Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography

The well-known "narrative" images of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C.E.) at war and at the hunt are discussed frequently in studies of ancient Near Eastern art. Yet the "iconic" images of the ruler, along with his genies and the sacred tree, are most numerous among the sculptural reliefs that once decorated Ashurnasirpal's palace at Nimrud in Iraq. In the early years following discovery of the reliefs, museums in Europe and North America competed to acquire the Assyrian masterpieces. The greatest number went into European collections in the countries of their discoverers, but "surplus" relief fragments, usually of figures and trees, were shipped to America in the mid-nineteenth century, and many found their way to institutions of higher education.

The essays in this volume explore the iconography of the reliefs, the story of their discovery and dispersal throughout the West, their religious and biblical connections, and the cultural, artistic, and historic meanings of Assyrian art, as well as the story of the digital re-creation of the Nimrud palace. The book takes the reader from the ancient world of Assyria to the modern rediscovery of a fascinating culture. Lavishly illustrated with over 115 color and 35 black-and-white images, Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II will delight the student as well as the armchair archeologist or historian.

ADA COHEN is Associate Professor of Art History at Dartmouth College. She is the author of The Alexander Mosaic: Stories of Victory and Defeat and co-editor of, and contributor to, Constructions of Childhood in Ancient Greece and Italy. Her book titled Art in the Era of Alexander the Great: Paradigms of Manhood and Their Cultural Traditions is forthcoming. STEVEN E. KANGAS is Senior Lecturer in Art History and Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College. He has been affiliated with a long-term excavation and research project at a prehistoric ritual and funerary site in northern Israel.