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The Excavations at Nimrud (Kalḫu), 1949—1950. Ivories from the N.W. Palace

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

M. E. L. Mallowan
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Extract

In the preceding number of this journal we described how in the Spring of 1949 we returned to the site of the famous N.W. Palace of Assur-naṣir-pal and set to work in chamber V where, more than a century ago, Layard had first unearthed the famous collection of Nimrud ivories. There, and in the adjacent chamber W, we found hundreds of mutilated fragments, most of them undecorated, which the workmen had cast aside and thrown back when the chambers were refilled with the soil that had come out of them. None the less our return to these rooms was worth while, for in the debris of V we found two unfinished plaques, Plate VI, 3, 4, which indicated that some of the ivories must actually have been carved at Calah, and in the same room, on an undug patch of soil about one metre above the level of Assur-naṣir-pal's pavement, we found the beautiful figure of the cow suckling its calf, Plate I, 2, 3. These three figures are all that we can illustrate here from Layard's excavations: the remainder was found by us in the newly discovered S.E. wing of the Palace which we began digging in the Spring of 1950. With these three exceptions, the rest of the collection comes from rooms FF, GG north of OO, HH, OO, and QQ, see text Fig. 1, and in every case the pieces were found lying in confusion on a pavement level which can with certainty be attributed to the reign of King Sargon, thanks to the fortunate discovery in room HH of a clay docket bearing the name of a limmu who is known to have held office in the year 715 B.C. Most of the pieces, including the Bull, ND. 762, and the remarkable head, ND. 763, Plates II–V, were found in room HH; see Plate X for a picture of the N.W. corner of that room and the objects as they appeared at the time of discovery.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , Spring 1951 , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1951

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References

page 3 note 1 Date of Sargon's residence at Khorsabad, cf. Hall, H. R., The Ancient History of the Near East (Fifth Edition), p. 481Google Scholar.

page 3 note 2 Iraq, XII, Pt. 2, 179fGoogle Scholar.

page 4 note 1 cf. Loud, G., The Megiddo Ivories, p. 9Google Scholar.

page 5 note 1 cf. Thureau-Dangin, F., Arslan-Tash, 89, 90Google Scholar.

page 5 note 2 On the tablet N.D.400 which is published by Mr. D. Wiseman in the ensuing article, there is evidence that ivories from the Phoenician coastal cities, including Arvad and Simirta, were among the booty captured by Tiglath-pileser III in 734 B.C.

page 5 note 3 For the relevant inscription see Thurcau-Dangin, F., Arslan-Tash, 139Google Scholar.

page 6 note 1 See the illustration in Olmstead, A. T., History of Assyria, 88, Fig. 46Google Scholar.

page 6 note 2 Iraq, II, Pt. 2, 185Google Scholar.

page 7 note 1 Illustrated in J. D. Beazley and B. Ashmole, Greek, Sculpture and Painting, Fig. 11.

page 7 note 2 There are however some notable exceptions, but they arc rare: see for example the ivory plaques from Nimrud engraved with figures of the king, attendants, and a winged genius holding the cone: the subject is Assyrian, in the manner of the bas-reliefs. Best illustrated in Schafer, H. and Andrae, W., Die Kunst des Alten Orients (1942 Edition), p. 535Google Scholar.

page 8 note 1 cf. Iraq, II, Pt, 2, Plate XXVIII.

page 8 note 2 R. Dussaud, op, cit., 100.

page 9 note 1 P. Mornet, Byblos et L'Égypte.

page 9 note 2 The ivory is illustrated in P. Montet, Byblos et L'Égypte, Plate CXLII, No. 878. Dussaud, op. cit., 102, draws attention to its Phoenician characteristics, Contenau, G., La Civilisation Phénicienne (1949 Edition) p. 190Google Scholar, to the Mycenaean character of its decoration.

page 9 note 3 R. Dussaud, op. cit., 94, and illustration in A. Evans, P. of M., IV, 191, Fig. 147.

page 9 note 4 See Forsdyke, E. J., Minoan Art, Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. XVGoogle Scholar. No more apt and sensitive account of Minoan art is ever likely to be written: the Mycenaean artist inherited and sometimes maintained this vigorous tradition.

page 10 note 1 For the reference and allusions, see Barnett, , in J.H.S., LXVIII, p. 2Google Scholar.

page 10 note 2 Iraq, II, Pt. 2, p. 201fGoogle Scholar.

page 10 note 3 Subba or Mandaeans. See Mallowan, M. B. L., The Legacy of Asia, published at the Institute of Archaeology, 1948, p. 14, 15Google Scholar and references in the footnotes. (Fourth Annual Report of the Institute, 1947.)

page 10 note 4 See Van Ess, J., Meet the Arab, 71Google Scholar, for the trade of the Sulaba, and Dickson, H. R. P., The Arab of the Desert (Allen & Unwin), 515–525Google Scholar.

page 11 note 1 O. M. Dalton, Byzantine Art and Archaeology, for an interesting account of Byzantine and mediaeval ivories.

page 11 note 2 For the principal references, see Barnett, R. D. in P.E.F.Q. (01, 1939), p. 4fGoogle Scholar.

page 11 note 3 Phoenician craftsmen at Babylon in the sixth century B.C., see article entitled “Jojachin, König von Juda, in Babylonischen, Keilschrifttexten” by Weidner, E. F., in Mélanges Syriens offerts à Mons. R. Dussaud, Tome II (1939), p. 929Google Scholar. For reference to the ivory from Babyion see under Catalogue, Plate V, No. 1, below.

page 11 note 4 Noted by Barnett, in Iraq, II, Pt. 2, 197, (his footnote 2)Google Scholar.

page 11 note 5 Dimand, M. S., A Handbook of Muhammedan Art, 124fGoogle Scholar.

page 13 note 1 Similar amulets were commonly manufactured in all the important S. Babylonian cities, e.g., in Sumerian centres such as Ur and Uruk, at that time.

page 13 note 2 It is true that similar markings occur on representations of lions; but it may be recalled that the lion was usually regarded as the special property of the king. See for example the lions on the basalt relief discovered at Baisan, illustrated in R. Dussaud, op. cit., 99, Fig. 61.

page 15 note 1 For the ancient sources of ivory see Barnett, R. D. in J.H.S., LXVIII, p. 1, his footnote 4Google Scholar.

page 17 note 1 Loose twelve-petalled rosettes were also found at Samaria, see op. cit., Plate XXIII.