Ashurnasirpal II

Ashur-nasir-pal II (transliteration: Aššur-nāṣir-apli, meaning "Ashur is guardian of the heir" ) was the third king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 883 to 859 BC. Ashurnasirpal II succeeded his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II. His son and successor was Shalmaneser III and his queen was Mullissu-mukannišat-Ninua.

Reign During his reign he embarked on a vast program of expansion, first conquering the peoples to the north in Asia Minor as far as Nairi and exacting tribute from Phrygia, then invading Aram (modern Syria) conquering the Aramaeans and Neo-Hittites between the Khabur and the Euphrates Rivers. The palaces, temples and other buildings he raised bear witness to considerable development in wealth and art. He installed Assyrian governors, rather than depending on local client rulers paying tribute.

Cruelty Ashurnasirpal II was notorious for his brutality, using enslaved captives to build a new Assyrian capital at Kalhu (Nimrud) in Mesopotamia.

His harshness prompted a revolt that he crushed decisively in a pitched, two-day battle. According to his monument inscription, while recalling this massacre he says:

Following this victory, he advanced without opposition as far as the Mediterranean and exacted tribute from Phoenicia. On his return home, he moved his capital to the city of Kalhu (Nimrud).

Campaigns

Like previous Assyrian monarchs, Ashurnasirpal campaigned along the Euphrates against Aramaeans and in the Diyala against Babylon. Ashurnasirpal II's brutal treatment of rebels ensured that even when his army was not present, there would not be further revolts. Further revolts saw the local monarch replaced with a governor, loyal only to the Assyrian monarchy. Leading his army, which was typically composed of infantry (including auxiliaries and foreigners), heavy cavalry, light cavalry and chariots, Ashurnasirpal conquered the Hittites and Aramaean states of northern Syria.

Ashurnasirpal II did not destroy the Phoenician/Canaanite cities he conquered. He was unsuccessful in his siege of Tyre, which under Ittobaal settled Kition in Cyprus and opened up trade routes throughout the Aegean, at Rhodes and Miletus. Through tribute they became sources for the raw materials of his armies and his building programs. Iron was needed for weapons, Lebanese cedar for construction and gold and silver for the payment of troops.

When considering the occupied citizens of his conquered territories, he wrote: I resettled them in their abandoned towns and houses. I imposed more tribute and tax on them than ever before: horses, mules, oxen, sheep, wine and labor.

Balawat Gates

The Balawat Gates, or the Balawat Bronze Bands are three sets of decorated bronze bands that had adorned the main doors of several buildings at Balawat (ancient Imgur-Enlil). Two of them date to the reign of Ashurnasirpal II. The third set of the Bronze Bands depicts the exploits of his son Shalmaneser III.

After the Neo-Assyrian Empire fell and Balawat was destroyed, the wooden elements of the gates decomposed. Most of the bronze bands survive, and can be found in museums. The gates were originally 6.8 metres high. and is now generally accepted as having been completed after around 15 years alongside the near-total reconstruction of the Middle Assyrian city, c.864 BC. An inscription describing its inauguration details a ten-day banquet which 69,574 people attended. The palace walls were lined with reliefs carved in alabaster. These reliefs bore elaborate carvings, many portraying the king surrounded by winged protective spirits, or engaged in hunting or on campaign.

Each relief had text inscribed in it. This text was the same or very similar on each relief and is therefore called the Standard Inscription. The Standard Inscription begins by tracing Ashur-nasir-pal II's lineage back three generations and recounts his military victories, defines the boundaries of his empire, tells how he founded Kalhu, and built the palace. Ashurnasirpal II also built a massive gateway at Nimrud.

The British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard excavated Kalhu in the 1840s, uncovering the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II. Today, many of the reliefs and sculptures from the excavations in Nimrud are displayed in the galleries of the British Museum, London, including the Statue of Ashurnasirpal II and the Black Obelisk by his son Shalmaneser III, with other reliefs on display in museums in Europe (e.g. Munich), Japan and the USA.

Nimrud reliefs On this relief from Nimrud, a winged benevolent spirit blesses either the king or palace with a pine-cone. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

After Assyria fell in 612 BC, the palace became overgrown and eventually completely buried, in which state it remained for nearly 2,500 years until rediscovered by the British-born Austen Henry Layard in 1845. Layard oversaw the excavation of the palace during which time the reliefs that dominated the walls of the structure were removed from the site and sent to collections throughout Europe and North America, with the British Museum receiving the majority of these Nimrud reliefs. Despite excavating and removing many of these reliefs, a great number remained within the palace and were eventually reburied with time. Royal hunting scenes are some of the most well known of the Nimrud reliefs particularly those showing Assurnasirpal II hunting lions. There is also a distinct interest in the relationship between man and animal in many of the scenes. In several depictions the king is shown with supernatural creatures of animal and human combination. All of the apotropaic portrayals, which would have decorated the doorways of the palace, were of these human and animal hybrids. Within the context of these apotropaic figures were three main types, a winged figure wearing the horned crown which symbolized divinity, a winged figure wearing a headband of rosettes and a winged human figure with the head of a bird. The Assyrians were always shown in moments of glory while the non-Assyrians are in sprawled or contorted positions and most often naked. These illustrations represented violent death as punishment for violating Assyrian values, as well as merciless punishment for transgressions. Not only would this have served as a clear message for visiting dignitaries from other cultures but also the same message was innately obvious as a warning to the Assyrian elites as to what could happen if they decided to defy the king.

On 5 March 2015 ISIL reportedly started the demolition of Nimrud. The local palace was bulldozed. Lamassu statues at the gates of the palace of Ashurnasirpal II were smashed.

Current location of Nimrud reliefs

Head of a royal attendant. From the North-West Palace at Nimrud, Iraq. Reign of Ashurnasirpall II, 883–859 BC. The Burrell Collection, Glasgow, UK United States Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota - Winged Genius Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey - Winged Genius Yale University Art Gallery, Connecticut - items of the collection University of Chicago Oriental Institute, Chicago - relief Mead Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts Brooklyn Museum, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - items of the collection Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Fleming Museum of Art, Burlington, Vermont Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Palace of the Legion of Honor Los Angeles County Museum of Art United Kingdom

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford British Museum, London Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh The Burrell Collection, Glasgow Europe Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst, Munich, Germany Skulpturensammlung, Dresden, Germany Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, Belgium Middle East Basra Museum, Iraq Iraq Museum, Baghdad, Iraq Mosul Museum, Iraq Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq Erbil Civilization Museum, Iraq Basra Museum, Iraq Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul Archaeology Museums, Turkey