Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

Assyria

During the first half of the first mil-
lennium BCE, the fearsome Assyrians
vanquished the various warfaring
peoples that succeeded the Babylo-
nians and Hittites, including the
Elamites, whose capital of Susa they
sacked in 641 BCE. The Assyrians
took their name from Assur, the city
on the Tigris River in northern Iraq
named for the god Ashur. At the
height of their power, the Assyrians
ruled an empire that extended from
the Tigris River to the Nile and from
the Persian Gulf to Asia Minor.
The royal citadel (FIG. 2-20) of
Sargon II (r. 721–705 BCE) at Dur
Sharrukin reveals in its ambitious
layout the confidence of the Assyrian
kings in their all-conquering might.
Its strong defensive walls also reflect
a society ever fearful of attack during
a period of almost constant warfare.
The city measures about a square
mile in area. The palace, elevated on a
mound 50 feet high, covered some 25
acres and had more than 200 court-
yards and rooms. Timber-roofed rectangular halls were grouped
around square and rectangular courts. Behind the main courtyard,
whose sides each measured 300 feet, were the residential quarters of
the king, who received foreign emissaries in the long, high, brightly
painted throne room. All visitors entered from another large court-
yard, where over-life-size figures of the king and his courtiers lined
the walls.
Sargon II regarded his city and palace as an expression of his
grandeur. The Assyrians cultivated an image of themselves as merci-
less to anyone who dared oppose them, although they were forgiving
to those who submitted to their will. Sargon, for example, wrote in
an inscription, “I built a city with [the labors of] the peoples sub-
dued by my hand, whom Ashur, Nabu, and Marduk had caused to
lay themselves at my feet and bear my yoke.” And in another text, he
proclaimed, “Sargon, King of the World, has built a city. Dur Shar-
rukin he has named it. A peerless palace he has built within it.”
In addition to the complex of courtyards, throne room, state
chambers, service quarters, and guard rooms that made up the palace,
the citadel included a great ziggurat and six sanctuaries for six different
gods. The ziggurat at Dur Sharrukin may have had as
many as seven stories. Four remain, each 18 feet high
and painted a different color. A continuous ramp spi-
raled around the building from its base to the temple at
its summit. Here, the legacy of the Sumerian bent-axis
plan may be seen more than two millennia after the
erection of the White Temple (FIG. 2-3) on the ziggurat
at Uruk.
Guarding the gate to Sargon’s palace were colos-
sal limestone monsters (FIG. 2-21), which the Assyr-
ians probably called lamassu.These winged, man-
headed bulls served to ward off the king’s enemies.
The task of moving and installing these immense
stone sculptures was so daunting that several reliefs
in the palace of Sargon’s successor celebrate the feat,

2-20Reconstruction drawing of the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad), Iraq,

ca. 720–705 bce(after Charles Altman).

The fortified walls of the vast royal citadel of Sargon II enclosed courtyards, a throne room, service

quarters, guard rooms, a great ziggurat, and six sanctuaries for six different gods.

Ziggurat

Courtyards

Reception halls

and residential

complex

Citadel

walls

2-21Lamassu (winged,

human-headed bull), from

the citadel of Sargon II,

Dur Sharrukin (modern

Khorsabad), Iraq, ca.

720–705 bce.Limestone,

13  10 high. Louvre, Paris.

Ancient sculptors insisted

on showing complete

views of animals. This

four-legged Assyrian

palace guardian has five

legs—two when seen from

the front and four in profile

view.

Assyria 45

1 ft.