Nineveh

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Nineveh

• Cities and Landscapes- Long term history of the
  city, its orchards and Sennacheribs Nineveh

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Assyrian capitol as central place

• Funneling of resources to Central place
• complex hierarchy of farmsteads, hamlets,
  villages, regional, and provincial
  centrescapital city at the pinnacle (Barbares)
• High places and fortifications only at
  administration pointsTell Beydar survey

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Transformation of the population geography

• Movement of political power base of empire to
  northern cities (Kalhu, Khorsabad, Nineveh)
• Optimal region for combination of rainfall,
  irrigation, natural resources and defenses
• Assyrian conquest and resettlement repopulating
  countryside and new cities
• Cities densely populated with people from
  conquered regions.

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• Unfortified small settlements in low
  placesundefendable, at mercy of government
• Possibly very intentional--Letter from official
  to Sargon II the people living on the mounds
  should come down and build at the bottom should
  the ten fortified towns in the desert come down
  as well? (Barbares) Disarmament and
  defortification of non-central lociconcentration
  of power.

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Shift to the North

• Landscape of Northern Mesopotamia
• gently rolling plains, pasturelands, and rugged
  hills, watered by perrenial rivers and spring
  rains able to support large populations
  (Barbares)

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Layout of Nineveh

• Nineveh was huge!
• 750 Hectares (1875 acres)
• Absorbed by the modern Iraqi city of Mosul

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Promontories

• Kouyunjik
• Main Citadel
• Nebi-Yunus
• Secondary, military citadel armory or arsenal
• Eastern Terrace
• Perspectival vantage point
• Gardens?

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Eastern Terrace

• Nineveh had a new kind of urban space found in no
  other Mesopotamian city the Eastern Terrace.
• The inclusion of the high eastern terrace within
  the walls, a feature unknown at Nimrud and
  Khorsabad, introduced an unprecedented third
  urban space, and viewpoint. The eastern terrace
  offered a new urban view which was different from
  the high view of the citadel or temple platform,
  and from the more common, low horizontal or
  upward-looking view of most urban dwellers at
  monuments and raised platforms. (Lumsdens
  Production of Space at Nineveh)

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• Eastern Terrace provided sweeping views of city
  and was open to the public, unlike Kouyunjik
  citadel (palace/administrative functions)
• Use of Eastern Terrace unclear possibly
  day-to-day movement of people, marketplace,
  ceremonial?
• Possibly watered by high level aqueduct as part
  of Sennacheribs gardens and orchards

EASTERN TERRACE
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• This new, different perspective of city led to
  new perspectives in artwork. Both offered
  residents of Nineveh a new way to experience
  their city a panoramic, more cohesive and
  understandable view.
• For centuries, reliefs were portrayed from lower
  viewpoint, action was all on ground-level.
• 2 horizontal registers, raised band of
  inscription dividing them.
• All figures stuck to this ground line and depth
  shown by overlapping figures, often of all
  different sizes.

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• In Sennacheribs new style, action and figures
  were shown within a landscape, viewed from a
  birds eye view.
• Distant figures are higher up and off the ground
  line
• More complex landscapes more figures, all seen
  from above, NOT eye-level.
• Central inscription band is gone minimal
  overlapping
• All these elements combined to make a more
  naturalistic style attempting to portray depth
  more than predecessors.
• May have made little sense at first to people
  (used to older style reliefs) but with the
  eastern terrace it made sense (put into context).
  

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• Sennacheribs Reliefs limestone slabs with
  reliefs lined 70 rooms of the palace.
• Scenes show quarrying, transporting, and carving
  of stone into massive colossi human-headed bulls,
  along w/ military themes (shown here siege of
  Lachish).
• Represented from a more birds eye view than
  all previous reliefs showed more perspective
  than ever before

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• More naturalistic style shows in other artwork,
  as well a 5th leg removed from bull statues
  guarding major doorways of palace
• Biggest were 20 ft. tall 40-50 tons
• The quarrying of the stone for them, along w/
  transport carving, was subject of reliefs in E
  N walls of inner throne-room court of
  Sennacheribs Royal Palace, located on the main
  citadel, the Kouyunjik.

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Kouyunjik

• Royal citadel at Nineveh
• About 40 hectares in area
• Palaces at periphery of citadel with temples at
  center
• Temple and Ziggurat to Ishtar centrally located,
  rebuilt by Assurnasipal II and Sargon II
• Sennacheribs palace on the southwest corner of
  the mound

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Sennacheribs Palace Without rival at Nineveh
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• Built between 701 B.C.E. and 690 B.C.E.
• 242 meters wide

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Documentation of Palace Construction

• Intimate connection between the funneling of
  resources to the capital from military campaigns
  and the growth of the palace
• Foundation cylinders describe military campaigns
  interleaved with building accounts

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• 4 cylinders from Rassams excavations dated to
  700 B.C. contain annals of Sennacheribs first
  three military campaigns and a palace building
  account a palace of ivory, maple, boxwood,
  mulberry, cedar, cypress, and spruce, the Palace
  without a Rival, for my royal abodePresumably
  a text from around the foundation of the palace,
  borrowing from his father Sargon

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• Taylor Prism inscribed in 690 or 691 has all
  eight military annals and account of the
  completion of the palace
• (Height38.5cm)

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• Around 694 B.C.E., mixed annalistic, summary and
  building accounts were inscribed on the palaces
  gateway colossi, with five military campaigns and
  a palace length of 700 cubits in 694 updated to
  six military campaigns and a palace length of 914
  cubits in the following year.

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Bull Colossi
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Bull Colossi

• Large numbers produced for city gates, palace,
  and armory
• Sennacheribs largest were about 20 ft square and
  forty or fifty tons
• Commemorated in palace inscriptions, and in
  extensive reliefs showing the quarrying and
  transport of the stone for their construction

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Quarrying and iron tools
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Moving colossi
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Stone and Quarries

• Unlike Lower Mesopotamia, there is an abundance
  of stone in Upper Mesopotamia, thus, the
  landscape supported extensive stone construction
• Tastiate across the Tigris for white limestone,
  used in colossi construction floating colossi
  across the Tigris only possible during spring
  floods Sennacherib accounts in detail as his
  predecessors source for this stone
• Limestone quarry known near Bavian, at the head
  of Aqueduct Sennacherib completed in 691.
• Bavian quarry may be the new quarry on the east
  bank of the Tigris that Sennacherib opened, near
  Nineveh, in the district of Balatai, replacing
  Tastiate as source of white limestone for colossi
  construction assumed to be about 35 Kilometers
  upriver of modern Mosul

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Bavian (Balatai) Quarry

• May be the quarry on the east bank of the Tigris
  that Sennacherib opened, near Nineveh, in the
  district of Balatai, replacing Tastiate as
  source of white limestone for colossi
  construction assumed to be about 35 Kilometers
  upriver of modern Mosul

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Distant Quarries

• Stone from Mt. Nipur, (Judi Dagh) near modern
  Cizre, TurkeySennacheribs fifth campaign (697
  B.C.E.) with a surface like grains of mottled
  barley
• Stone from Kapridargila, on the border of
  Til-Barsip, to the west, possibly close-grained
  magnesian limestone in room LIII
• Gishnugallu stone from Mt. Ammanana, possibly
  Anti-Lebanon range NW of Damascus. Presumably
  precious high-quality alabaster traditionally
  used for inlaying weapons, but found in
  sufficient quantities by Sennacherib to construct
  colossi with.

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Judi Dagh quarry relief
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Water

• citadel unit always located laterally along the
  city wall overlooking the river (Barbanes)
• Possible high level aqueduct to Eastern Terrace

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Many Gardens and Orchards

• Agricultural
• Horticultural
• Kings Pleasure gardens
• Botanical
• Zoological
• Medical
• Sacred
• Watered by aqueducts

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• Above the city and below the city I laid out
  parks. The wealth of the mountain and all lands,
  all the herbs of the land of Hatti, myrrh plants,
  among which fruitfulness was greater than their
  natural habitat, all kinds of mountain-vines, all
  fruits of all lands, herbs and fruit bearing
  trees I set out for my subjects -Sennacherib

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Hanging Gardens of Babylon

• Actually located at Nineveh
• One of the 7 Wonders of the ancient world

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Hanging Gardens?

• Probably situated between Sennacheribs palace
  and the Khosr River
• Or as the Eastern Terrace

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Kings Pleasure Gardens

• The King and his wife dine in the garden

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Ambassu--Botanical and zoological gardens

• North of the Adad gate, NE of the city
• Plants and animals from all regions of the empire
• Hunting areas

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Conceptual Elements of Garden

• Fertility
• King as gardener and hunter
• Taming and recreating the natural world
• Vertical situation of palace, flanked by lush
  gardens
• The charismatic character of the King, chosen by
  the gods to tame the world

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Halzi Gate

• 70m protruding east façade single point of entry
  at the center, built at a slight angle to connect
  to bridge over adjacent moat
• 22 orthostats with inscriptions referring to
  construction of Nineveh
• 2 intact courtyard foundation boxes contained
  clay figurinesone of a lahmu and one of a
  lion-headed man, protective in intent.
• 8 towers of varying quality construction
  presumably from hurried repairs in gate for
  protection (unsuccessfully) after initial
  military attacks (probably around 614B.C.)
• gates narrowed to 2m keep out troops heavy
  blocking stone placed in entrance

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• Halzi Gate southernmost entry point to
  fortified eastern wall attacked simultaneously
  with Adad Gate in extreme north in the summer of
  612 B.C.
• Over 12 skeletons of fallen soldiers at gate,
  left how they died
• Arrowhead in leg, spearhead and dagger in
  skeleton
• Probably some looting, but valuable objects were
  still with them string of carnelian and lapis
  lazuli, other jewelry

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• This drew soldiers to opposite ends of city wall,
  then attacked middle area where river meets city
• Sennacheribs extensive waterworks system used
  for gardens and orchards was used against him.
• Huge flooding contemporary and biblical accounts
  say the palace was dissolved
• City fell to coalition of Medes and Babylonians
  in summer 612 B.C. after a three month siege
• Sennacheribs palace was pillaged and burned
  the upper story collapsed into the lower and the
  Palace Without Rival lay buried and forgotten
  for nearly two and a half millennia. (Russells
  Bulls for the Palace and Order in the Empire).