The Balawat Gates Of Ashurnasirpal II

by Barnett, R. D.; Curtis, J. e.; Davies, L. G.; Howards, M. M.; Walker, C. B. F.

• ISBN13: 9780714111667
• ISBN10: 071411166X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-30
• Publisher: British Museum Pubns Ltd

Summary

"This is a unique record of two major archaeological finds - two sets of elaborate bronze gates of the late Assyrian period from the site of Balawat (ancient Imgur-Enlil) in northern Iraq. These two gates were made during the reign of King Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 b.c.) and were discovered nearly a century apart. One set was found by Hormuzd Rassam in 1878 in a doorway of the king's palace, and the other in the Temple of Mamu by Sir Max Mallowan in 1956." "These bronze gates of Ashurnasirpal complement the previously published and now famous gates of Shalmaneser III (858-824 b.c.). Their thirty-two bronze ornamental bands, with chased and embossed figurative decoration and accompanying epigraphs in cuneiform, provide a wealth of historical and art-historical information for ninth-century Assyria and the surrounding region. Tragically, following the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Mamu Temple set fell victim to looting and is now lost. This important volume is the only complete record of their appearance, excavation and loss and is therefore a major new source for scholarship of the Ancient Near East." "A wealth of photographs and meticulous drawings, many published here for the first time, reveals all the bands and their inscriptions in detail. Both sets of gates are illustrated: the set discovered in 1878, now on permanent display in the British Museum, and the lost bands from the Mamu Temple gates, which were conserved in the British Museum and subsequently looted from the Mosul Museum in Iraq. The book includes comparisons between the two sets and presents the evidence for their original arrangement as well as a detailed summary of excavations at Balawat."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Foreword
List of illustrations
Colour plates
Figures
Black and white plates
List of tables
List of diagrams
Notes on the contributors
Abstracts in English and Arabic
Colour plates
Introduction	p. 1
The excavations and discoveries at Balawat	p. 7
The gates from the palace of Ashurnasirpal II	p. 23
Introduction	p. 23
Technical description	p. 24
The arrangement of the bands and content matter	p. 26
Description of the palace gates	p. 30
The inscribed edging strips of the palace gates	p. 46
The gates of Ashurnasirpal II from the Temple of Mamu	p. 47
Introduction	p. 47
The excavation of the Mamu Temple gates	p. 48
The arrangement of the bands and content matter	p. 52
Description of the Mamu Temple Gates	p. 54
The inscribed edging strips of the Mamu Temple gates	p. 70
Comparison of the two pairs of Ashurnasirpal II gates	p. 72
The evidence for bronze gate overlay in Mesopotamia	p. 75
Extracts from letters of H. Rassam to the British Museum relating to Balawat	p. 84
Other correspondence relating to the arrival of the gates at the British Museum	p. 88
Registered finds and samples from the excavations of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq at Balawat	p. 89
Inscribed material from the excavations of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq at Balawat	p. 91
Ashurnasirpal's stone inscriptions from Balawat	p. 94
Bibliography	p. 97
Select Index	p. 100
Figures	p. 101
Plates	p. 205
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.