stela

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Object Type: stela
Museum number: 118892
Description: Limestone stela of Shamshi-Adad V: a round-topped stela of white limestone. The king stands in the gesture of blessing before five divine emblems: (1) the crown of the sky-god Anu, with three horns; (2) the winged disk; (3) the disk and crescent; (4) the fork; (5) the eight-pointed star of Ishtar. The cross worn as an amulet is a symbol of the sun god.
Authority: Ruler: Shamshi-Adad V
Cultures/periods: Neo-Assyrian
Production date: 815BC-811BC
Excavator/field collector: Excavated by: Hormuzd Rassam; Excavated by: Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson; Excavated by: William Kennett Loftus; Excavated by: John George Taylor
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Temple of Nabu (Nimrud)
Materials: limestone
Technique: carved
Dimensions: Height: 195.24 centimetres; Width: 92.54 centimetres; Depth: 71.96 centimetres
$Inscriptions
Inscription subject: royal
Curator's comments: Copy of BM.115020; The cross worn as an amulet is found not infrequently on seals of the Kassite period in Babylonia, 1500-1000 B.C., and occurs on Sumerian seals of the early archaic period.; On the sides and back of the stele is a cuneiform inscription in archaistic characters, the exact forms not being found elsewhere; it is published in Rawlinson, 'Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia', vol. i, plates 29-31, and translated in Luckenbill, 'Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia', vol. i, pp. 253-9. For the circumstances of discovery see Gadd, 'The Stones of Assyria', pp. 149-50.
Bibliographic references: Smith 1938d / Assyrian Sculptures in the British Museum from Shalmaneser III to Sennacherib (plate 2); Luckenbill D D 1926a / Historical records of Assyria from the earliest times to Sargon (pp. 253-9); Rawlinson H C & Norris E 1861a / The cuneiform inscriptions of Western Asia, I: a selection from the Historical Inscriptions of Chaldaea, Assyria, and Babylonia (plates 29-31); Gadd 1936b / The Stones of Assyria: the surviving remains of Assyrian sculpture, their recovery, and their original positions (pp. 149-50); Grayson, RIMA 3 / Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC, II (858-745 BC) (RIM.A.0.103.1.1); Collon 2010a / Getting it wrong in Assyria: Some bracelets from Nimrud (pp.153-55, fig.5) (on the bracelets)
Location: On display (G6a)
Subjects: deity; king/queen; sun/moon
Associated names: Named in inscription & portrayed: Shamshi-Adad V; Emblem of: An; Named in inscription: Ishtar
Associated places: Associated with: Temple of Nabu
Acquisition date: 1856
Department: Middle East
BM/Big number: 118892
Registration number: 1856,0909.63
Additional IDs: Miscellaneous number: 110 (ex)
Conservation: Treatment: 19 Jul 1995; Treatment: 19 Oct 2001

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