('I!/(Jf/S, S.\'. "winged disc"). Russcll indicates that "the god ill the disk, mosr probably Assur or Shamash, extends a ring towards the king" ("Program of the Palace," 710). Oman concludes rhat the design often representcd "heads or pamheolls" ill andent western Asia ("Complex System of Religious Symbols," 234). 5. Similar divine sYJllbols also appear in greater prominence around rhe chest of the f-igure of the king shown 011 Panel 4 in Room F (Hg. III). 6. rl11Cse twO renditions of the king are not unique to this design. Each of [hese rwo modes o('showing the royal f1gure is a standard f oj"Are/JtU'olog,), ilJlt! Allt/;mp%gy 22 (19 J ')): J [-97; and especially \'\figgermanll, kl{,JoPOfrlllliflJJ Pl"Ofectillc ,\jliril.l, 1992. On represelH:llion.~ of sages and fl4iJc/;Wl'J('1I in Assyrian art, sec also 1kssa Ritti~, A.\·~)!riJdJ-/;({/;Y/()lIiJe/J(, J(1l'illpliIJ"fik mlfgise/I{'r lhlm{IIJ/,f!, lmfll II. n. .Ih. V Un: (Mi.indlCll: Verlag Ulli-l)ruck, 1977); Burkhard J. Engel, Odntri-
2.
IlIfI,f!,l'fI
IIO)}
f),/Jllonm /flld flal'fl ill 1f.(~)!ri.\'(h("11 fltddJ/m I/mlli.'wpdfJ
J/({t/!
den Jchr{/ilichm Qudlm
(M{)lld1('ngladhach: (;iilltcr Hackbarth Verlag, J 9R7); and Curtis and Reade, Ar' {tlld /;'mpin', [ [217. I{ecellt stutiiL'.'i of Ihe magical connotations of" tile Assyrian !()undarion figurines depicting ({pk({I/lis and other flifiJ"c/;wI'JI'fI are (:aroIYll Nalcunur;l, "Nco-Assyrian Apotrop;,ic Figurines and the Protection of Assuf," WorM Arc/Jrll'olog), .\6 (.1.004): J 1''"1); and eadelll, "Mastering Matlers: Magical Sense and Apotropaic Fi~urine Worlds of Neo-Assyria," in I.ynn Meskell, cd., Arc/IfIl'%giI'J o./Mfll('J"i(//;~y (Ox/{Hd: Blackwell, .1.00'): J H-4'i.
+
I [4H·-·6'1 (Cagni, II//cm 4'/!"rm, .ll-"".l ,), t".~p. n. 40, 48, 5 J); Reiner, "Etiology," 9; and Kvanvig, /lootJ ({Ap()((I{)'/Jtil" [H.I. 5. Sec W. (;, l.ambert, Review of I, lenri ! .imet, rl'J llgmt/('J' rles .\·C{'{I/(X ("({.oilc.l (Bruxelles: Academic royal
de Belgique, [97]), Hlb/iolh('((f Oricnta/h' .\1 (J 97 ')): 119~'1.\, esp. 120. 6. Kolhe, Rcli{:li)}"(),f!,mmtllc; Wiggermann, Me.ropOltfmitlti ProlalilN' .\j)irir.l.
229
7. In this regard, see E A. M. Wiggermann, "Mischwesen. A. Philologisch. Mesoporamien," RiA 8, 222-44, esp. 225 and 2)2-3); and Wi!!iam A. P. Childs, "The Human Animal: The Near East and Greece," in J. Michael Padgett, cd., lhe Centaurs Smile: The Humall Animal in Etriy Greek Art, Princeton University Art Museum (New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 2(03): 4970, esp. 50-3. 8. On the apkallus and the ancient Mesopotamian antediluvian tradition, see especially Kvanvig, Roots ofApom/yptic,201.-2. 9. See Wiggermann, "Mischwesen. A.," 225. See, f()J" instance, Green, "Beneficent Spirits," 82; and Russel!, "Program of the Palace," 674. Green, "Beneficent Spirits," R5. 12. XVIII. As for Michael Roafs contribution, see "111e Decor of the Throne Room of the Palace of AshurnasirpaL" in D. Collon, H. Mcea!!, and J, E, Curtis, cds., New Light on Nimrud: ProceedingJ of tiN' Nimrud Conference [[th~I3th lv/arch 2002 (London; British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2(08): 10. I I.
209-13·
CHAPTER I: BEf'ORE TIlE PLOOD
Kolbe, Rdiefprogmmme, "Variante A," 14-1 s; Wiggermann, MesopotlflnillJl Prot('ctiIJc Spirits, "umu"pktlllll," 73-5. 2. Kolbe, RdidimJgmtllme, "Variante fl," r '); \'\figgermann, Idcsopotamiall Protectioe Spirits, "Birdil/Jkallll," 7 '). 3, Kolbe, Relitfj)rogrtlllltJ/c, "Variante c," 15; Wiggerrnanll, MeJojJof({miftn Proteai1Je Spirits, "Fishtlpkttllu," 76. 4- For l.ayard's drawing, sec Barnett et aI., Soltthwe.rt PaltlC{' ojSenJlflciJerib, 106-7, nos. 44, 47/hc SUIlleri: StJ'lIctll},(', Idcoloi!,Y' li'(ulitionJ (Padova: Tipografia Poligraflca Moderna, 199_,): 4r~67, esp. 46; idem, wfhe {keds o(Ancient Mesopotamian Kings," CANI:' 4, 235.1-66, esp. 2 JO 1- 3; and most recendy, idem, Ritltrl/ llIul Politics ill AI/eimt Mt'JOj)()lllmifll/ t-liJ/OI)', cd. and trans., Zainab Bahrani and Marc van de Micronp (Ithaca: Cornell Univeristy Press, 2(0 4). 18. Sabina Franke, "Kings of Akkad: Sargon and Naram~Sin," (jlNF 2, BlI~4[' esp. 8J6. For rhe
2.
J. 4. 5· 6. 7. H.
20.
"Birth of Kings," 47~-8. For testimonia from the Early Dynastic period and the period ofCudea, sec Jerrold S. (:ooper, Rcc()m1/'1fttillg His/ofY from Autitllt /l/JcriptiOllJ: lhl' LtlgtlJh-Ultlltltl Border Conflict, Sources and Monographs, Sources from the Anciell1' Ncar East 2/1 (Malibu, (:A: Undena, 1983): 45; Irene J. Winter, "After the Baule Is Over: '(he Stek of the Vultures and the Beginning or Historical
For an overview of the conceptual and visual ramifications of ancieJl{ Mesopotamian IvliJclJ//I/'st'I/, sec Wiggermann, "Mischwesell. A,"; and A. Creen, "Miscilwesell. B. Archiiologie. MeSOpOlallliell," RIA 8, 246~64. ~ce I,ahat, Poi'llle vtl/J),lo)Jim, Ihe Reworking of
Popular Conceptions by Learned Exorcists," In cds. Jacob NCllSlICf cl