Very cool. What does the cuneiform writing across this work say?
It's known as the Standard Inscription and it glorifies the king by recounting his lineage and accomplishments including constructing the palace the panels come from. It begins like this: "The palace of Ashur-nasir-pal, chief-priest of Ashur, the chosen one of Enlil and Ninurta, the favorite of Anu and Dagan, the divine weapon of the Great Gods, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria, the son of Tukulti-Ninurta, the great king, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria"
What is the significance of the eagle as opposed to the male figures?
Most of the figures are genies - both the eagle headed and the human headed. The eagle-headed genie is believed to be especially concerned with the physical protection of the king and his land. The eagle-headed genies are thought to be more closely associated with protection and apotropaic qualities. Here, however, they are performing the same tasks as their human-headed counterparts. There is one relief of the king, Ashurnasirpal II. He is distinguished by a rectangular-shaped crown atop his head.
What language is on these reliefs? Is it lost to us or can people today understand it?
The writing system is called Cuneiform and the language itself is called Akkadian, language of diplomacy in the Near East for thousands of years. There are many scholars who can read Akkadian, but it is very difficult to learn. Would you like to see an translation?
Ok. Yes, I'd like to know the gist of what it says!
It glorifies the king, Ashurnasirpal II, and recounts his lineage and accomplishments including the construction of the palace that once housed these reliefs.
It begins like this: "The palace of Ashur-nasir-pal, chief-priest of Ashur, the chosen one of Enlil and Ninurta, the favorite of Anu and Dagan, the divine weapon of the Great Gods, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria, the son of Tukulti-Ninurta, the great king, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria"
What is cuneiform?
Cuneiform is a form of writing that was used in Mesopotamia starting around 3500 BCE and continued for thousands of years. The characters are formed from wedges and lines and stand for phonetic values and are actually highly stylized signs derived from pictograms that often vary from scribe to scribe.
The wall reliefs in the Kevorkian Gallery here demonstrate Cuneiform used to write the Akkadian language. Akkadian was developed in the 3rd millennium BCE and was used as the language of diplomacy in Mesopotamia and the Near East until the Persian period.
What is a cone and what does it do?
Scholars believe that is represents a type of pine- or fir-cone. In Assyrian art, the basket and cone almost always appear in the hands of supernatural creatures rather than humans, suggesting that these objects may have served a magical purpose. In the Akkadian language, the word for pinecone and purifier are almost the same so the cone is thought to have purifying properties as well as functioning to help pollinate the Sacred Tree with the material carried in the Sacred Pails. The nooks and crannies of the cone can be very useful in transferring pollen. They are dipping the cone into the bucket, which contains pollen or water, and sprinkling it onto the tree. Some recent scholarship makes the case that this ritual can be tied to the pollination of palm trees, which people continue to do artificially in order to keep the trees producing fruit.
Could you tell us what he's holding please?
That is a sort of cone or pinecone like object, these objects almost always appear in the hands of supernatural creatures, and not humans, in Assyrian art. Scholars have suggested that these genies are using the cones to pollinate the sacred trees.
Who is the man in the carving?
This particular panel shows a supernatural being known as a genie. All of the winged figures in the wall reliefs from the Northwest Palace are genies which were protective figures in Assyrian mythology. There is also one image of the king himself, Ashurnasirpal II. Ashurnsairpal II is the only human represented in the Assyrian reliefs that we have here so he is also the only figure without wings.
How did they make these carvings in the stone? Also, did they draw on the stone first before carving?
Producing these reliefs was a multi-step process that involved multiple individuals. First, a religious leader would draw the outlines of the figures and scenes. Then stone carvers created the relief you see today with chisels and abrasives. Next, a scribe would write the text that would later also be carved by stone carvers, who, themselves likely could not read. Finally, these reliefs would have been painted, but the pigment largely does not survive.
What are those buckets/bags?
They are buckets, or "sacred pails," that would most likely have held pollen. The figures are holding fir cones in their other hands, which they use to pollinate the nearby sacred trees.
Do you know if there is a significance to the two knives carried by the figures in the Assyrian reliefs?
Carrying two daggers was something that high-ranking Assyrian men did in real life, according to archaeology. The types of decoration you see in some of the handles even matches inlaid decorations on real daggers that have been excavated. Some figures also carry a third object, a whetstone for sharpening their blades.
What countries comprise what we now know as Assyria?
The Assyrian heartland was in Iraq. At the time that Ashurnasirpal II built his palace, the Empire’s territory also included areas of Turkey and Syria. Later military conquests expanded their territory into: Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Cyprus.
Why is there a hole in this piece? Do you think it was intentionally placed there when the piece was created, or do you think it was added later and is not original to the piece?
These reliefs were once placed into the walls of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud, the ancient city of Kalhu. I'm not sure how that hole came to be there. The city only remained a capital city for a few generations after the palace was constructed. The reliefs were in place in the palace until they were excavated in the mid-nineteenth century. I can't say for certain how the hole was made, but the reliefs have certainly moved around quite a bit since they were excavated in Iraq 150 years ago.
Cool! It's just weird to me that it's the only one with a hole like that on it.The large cracks on the other ones; are they from when the city was conquered and the palace was destroyed?
These are only 12 of the hundreds of reliefs that originally decorated the palace, there may be others with similar holes in other collections. As far as the cracks, they can largely be attributed to weathering. The ancient city of Kalhu was not necessarily conquered, but fell out of use after the Assyrian capital was moved again.
Does this pattern on the reliefs mean anything?
Yes it does! It is the Akkadian language written in the cuneiform script. Most panels show, basically, the same inscription, called the Standard Inscription. The text describes the Assyrian king, Ashurnasipal II's lineage and recounts his accomplishments.
These reliefs decorated his palace and the text and the images combined would have served to reinforce his legitimacy as king and status as a divine leader.
This is cuneiform right?
That's right! The writing is cuneiform and the language of the text is Akkadian, the language of diplomacy in the ancient Near East.
The text, known as the Standard Inscription, begins by tracing Ashur-nasir-pal II’s lineage back three generations. It recounts his military victories, defines the boundaries of his empire, tells how he founded the region and built the palace.
Do they all of the reliefs from Ashurnasirpal II's palace contain the same text, or is each one different and specific to the depictions on the relief?
They all contain the same texts although their might be slight variations between each one. It is called the Standard Inscription and describes Ashurnasirpal II's lineage and recounts his accomplishments, reinforcing his legitimacy as king.
Does cuneiform also read right to left?
Akkadian cuneiform like you see on our relief panels actually reads left to right. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs can be written in either direction.
Does the tree theme appear anywhere else?
Yes, it does! The tree of life was a concept central to numerous Near Eastern belief systems.
They were associated with fertility and vitality of both humans and nature!
Is there evidence of an actual tree or is just a symbolic representation?
The concept of the sacred tree is certainly symbolic. The form itself is based on that of the palm tree, although in the reliefs it is heavily stylized.
What kind of paints were used to color these reliefs?
Ancient Near Eastern artists used mostly mineral-based pigments for painting on stone. Some common examples include hematite red and Egyptian blue--a synthetic pigment that derives its color from copper. The pigments could have been mixed with a variety of media including, water, wax, and egg.
Thanks!
You're welcome. When these works were excavated, there were still traces of white and black paint on them, including whites to some of the genie's eyes!
These pigments have unfortunately since faded.
How would you read the cuneiforms on the Assyrian reliefs?
Cuneiform was a syllabic writing system used to write the Akkadian language. Each sign stands for a syllable and these syllables make up words. The signs are read left to right.
Akkadian, a Semitic language, was the language of diplomacy in the ancient Near East and modern scholars have deciphered it by comparing identical texts written in cunieform and other known scripts and working backwards.
The wrist bands on the genies from the Assyrian palace seem to be less carefully detailed that other parts of the reliefs. I am seeings examples 8, 9, 10, and 11 petals. Is there a significance to these different numbers?
The variation in number of petals may actually indicate that the number is not significant. Scholars aren't certain what exactly the rosettes on the wrists mean, but think that they all share the same meaning and may be tied to either service to the king or service to the fertility goddess, Ishtar.
One possible explanation could be simply that different panels were drawn by different artists. It would have been a team of multiple artists who work on these panels. Different teams were even responsible for different steps like drawing, carving, writing, and painting.