6.4: Assyria

Assyria, an introduction

by Dr. Senta German

Led by aggressive warrior kings, Assyria dominated the fertile crescent for half a millennium, amassing vast wealth.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Map of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and its expansions. (Map via Smarthistory)

A military culture

The Assyrian empire dominated Mesopotamia and all of the Near East for the first half of the first millennium BCE, led by a series of highly ambitious and aggressive warrior kings. Assyrian society was entirely military, with men obliged to fight in the army at any time. State offices were also under the purview of the military.

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Ashurbanipal slitting the throat of a lion from his chariot (detail), Ashurbanipal Hunting Lions, gypsum hall relief from the North Palace, Ninevah, c. 645-635 BCE, excavated by H. Rassam beginning in 1853. British Museum. (Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Indeed, the culture of the Assyrians was brutal, the army seldom marching on the battlefield but rather terrorizing opponents into submission who, once conquered, were tortured, raped, beheaded, and flayed with their corpses publicly displayed. The Assyrians torched enemies’ houses, salted their fields, and cut down their orchards.

Editors' Note: The Assyrian Lion Hunt

The Assyrians celebrated prowess in war, and they equated success in war with success in the hunt. In Nineveh, the palace of Ashurbanipal (whom the Greeks called Sardanapalus) is covered in images celebrating the lion hunt, and in turn the king’s fearlessness and fierceness. In fact, these lion hunts were controlled (“staged,” as the British Museum puts it) to make sure the king was safe and successful. Nonetheless, we see Ashurbanipal demonstrating extraordinary calm as he plunges his dagger into the throat of a lion, just inches from his own face (Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)). The lion is a fearsome foe, rippling with muscle and baring his teeth in a terrifying snarl, but Ashurbanipal remains upright and unperturbed, his superior human intellect on display even as the sinews in his own arm echo the muscular power of the beast's leg.

Today, our modern sympathies cause us to look at these scenes of carnage with sympathy for the lions, who are depicted with impressive naturalism (Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\)). However, it is important to remember that for the Assyrians, these scenes celebrate royal might and prowess. As the British Museum writes, “The king’s power to defeat these enemies of civilization was part of his divine prerogative and the hunt had a deep religious significance. On behalf of the gods, the king was cleansing the land of dangerous and chaotic forces.”

Luxurious palaces

As a result of these fierce and successful military campaigns, the Assyrians acquired massive resources from all over the Near East which made the Assyrian kings very rich. The palaces were on an entirely new scale of size and glamour; one contemporary text describes the inauguration of the palace of Kalhu, built by Assurnasirpal II (who reigned in the early 9th century), to which almost 70,000 people were invited to banquet.

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Lion pierced with arrows (detail), Lion Hunts of Ashurbanipal, c. 645 BCE, gypsum hall reliefs from Palace at Ninevah (across the Tigris from present day Mosul, Iraq). British Museum. (Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Some of this wealth was spent on the construction of several gigantic and luxurious palaces spread throughout the region. The interior public reception rooms of Assyrian palaces were lined with large scale carved limestone reliefs which offer beautiful and terrifying images of the power and wealth of the Assyrian kings and some of the most beautiful and captivating images in all of ancient Near Eastern art.

Feats of bravery

Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): Ashurbanipal taking aim at a lion (detail), Lion Hunts of Ashurbanipal. (Photo via Smarthistory)

Like all Assyrian kings, Ashurbanipal decorated the public walls of his palace with images of himself performing great feats of bravery, strength and skill. Among these he included a lion hunt in which we see him coolly taking aim at a lion in front of his charging chariot, while his assistants fend off another lion attacking at the rear.

The destruction of Susa

Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\): Sacking of Susa by Ashurbanipal, North Palace, Nineveh, 647 BCE. (Photo via Smarthistory)

One of the accomplishments Ashurbanipal was most proud of was the total destruction of the city of Susa. In the relief in Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\), we see Ashurbanipal’s troops destroying the walls of Susa with picks and hammers while fire rages within the walls of the city.

Military victories & exploits

In the Central Palace at Nimrud, the Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III illustrates his military victories and exploits, including the siege of a city in great detail.

Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\): Wall relief from Nimrud, the sieging of a city, likely in Mesopotamia, c. 728 BCE. British Museum. (Photo via Smarthistory)

In Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\) we see one soldier holding a large screen to protect two archers who are taking aim. The topography includes three different trees and a roaring river, most likely setting the scene in and around the Tigris or Euphrates rivers.

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Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II: A Conversation

by Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker

This is the transcript of a conversation conducted in the Musee du Louvre, Paris. Click here to watch the video.

Figure \(\PageIndex{7}\): Winged human-headed bull (lamassu or shedu), Neo-Assyrian Period, reign of Sargon II (721-705 BCE) Khorsabad, ancient Dur Sharrukin, Assyria, Iraq, excavated by P.-E. Boea 1843-44. Gypseous alabaster, 4.20 x 4.36 x 0.97 m. Musee du Louvre (Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Steven: Ancient Mesopotamia is often credited as the cradle of civilization, that is, the place where farming and cities began. It makes it seem so peaceful, but this was anything but the case. In fact, it was really a series of civilizations that conquered each other.

Beth: We’re in a room in the Louvre filled with sculpture from the Assyrians, who controlled the ancient Near East from about 1000 BCE to around 500 BCE.

Steven: And these sculptures, in particular, come from the palace of Sargon II, and were carved at the height of Assyrian civilization in the eighth century BCE.

Beth: So this is modern-day Khorsabad.

Steven: In Iraq.

Figure \(\PageIndex{8}\): Winged human-headed bull (detail of head and beard). (Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Beth: And various Assyrian kings established palaces at different cities. So there were palaces at Nimrid and Assur before this, and after, there will be a palace at Nineveh, but these sculptures come from an excavation from modern-day Khorsabad.

Steven: The most impressive sculptures that survive are the guardian figures that protected the city’s gates, and protected the gates of the citadel itself. That is the area within which were both the temple and the royal palace.

Beth: So at each of these various gates, there were guardian figures that were winged bulls with the heads of men.

Steven: We think they were called lamassu.

Beth: As figures that stood at gateways, they make sense. They’re fearsome, they look powerful. They could also be an expression of the power of the Assyrian king.

Steven: They are enormous, but even they would have been dwarfed by the architecture. They would have stood between huge arches. In fact, they had some structural purpose. It’s interesting to note that each of these lamassu is actually carved out of monolithic stone, that is, there are no cuts here. These are single pieces of stone, and in the ancient world, it was no small task to get these stones in place.

Figure \(\PageIndex{9}\): Winged human-headed bull (detail of right profile). (Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Beth: Well, and apparently, there were relief carvings in the palace that depicted moving these massive lamassu into place. So it’s important to remember that the lamassu were the gateway figures, but the walls of the palace were decorated with relief sculpture showing hunting scenes and other scenes indicating royal power.

Steven: This is a lamassu that was actually a guardian for the exterior gate of the city. It’s in awfully good condition.

Beth: Well my favorite part is the crown. It’s decorated with rosettes, and then double horns that come around toward the top center, and then on top of that, a ring of feathers.

Steven: It’s really delicate for such a massive and powerful creature. The faces are extraordinary. First of all, just at the top of the forehead, you can see kind of incised wavy hair that comes just below the crown, and then you have a connected eyebrow.

Beth: And then the ears are the ears of a bull that wear earrings.

Steven: Actually quite elaborate earrings.

Beth: The whole form is so decorative.

Steven: And then there’s that marvelous, complex representation of the beard. You see little ringlets on the cheeks of the face, but then as the beard comes down, you see these spirals that turn downward and then are interrupted by a series of horizontal bands.

Beth: Then the wings, too, form this lovely decorative pattern up the side of the animal, and then across its back.

Steven: In fact, across the body itself there are ringlets as well, so we get a sense of the fur of the beast. And then under the creature, and around the legs, you can see inscriptions in cuneiform.

Beth: Some of which declares the power of the king…

Steven: …and damnation for those that would threaten the king’s work, that is, the citadel.

Beth: What’s interesting too is that these were meant to be seen both from a frontal view and a profile view.

Steven: Well if you count up the number of legs, there’s one too many. There are five.

Beth: Right, two from the front, and four from the side, but of course, one of the front legs overlaps, and so there are five legs.

Steven: What’s interesting is that when you look at the creature from the side, you actually see that it’s moving forward, but when you look at it from the front, those two legs are static so the beast is stationary. And think about what this means for a guardian figure at a gate. As we approach, we see it still, watching us as we move, but if we belong, if we’re friendly, and were allowed to pass this gate, as we move through it, we see the animal itself move.

Beth: And then we have this combination of these decorative forms that we’ve been talking about with a sensitivity to the anatomy of this composite animal. His abdomen swells, and his hindquarters move back, and then we can see the veins, and muscles, and bones in his leg.

Steven: So there really is this funny relationship between the naturalistic and the imagination of this culture.

Beth: And the decorative, but all speaking to the power, the authority of the king and the fortifications of this palace, and this city.

Steven: They are incredibly impressive. It would be impossible to broach the citadel without being awestruck by the power of this civilization.

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Articles in this section:

• Dr. Senta German, "Assyria, an introduction," in Smarthistory, May 14, 2019 (CC BY-NC-SA)
• Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, "Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II," in Smarthistory, December 15, 2015 (CC BY-NC-SA)