Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T16:01:12.634Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Esarhaddon's glazed bricks from Nimrud: The Egyptian campaign depicted

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Extract

During his excavations “in the south-east corner of the mound” at Nimrud, ancient Kalhu, A. H. Layard discovered some fragments of painted bricks (1853b: 164–7; 1867: 52–7). These can be dated to Esarhaddon on the basis of both iconographic style and subject matter. Thanks to the name “Tell of Athur” reported in Layard's accounts, we can plausibly identify the location as the site of Fort Shalmaneser; unfortunately, Layard does not give a more precise location. Although we can assert that the fragments belong to Fort Shalmaneser at the time of its renovation by Esarhaddon in the seventh century BC, we are not able to define exactly the rooms or outer façade that these fragments originally decorated.

Some hypotheses have been suggested as to the original location of the glazed bricks, either in the south-east corner of the inner south-east courtyard (Oates 1959: 111, fn. 20; Nunn 1988: 183) or in Courtyard T (Postgate and Reade 1976–80: 317; Oates and Oates 2001: 183–4) (Fig. 1), where they seem to have adorned an outer façade, either the façade of Throne Room T1 or that of Courtyard T, where Shalmaneser's glazed-brick panel was found lying in front of the doorway of ante-chamber T3 (Reade 1963: 38–47; Dayton 1978: PL 24,1).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albenda, P. 1982 Observations on Egyptians in Assyrian art, Bulletin of Egyptological Seminar 4: 523.Google Scholar
Albenda, P. 1991 Decorated Assyrian knob-plates in the British Museum, Iraq 53: 4353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albenda, P. 1997 Assyrian wall reliefs: A compositional study, in Waetzoldt, H. and Hauptmann, H. (eds.), Assyrien im Wandel der Zeiten, XXXIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Heidelberg 6.-10. Juli 1992, Heidelberg: 223–6.Google Scholar
Albenda, P. 1998 Monumental Art of the Assyrian Empire: Dynamics of Composition Styles (MANE 3/1), Undena Publications, Malibu.Google Scholar
Albenda, P. 2000 Horses of different breeds: Observations in Assyrian art, in Nomades et sédentaires dans le Proche-Orient ancien. Compie rendu de la XLVIe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (Paris, 10-13 juillet 2000) (Amurru 3), Paris: 321–34.Google Scholar
Albenda, P. 2005 Ornamental Wall Painting in the Art of the Assyrian Empire (Cuneiform Monographs 28), Leiden and Boston.Google Scholar
Andrae, W. 1923 Assur — Farbige Keramik und ihre Vorstufen in altassyrischen Wandmalereien, Berlin.Google Scholar
Arnold, D. 1991 Building in Egypt. Pharaonic Stone Masonry, New York and Oxford.Google Scholar
Arnold, D. 2000 Lexikon der ägyptischen Baukunst, Düsseldorf.Google Scholar
Badawy, A. 1965 Ancient Egyptian Architectural Design, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Badawy, A. 1966 Architecture in Ancient Egypt and the Near East, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Badawy, A. 1968 A History of Egyptian Architecture: The Empire (the New Kingdom). From the Eighteenth Dynasty to the End of the Twentieth Dynasty 1500–1085 B.C., Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Barnett, R. D. 1976 Sculptures from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh ( 668-627 BC), London.Google Scholar
Barnett, R. D., Bleibtreu, E. and Turner, G. 1998 Sculptures from the Southwest Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh, London.Google Scholar
Borger, R. 1956 Die Inschriften Asarhaddons Königs von Assyrien (AfO Beiheft 9), Graz.Google Scholar
Brunner, H. 19521953 Ein assyrischer Relief mit einer ägyptischen Festung, AfO 16: 253–62.Google Scholar
Campbell Thompson, R. and Hutchinson, R. W. 1931 The site of the Palace of Ashurnasirpal at Nineveh, excavated in 1929–30 on behalf of the British Museum, Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 18: 79112.Google Scholar
Curtis, J. E., Collon, D. and Green, A. 1993 British Museum excavations at Nimrud and Balawat in 1989, Iraq 55: 137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Czichon, R. M. 1992 Die Gestaltungsprinzipien der neuassyrischen Flachbildkunst und ihre Entwicklung vom 9. zum 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr., Munich and Vienna.Google Scholar
Davies, W. V. (ed.) 2001 Colour and Painting in Ancient Egypt, London.Google Scholar
Dayton, J. 1978 Minerals, Metal, Glazing and Man, London.Google Scholar
Di Paolo, S. 2003 All'udienza regale: funzione e gerarchia degli ingressi nel progetto figurativo della sala del trono di Assurnasirpal II a Nimrud, CMAO IX: 517–44.Google Scholar
Feldman, M. 2004 Nineveh to Thebes and back: Art and politics between Assyria and Egypt in the seventh century BCE, in Collon, D. and George, A. R. (eds.), Nineveh. Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, London, 7-11 July 2003, Part One (Iraq 66), London: 141–50.Google Scholar
Finkel, I. L. and Reade, J. E. 1996 Assyrian hieroglyphs, ZA 86: 244–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freestone, I. C. 1991 Technical examination of the Neo-Assyrian glazed wall plaques, Iraq 53: 55–8.Google Scholar
Grayson, A. K. 2000 Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, Winona Lake.Google Scholar
Grimal, N. 1990 Storia dell'antico Egitto, Rome and Bari (Italian translation of Histoire de l'Egypte ancienne, 1988).Google Scholar
Hrouda, B. 1965 Die Kulturgeschichte des assyrischen Flachbildes, Bonn.Google Scholar
Kaelin, O. 1999 Ein assyrisches Bildexperiment nach ägyptischem Vorbild. Zur Planung und Ausführung der “Schlacht am Ulai” (AOAT 266), Münster.Google Scholar
Koldewey, R. 1913 Das wieder erstehende Babylon, Leipzig.Google Scholar
Koldewey, R. 1931 Die Königsburgen von Babylon. Erster Teil: die Südburg (WVDOG 54), Leipzig and Berlin.Google Scholar
Lambert, W. G. 1982 Booty from Egypt?, JJS 33: 6170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layard, A. H. 1853a A Second Series of the Monuments of Nineveh, London.Google Scholar
Layard, A. H. 1853b Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, London.Google Scholar
Layard, A. H. 1867 Nineveh and Babylon. A Narrative of a Second Expedition to Assyria during the years 1849, 1850 and 1851, London.Google Scholar
Littauer, M. A. and Crouwel, J. H. 1979 Wheeled Vehicles and Ridden Animals in the Ancient Near East (Handbuch der Orientalistik, VII/1/2/B1), Leiden.Google Scholar
Loud, G. 1936 Khorsabad. Part I: Excavations in the Palace and at a City Gate (OIP XXXVIII), Chicago.Google Scholar
Madhloom, T. A. 1970 The Chronology of Neo-Assyrian Art, London.Google Scholar
Mallowan, M. E. L. 1958 The excavation at Nimrud (Kalhu), 1957, Iraq 20: 101–8.Google Scholar
Mallowan, M. E. L. 1966 Nimrud and its Remains (2 vols.), London.Google Scholar
Matthiae, P. 1996 L'arte degli Assiri. Cultura e forma del rilievo storico, Rome and Bari.Google Scholar
Matthiae, P. 1998 Ninive, Milan.Google Scholar
Matthiae, P. 2002 La magnificenza sconosciuta di Ninive. Note sullo sviluppo urbano prima di Sennacherib, Rend. Mor. Acc. Lincei s. IX, v. XIII/4: 543–87.Google Scholar
Micale, M. G. and Nadali, D. 2004 The shape of Sennacherib's camps: Strategic functions and ideological space, in Collon, D. and George, A. R. (eds.), Nineveh. Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, London, 7-11 July 2003, Part One (Iraq 66), London: 163–75.Google Scholar
Mitchell, W. J. T. (ed.) 2002 Landscape and Power, Chicago and London (2nd edn).Google Scholar
Moorey, P. R. S. 1994 Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries. The Archaeological Evidence, Oxford.Google Scholar
Nadali, D. 2004 La campagna di Assurbanipal contro gli Arabi: proposta di lettura delle dinamiche di una battaglia in campo aperto, SMEA XLVI/1: 5978.Google Scholar
In press. The Role of the image of the king in the organizational and compositional principles of Sennacherib's Throne Room: A Guide to the historical narrative and meaning of a specified message, in Kühne, H. (ed.), Proceedings of the 4th ICAANE, Berlin 29 March-03 April 2004, Berlin.Google Scholar
Nunn, A. 1988 Die Wandmalerei und der glasierte Wandschmuck im Alten Orient (Handbuch der Orientalistik VII/I/2/B6), Leiden.Google Scholar
Oates, D. 1959 Fort Shalmaneser — An Interim Report, Iraq 21: 98129.Google Scholar
Oates, D. 1962 The Excavation at Nimrud (Kalhu), 1961, Iraq 24: 125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oates, D. 1963 The Excavation at Nimrud (Kalhu), 1962, Iraq 25: 637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oates, J. and Oates, D. 2001 Nimrud. An Assyrian Imperial City Revealed, London.Google Scholar
Onasch, H.-U. 1994 Die assyrischen Eroberungen Aegyptens (AAT 27/1–2), Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Postgate, J. N. and Reade, J. E. 19761980 Kalkhu, RIA V: 303–23.Google Scholar
Postgate, J. N. 2001 Assyrian uniforms, in van Soldt, W. H. et al. (eds.), Veenhof Anniversary Volume: Studies Presented to Klaas R. Veenhof on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday, Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden: 373–88.Google Scholar
Preusser, C. 1955 Die Paläste in Assur (WVDOG 66), Berlin.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1963 A glazed-brick panel from Nimrud, Iraq 25: 3847.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1964 More drawings of Ashurbanipal sculptures, Iraq 26: 113.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1972 The Neo-Assyrian court and army: Evidence from the sculptures, Iraq 34: 87112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1979a Assyrian architectural decoration: Techniques and subject-matter, BaM 10: 1749.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1979b Narrative composition in Assyrian sculpture, BaM 10: 52110.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1979c Ideology and propaganda in Assyrian art, in Larsen, M. T. (ed.), Power and Propaganda. A Symposium on Ancient Empires (Mesopotamia 7), Copenhagen: 329–43.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1980a Space, scale and significance in Assyrian art, BaM 11: 71–4.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1980b The architectural context of Assyrian sculpture, BaM 11: 7587.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1982 Nimrud, in Curtis, J. E. (ed.), Fifty Years of Mesopotamian Discovery, London: 99112.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1987 Field observations of glass and glazed materials, in Bimson, M. and Freestone, I. C. (eds.), Early Vitreous Materials (Occasional Paper 56), British Museum, London: 31–8.Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 1998 Assyrian Sculpture, British Museum, London (2nd edn).Google Scholar
Reade, J. E. 2000 Ninive (Nineveh), RIA 9: 388433.Google Scholar
Robins, G. 1986 Egyptian Painting and Relief, Aylesbury.Google Scholar
Robins, G. 1997 The Art of Ancient Egypt, London.Google Scholar
Russell, J. M. 1999 Some painted bricks from Nineveh, a preliminary report, in Boucharlat, R., Curtis, J. E. and Haerinck, E. (eds.), Neo-Assyrian, Median, Achaemenian and other Studies in Honor of David Stronach (Iranica Antiqua 34), Gent: 85108.Google Scholar
Schäfer, H. 1963 Von ägyptischer Kunst, Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Thureau-Dangin, F. and Dunand, M. 1936 Til-Barsip, Paris.Google Scholar
Tomabechi, Y. 1983a Wall paintings from Til Barsip, AfO 29: 6374.Google Scholar
Tomabechi, Y. 1983b Wall paintings from Dur Kurigalzu, JNES 42: 123–31.Google Scholar
Tomabechi, Y. 1986 Wall paintings from the Northwest Palace at Nimrud (Aššurnasirpal II, 883-859 B.C.), AfO 33: 4354.Google Scholar
Wäfler, M. 1975 Nicht-Assyrer neuassyrischer Darstellungen (AOAT 26), Neukirchen-Vluyn.Google Scholar
Watanabe, C. E. 2004 The “Continuous Style” in the narrative scheme of Assurbanipal's reliefs, in Collon, D. and George, A. R. (eds.), Nineveh. Papers of the XLIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, London, 7-11 July 2003, Part One (Iraq 66), London: 103–14.Google Scholar
Yadin, Y. 1963 The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands in Light of Archaeological Discovery, London.Google Scholar