.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
According to Russell, op. cit., these fragments most likely come from Sennacherib’s "palace without rival," the throne room of the Southwest Palace of Ninevah. The text was inscribed onto one of the bulls adorning the palace facade, likely Bull 1, which was already fragmentary at the time of its discovery by Layard. For the full translation of the text, please see the department. Assuming the third fragment was acquired at the same time and place, it is likely that it also dates from Sennacherib’s reign, but it does not join the with the other fragments.
The Rev. Chester Righter first travelled to Europe in 1853, together with a college friend, George E. Hill, and Samuel Irenaeus Prime, whom they met at the dock. The three friends visited England, France and Switzerland before moving south and east to Italy, Greece and Turkey, and then Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Cairo. They returned to the US in 1854. Shortly thereafter, Righter accepted a position with the American Bible Society overseeing the distribution of Bibles to the Armenian and Muslim communities throughout the region. Prime published a detailed account of their travels in The Bible in the Levant; or the Life and Letters of the Rev. C.N. Righter, Agent of the American Bible Society in the Levant in 1859, based in part on his own observations but also on Righter’s diary and correspondence. In November 1856 they visited Ninevah and described seeing the ruins of the palace, including the winged bulls and relief panels. While travelling on to Iraqi Kurdistan, Righter took ill and passed away. Prime mentions that among his meager personal effects that were sent home to his father after his death were his journals and “some curiosities he had gathered” (see Prime, op. cit., pp. 298-309, 317), which must have included the three fragments presented here.
The Rev. Chester Righter first travelled to Europe in 1853, together with a college friend, George E. Hill, and Samuel Irenaeus Prime, whom they met at the dock. The three friends visited England, France and Switzerland before moving south and east to Italy, Greece and Turkey, and then Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Cairo. They returned to the US in 1854. Shortly thereafter, Righter accepted a position with the American Bible Society overseeing the distribution of Bibles to the Armenian and Muslim communities throughout the region. Prime published a detailed account of their travels in The Bible in the Levant; or the Life and Letters of the Rev. C.N. Righter, Agent of the American Bible Society in the Levant in 1859, based in part on his own observations but also on Righter’s diary and correspondence. In November 1856 they visited Ninevah and described seeing the ruins of the palace, including the winged bulls and relief panels. While travelling on to Iraqi Kurdistan, Righter took ill and passed away. Prime mentions that among his meager personal effects that were sent home to his father after his death were his journals and “some curiosities he had gathered” (see Prime, op. cit., pp. 298-309, 317), which must have included the three fragments presented here.