Enemies Crossing the Euphrates River to Escape Assyrian Archers

*Week 3 Blog*

       This interesting gypsum wall panel is on display at the British Museum. The exact dimensions of this piece are height: 88 centimeters, width: 225 centimeters, and thickness: 9.5 centimeters (extant). To have a better visual understanding when converted from centimeters into inches, it is approximately 35 inches high, slightly wider than 88 and a half inches wide and almost 4 inches thick. This piece was excavated by Sir Austen Henry Layard in May of 1846.

     The wall panel shows an incident described in Ashurnasirpal's written accounts. This stone depiction takes place in 878 BC when Ashurnasirpal was campaigning down the river Euphrates and reached the enemy capital, the city of Suru in the land of Suhi.
     The relief shows two Assyrian archers who are shooting at the enemy. They are dressed and armored as typical Assyrian soldiers. They are wearing pointed helmets, kilts, swords and bows with quivers on their backs. There are three trees on the river bank, in which only one can be made out to be a date-palm. Relief of the palm tree and the line that distinguishes the river bank give this piece a wonderful sense of depth.

    

     As you can see in the photo above, it seems as though the foundation of the fort is on an island, and appears to be made of stone. The walls on the other hand would probably have been made from mud-brick. The arched shape of the doors is typical of that time period.



     There are three men in the water who are dressed in long robes, indicating that they are all of high status rather than ordinary soldiers. These swimming soldiers appear to be taken by surprise. The soldiers are of small scale, which displays a sense of spatial positioning and depth within this piece. There are two soldiers that are blowing into inflated animal-skins, which they used as flotation devices to help support themselves in the water. One of the swimming soldiers has been hit by arrows. All but one soldier have a beard. The one without a beard is probably a eunuch, a high official employed at the ancient Near Eastern courts. Eunuchs were castrated men who were in positions of high responsibility.

     There are traces of the standard inscription at the bottom of the panel. This was repeated across most of his reliefs. In order to reduce the weight of the slab for transport the nineteenth century excavator Henry Layard often had the ‘Standard Inscription’ cut away. However, he only had the ‘Standard Inscription’ removed if the did not interfere with the image.
     Unfortunately there is very little information to be found about this particular piece. However, this amazing work of art is wonderfully detailed with texture, depth and spacing, all of which intrigue the eye of the viewer.