Bronze band from the gates of the palace of
Shalmaneser III
Balawat (ancient Imgur-Enlil), northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, 858-824 BC
Tablets inform us that the gates at Balawat (one days march to
the north-east of Nimrud) were made of fragrant cedar wood; they
were hung on huge cedar-wood trunks capped with bronze and turned
in stone sockets. The gates were perhaps around 6.8 metres high.
When they were discovered in 1878 by Hormuzd Rassam, the wood had
completely rotted, leaving the bronze fragments now in the Museum.
Eight bands were fixed to the outer face of each door, and there is
a great variety in the details of the subject-matter and in the
workmanship.
Part of the scene depicts King Shalmaneser on campaign in 852
BC, when he took an expedition northwards from Assyria to find
metals and horses. During the campaign he discovered the source of
the River Tigris. Rivers were thought to be gods, and the discovery
of their source was considered a holy moment. A stela is shown in
the process of being carved: a workman, busy with a hammer and
chisel, receives directions from a scribe, one of a class of people
whose duties included ensuring that the king was always represented
in the correct manner. Meanwhile animals are brought for sacrifice,
and men with torches explore the cave from which the river
flows.
The carvings and inscriptions left by Shalmaneser are still
visible today south-west of Lake Van in eastern Turkey.
J.E. Reade, Assyrian sculpture-1 (London, The British Museum Press, 1998)
L.W. King, Bronze reliefs from the gates (London, Trustees of the British Museum, 1915)
D. Collon, Ancient Near Eastern art (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)