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Lot Essay
Ashurnasirpal II’s Northwest Palace at Nimrud consisted of numerous suites of rooms around several open courts. The walls of the palace were built of mud-brick with most interior walls adorned with large stone slabs called orthostats, of locally-quarried gypsum, which were sculpted in shallow relief and highlighted with applied pigments. The scenes depict military conquests, religious occasions, royal hunts, and courtly banquets, all with the intention of glorifying the king and generating an overwhelming sense of awe in the visitor (for a discussion of the sculptural program at the Northwest Palace, see J.M. Russell, “The Program of the Palace of Assurnasirpal at Nimrud: Issues in the Research and Presentation of Assyrian Art,” American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 102, no. 4, pp. 655-715).
The Standard Inscription was carved on most orthostats. This cuneiform inscription is nearly identical on each slab, repeating Ashurnasirpal’s lineage, distinguishing his most favored status amongst the gods, outlining his military accomplishments, and describing the construction of the palace. Some of the rooms in the palace have orthostats cut with only the Standard Inscription, without narrative scenes in relief.
This elegant panel preserves a large portion of the Standard Inscription (the preserved portions highlighted in bold): “The palace of Ashurnasirpal, chief priest of Ashur, the chosen one of Enlil and Ninurta, the favorite of Anu and Dagan, the divine weapon of the Great Gods, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria; the son of Tukulti-Ninurta, the great king, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria; the son of Adad-nirari, the great king, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria; the powerful warrior who always lived by [his trust] in Ashur, his lord; who has no rival among the princes of the four quarters of the earth; [who is] the shepherd of his people, fearless in battle, the overpowering tidewater who has no opponent; [who is] the king, subjugator of the unsubmissive, who rules the total sum of all humanity; [who is] the potent warrior, who tramples his enemies, who crushes all the adversaries; [who is] the disperser of the host of the haughty; [who is] the king who always lived by [his] trust in the Great Gods, his lords; and captured all the lands himself, ruled all their mountainous districts, [and] received their tribute; who takes hostages, who establishes victory over all their lands.
When Ashur, the lord who selected me, who made my kingship great, entrusted his merciless weapon into my lordly arms, I verily struck down the widespread troops of Lullumu with weapons, during the battle encounter. As for the troops of the lands of Nairi, Habhu, Shubaru, and Nirbu, I roared over them like Adad the destroyer, with the aid of Shamash and Adad, my helper gods. [I am] the king who caused [the lands] from the other bank of the Tigris to the Lebanon and the Great Sea, the whole of Laqu, and Suhu as far as Rapiqu, to submit; [who] himself conquered [the territory] from the source of the Subnat River to the passes of the "betani," [who] annexed as my own territory [the area] from the pass of Kirruru to Gilzanu, from the other bank of the Lower Zab to Til Bari which is upstream from Zaban, from Til sha Zabdani and Til sha Abtani, Hirimu, Harutu, the [border] fortresses of Karduniash. I counted as my own people [those who occupy the territory] from the pass of Babite to Hashmar. I set my resident [official]s in the lands over which I ruled and imposed upon them obeisance [and forced labor].”
The Standard Inscription was carved on most orthostats. This cuneiform inscription is nearly identical on each slab, repeating Ashurnasirpal’s lineage, distinguishing his most favored status amongst the gods, outlining his military accomplishments, and describing the construction of the palace. Some of the rooms in the palace have orthostats cut with only the Standard Inscription, without narrative scenes in relief.
This elegant panel preserves a large portion of the Standard Inscription (the preserved portions highlighted in bold): “The palace of Ashurnasirpal, chief priest of Ashur, the chosen one of Enlil and Ninurta, the favorite of Anu and Dagan, the divine weapon of the Great Gods, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria; the son of Tukulti-Ninurta, the great king, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria; the son of Adad-nirari, the great king, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria; the powerful warrior who always lived by [his trust] in Ashur, his lord; who has no rival among the princes of the four quarters of the earth; [who is] the shepherd of his people, fearless in battle, the overpowering tidewater who has no opponent; [who is] the king, subjugator of the unsubmissive, who rules the total sum of all humanity; [who is] the potent warrior, who tramples his enemies, who crushes all the adversaries; [who is] the disperser of the host of the haughty; [who is] the king who always lived by [his] trust in the Great Gods, his lords; and captured all the lands himself, ruled all their mountainous districts, [and] received their tribute; who takes hostages, who establishes victory over all their lands.
When Ashur, the lord who selected me, who made my kingship great, entrusted his merciless weapon into my lordly arms, I verily struck down the widespread troops of Lullumu with weapons, during the battle encounter. As for the troops of the lands of Nairi, Habhu, Shubaru, and Nirbu, I roared over them like Adad the destroyer, with the aid of Shamash and Adad, my helper gods. [I am] the king who caused [the lands] from the other bank of the Tigris to the Lebanon and the Great Sea, the whole of Laqu, and Suhu as far as Rapiqu, to submit; [who] himself conquered [the territory] from the source of the Subnat River to the passes of the "betani," [who] annexed as my own territory [the area] from the pass of Kirruru to Gilzanu, from the other bank of the Lower Zab to Til Bari which is upstream from Zaban, from Til sha Zabdani and Til sha Abtani, Hirimu, Harutu, the [border] fortresses of Karduniash. I counted as my own people [those who occupy the territory] from the pass of Babite to Hashmar. I set my resident [official]s in the lands over which I ruled and imposed upon them obeisance [and forced labor].”