ASSYRIAN EMPIRE, 1000-612 B.C.

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Gods to remember

Anu--heaven
Assur--vegetation, fertility
Sin--moon
Shamash--sun
Adad--storm

Kings to remember

Ashurnasirpal II, 884-859 B.C., at Nimrud
Sargon II, 722-705 B.C., at Khorsabad
Ashurbanipal II, 669-627 B.C., at Nineveh

Assyrian Empire grew substantially from 900-700.

Monuments

Sargon's palace at Khorsabad the only one well preserved

founded in 706 B.C. on new site; abandoned after Sargon's death in 705 B.C.

• typical features of Assyrian palatial architecture
  • mudbrick over stone construction
  • series of courtyards
  • temples, palace buildings mixed together
  • orthostats (stone slabs at base of wall) and walls decorated with low reliefs
    • generic scenes: lion hunts; king and courtiers
    • specific scenes: war scenes, mythical figures like Gilgamesh
  • gates to citadel, palace, throne room guarded by high reliefs of winged bulls with human heads ('lamassu')
    • lamassu from Nimrud temple, Nimrud throne room, Khorsabad palace entrance
      
• temple form still the ziggurat
  • Khorsabad ziggurat has four stages preserved, each 18 feet high
    • probably originally had seven stages, like the later one at Babylon
    • surrounded by continuous ramp leading to summit (126 feet up, if 7 stages)
  • compare ziggurats of Uruk c. 3000 B.C. and Ur c. 2100 B.C.