Stone panel from the South-West Palace of Sennacherib
Nineveh, northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, about 700-695 BC
Soldiers of the royal guard
This panel was one of a group found, out of position, somewhere
between the palace of King Sennacherib (reigned 704-681 BC) and the
Temple of Ishtar, the principal goddess of Nineveh. The panels may
have lined a bridge or corridor used by the king when visiting the
temple.
The scene shows the king and his entourage in formal court
dress. The two figures on this panel formed part of the king's
bodyguard. The archer on the left is one of the lightly-armed
soldiers who were probably drawn from the Aramaic-speaking
communities in and around the Assyrian heartland, which the
Assyrians had conquered. The Assyrians incorporated soldiers from
all parts of the empire into their forces. The spear-man on the
right wears a turban fastened by a headband with long ear-flaps,
and a short kilt curving upwards above his knees. His clothing
tells us that he comes from around Palestine. An almost identical
uniform is worn by the men of Lachish, in the kingdom of Judah, as
represented in panels showing Sennacherib's siege of the city in
701 BC from another part of the palace.
J.E. Curtis and J.E. Reade (eds), Art and empire: treasures from (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
R.D. Barnett, 'The siege of Lachish', Israel Exploration Journal, 8 (1958)