The Stela of Ashurnasirpal II is an enormous
Assyrian
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
monolith that was erected during the reign of
Ashurnasirpal II
Ashur-nasir-pal II (transliteration: ''Aššur-nāṣir-apli'', meaning " Ashur is guardian of the heir") was king of Assyria from 883 to 859 BC.
Ashurnasirpal II succeeded his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II, in 883 BC. During his reign he embarked ...
. The stela was discovered in the mid nineteenth century at the ancient site of Kalhu (now known as
Nimrud
Nimrud (; syr, ܢܢܡܪܕ ar, النمرود) is an ancient Assyrian city located in Iraq, south of the city of Mosul, and south of the village of Selamiyah ( ar, السلامية), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia. It was a maj ...
) by the famous British archaeologist
Austen Henry Layard
Sir Austen Henry Layard (; 5 March 18175 July 1894) was an English Assyriologist, traveller, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, politician and diplomat. He was born to a mostly English family in Paris and largely raised in It ...
. Dated to between 883-859 BC, the sculpture is now part of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
's collection.
British Museum Collection
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Discovery
This stela was found by Layard in 1850 outside the Temple of Ninurta
, image= Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png
, caption= Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from En ...
(the Assyrian god of hunting and warfare) at Nimrud
Nimrud (; syr, ܢܢܡܪܕ ar, النمرود) is an ancient Assyrian city located in Iraq, south of the city of Mosul, and south of the village of Selamiyah ( ar, السلامية), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia. It was a maj ...
. It was shipped to London the following year and gifted to the Museum by the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the ruler ...
. For many years the stela was prominently displayed in the museum's Great Court.
Description
The stela, which weighs over 4 tons and is 3 meters high, portrays the Assyrian King worshipping five gods. The monarch is shown wearing a conical hat and full beard, with his right hand extended snapping his fingers, and his left hand holding a mace, symbol of royal authority. The five deities are represented symbolically in the top left hand corner of the stela: Ashur by a horned helmet, Shamash
Utu (dUD "Sun"), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash, ''šmš'', syc, ܫܡܫܐ ''šemša'', he, שֶׁמֶשׁ ''šemeš'', ar, شمس ''šams'', Ashurian Aramaic: 𐣴𐣬𐣴 ''š'meš(ā)'' was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. ...
by a winged disk, Sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
by a crescent, Adad
Hadad ( uga, ), Haddad, Adad (Akkadian language, Akkadian: Wiktionary:𒀭𒅎, 𒀭𒅎 ''DINGIR, DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur (Sumerian language, Sumerian) was the Weather god, storm and rain god in the Ancient Semitic religi ...
by a forked line and Ishtar
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...
in the form of a star. A large amount of cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic writing system, script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East, Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is nam ...
text covers the stela, recording the king's military triumphs and conquests.
Gallery
File:Flickr - Nic's events - British Museum with Cory and Mary, 6 Sep 2007 - 120.jpg, Detail of the stela, with symbols of the gods
File:Flickr - Nic's events - British Museum with Cory and Mary, 6 Sep 2007 - 118.jpg, Close-up of the left hand holding the mace
See also
* Statue of Ashurnasirpal II
*Kurkh Monoliths
The Kurkh Monoliths are two Assyrian stelae that contain a description of the reigns of Ashurnasirpal II and his son Shalmaneser III. The Monoliths were discovered in 1861 by a British archaeologist John George Taylor, who was the British Consu ...
* Stela of Shamshi-Adad V
References
{{reflist
Further reading
*J.E. Reade, Assyrian Sculpture (London, The British Museum Press, 1998)
*A.K. Grayson, Assyrian Royal Inscriptions (Wiesbaden, O. Harrassowitz, 1976)
*J.E. Curtis and J.E. Reade (eds), Art and empire: treasures from (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
*A.H. Layard, Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon (London, J. Murray, 1853)
Middle Eastern sculptures in the British Museum
Assyrian stelas
Sculpture of the Ancient Near East
Nimrud
Cultural depictions of Ashurbanipal