AN ASSYRIAN INSCRIBED GYPSUM FRAGMENT
This lot is offered without reserve. PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF DR. VALLO BENJAMIN
AN ASSYRIAN INSCRIBED GYPSUM FRAGMENT

REIGN OF ASHURNASIRPAL II, CIRCA 883-859 B.C.

Details
AN ASSYRIAN INSCRIBED GYPSUM FRAGMENT
REIGN OF ASHURNASIRPAL II, CIRCA 883-859 B.C.
7 3/4 in. (19.6 cm.) high
Provenance
From the Northwest Palace, Nimrud.
Likely from the collection of the Bangor Theological Seminary, Bangor, ME, acquired in the late 19th-early 20th century (based on collection label reading "From Nineveh" affixed to backside).
with Norman Hurst (1944-2011), Cambridge, MA.
with Carole Davenport, New York, acquired from the above, 1983.
Dr. Vallo Benjamin (1934-2021), New York, acquired from the above, 1983; thence by descent to the current owner.
Special Notice

This lot is offered without reserve.
Sale Room Notice
Please note this lot is offered without reserve.

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Hannah Fox Solomon
Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Senior Specialist

Lot Essay

Known as the "Slab Back Text" this cuneiform fragment preserves a section from the back of a larger relief once reading (the preserved portions highlighted): "Ashurnasirpal, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Tukulti-Ninurta (II), great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Adad-narari (II) (who was) also great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria; valiant man who acts with the support of Aššur, his lord, and has no rival among the princes of the four quarters, marvelous shepherd, fearless in battle, mighty flood-tide which has no opponent, the king who subdued (the territory stretching) from the opposite bank of the Tigris to Mount Lebanon and the Great Sea, the entire land Laqû, (and) the land Su?u including the city Rapiqu. He conquered from the source of the River Subnat to the interior of the land Nirbu..." For a complete translation, see pp. 301-302 in. A.K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC, vol. 1.

As J.M. Russell informs (pp. 19-23 in The Writing on the Wall: Studies in the Architectural Context of Late Assyrian Palace Inscriptions), the “Slab Back Text” was carved on the backs of every wall relief panel of Ashurnasirpal II’s Northwest Palace. These were among the first inscriptions discovered by Sir Austen Henry Layard in the mid-19th century during his excavations of the palace. Given the thickness and weight of these relief panels, most of the examples now in European and North American collections had their backs removed by local stonecutters in order to facilitate their transport abroad. In the process, many of the Slab Back Texts were discarded.
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