Stone panels from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal
Nineveh, northern Iraq
Neo-Assyrian, about 645 BC
The killing of lions
These wall panels probably originally decorated one of the
private apartments of King Ashurbanipal (reigned 669-630 BC). The
panels are divided into registers which read from right to left. In
the top register a lion is released from its cage, advances, and is
hit with arrows shot by the king in his full regalia. In the
central register a horseman, guarded by spearmen in a chariot,
distracts a lion. The king comes up from the left and grabs the
lion's tail. The accompanying caption explains that the king is
about to strike the lion with a mace.
In the lower register musicians play in front of a tall stand
for burning incense and a table of food. Ashurbanipal pours a
libation, which the caption tells us is wine. Behind him stand his
bodyguard and attendants, who hold fans and towels.
Ashurbanipal records in his inscriptions that in his time there
was lots of rain in Assyria and lions thrived. He clearly took
great pleasure in the traditional royal sport of killing lions,
though they were often captured first, or possibly even reared in
captivity.
R.D. Barnett, Sculptures from the North Pala (London, 1976)
J.E. Curtis and J.E. Reade (eds), Art and empire: treasures from (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)