Fragment of a stone panel from the South-West Palace of
Sennacherib
Nineveh, northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, 704-681 BC
A Phoenician ship
Most of the rooms in the state apartments of King Sennacherib's
palace were decorated with scenes of warfare. Many scenes survive
only in small fragments.
This fragment shows a Phoenician ship. 'Phoenician' is the Greek
name given to the inhabitants of Canaanite cities along the Levant
coast. They were an extremely wealthy people, profiting from the
trade that linked Mesopotamia and Egypt and the Mediterranean. The
Assyrians expanded westwards to control these trade routes and
acquire the wealth of the cities through tribute, booty and
taxation. The demand by the Assyrians for materials led the
Phoenicians to explore the Mediterranean and establish trading
colonies at such places as Sicily, Carthage in North Africa, and
Spain.
At some point during the eighth century BC ships were designed
with the rowers split into two tiers, upper and lower. In the
earliest examples the lower tier rows from the gunwale, and the
upper tier from the height of the deck. By 700 BC, as this fragment
shows, naval architects had improved the design, to a compact
galley with a deepened hull, in which the upper tier rows from the
gunwale and the lower through ports cut in the side. To fit
everybody in with economical use of space, the oars of the two
tiers are staggered.
J.E. Reade, Assyrian sculpture-1 (London, The British Museum Press, 1998)
L. Casson, Ships and seafaring in ancient (London, The British Museum Press, 1994)