Lacking hinges, the gates opened by turning enormous pine pillars that rotated in stone sockets. Despite the long-term fragility of wood, the scale of the gates and the mechanisms by which they opened and closed point to the political instability of the time and the need to defend all parts of the empire. Reconstruction of the Balawat Gates at the British Museum : Woman in photograph provides an idea of the scale of the gates. Artifacts produced during the Assyrian Empire range from hand-held to monumental and consist of a variety of media , from clay to bronze to a diversity of stone.
While reliefs comprise the majority of what archaeologists have found, existing sculptures in the round shed light on Assyrian numerical systems and politics.
Assyrian Lion Weights : These weights represented one of only two known systems of weights and measures in Mesopotamia at the time. The Assyrian Lion Weights BCE are a group of solid bronze weights that range from two centimeters approximately 0.
Admired as sculptures in the round today, the weights represent one of only two systems of weights and measures in the region at the time. This system was based on heavy mina about one kilogram and was used for weighting metals. Additionally, they bear inscriptions in Assyrian cuneiform and Phoenician script, indicating use by speakers of both languages. Eight lions in the set bear the only known inscriptions from the reign of Shalmaneser V reigned BCE. He holds a sickle as a form of mythological defense and a mace as a symbol of authority.
This magnesite magnesium carbonate sculpture of Ashurnasirpal II 9th century BCE serves as a rare example of sculpture in the round produced during the Assyrian Empire. The kings stands stiffly with a sickle in his right hand at his side and a mace in his left, which he holds to his torso. Both objects are symbolic; the sickle was used as a weapon against monsters, while the mace was a symbol of political and religious authority.
The inscription on his chest announce his genealogy, titles, and military triumphs. Although the sculpture is stylized , it gives the viewer a glimpse into fashion norms for rulers at the time. Lamassu : Each lamassu figure faced a specific cardinal direction. The lamassu was a mythological guardian figure with large wings, the head of a human, and the body of a lion or a bull. Originally a protective spirit to the households of Babylonian commoners, the lamassu was later adopted by Assyrian royalty to protect political and religious interests.
In Assyrian sculpture, lamassu figures bear similar beards and hairstyles to those of Ashurnasirpal II in the sculpture discussed above. These monumental sculptures usually appeared in relief form in pairs at major entrances to cities, palaces, or fortresses.
Each lamassu directed its gaze toward one of the cardinal directions, which explains why some look straight ahead and others have their heads turned. Three registers on each side focus on conquered kings from specific regions paying tribute to the Assyrian ruler. The registers at the top and bottom of each side bear an inscription from the annals of Shalmaneser III, celebrating his annual military campaigns. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content.
Art of the Ancient Near East. Search for:. The greatest threat to the Assyrian culture was probably levied by the Ottoman troops in the early 20th Century, just after the end of the First World War. This resulted in what is now infamously known as the Assyrian Genocide.
Around , of their people were killed during this time, dwindling their population to extremely low numbers. However, the violence against these people did not stop, and in fact has continued to the present day. The persecution has forced many modern Assyrians to flee their homeland and take refuge elsewhere. Recent news is filled with reports of Assyrians in Syria under repeated attacks by Islamic extremist groups, which are wreaking havoc on the lives of those Christian Assyrians still choosing to live in their native homeland.
Ancient relief of an Assyrian mythological genie. Today, many Assyrian Christians have fled the Middle East due to religious persecution. Many Assyrian patriots are either imprisoned or have been murdered. This reign of terror has been well-documented by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and from personal accounts by most of us who left countries, such as Iraq, in search of refuge and civilized order in Europe, Australia, and America. It was there that I learned a great deal on how to serve the Assyrian community by utilizing the Internet.
Thanks to the Internet, today for the first time, average Assyrians are free to write about themselves, their history, and their dreams. This is an opportunity, which they could not imagine enjoying in their homeland. Nineveh, located in modern-day Iraq, is the name of the Assyrian capital, a great city mentioned in the book of Jonah in the Bible. By early , with considerable support from Hollister Internet hyperlink that included unlimited space on their server and various other free services, we were able to build a home for my people in cyberspace.
Today, Nineveh On-Line is home to over , visitors per month. Other activities include an annual Community Networking Conference and workshops for local Assyrian community organizations and churches. Since the Assyrian presence became visible in the Internet community a few years ago, dozens of web pages have been created that try to mirror the multifaceted nature of the Assyrians. Now, the global community can learn a great deal about our traditions, language, and history on the Internet.
Assyrians of today are not only scattered all over the world, but have also been identified by several terms, religious, as well as ethnic. This is reflected in the various web pages accessible on the Internet which can sometimes be a source of confusion for nonexperts. Consequently, one may find pages developed by those who have emigrated their homeland to resettle in Europe i.
Sweden and Germany , and one may note that the segment of this population tends to produce more Churchoriented pages. The web pages presented by the U. But unlike other nation-states, because of their technological advances in warfare, the Assyrians maintained their land while other states and empires rose and fell from power. When another group, the Hittites, rose to power and overthrew Mittani rule, it left a power vacuum that sent the region into war and chaos.
This left the Assyrians poised to gain more power in the region. Around B. Adad Nirari II and his successors used new warfare techniques to take over enemy cities one by one. The Assyrians had several advantages that they had been developing for generations while other empires came and went. They were the first in the area to develop iron weapons, which were superior to the bronze weapons their enemies were using.
Their skill at ironworking allowed them to make weapons and protective items more cheaply, so more soldiers could use them. In addition, they were the first army to have a separate engineering unit, which would set up ladders and ramps, fill in moats, and dig tunnels to help the soldiers get into a walled city. They were also among the first to build chariots, which provided greater protection on the battlefield.
These technological advancements allowed the Assyrians to go on the offensive and attack neighboring areas for the first time, which led to the expansion of their empire. The Assyrian Empire maintained power for hundreds of years. But in the s B. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.
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