- Museum number
- 124801,a
- Description
-
Gypsum wall-panel depicting the Battle of Til-Tuba (Battle of the River Ulai) in relief: in the lower register, the Assyrians are attacking from the left, where the Elamites have been stationed on a mound. The two armies are clearly distinguished by their equipment. The Assyrian cavalry and some of the infantry have pointed helmets and wear scale-armour above the belt; most of them carry spears and shields, as do other infantrymen in crested helmets, and there are lightly armed archers with headbands. They tend to operate in pairs, with an archer protected by a spearman. The Elamites are nearly all lightly armed archers, with headbands tied at the back; their quivers are decorated with palmettes. Some of them are riding carts drawn by donkeys or mules. It is clear that, once the heavily armed Assyrians have forced their way through the Elamite lines, the Elamites cannot operate effectively at close quarters. They stumble back down the side of the mound, and their retreat turns into a rout, which ends as they are driven into the River Ulai. The growing chaos is graphically reflected in the overall arrangement, with the largely horizontal lines of figures losing coherence as they move right, and the river stopping them dead as it cuts across the scene from top to bottom.
Within the battle, critical incidents are picked out, forming an internal sequence of events like a strip-cartoon operating independently of the general progress of the battle. In this scene, the Elamite king Teumman is identified and carried away in a chariot.
Two other specific incidents are shown, in the central row below Teumman's chariot. On the right an Elamite noble is cutting his bow in token of surrender, while an Assyrian threatens to kill him, and on the left a wounded Elamite calls to an Assyrian to cut off his head.
In the upper register, at the left, men are forced to kneel in front of querns; they are members of the ruling family, and are being forced to grind up the bones of their ancestors. Two small fragments, mounted to the right of the tent, show similar scenes of punishment.
- Production date
- 660BC-650BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 173 centimetres
-
Thickness: 15.50 centimetres
-
Width: 172 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
-
In set with 1881,0226.1 (BM.12135).
In set with 1881,0204.6 (BM.135122).
-
From clay tablets describing the scene, we learn that the prisoners in the upper register, men, women and children, belong to the Gam-bulu tribe of Babylonia which had broken its oath to Assyria and supported the Elamites.
The Battle of Til-Tuba (or the River Ulai), showing the Assyrians defeating the Elamites of southern Iran, is arguably the finest large-scale composition in Assyrian art. Though the beginning of the battle is lost, the rout of the Elamite army on three adjoining panels forms essentially a complete unit on its own. This was one of a series of about ten compositions, recounting the story of an entire campaign, which lined the walls of a room in Sennacherib's palace but were actually carved for Ashurbanipal. The carvings are described in several clay tablets, which enable us to restore the entire decorative scheme in principle. Some of the incidents in the battle are also described in captions cut on the sculptures themselves, but the tablets give additional details which help to explain what is happening. The battle scene occupies the lower half of these three panels; the upper half, less well preserved, shows a review of prisoners deported after the campaign.
The date of Ashurbanipal's war with Teumman is uncertain, with suggestions ranging from 663 to 653 BC. It was the first of a series of wars which culminated in the destruction of the ancient Elamite capital city of Susa. When Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC, there were men who still recognised the scenes depicted in this composition.
The panel is carved in a fossiliferous limestone, not the standard gypsum. The stone was brought by Sennacherib down the Tigris from the Judi Dagh, near Cizre in modern Turkey, where he had observed it on campaign. Several Assyrian kings note with pride their imports of unusual materials such as this.
-
Layard's description of the scenes of The Battle of the River Ulai, depicted in Room XXXIII (BB):
'The three slabs to the right of the winged lions on entering, were occupied by a highly curious representation of a battle. The subject was incomplete, and could not be restored. The Assyrians, having besieged and captured some great city, appeared to be pursuing the flying enemy. On the first remaining slab was part of a mound, on which a castle was probably built. Down the side of the artificial elevation ran the defeated warriors, no longer attempting defence, but giving themselves up to despair. One was plucking out his beard, a common action amongst easterns [sic] to denote grief; some tearing their hair, and others turning round to ask for quarter from their merciless pursuers. On the sides of the mount were the dead and dying, and the bows and quivers of the slain. A wounded mule was falling to the ground, whilst his rider, pierced by an arrow, raised his hands to implore for mercy. An Assyrian soldier, or ally, distinguished by a low round cap, and a kind of belt or shawl twisted round his breast, was dragging a body towards him, probably with the intention of cutting off the head. Beneath the mound a horseman was piercing with his spear a flying enemy, and two warriors in a car drawn by a mule, were hastening from the battle-field.
The remainder of the subject was divided by horizontal parallel lines into six parts ot friezes; of which, however, only three were entire. From the number of figures introduced, and the complicated nature or the action, it is difficult to describe these important bas-reliefs intelligibly. In the lowest compartment, archers and spearmen, some on horses, were represented in close combat with the enemy, whose armies, like those of the Assyrians, were composed of footmen and cavalry. The battle-field was strewn with the slain, and with their scattered arms; but, as usual, the sculptor, to flatter the vanity of his countrymen, had not portrayed single Assyrian either dead or wounded. In the second frieze the enemy were seen fighting in carts drawn by mules. In the next compartment were Assyrian warriors bearing the heads of the slain, and leaving the field of battle in a cart captured from the foe....
Behind the cart with the Assyrian warriors, was the tent of the registrar to which had been led a captive chief and his two attendants, were collected a heap of human heads, whilst warriors were bringing more of these bloody trophies to the appointed scribes. In another part of the battle was seen the chariot of one of the princes of the Elamites. Four spirited horses, wounded by arrows, were plunging and rearing; and the chief with his charioteer were falling from the overturned chariot. Beneath was a group representing an Assyrian warrior holding his horse by the bridle, and advancing towards a fallen enemy, who, turning towards his conqueror, placed one hand upon his throat, a gesture either of entreaty, or to indicate his approaching fate. Above him was an epigraph, commencing apparently with his name, of which only one letter remained, and declaring that he was a general of the Susianian king(?). Around these groups, Assyrians, armed with battle-axes and maces, were slaying the unresisting foe. In this part of the bas-relief were two short epigraphs, which appeared to state that the slaughtered warriors were sons of the king of Elam. These princes were distinguished by a peculiar round cap, to which was attached a long feather falling down the back, a head-dress subsequently worn by Persian kings. They were clothed in embroidered and fringed robes, and their chariots were drawn by four horses.
Crows and vultures were represented feasting upon the carcases of the slain. Adjoining the field of battle was a broad river, into which the Assyrians were driving the retreating enemy: it was filled with the dead bodies of men and horses, and with bows and quivers.
Above the battle scenes were the conquerors torturing, and leading into captivity, their prisoners. They were divided into three rows, parts of two only had been preserved.
Several of the captives were apparently about to undergo some dreadful torture; with their hands manacled in iron fetters, they knelt over an object which might be a chafing-dish with hot coals or a vessel to receive their blood. One of the torturers held his victim by a collar round his neck; whilst a second, seizing the unfortunate prisoner by his hair, was about to strike him with an iron-headed mace.... The Elamites, we find from these bas-reliefs, used even in war, besides chariots, a kind of cart drawn by mules, and consisting of a flat stage raised upon lofty wheels, which had as many as twelve and even sixteen spokes. The largest of these cars could hold five or six persons, and were adorned with a fringed or embroidered cloth. The smallest it would appear contained only two, the warrior and the charioteer, who sat on a kind of raised seat. ... The harness of the mules consisted of a simple band round the chest, hung with rosettes and tassels, probably of colored wool. They were guided either by reins, or by a long rod held by the charioteer in his right hand. Mules were also, it would seem, ridden by this people in battle, and were then caparisoned like horses. The dress of the fighting men consisted chiefly of a tunic, or single shirt, falling to the knee, and bound at the waist by a narrow girdle. Some of them had round their shoulders a kind of band knotted in front. This appears to have been a contrivance to support the quiver suspended at the back. Their hair was long, and was confined by a fillet, or rib and tied behind the head in a kind of bow. The captive chief and his attendants in the tent wore robes falling to the knee in front, and to the ankles behind. Those who fought on foot were armed with the bow, but die cavalry used the spear. The archers carried at their backs quivers of peculiar form, and ornamented at the sides and on the top with rosettes. I have already described the peculiar dress of the princes; it was completed by high boots or greaves laced up in front, and probably of yellow leather.
Amongst the captives were men clothed in fringed robes and a short under-tunic: these were probably the lords of the land. The women wore their hair in curls, falling on their shoulders, and bound above the temples by a band or fillet. Some had one long ringlet on each side of the face. Their children were either naked or clothed in simple shirts'.
(Layard, 1853, pp. 446-50).
- Bibliographic references
-
Barnett, Bleibtreu & Turner 1998a / Sculptures from the Southwest Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh (381b-383b)
-
Curtis & Reade 1994a / Tesoros de asiria en el Museo Britanico: Arte e Imperio (20)
-
Curtis & Reade 1995a / Art and empire: treasures from Assyria in the British Museum (21)
-
Paterson 1901-11 / Assyrian Sculptures (12 parts) (pls. LXXIV-LXXV, CIV-CV)
-
Curtius 1913 / Die antike Kunst (pp. 280, 282)
-
Paterson A 1915a / Assyrian sculptures, palace of Sinacherib [sic] (pls. 62-4) (1+2+3; left edge of slab 1 missing)
-
Meissner 1920a / Babylonien und Assyrien (vol. I, Abb. 41) (slab 3)
-
Hall H R 1928a / Babylonian and Assyrian Sculpture in the British Museum (pl. XLI:1)
-
Müller 1928-9 / Die Raumdarstellung der altorientalischen Kunst (pl. XIX:2) (slab 3)
-
Gadd 1936b / The Stones of Assyria: the surviving remains of Assyrian sculpture, their recovery, and their original positions (pp. 180-181)
-
Frankfort H 1954a / The art and architecture of the Ancient Orient (pp. 97-8, pls. 104-5)
-
Barnett & Foreman 1959 / Assyrian Palace Reliefs and their Influence on the Sculptures of Babylonia and Persia (pp. 30-1, pls. 118-27, 130-33)
-
Yadin 1963 / The art of warfare in Biblical lands in the light of archaeological discovery (pp. 443-4)
-
Nagel 1967 / Die neuassyrischen Reliefstile unter Sanherib und Assurbanaplu (pls. 14, 15:2)
-
Barnett 1970 / Assyrian Palace Reliefs in the British Museum (pl. X) (detail)
-
Barnett & Lorenzini 1975 / Assyrian Sculptures in the British Museum (pls. 138-51) (details)
-
Orthmann 1975 / Der alte Orient (p. 323, pls. 236-7)
-
Wäfler 1975 / Nicht-Assyrer neuassyrischer Darstellungen (pls. 15:2, 19:1) (details)
-
Lorenzini, de Maigret & Fozzati 1980 / Gli Assiri - La scultura dal regno di Ashurnasirpal II. al regno di Assurbanipal (pp. 121-5, nos 59-63) (details)
-
Reade 1979a / Assyrian architectural decoration: techniques and subject-matter (pls. 17-18, 24b)
-
Reade 1979b / Ideology and propaganda in Assyrian art: a symposium on ancient empires (figs 6, 17)
-
Reade 1983b / Assyrian Sculpture (pp. 61-4, figs 91-93)
-
Layard A H 1853a / Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, with travels in Armenia, Kurdistan and the desert (pp. 446-50)
-
Layard A H 1853b / A second series of the monuments of Nineveh; including bas-reliefs from the palace of Sennacherib and bronzes from the ruins of Nimroud, from drawings made on the spot, during a second expedition to Assyria (pls. 45-46)
-
Reade 1976 / Elam and the Elamites (pp. 99-100, pl. 21, 2)
-
Reade 1979c / Narrative Composition in Assyrian Sculpture (pp. 96-101, 107)
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2018-2019 8 Nov-24 Feb, London, BM, I am Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria
2014-2015 22 Sep-5 Jan, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age'
2013-2014 22 Jun-6 Jan, Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, 'Mesopotamia, Inventing Our World'
2013 30 Jan-13 May, Museum of History, Hong Kong, 'The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia'
2012 4 May-7 Oct, Melbourne Museum, 'The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia'
2011 28 March-26 June, Abu Dhabi, Manarat Al Saadiyat, 'Splendours of Mesopotamia'
2008-2009 21 Sept-4 Jan, Boston, MFA, 'Art and Empire'
2007 2 Apr-30 Sept, Alicante, MARQ Museum, 'Art and Empire'
2006 1 Jul-7 Oct, Shanghai Museum, 'Art and Empire'
Nimrud Gallery.
- Associated events
-
Associated Event: Battle of Til-Tuba
-
Associated Event: Battle of the River Ulai
- Acquisition date
- 1851
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 124801,a
- Registration number
- 1851,0902.8.a
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: 47 (Old Nimrud Gallery No.)
