Page 102 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

CHAPTER 7

THE LATE ASSYRIAN PERIOD
<(CIRCA 1000-612 B.C.^

The history of the Assyrian empire is dominated by the perennial problem of Meso­
potamian statecraft; how could a stable polity be established in a country without natural
boundaries and exposed to the depredations of barbarians based on impregnable mo un­
tain fortresses? Year after year the Assyrian armies marched east, then north, then west
in a scythe-like sweep which aimed at assuring the safety of the homeland. The theme of
war chariots with their teams painfully toiling over mountain ranges occurs in the art of
almost every reign. It seemed always necessary to push on a little farther to destroy the
next - perhaps the last - centre of rebellion; after Kurdistan, Armenia; after Syria,
Palestine; and finally the Sinai desert was crossed and Egypt invaded. Esarhaddon de­
stroyed Memphis in 671 b.c.
The palaces of the kings were decorated with long friezes of paintings or reliefs in
which the interminable campaigns were recorded. They are not summarized, or sym­
bolized as in Egypt, but shown in all the multifarious detail of their actuality, mono­
tonous when viewed from a distance but full of varying incidents when lived through
day after day. It is the experience of the soldier which the reliefs and paintings relate.

Architecture

The palaces themselves of which these pictorial epics constitute the grim glory are, with
one exception, very inadequately known. There would be no point in discussing here
the ruins of Nineveh or Nimrud. But Sargon II’s palace at Khorsabad has been system­
atically investigated1 and it may serve as an example of the rest. It was built towards the
end of the second of the three great periods into which we may divide late Assyrian art.
All of them coincide with reigns in which the government was strong and active, so that
the mountaineers were kept at bay, Babylon held in subjection, and the trade routes
protected. The first of these periods comprises the reigns of Assumasirpal II and his son
Shalmaneser III (883-824 b.c.). The second period falls in the later half of the eighth cen-
tury b.c. and covers the three reigns of Tiglathpilesar III, Shalmaneser V, and Sargon II
(742-705 b.c.); the third falls in die reign of Sennacherib (705-681 B.c.) and of Assur-
banipal (669-626 b.c.).
The capital of the country shifted during this long passage of time. Assumasirpal II
built Nimrud (Caleh); Sargon II Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad); his successors resided
again at Nineveh. Provincial palaces are known in Syria at Til Barsip (Tell Ahmar) and
Khadatu (Arslan Tash). They date probably from the reign of Tiglathpilesar III.
Sargon II founded his residential city a little to the north-east of Nineveh. It was dedi­
cated in 706 b.c., shortly before the king’s death, and it was deserted under his successor.

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