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A Neo-Assyrian statue from Til Barsib*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Arlette Roobaert
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Extract

During the 1993 season of excavations at Tell Ahmar, three pieces of a life-size basalt statue were found in a pit dug into one of the large walls surrounding an Iron Age vaulted tomb (Fig. 1). The head, the tors o and the lower part fitted together perfectly. When correctly assembled, these three pieces formed the figure of a standing beardless man with clasped hands (Fig. 2a−b). Only the feet were missing. The maximum height of the reconstructed statue is 1.45m. It was clear from the damage to portions of its body that the statue had been deliberately broken in antiquity. Details, such as a large hole on the right side of the chest, a smaller one on the top of the head and, above all, the defacement of the head suggest that the statue may have actually been “killed”.

All three pieces of the statue, which was carved out of a blue greyish basalt of medium texture, were found lying on their backs (Fig. 4). The head lay next to the lower part of the statue, but was buried in a slightly deeper position. The relative placement of these fragments seems to be a clear indication that the statue was not knocked down at this particular spot, but was brought to this location in separate pieces, perhaps with the deliberate intention of burying them.

The head was cut off as if the statue had been decapitated. The torso was separated from the lower portion of the statue by an oblique cut that divided the figure just below the waist. The cut runs downwards from the back and continues underneath the clasped hands at the front, leaving the hands almost completely undamaged. The lower part of the statue seems to have been separated from the missing feet by a horizontal cut. This may indicate that the base of the statue was left in situ, probably because it was solidly set in the ground.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 58 , 1996 , pp. 79 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1996 

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Footnotes

*

The statue has been on display in the Aleppo Museum since June 1994. I would like to thank Mr W. Khayyata, Director of the Antiquities of the Aleppo region, and Mr H. Hammade, keeper of the Near Eastern Antiquities of the Aleppo Museum, for their efficient assistance in this matter.

References

1 The height of the pieces is as follows: head: 0.37 m; torso: 0.34m at the back, 0.52m at the front; lower part: 0.62m at the back, 0.56 m at the front. The total preserved height is thus 1.33 m at the back and 1.45 m at the front.

2 See below.

3 See below.

4 Assaf, A. Abou, Bordreuil, P., Millard, A. R., La statue de Tell Fekherye et son inscription bilingue assyro-araméenne (Paris 1982), p. 5 Google Scholar and Pl. I.

5 See Strommenger, E., Die neuassyrische Rundskulptur (Berlin 1970)Google Scholar; Spycket, A., La statuaire du Proche-Orient ancien (Leiden-Cologne 1981), pp. 359–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Abou Assaf et al., La statue de Tell Fekherye. Adad-Yis'i is called “governor” in the Akkadian inscription and “king” in the Aramaic one.

7 Spycket, , La statuaire, pp. 370–1Google Scholar.

8 Ibid., p. 371 and fn. 54.

9 On stylistic grounds the statue from Fekheriyeh has been dated to the 8th century BC and probably the reign of Tiglath-pileser III by Spycket, A., “La statue bilingue de Tell Fekheriyé”, RA 79 (1985), 67–8Google Scholar, although the epigraphic and historical evidence seem to favour a date in the second half of the 9th century BC (Abou Assaf et al., La statue de Tell Fekherye, pp. 103–13).

10 Strommenger, , Rundskulptur, p. 28 Google Scholar; Spycket, , La statuaire, p. 371 Google Scholar.

11 These processions are part of the “review scenes” that are typical of the 9th and 8th centuries, but still appear on 7th century wall-paintings, according to Reade, J. E., “Assyrian architectural decoration: techniques and subject-matter”, BaM 10 (1979), p. 35 Google Scholar.

12 Madhloom, T. A., The Chronology of Neo-Assyrian Art (London 1970), pp. 85–6Google Scholar.

13 Thureau-Dangin, F. and Dunand, M., Til-Barsib (Paris 1936), p. 158 Google Scholar, Pl. XV, 2. It has been suggested by Thureau-Dangin that the relief could represent the turtānu Shamshiilu. However, as the rather large curls resting on the shoulders and splaying in a fan shape seem to be a fashion introduced by Sargon, according to Madhloom, op. cit., p. 86, the Tell Ahmar relief could still represent a turtānu, but from the end of the 8th century or the 7th century BC.

14 Cf. BM 124553 ( Barnett, R. D. and Forman, W., Assyrian Palace Reliefs [London, n.d.]Google Scholar, Pl. 28).

15 BM 118882 (Barnett and Forman, op. cit., Pl. 36).

16 Weidner, E., AfO 15 (1945–1951), p. 137 Google Scholar, Abb. 1.

17 Hogarth, D. G., Carchemish I (London 1914)Google Scholar, Pl. B 7; Orthmann, , Untersuchungen zur späthethitischen Kunst (Bonn 1971)Google Scholar, Karkemis G/5.

18 See rthmann, op. cit., Zincirli H/8; F/1b; H/4; K/2; Sakçagösü A/6; A/7.

19 Akurgal, E., Orient und Okzident (Baden-Baden 1966), p. 48 Google Scholar.

20 Spycket, , RA 79, pp. 67–8Google Scholar, quotes some examples dating from the early 18th century till the reign of Esarhaddon.

21 Cf. the Kurba'il statue of Shalmaneser III from Nimrud. Wilson, J. V. Kinnier, “The Kurba'il statue of Shalmaneser III”, Iraq 24 (1962), p. 97 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, does not make such a distinction when he compares the hands clasped before the body of the Shalmaneser III's statue with, for instance, those of the officers painted on the south wall of the throne-room S5 at Fort Shalmaneser.

22 Oates, D., “The excavations at Nimrud (Kalhu), 1962”, Iraq 25 (1963), p. 15 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 See for instance the two beardless officials following each other on a relief of Ashurnasirpal II from Nimrud (BM 124917: Reade, J. E., “The Neo-Assyrian court and army: Evidence from the sculptures”, Iraq 34 [1972]CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Pl. XXXVa and p. 109); the figures carved on the throne-dais found in the throne-room of Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud ( Oates, , Iraq 25 Google Scholar, Pls. VIa and IVb); a relief of Tiglath-pileser III from the Central Palace at Nimrud ( Mierejewski, A. and Sobolewski, R., “Polish excavations at Nimrud/Kalhu 1974–1976”, Sumer 36 [1980], p. 157 Google Scholar and Fig. 7); reliefs from Sargon II's palace at Khorsabad ( Albenda, P., The Palace of Sargon King of Assyria [Paris 1986]Google Scholar, Pl. 18 and Fig. 74); a relief attributed to the time of Ashurbanipal (BM 124802: illustrated by Reade, J. in Starr, Ivan, Queries to the Sungod, State Archives of Assyria IV [Helsinki 1990], p. 146 Google Scholar, Fig. 41).

24 For example, the wall-paintings from Room XXIV of the palace at Til Barsib (Thureau-Dangin and Dunand, Til-Barsib, Pl. LI [XXIV i]; Pl. XLIX [XXIV abc]: Pl. L [XXIV d] and Pl. L [XXIV gh]); the wall-paintings of the throne-room at Fort Shalmaneser ( Mallowan, M., Nimrud and its Remains II [London 1966], pp. 379–80)Google Scholar.

25 Spycket, La statuaire, Fig. 231.

26 Abou Assaf et al., La statue de Tell Fekherye, Pls. I, IV.

27 Hrouda, B., Die Kulturgeschichte des assyrischen Flachbildes (Bonn 1965), p. 35 Google Scholar.

28 Thureau-Dangin and Dunand, Til-Barsib, Pls. XLIX, L, LI, LII.

29 Thureau-Dangin, F., Barrois, A., Dossin, G., Dunand, M., Arslan-Tash (Paris 1931)Google Scholar, Pl. XXXIII: 43.

30 Ibid., p. 111. The identification with Hazael, king of Damascus, which is often suggested, does not seem very convincing.

31 Assaf, Abou et al., La statue de Tell Fekherye, p. 7 Google Scholar and Pls. I–II.

32 Hrouda, , Kulturgeschichte, pp. 38–9Google Scholar.

33 Ibid., p. 39.

34 See for instance, Albenda, Palace of Sargon, Pls. 18, 45.

35 Barnett, R. D. and Falkner, M., The Sculptures of Assurnasir-apli II (883–859 B.C.) Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 B.C.) Esarhaddon (681–669 B.C.) from the Central and South-West Palaces at Nimrud (London 1962)Google Scholar, Pls. VIII, LXXXIV, LXXXV.

36 Thureau-Dangin and Dunand, Til-Barsib, Pls. XLIX, LI and LII.

37 Maxwell-Hyslop, K. R., Western Asiatic Jewellery c. 3000–612 B.C. (London 1971), pp. 246–8Google Scholar.

38 See for instance the Kuyunjik relief BM 124886 (Barnett and Forman, Assyrian Palace Reliefs, Pl. 97).

39 Albenda, Palace of Sargon, Pl. 139: middle row, last item to the right, and p. 93. The rosette displays twelve petals instead of six on the Til Barsib statue.

40 According to Albenda, op. cit., p. 94, “Bracelets with rosette decoration are restricted to the Assyrian king, the high-ranking Assyrian officical, winged and wingless génies.”

41 Mallowan, , Nimrud and its Remains I Google Scholar, Fig. 28 on p. 65.

42 Madhloom, , Chronology of NA Art, p. 90 Google Scholar; Maxwell-Hyslop, , Western Asiatic Jewellery, p. 240 Google Scholar, refers to the same type as Type 3 and considers that it was in use from Ashurnasirpal II till Sargon.

43 Thureau-Dangin, and Dunand, , Til-Barsib, pp. 45–6Google Scholar.

44 Cf. Nunn, A., Die Wandmalerei und der glasierte Wandschmuck in alten Orient (Leiden 1988), pp. 118–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

45 Reade, , Iraq 34, p. 94 Google Scholar, has suggested that Shamshi-ilu, the powerful turtānu who was able to remain in power from 796 BC to 752 BC, could have been a eunuch.

46 In iconography, since Layard, there is a traditional distinction between bearded men and beardless eunuchs (cf. Reade, , Iraq 34, p. 91 Google Scholar). In the texts also, an important distinction is made between bearded and eunuch officials. Cf. Grayson, A. K., “Assyrian civilization” in CAH III/2 (Cambridge 1991), p. 202 Google Scholar.

47 Postgate, J. N., The Governor's Palace Archive (London 1973), p. 10 Google Scholar.

48 Unger, E., Die Stele des Bel-Harran-Beli-Ussur, ein Denkmal der Zeit Salmanasars IV, Publicationen der Kaiserlich Osmanischen Museen 3 (Constantinople 1917), Taf. 1 and p. 11 Google Scholar.

49 Unger, E., RLA I (1928), p. 106 Google Scholar s.v. Anaz, and Pl. 14.

50 On the mutilation of statues, see Brandes, M., “Destruction et mutilation de statues en Mésopotamie”, Akkadica 16 (1980), pp. 28–41 Google Scholar.

51 Nylander, C., “Earless in Nineveh: Who mutilated ‘Sargon's head’?”, AJA 84 (1980), pp. 329–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

52 Thureau-Dangin, and Dunand, , Til-Barsib, p. 44 Google Scholar.

53 Ussishkin, D., “The Syro-Hittite ritual burial of monuments”, JNES 29 (1970), pp. 124–8Google Scholar.