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The State Apartments of Late Assyrian Palaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Geoffrey Turner
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Extract

As was first observed by Gordon Loud, one of the more distinctive features of Late Assyrian architecture is the striking similarity to be seen in the plans of all palaces of this period, both in their general layout and in the arrangement of the various component parts and individual suites of rooms contained therein. Loud's study was based on buildings excavated at Khorsabad, but the architectural formula which he discovered to govern the planning of both the royal palaces and private residences at this site, are equally applicable to palaces found at other sites of this period and, furthermore, can now be enlarged upon in many details. In the present article a brief resumé is first given of the general characteristics of Late Assyrian palace planning, and this is followed by a comparative analysis of the various types of ‘state apartments’ to be found in such buildings.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1970 , pp. 177 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1970

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References

1 RA 33 (1936), 153–160 Google Scholar and repeated in Loud, G. and Altman, C. B., Khorsabad II. The citadel and the town (OIP XL), 10–13.Google Scholar See also Mesopotamia 2 (1967), 165–183 Google Scholar for a comparative study of the planning of Late Assyrian and Late Babylonian palaces and private houses.

2 Preusser, C., Die Paläste in Assur (WVDOG 66), 19–27.Google Scholar

3 Layard, A. H., Nineveh and its Remains (hereafter referred to as N & R), especially I, 381–390 Google Scholar; A. H. Layard, Nineveh and Babylon (hereafter referred to as N & B); Iraq 12 (1950), 176–181 Google Scholar; 14 (1952), 6–15; 15 (1953), 26–38; and 16 (1954), 115–129; Mallowan, M. E. L., Nimrud and its Remains (hereafter referred to as Nimrud), 57–73 and 93–183 Google Scholar; Sumer 12 (1956), 127–132 (Arabic section)Google Scholar; and 19 (1963), 66–68. On the reliefs from this palace see mainly Stearns, J. B., Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnaṣirpal II (AfO Beiheft 15)Google Scholar; and Iraq 27 (1965), 119–134 Google Scholar; and for Ashurnaṣirpal's building inscriptions see AKA 186–188 ll. 18–27, 220–221 ll. 18–22 and 245–246 ll. 12–24; and Iraq 14 (1952), 33 ll. 25–32.Google Scholar There is also a short text of Sargon recording his restoration of one wing of this palace, the ekal iṣduprāni ‘the juniper wing’ — Winckler, H., Die Keilschrifttexte Sargons I, 170 ll. 13–17.Google Scholar

4 N & R especially I, 375–381; Gadd, C. J., The Stones of Assyria, appendix p. 9 Google Scholar; Iraq 14 (1952), 5 Google Scholar; and Barnett, R. D. and Falkner, M., The Sculptures of Tiglath-pileser III, 20–30.Google Scholar

5 Iraq 12 (1950), 163–173 Google Scholar; and 14 (1952), 4–5; and Nimrud, 38–51 and plan on p. 204.

6 Iraq 14 (1952), 15–20 Google Scholar; 15 (1953), 5–18; 16 (1954), 63–64 and 70–94; and 18 (1956), 3–4 and 28–34; and Nimrud, 200–230.

7 Iraq 19 (1957), 4 and 21–25.Google Scholar

8 N & R II, 14–17 Google Scholar; and C. J. Gadd, op. cit., appendix p. 4 and Plan I.

9 N & R I, 352–353 and II, 38–40Google Scholar; N & B 599–600; Smith, G., Assyrian Discoveries, 77–79 Google Scholar; Iraq 20 (1958), 109–113 Google Scholar; and Nimrud, 289–296. This building has also been referred to as the Southeast or Acropolis Palace.

10 Iraq 16 (1954), 153–163.Google Scholar

11 Iraq 12 (1950), 174–175.Google Scholar

12 N & R II; N & B; G. Smith, op. cit.; Thompson, R. Campbell and Hutchinson, R. W., A Century of Exploration at Nineveh, 59–61 Google Scholar; C. J. Gadd, op. cit., 94–95; LAAA 20 (1933), 72–74 Google Scholar; Iraq 1 (1934), 103 Google Scholar; and Sumer 23 (1967), 78–79.Google Scholar The building inscriptions are published in Luckenbill, D. D., The Annals of Sennacherib (OIP II), 94–127 Google Scholar, and for the reliefs see principally A. Paterson, Assyrian Sculptures. Palace of Sinacherib.

13 Rassam, H., Asshur and the land of Nimrod, 24–35 Google Scholar; G. Smith, op. cit., 142–143; R. C. Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, op. cit., 61–62; C. J. Gadd, op. cit., appendix pp. 2–9 and Plan II. On the reliefs see Meissner, B. and Opitz, D., Studien Zum Bît Hilâni im Nord palast Assurbanaplis zu Ninive (Abhandlungen d. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. 1939)Google Scholar; and R. D. Barnett's forthcoming work, The Sculptures of Ashurbanipal; and for Ashurbanipal's building inscription see V R 10, x ll. 51–108.

14 P. E. Botta and E. Flandin, Monuments de Ninive; P. E. Botta, Illustrations of Discoveries at Nineveh; V. Place, Ninive et l'Assyrie; Loud, G., Khorsabad 1. Excavations in the palace and at a city gate (OIP XXXVIII), 12–79 Google Scholar, and OIP XL 54–56.Google Scholar On the sculptures see also Sumer 9 (1953), 35–59 and 214–228 Google Scholar; and 10 (1954), 23–42; and for the building inscriptions Lie, A. G., The Inscriptions of Sargon II, 76–78 No. 50 1. 13—No. 51 l. 17Google Scholar; H. Winckler, op.cit. I, 166 ll. 18–25, II, pl. 42 rev. 5–11, and pl. 43 obv. 19—rev. 19; and ZDMG 72 (1918), 182 ll. 35–40.Google Scholar

15 OIP XL, 65–72 and 78–79.Google Scholar

16 Dangin, F. Thureau et alia, Arslan Tash, 16–41.Google Scholar Reference will also be made to a smaller building at this site, the ‘Bâtiment aux ivoires’ (ibid., 41–54), which lay adjacent to the Late Assyrian palace.

17 Dangin, F. Thureau and Dunand, M., Til-Barsib, 8–42.Google Scholar

18 Preusser, C., Die Wohnhäuser in Assur (WVDOG 64), 37–45.Google Scholar

19 WVDOG 64, 20–24.Google Scholar

20 WVDOG 64, 15–58.Google Scholar

21 Iraq 16 (1954), 129–152 Google Scholar; and Nimrud, 184–197.

22 That is identifying Courts XV and VIII as the two outer courtyards and Court VI as the central courtyard in Sargon's palace (OIP XL, pl. 76), and likewise at Til-Barsib Courts A and B as the outer courts and C as the central courtyard (F. Thureau Dangin and M. Dunand op. cit., Plan B).

23 Courts I and III of Sargon's palace (OIP XL pl. 76), and the area to the west of Court Y in the Northwest Palace (Nimrud, plan III).

24 Courts VI, XIX and LXIV (N & B Plan No. 1).

25 N & B 164–167; Iraq 20 (1958), 106–108 Google Scholar; 21 (1959), 98–129; 23 (1961), 1–14; 24 (1962), 1–25; and 25 (1963), 6–69; Nimrud, 369–470, and Borger, R., Die Inschriften Asarhaddons, Königs von Assyrien (AfO Beiheft 9), 34 ll. 40–55Google Scholar for a text of Esarhaddon describing his repairs to this building. When this inscription was first published ekal māšarti was incorrectly read ekalla maḫirti ‘the former palace’, and it was thus assumed that this referred to the Southwest Palace on the citadel ( Iraq 14 (1952), 54 Google Scholar; and R. D. Barnett and M. Falkner, op. cit., 20).

26 OIP XL, 75–78 Google Scholar, and for the identification of this building as an ekal māšarti see also Iraq 25 (1963), 36–37 and 32 (1970), 72.Google Scholar

27 Iraq 32 (1970), 68–85.Google Scholar

28 Nimrud, plan VIII.

29 Nimrud, 370–373.

30 OIP XL, pl. 75.

31 OIP XL, pl. 68.

32 In the Late Assyrian palace texts each individual reception suite was evidently considered a separate entity in itself, the term ekallu being used either of the building as a whole or of the various sectors or suites contained therein ( Iraq 32 (1970), 73–74 Google Scholar).

33 In the two private dwellings at Assur, the Large House and House No. 1, the two units of the building were similarly connected by a reception suite which in plan can be considered a modified version of that found in the palaces. In both there was a large hall which opened off the forecourt and led through a smaller chamber into the central courtyard, but in neither case was there a stairwell or bathroom (House No. 1 Rooms 8 and 9—WVDOG 64, pl. 11, and the Large House Rooms 21 and 22—ibid. pl. 17). Also to be considered is a set of rooms in the so called ‘Caravanserai’ at Assur which Preusser dates to the latter part of the Late Assyrian period (ibid., 59–60). Of this building parts of two courtyards have been excavated, these being connected by a suite consisting of a large room, probably a reception hall, off one end of which to the right of the entrant opened an anteroom and stairwell, while at the other end a small chamber has been restored leading through into the inner courtyard. Preusser has suggested that the southeast inner courtyard formed the actual khan, and that the accommodation opening off the northwest courtyard formed the residence of the proprietor; but since Room k, the reception hall, led off the latter and thence into the southeast courtyard, the opposite would appear to be the case.

Further variants of the Late Assyrian throneroom suite plan are to be seen in two Aramaean buildings, the Bâtiment aux ivoires at Arslan Tash, Rooms 7, 8 and 12, which has already been discussed in Iraq 30 (1968), 66 Google Scholar, and the Northeast or Wohnpalasl at Tell Halaf, Rooms c and d. In the latter ( Langenegger, F., Müller, K. and Naumann, R., Tell Halaf, II, 276–278 and Plan 8Google Scholar) the residential wing lay to the north of the Inner Court, but according to the excavators, was accessible only through the Brunnentor in the northwest corner, that is actually from outside the palace walls. The main suite of this wing, the Nordostflügel-Umbau, consisted of a large hall, Room d, probably the throneroom, and the smaller Room c, which according to Langenegger acted as a vestibule to the first after the Aramaean convention as found in the bīt ḫilāni type buildings where the reception hall was approached through an outer portico. In the outer wall of Room d there was a shallow projection with battered face prominently set in the centre of the north façade of the Inner Court, which Langenegger agrees may indicate the presence of a portal, but in fact restores as a buttress. This he suggests may have been connected structurally with the barrel vaulted roof which he likewise restores over Room d. No doorway has been found leading into this hall: of that restored to the north, connecting it with Room c, it is stated that all traces had been lost as a result of deep excavation into this wall, and it is possible, therefore, that because of the absence of door fittings such as the threshold or pivot stones, and although the intervening wall still stood some 1·50 m. above pavement level, the excavators were nevertheless unable to locate a second doorway leading into this room from the courtyard. The buttress in the north façade of the Inner Court would thus be restored as the two towers flanking this doorway, and by this means there would be provided a more practical entrance to this wing. This suite, therefore, would resemble the Assyrian convention in that it lay between and connected the two parts of the palace, and consisted of the main audience hall which opened off the forecourt and led through a smaller chamber into the residential wing.

34 In both palaces at Nineveh one of the side entrances is to be restored as shown in Plate XXXVIII n and p. Such triple entrances, which were later adopted by the Parthians and subsequently by the Roman architects, were evidently a Late Assyrian innovation, not being found in earlier buildings either in Mesopotamia or elsewhere.

35 Although in his plan Layard shows this wall as being of solid mudbrick (N & R I, plan III), he notes elsewhere that little of the structure remained ( N & R II, 203 Google Scholar). Later, as a result of the excavations at Nineveh and Khorsabad, he suggested that there may have been a third, central doorway (N & B 654), but it is perfectly clear from the text that he found no trace of it.

36 Sumer 12 (1956)Google Scholar, Mahmud Ainachi (Arabic section) plan 2.

37 Iraq 30 (1968), 69 n. 2.Google Scholar

38 Iraq 27 (1965), 123 and Plate XXXIIGoogle Scholar; and 30 (1968), 69 n. 2. Reade also provides evidence for the existence of a similar façade in another building of Ashurnaṣirpal II which lay towards the centre of the citadel at Nimrud ( Iraq 30 (1968), 69 Google Scholar).

39 Nimrud, plan III. There is, however, no reference to it in his text.

40 See Sumer 19 (1963), pl. II photo 1Google Scholar, to the left in the middle distance.

41 In Plate XXXVIII b I have followed Oates' plan by showing walls excavated down to pavement level in solid black, those of which the upper surface has been traced with plain unblocked lines, and conjectural walls with dotted lines,

42 The position of this trench is not marked on Oates' plan.

43 Throne daises, but of mudbrick, were found similarly placed in Room 8 of the Burnt Palace (Plate XL p), Room 3 of Palace AB (Plate XL n) and in the ‘Throneroom’ of the Nabu Temple (Nimrud, plan VI), all at Nimrud. The position of the throne may also be indicated by an orthostat portraying the king, as found in Rooms G and S of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud and in Rooms 6 and 8 of Sargon's palace at Khorsabad, by a painted composition of the same subject, as found in Room XLVII at Til-Barsib, or as in Room T 25 of Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud by a shallow niche set in the appropriate wall. In both the Late Assyrian palace and the Bâtiment aux ivoires at Arslan Tash the throne evidently stood to the right of those entering the throneroom ( Iraq 30 (1968), 65 n. 28 and 66Google Scholar), that is at the opposite end of the hall as found in all other palace buildings of this period.

44 Iraq 27 (1965), 122–123.Google Scholar

45 In a text describing the ritual of the king's meal it is specified that he had to sit ina pūt bābi ‘opposite the doorway’ ( MV AeG 41 (1937), Pt. 3, 60 l.3Google Scholar). A similar arrangement is also found in Room 64 of the palace at Mari where the dais stood against the south long wall, opposite the entrance from Court 106 ( Parrot, A., Mission archéologique de Mari, vol. II le Palais I, 105 Google Scholar), and probably likewise in the throneroom of the Südburg at Babylon, as indicated by the central niche in the south wall of this hall ( Koldewey, R. and Wetzel, F., Die Königsburgen von Babylon I (WVDOG 54), pl. 2Google Scholar).

46 As found at Nimrud in Room 25 of the Northwest Palace ( Iraq 16 (1954), 125 Google Scholar), in the Upper Chambers ( N & R II, 15 Google Scholar), in Room 3 of Palace AB ( Iraq 20 (1958), 109 Google Scholar; and Nimrud, 291), and in Rooms T 1 and S 5 of Fort Shalmaneser ( Iraq 21 (1959), 117 Google Scholar; and 25 (1963), 10; and Nimrud, 443); at Assur in House No. 55a (WVDOG 64, 49); in Room XXVIII at Arslan Tash (F. Thureau Dangin, op. cit., 25); and also at Zinjirli in Room C of the Upper Palace ( von Luschan, F., Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli II, 144 fig. 55Google Scholar). Similar rails but without grooves were found in the ‘Throneroom’ of the Nabu Temple at Nimrud ( Iraq 18 (1956), 11 Google Scholar; 19 (1957), 15; and Nimrud, 240).

47 As found at Assur in Room 10 of the Old Palace ( WVDOG 66, 25 Google Scholar), at Nimrud in Room B of the Northwest Palace (Nimrud, 96), and in Rooms XXIV and XLVII at Til-Barsib (F. Thureau Dangin and M. Dunand, op. cit., 18 and 21).

48 As found at Nimrud in Room 8 of the Burnt Palace ( Iraq 15 (1953), 8 Google Scholar; and Nimrud, 208), at Khorsabad in Room VII of Sargon's palace ( OIP XXXVIII, 60–61 Google Scholar), and in Rooms XXII and XLV at Til-Barsib (F. Thureau Dangin and M. Dunand, op. cit., 16 and 19–18). In Room I of Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh there was evidently both a series of stone flags and a set of ‘tramlines’ ( Sumer 23 (1967), pl. IXGoogle Scholar).

49 F. Langenegger, K. Müller and R. Naumann, op. cit., 45–50 and pl. 12. In this case no special fixture was necessary, as the Mittel Halle in which this wagon was discovered was completely stone paved. On this subject see also Naumann, R., Architektur Kleinasiens, 179–181 Google Scholar; WVDOG 66, 25 Google Scholar; and Iraq 14 (1952), 125–126 Google Scholar; and 25 (1963), 10.

50 Nimrud, 96–97, 240 and 443.

51 WVDOG 64, 49.

52 N & R I, 134.Google Scholar

53 As found at Assur in Rooms 10 and 17 of House No. 1 ( WVDOG 64, 22 Google Scholar), in House No. 20 (ibid. 32–33 and pl. 13 b), and in Room 31 of the Large House (ibid. 43); at Nimrud in Room 4 of the Northwest Palace ( Iraq 15 (1953), 34 Google Scholar; and 16 (1954), 120), and in Room 8 of the Burnt Palace ( Iraq 15 (1953), 8 Google Scholar); at Arslan Tash in Room 2 of the Bâtiment aux ivoires (F. Thureau Dangin, op. cit., 46); at Tell Halaf in Room g of the Northeast Palace (F. Langenegger, K. Müller and R. Naumann, op. cit., 283); and in Room C of the Upper Palace at Zinjirli (F. von Luschan, op. cit., II, 144 and fig. 49). Layard describes the two he found in Room G of the Northwest Palace and Botta that in Room 8 of Sargon's palace at Khorsabad as having a central ‘hole’( N & R I, 386 Google Scholar; and P. E. Botta and E. Flandin, op. cit. II, pl. 115), which could imply that they were completely pierced but probably refers to an incompletely drilled cavity as found elsewhere. Full descriptions are not given for the slabs found at Nimrud in Room T 27 of Fort Shalmaneser, Room E of the Governor's Palace or that in Room 1 of the Town Wall Palace, but from the relevant plans it appears that they were of the same form as the above slabs. At Assur in Room 10 of the Old Palace this emplacement was in the form of two plain slabs, partly set in a niche in the northwest wall, with a rim of baked brick around the outer edge and with an irregular central hole in which was set a pottery vessel ( WVDOG 66, 25 and pl. 22aGoogle Scholar).

54 Arslan Tash Rooms XVIII and XXVIII (F. Thureau Dangin, op. cit., 20 and 24) and Til-Barsib Rooms XXIV, XLV and XLVII (F. Thureau Dangin and M. Dunand, op. cit., 18–19).

55 WVDOG 64, 41 Google Scholar; and F. Thureau Dangin and M. Dunand, op. cit., 16 and pl. XLI i. According to the plan the slab in Room II of the palace in square PD 5 at Nimrud was also without a central cavity ( Iraq 16 (1954), XXXV Google Scholar).

56 Iraq 25 (1963), 10 and Plate III a Google Scholar; and Nimrud, photograph on p. 445. It is not recorded whether the slab in Room T 27 of this building was similarly pierced with a rectangular hole.

57 It is possible that there was a similar pair of slabs in Room 93 of Sargon's palace at Khorsabad. Place's plan shows here two buttresses flanking the doorway, that is on the inside of the chamber which, as he notes, have no structural function as such (V. Place, op. cit., I, 91). When he re-excavated various parts of this building Loud found that Place's report was inaccurate in a number of details, including his description of Rooms 84 and 86 which he had evidently confused with each other, suggesting that either his memory or field notes were inadequate ( OIP XXXVIII, 86 and XL, 55Google Scholar). It is possible, therefore, that this was also the case for Room 93, and that when he drew the final plans he assumed that these emplacements were in fact part of the mudbrick structure, and hence restored them as such.

58 Andrae, W., Das wiedererstandene Assur, 11.Google Scholar Mallowan has suggested that the slab he found in Room 8 of the Burnt Palace at Nimrud might similarly have acted as the base of an offering table ( Iraq 15 (1953), 8 Google Scholar).

59 Palace of Sargon Room 62, Residence J Rooms 16, 24 and 31, Residence L Room 84, Residence M Rooms 40, 45 and 66, Residence Z Rooms 12 and 15; and possibly also in a private house at Nimrud, No. IV Room 32 ( Iraq 16 (1954), Plate XXVIIIGoogle Scholar; and Nimrud, 185). Compare also similar niches found in Area D at Megiddo, stratum III, in Buildings 490, 1369 (Room 509 and that to the north of it) and 1368 ( Lamon, R. S. and Shipton, G. M., Megiddo I, (OIP XLII), fig. 89 facing p. 78.Google Scholar

60 As suggested by F. Thureau Dangin, op. cit., 24–25.

61 F. Thureau Dangin and M. Dunand, op. cit., 19; and F. Langenegger, K. Müller and R. Naumann, op. cit., 283 and fig. 132. Compare the palace at Nuzi where two water jars were installed in a small chamber, no. L 99, leading off the throneroom ( Starr, R. F. S., Nuzi I, 140 Google Scholar).

62 A similar arrangement is found opening off the Throneroom of the ‘Palace of the Rulers’ at Tell Asmar ( Frankfort, H., Lloyd, S. and Jacobsen, T., The Gimilsin Temple and the Palace of the Rulers at Tell Asmar (OIP XLIII), 32 and pl. IIGoogle Scholar), and also to be compared is the standard plan of the bīt ḫilāni type palaces which included a stairwell leading off the portico ( Iraq 14 (1952), 120 Google Scholar).

63 As for example in Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud in the north corner of the Southeast Courtyard ( Iraq 21 (1959), 104 and 108–109 Google Scholar; and Nimrud, 420). Stairwells have also been found at Nineveh in Room LXI of Sennacherib's palace, at Khorsabad in Room 15 of Residence K and Rooms 75 and 87 of Residence L, and in Room XVIII at Til-Barsib, but with the exception of the first, for which see below, without any evidence for an upper storey. In the North Palace at Nineveh there was evidently an upper floor over Rooms S, T and V (C. J. Gadd, op. cit., appendix p. 7), but since these chambers stood on a lower level than the rest of the palace to which they were connected by a series of ascending passages, this upper storey was probably on a level with the main part of the building.

64 RA 33 (1936), 158 Google Scholar; and OIP XL, 11.Google Scholar

65 OIP XL, 55.Google Scholar

66 V. Place, op. cit., I, 55.

67 N & R II, 137.Google Scholar

68 C. J. Gadd, op. cit., plan II, and see also in greater detail in R. D. Barnett's forthcoming The Sculptures of Ashurbanipal.

69 Sumer 23 (1967), 78.Google Scholar

70 OIP XXXVIII, 61 Google Scholar and OIP XL, 55.Google Scholar

71 See also in greater detail in R. D. Barnett's forthcoming The Sculptures of Ashurbanipal.

72 F. Thureau Dangin and M. Dunand, op. cit., Plan B.

73 As proposed by Dunand—F. Thureau Dangin and M. Dunand, op. cit., 41; see also Antiquity 11 (1937). 331.Google Scholar

74 Iraq 30 (1968), 65.Google Scholar

75 WVDOG 66, pl. 5.

76 WVDOG 66, pls. 1 and 5.

77 WVDOG 66, 27.Google Scholar

78 W. Andrae, op. cit., 140–150.

79 As found at Nimrud in Room 9 of the palace in square PD 5 ( Iraq 16 (1954), 159 Google Scholar), in Room SE 17 of Fort Shalmaneser ( Iraq 21 (1959), 110 Google Scholar; and Nimrud, 423) and in the bathroom in the Governor's palace ( Iraq 12 (1950), 183 Google Scholar), and in Rooms IV and XLIV at Til-Barsib (F. Thureau Dangin and M. Dunand, op. cit., 11 and 20).

80 As I have been kindly informed by Dr. Tariq Madhloom.

81 Nimrud, 290, fig. 267.

82 F. Thureau Dangin, op. cit., 26. In the slab in Room 17 of the Bâtiment aux ivoires there were only three depressions (ibid., 48).

83 As found at Nimrud in Rooms 17 and 26 of the Northwest Palace, in Room 15 of the Burnt Palace, in Rooms T 4 and SE 21 of Fort Shalmaneser and in Room 9 of the palace in square PD 5, at Khorsabad in Rooms 9 and 12 of Sargon's palace, in Rooms XX, XXII and XXV at Arslan Tash, in Room XLIV at Til-Barsib, and at Tell Halaf in Rooms f and h of the Northeast Palace (F. Langenegger, K. Müller and R. Naumann, op. cit., 282–284). In Room I of Sargon's palace at Khorsabad, at Nimrud in the bathroom of the Governor's Palace and in the ‘1950 Building’ ( Iraq 12 (1950), 174 Google Scholar) and in Room XXVII at Til-Barsib there were a pair of these slabs to each room.

84 R. Naumann, op. cit., 195–196.

85 Iraq 12 (1950), 165–166 Google Scholar; and Nimrud, 41.

86 Nimrud, 378, fig. 306.

87 For example Rooms XXVII and XLIV at Til-Barsib (F. Thureau Dangin and M. Dunand, op. cit., 20 and 22). Compare also Room XXV at Arslan Tash which was fitted with a sunken ‘box’ set in the floor between the bath-slab and the drain-hole, identified by Thureau Dangin as a pot-stand (op. cit., 28), but somewhat impractical as such.

88 For example in the palace at Nuzi—R. F. S Starr, op. cit., 144.

89 As suggested by Mallowan, M. E. L., Iraq 12 (1950), 165–166 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Nimrud, 40–41.

90 For example the bīt rimki texts, J. Laessøe, Studies on the Assyrian Ritual and Series bīt rimki.

91 N & R I, 124–125.Google Scholar

92 H. Rassam, op. cit., 32.

93 N & R I, 388.Google Scholar

94 N & B, Plan No. 1.

95 RA 33 (1936), 158 Google Scholar; and OIP XL, 12.Google Scholar

96 The number of such residential suites in each building, whether they be of the same or of varying types, was doubtless dictated by the requirements of the occupants, these including not only the owner and his immediate family but probably also, after the oriental custom, other relations and, if he were a man of rank, certain members of his staff and household. There may also have been a guest wing. These suites, therefore, may be compared to the series of bayts found in the Islamic palaces, as for example at Ukhaiḍir, Cresswell, K. A. C., Early Muslim Architecture II, 71.Google Scholar

97 These were probably the quarters of the official in charge of this section of the palace, while the simpler accommodation on the southwest side of Court XV acted as the quarters of those under his charge, such as guards, servants, etc. The latter, some of which were subsequently used as storerooms (V. Place, op. cit., I, 84 and 89–90, OIP XXXVIII, 87 Google Scholar and XL, 55), consisted of a series of small suites each in the form of a large room which opened off the courtyard and led through into a smaller chamber. Although neither plumbing fixtures nor even a shallow recess have been found in any of these inner chambers, it is assumed that they were intended as bathrooms by comparison with similar suites which have been found opening off the forecourt in the Arslan Tash and Til-Barsib palaces and also in the outer part of Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud, especially the Southeast Courtyard.

98 In most cases there is no evidence that these chambers were anything more than ante-rooms to the bathroom, but in Palace AB at Nimrud both Rooms 1 and 2 were stone paved and skirted with orthostats, indicating that the outer chamber may also have been used in some way for ablutions.

99 As restored by Layard (N & B Plan No. 1) it would appear that the large suite of rooms, nos. LI to LIX, of Sennacherib's palace was also of the Type A plan. However of this only a few fragments of walling were traced, and when this part of the mound was later investigated by L. W. King the remains of a large portal were discovered, indicating that this wing extended further to the southwest and was of a different plan to that suggested by Layard (R. C. Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, op. cit., 60 n. i). Alternatively it is proposed that this wing may have embodied a group of shrines, as referred to by Sennacherib in his building inscriptions of this palace (D. D. Luckenbill, op. cit., 106–107 ll. 32—36 and 120 ll. 25–27.

100 Nimrud, 203.

101 As found in the Old Palace at Assur, Rooms 8–17; at Nimrud in the south ‘Domestic’ wing of the Northwest Palace, and area S of Fort Shalmaneser; at Khorsabad Courts IX, XI and XIV of Sargon's palace, Courts 32, 41 and 54 of Residence K, the southeast and northwest wings of Residence M, and probably also in the unexcavated area to the southwest of Room 27 in Residence Z; Rooms XLV–LV at Arslan Tash (see also Iraq 30 (1968), 64–65 Google Scholar); and Rooms XX and XXXII–XL at Til-Barsib. The phrase bīt sinnišat ekalli ‘the building of the palace women’ or perhaps ‘harem’, found in a Late Assyrian letter (RCAE No. 389, obv. 7) may refer to such a wing.

102 Although no trace was evidently found of such, a doorway is probably to be restored leading into Room E from the courtyard, and likewise it is assumed that the suite to the north also contained a bathroom. In Room K were found the archives of the local governor, the bēl piḫātı, and of other important officials (Nimrud, 43–49).

103 Iraq 30 (1968), 70.Google Scholar

104 N & R II, 14–17.Google Scholar

105 C. J. Gadd, op. cit., Plan I; and R. D. Barnett and M. Falkner, op. cit., pl. CXXX.

106 N & R II, 15.Google Scholar

107 Page 249.

108 Vol. 1, plan 1 facing p. 332.

109 Plan 3 facing p. 653.

110 N & B 654.

111 Types B to F were all based on a triple range of rooms, and the division of these into different catagories may appear somewhat artificial, especially in view of the wide discrepancies in some of the suites grouped together under Type A. This, however, is to some extent the result of there being considerably fewer examples of the former, thus accentuating their variations.

112 It is possible that Rooms 1–7 of the Old Palace would be better classified as of the Type A variety, that is with Room 2 as the retiring chamber and not as a second reception hall, and Rooms 5–7 as subsidiary chambers connecting this suite to the Northeast Court or domestic wing.

113 The room numbering in the Southwest Palace at Nimrud is mine. Layard numbered the walls, not the rooms (N & R I, Plan II).

114 Slab no. 3 ( N & R I, 136–137 and 386 Google Scholar). Note the doorway just to the right of the throne which gave direct access into the principal reception suite.

115 N & B 149–153.

116 In Room L the rectangular slab set in the recess in the south wall was pierced and connected to a drain ( N & R I, 388 and II, 5–6Google Scholar), but it is not clear from Layard's account whether the two slabs found in Room I were of a similar nature. In one passage he describes them as ‘slightly hollowed, similar to those in hall B’ ( N & R I, 343 Google Scholar), which were in fact cut with a central cavity, and elsewhere he notes that they were furnished with a central hole ( N & R I, 387 Google Scholar), which could imply either a cavity or a drain-hole. However if the latter were the case, he evidently did not pursue his investigations and look for the connecting drain. Furthermore neither slab in Room I was set in the niche in the north wall of this chamber, the standard position for such a waste-pipe; but it is probably significant that the relief in this niche showed a different group of mythological figures to the other orthostats in this chamber, as similarly was the case in Room L where the corresponding relief was carved with a larger version of the same figure as found in the Room I recess ( N & R I, 387–388 Google Scholar). It would appear, therefore, that Room I was originally planned as a bathroom, similar to Room L, but subsequently may have been used for a different purpose.

117 It would appear that Rooms J and M, which led off Rooms I and L respectively, were originally also accessible from Room H. These doorways were later blocked with orthostats set with their sculptured face flush with the other reliefs in Room H, thus forming deep recesses in J and M ( N & R I, 344 Google Scholar). The reasons for this change of plan are unknown, but since Layard does not note any difference between the style and composition of these slabs and the other orthostats in Room H ( N & R I, 145 and 386, and II, 6Google Scholar), this may have taken place while the palace was still in the course of construction.

118 N & B 442, and Layard, A. H., Monuments of Nineveh (2nd series), 56.Google Scholar

119 N & R I, 349–350 and 376, and II, 26Google Scholar; and R. D. Barnett and M. Falkner, op. cit., 23 and pls. CVIII and CIX. Small circular column bases were also found at both ends of the two halls in the doorways connecting them with the side-chambers ( N & R I, 376 and II, 26–27Google Scholar).

120 In the Northwest Palace and in that of Sennacherib the third, smaller chamber could be entered only from the inner hall and not also from one of the subsidiary rooms. In the Southwest Palace there are a number of other irregularities in this suite, viz., in the north wall of Room 1, towards the northwest corner, there is an outward jog in the wall with one orthostat (slab no. 16) standing at right angles to the line of the wall and actually embedded in it, thus suggesting that originally there may have been a doorway here balancing the side entrance into Room 1 to the east. This slab, however, is in direct alignment with the west façade of the courtyard, that is an awkward position for such a doorway. It may be of significance that this would also be almost in alignment with the recess in the south wall of Room 2, which in turn lies directly behind the north jamb of the restored doorway between Rooms 5 and 6.

121 The discovery in Sennacherib's palace of part of Ashurbanipal's library in and around the suite to the southwest of Court XIX (Plate 5 b) is not indicative of its use (N & B 345–347; and G. Smith, op. cit., 144–147). As noted by George Smith, this had probably fallen from an upper storey, for he observed instances of various fragments of the same tablet being found in two different rooms between which there was no means of communication. This upper floor would have been reached by the stairwell in Room LXI leading off Court LX.

122 Loud has restored a similar suite in the north corner of this building (OIP XL, pl. 72).

123 Iraq 19 (1957), Plate X.Google Scholar

124 Iraq 19 (1957), 24.Google Scholar

125 No contour plan of the outer town of Nimrud has yet been published.

126 As in Plate XXXVIII b, I have followed Oates' plan of Fort Shalmaneser and shown walls excavated down to pavement level in solid black, those of which only the upper surface has been traced in plain unblocked lines, and conjectural walls with dotted lines.

127 After P. E. Botta and E. Flandin, op. cit., I, pl. 6, Place's adaption thereof differing in a number of details of measurement (V. Place, op. cit., III, pls. 3–4).

128 The doorway between Rooms T 3 and T 21 was later blocked ( Iraq 25 (1963), 8 Google Scholar; and Nimrud, 450).

129 OIP XL, pl. 76.

130 Nimrud, plan VIII.

131 OIP XL, pl. 75.

132 OIP XL, pl. 76.

133 In Sargon's palace there was also included a double temple opening off the northeast side of Court VIII ( Iraq 30 (1968), 63–64 Google Scholar), but the large temple complex to the southwest of this building is to be considered a separate, howbeit attached unit, to be compared with that to the north of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud. A further group of shrines is possibly to be recognised in Residence L at Khorsabad, Rooms 42–47. These consisted of a corridor which opened off the central courtyard and led into four small chambers, three of which lay with their long axis at right angles to the corridor, and hence may have been connected with the cult. In this case, the small chamber, no. 47, which lay to the north of this group, opening off the passage-way which skirted round the outer wall of this sector of the palace, was possibly intended as a chapel for the use of those who did not have access to Court 117. Unfortunately no evidence was found in any of these rooms as to their original function.

134 As marked on Plan III and described on pp. 381–590 of N & R I.

135 N & B, plan 3.

136 In his version of Loftus' plan Boutcher evidently assumed that these later additions were only conjectural, but nevertheless does mark the northwest corner of the hall leading off Court Y and part of the north wall of the third small chamber as actually having been excavated (as shown in Plate XXXIX d). In Gadd's reproduction of this plan these are shown as discovered by Rassam (C. J. Gadd, op. cit., Plan I), but in that of Barnett and Falkner they are marked as the work of Layard (R. D. Barnett and M. Falkner, op. cit., pl. CXXX).

137 Sumer 19 (1963), Plan I.Google Scholar

138 The bulk of the outer wall of Room XLIII had been lost, but Layard restored it as a triple entrance by analogy with those on the southwest and southeast sides of Court XIX, and probably as also on the northeast side. Koldewey, on the other hand, has suggested that this wing was built after the north Syrian bīt ḫilāni type palace, and restores this façade as a columned portico (F. von Luschan, op. cit. II, 190, fig. 85), but for this there is neither evidence nor parallel. Likewise Koldewey proposes that Rooms F to I of the North Palace at Nineveh were also of the bīt ḫilāni plan (ibid., fig. 86), that is following Boutcher's restoration of the entrace into Room I as consisting of three doorways separated by two square pillars (C. J. Gadd, op. cit., Plan II and as shown in Plate XL h). It is evident from Rassam's account, however, that he found no trace of the two pillars, but only excavated the outer jamb of each side entrance (H. Rassam, op. cit., 33). This façade, therefore, is probably to be restored either as pierced by two doorways, as found in Room S of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud (Plate XL j), or with three doorways but each of a lesser width and thus making the two dividing lengths of wall less pillar-like.

139 Iraq 29 (1967), 43–45 Google Scholar; and W. Nagel, Die neuassyrischen Reliefstile unter Sanherib und Assurbanaplu.

140 N & B, 73.

141 N & B, 583–584.

142 P. E. Botta and E. Flandin, op. cit. I, pls. 6, 6 bis and 11; to be compared with V. Place, op. cit. III, pls. 3–4.

143 In the course of this article, whenever those parts of Sargon's palace have been referred to which were excavated by Place, it has been suggested that his plan be amended in one or more details. This is not completely unwarranted, for although the general outlines of his plan are doubtless to be accepted, it was found by Loud in his re-excavation of parts of this building that a number of its details were incorrect and that Place's overall surveying of the site was inaccurate ( OIP XL, 54–56 Google Scholar, and for the latter simply compare ibid., pls. 70 and 76). This is further complicated by the fact that the various versions of his plan, each done to a different scale, do not tally, as is also the case, but to a lesser case, with those of both Botta and Loud; and furthermore that his redrawing of Botta's discoveries, that is Rooms 1–14, is inaccurate in several details. However, although it is possible to propose a number of emendations to the plan of this building by comparison with the other palaces of this period, all such reconstructions can only be considered but hypothetical until substantiated by excavation.

144 WVDOG 64, 5–6.Google Scholar

145 OIP XLIII, 81–91 and pl. VII.Google Scholar

146 Frankfort has suggested that the existing plan of this building in fact represents a network of foundations laid down to counteract the uneven settlement of walls constructed on the site of earlier buildings, and thus that in the plan of the superstructure the actual rooms were fewer in number and of larger dimensions ( OIP XLIII, 89 Google Scholar). However there is neither evidence nor parallel for such a building technique in ancient Mesopotamia, and if such a method were employed, it is probable that the foundations would have been built on a regular grid pattern.

147 As also found at this site in the Palace of the Rulers, on the northeast side of Court (OIP XLIII, pl. II), and on the southeast side of Court of the Azuzu Building ( Delougaz, P., Hill, H. D. and Lloyd, Seton, Private Houses and Graves in the Diyala Region, (OIP LXXXVIII), pl. 45Google Scholar), and at Assur in the original construction of the Old Palace on the southeast and southwest sides of Court I (WVDOG 66, pl. 3). In all these the ‘Throneroom’ which opened off the courtyard was connected to the ‘Great Hall’ by one or more smaller chambers; but in the later examples of this convention it led directly into the latter, as found at Mari on the south side of Court 106 (A. Parrot, op. cit. I, plan at back), at Nuzi on the southwest side of Court M 100 (R. F. S. Starr, op. cit. II, plan 13), in the Middle Assyrian Old Palace at Assur on the southwest side of Court I (WVDOG 66, pl. 4), and probably also but on a smaller scale in a house of Isin-Larsa date excavated at Tello ( Parrot, A., Tello: vingt campagnes de fouilles (1877–1933), pl. 57 facing p. 276 Google Scholar). Probably also to be recognised as a suite of this type is that on the southwest side of the main courtyard of É.hursag at Ur ( AJ 6 (1926), pl. LVIIGoogle Scholar), with a central entrance restored leading from the court into the ‘Throneroom’. This convention is not found in the first millennium palaces, either in Assyria or Babylonia.

148 R. F. S. Starr, op. cit. I 123–179 and II, plan 13.

149 Starr suggested that the main entrance to this building was from the southeast through Rooms Q 103 and R 87 into Court M 100 (R. F. S. Starr, op. cit. I, 128), but by comparison with the plans of other Mesopotamian palaces it would now appear more likely that it was from the northeast or northwest into Court M 94.

150 A continuation of this convention is also to be seen in the Late Babylonian palaces at Babylon, in the plan of the chambers lying between and connecting the various main courtyards. Thus in Nebuchadrezzar's great Südburg the Main Court and the West Court and also the latter and the Anbauhof were linked by a suite consisting of a large hall opening off the outer courtyard and leading through a smaller chamber into the inner court (WVDOG 54, pl. 2), and probably likewise the East and West Courts of the Hauptburg ( Koldewey, R. and Wetzel, F., Die Königsburgen von Babylon II (WVDOG 55), pl. 8Google Scholar). It may also be noted of the Südburg that the Central and Main Courts were connected by a single hall, as at Nuzi, but off this to the north there opened a stairwell, reminiscent of the similar arrangement found in the Late Assyrian throneroom suite.

151 WVDOG 66, 13–19.Google Scholar Of the other Middle Assyrian palaces at Assur, Tukulti-Ninurta I's Priesterkönigpalast and New Palace ( WVDOG 66, 28–31 Google Scholar), and of that at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta (W. Andrae, op. cit., 122–123) little has been found.

152 Compare WVDOG 66, pls. 4 and 5.

153 WVDOG 66, 6–12 Google Scholar; and on the date of this building see also Iraq 9 (1947), 27–28 and 67–68.Google Scholar

154 Preusser identified Rooms II and III of these suites as open courtyards, but their dimensions, approximately 30 by 12 m. in each case, certainly do not exclude the possibility of their being roofed, as is similarly the case of Room IV in the Middle Assyrian palace which measured 20·90 by 10·20 m.

155 Compare also the Kassite Palace at ‘Agar Qūf where there were three almost identical sets of rooms opening off Court 6 of Unit A, possibly to be identified as similar self-contained apartments ( Iraq 8 (1946), Plate IXGoogle Scholar).

156 Parrot, A., Mission archéologique de Mari, vol. II le Palais I, 167–174.Google Scholar