- Museum number
- 118933
- Description
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Gypsum wall panel relief: in the upper register, a line of Assyrian warriors moves ⇦. On the right, an Assyrian soldier wearing a mail-shirt over the tunic decorated with the fringed border hanging down between his knees, and, as it seems, a helmet, pulls at the branches of a low tree. In front of it are six warriors, three slingers and before them, a man with round shield and dagger, all similarly dressed, except that the tunic of the shield-bearer is richly ornamented with concentric squares. He follows a pair of warriors; the first, wearing a garment decorated with fringes and small discs put into squares, is an archer; the man partly hidden by him and wearing an ornamented tunic holds a dagger in his right hand. The attitude of this pair strongly reminds one of two warriors standing behind the siege-shield, and Layard understandably mistook the figure in front of them as that of a shield. He is, however, a man dressed in a fringed and ornamented garment. The upper register is noteworthy, because the ritual scene, the anointing of a bare tree, carried out in this case by a man in military dress, on a small scale which can only be explained as showing the action takes place in the distance, is combined with dagger men, archers, and slingers arranged as if in a siege scene. It is possible that the soldiers are marching in a procession, but not probable in view of the action of bowmen and slingers.
In the lower register, the king, Tiglath-pileser III, facing ⇦, places his foot on the neck of an enemy. He wears his high crown decorated with the three bands, the ends of the lowest hanging down on his back, and a fringed garment. His wrists are ornamented with four-fold bracelets and round his neck hangs a necklace with the divine symbols of Sin (crescent), Istar (star), Samas (sun), Anu (horned cap), and Adad (trident). He holds a bow in his left hand; in his right hand he poises the spears at the suppliant enemy on whose neck he puts his right foot, apparently condemning him to death. The enemy has fallen to his knees, his face nearly touching the ground. He wears a long garment and a round cap, and has a close beard. Behind the king stands a beardless attendant, the fringed cloth over his left shoulder, his right hand holding the fan. The victim is introduced by the 'vizier', wearing fringed garment and wrap, who raises his right hand. The beardless attendant, following him and similarly dressed, wears sandals. This is curious, because the 'vizier' seems to be without them, at least they are no longer visible in the relief. The mutilation of the king's face may be due to the action of Sargon. The inscription is in two columns, the beginnings of the lines in column I and the ends of the lines in column II being lost.
- Production date
- 728BC
- Dimensions
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Height: 272 centimetres
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Length: 239 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Inscription subject
royal
- Curator's comments
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This wall panel forms one of a series with two disconnected scenes.
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The inscription can be found in 'Annals', ll. 32-55.
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An original drawing of the lower register of this relief is in the British Museum's 'Original Drawings of Assyrian Sculptures' collection: Or.Dr.III, 'S.W. XVII: "Tiglath-Pileser II (sic) receiving captives"', and is published in Layard (1849) 'The Monuments of Nineveh', vol. I, pl. 82,2, and Unger (1917) 'Die Reliefs Tiglatpilesars III aus Nimrud', no. 22 pls. XCV, XCVI.
- Bibliographic references
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Smith 1938d / Assyrian Sculptures in the British Museum from Shalmaneser III to Sennacherib (plates 7-8)
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Barnett & Falkner 1962 / The Sculptures of Ashur-nasir-apli II (883-859 B.C), Tiglath-pilesar (745-727 B.C), Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C) from the Central and South-West Palaces at Nimrud (pp.28-29, pls. LXXXIX, XCIV, XCVI and Frontispiece)
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Gadd 1936b / The Stones of Assyria: the surviving remains of Assyrian sculpture, their recovery, and their original positions (pp.157-8)
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Layard A H 1851a / Inscriptions in the cuneiform character, from Assyrian monuments (pl. 51) (inscription)
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Rost 1893b / Die Keilschrifttexte Tiglat-Pilesers III (pls. IX-X) (inscription)
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Layard A H 1849a / The monuments of Nineveh, from drawings made on the spot (vol. 1, pl. 82,2) (drawing)
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Unger 1917 / Die Reliefs Tiglatpilesars III aus Nimrud (no. 22, pls. XCV, XCVI) (drawing)
- Location
- On display (G8)
- Acquisition date
- 1851
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 118933
- Registration number
- 1851,0902.40
- Additional IDs
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Miscellaneous number: 862 (ex AS)
