Life at King Ashurnasirpal II's palace
What would it have been like to enter the imposing palaces of
King Ashurnasirpal II? To obtain an audience with the king,
visitors would walk through courtyards and halls, their walls
covered with relief panels carved with mainly narrative scenes.
Who was King Ashurnasirpal II?
King Ashurnasirpal II ruled Assyria from 883-859 BC. He was the
son of Tukulti-Ninurta II and is known for the consolidation of his
father's conquests, leading to the establishment of the New
Assyrian Empire.
The details of his reign are best known from his own
inscriptions and the splendid relief in the ruins of his palace at
Nimrud, in Northern Iraq. Although he was a brilliant
general and administrator, he is perhaps best known for his brutal
frankness with which he described the atrocities committed on his
captives.
What does the relief depict?
The intention behind these scenes was to
overwhelm visitors with both the wealth and the power of the
King.
They illustrate the King’s dominance through his prowess on the
battlefield, his sporting successes hunting lions and other
animals, and his role as the high priest and earthly representative
of the god, Ashur.
King Ashurnasirpal II (right) stands opposite one of his court
officials conducting a religious ceremony. The carving is one of
many that were excavated by the archaeologist Austen Henry Layard
at Nimrud in the 1840s. This stone panel comes from the North-West
Palace of Ashurnasirpal.
Sir James Young Simpson connection
The panel was given to the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland in 1865 by Sir James Young Simpson, better known as an
obstetrician and pioneer in the field of anaesthetics.
It then passed into the collections of the National Museums
Scotland. Simpson had a strong interest in archaeology and was a
Vice-President of the Society.
The relief panel had been discovered by Austen Henry Layard, who
had uncovered the palace remains at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu) in
northern Iraq.