Latest news with #AshurnasirpalII
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Assyrian swimmers: 2,900-year-old carving of soldiers using 'floaties' to cross a river
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Name: Assyrian Swimmers What it is: A relief scene carved in gypsum Where it is from: The Royal Palace of Nimrud (near modern-day Mosul, Iraq) When it was made: Between 865 and 860 B.C. Related: Tarkhan Dress: World's oldest known outfit was worn to an ancient Egyptian funeral 5,000 years ago What it tells us about the past: This carved relief from Nimrud, a major city of the ancient Assyrian Empire in present-day Iraq, regularly drifts around the internet as purported evidence for scuba diving nearly 3,000 years ago. But the wall panel actually depicts an army crossing a river, and soldiers are navigating the waves with the help of ancient flotation devices. The gypsum panel is one of several excavated in the 1840s from the Northwest Palace, which was built on the Tigris River around 865 B.C. on the orders of King Ashurnasirpal II. Originally located around the interior walls of the throne room and royal apartments, the carved panels depict the king leading a military campaign, engaging in rituals and hunting animals. This panel fragment, which is in the collection of The British Museum, shows several men and horses crossing a river. The horses are swimming, pulled on leads by cavalry soldiers. One soldier is free-swimming, one is rowing a small boat, and two are using goat-skin bags that the soldiers are inflating to stay afloat. A cuneiform inscription running across the top of the panel traces the king's lineage and describes his key accomplishments. The two-dimensionality of the perspective — in which the figures appear complete and not half-submerged — is typical in Assyrian art, according to The British Museum. MORE ASTONISHING ARTIFACTS —Sun Chariot: An ornate Bronze Age treasure that may have featured in an ancient Nordic religious ceremony —Prosciutto di Portici: A portable sundial that looks like a pork leg — and it was likely owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law before Mount Vesuvius erupted —Ram in the Thicket: A 4,500-year-old gold statue from the royal cemetery at Ur Animal skin or bladder floats appear several times in the Nimrud wall panels, and they were likely made from goats or pigs. The floats were used to help keep a soldier's weapons dry and to allow an army to sneak up on an enemy. Ashurnasirpal II was known for his military prowess as well as his brutality, and his innovative tactics — including the goat-skin floats — helped him expand his empire considerably in the ninth century B.C. While it's interesting to ponder how much of the world the Assyrian army might have conquered if they'd had scuba gear, the humble goat skin still represents a key invention that helped them maintain power in Mesopotamia for centuries, until the empire fell around 600 B.C.
West Australian
15-06-2025
- West Australian
Top draws at London's (free) British Museum
You'd fear there'd be no escaping the hordes at the British Museum, which once again has been revealed as the UK's most visited attraction (this and 15 of the top 20 sights are in London). Free to enter, the museum maintained prime position with 6.4 million visitors in 2024, an 11 per cent year-on-year increase from 2023 and even higher than its pre-pandemic 2019 figure. Expect a fair chunk of the crowds to be clustered around the museum's ancient Egyptian treasures, the centrepiece of which is the Rosetta Stone, whose discovery in 1799 allowed researchers to crack some of the hieroglyphic mysteries of one of earth's most enthralling civilisations. Yet there are numerous other galleries to discover at this London landmark. Stocked with incredible finds, these rooms nevertheless tend to attract slightly fewer people. Visitors' jaws tend to drop when greeted by the two colossal winged human-headed lions that soar in the Assyrian galleries (rooms 6-10). Made of gypsum in the late 9th century BC, and weighing about 16 tonnes each, these mythological guardians flanked an entrance to the royal palace of King Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud, a thriving city in ancient Assyria (modern-day northern Iraq). Other relics here include a huge beast that stood by the Temple of Ishtar, a goddess of war, and fragments and replicas of massive bronze gates from Balawat, another Assyrian archaeological site. Unless you're a giant, you'll also be dwarfed by the robed marble statues in room 21. Towering almost 2.7m in height, they're two of the gobsmacking exhibits in the museum's Mausoleum of Halikarnassos. Regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, this elaborate 40m-high tomb for King Maussollos of Karia, south-west Turkey, dates from about 350BC. Later destroyed by earthquakes, its ruins still scatter the vibrant coastal resort of Bodrum, while some of the mausoleum's most intact remains are displayed here at the museum. Rivalling the free-standing statues (of Maussollos and queen Artemisia) for wow factor is a chunk of the vast four-horse marble chariot that once crowned the stepped pyramid on the tomb's roof. You'll also see sculpted reliefs that chart episodes from the king's royal court and his hopes for the afterlife. Head to room 33 - the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery - for some of the museum's finest exhibits from Asia. Stretching 115m, and reopened by the late Queen Elizabeth II after a revamp in 2017, it's the longest gallery in the entire museum. While one half flaunts priceless jade, lacquer and ceramic artefacts stretching across 7000 years of Chinese history, including from its imperial dynasties, the other half channels exotic (and erotic) items from South Asia. Tantric sculptures are displayed alongside items from Indus and Mughal civilisations and statues of gods and goddesses, including Shiva and Tara. Sandstone Buddhas, commemorative postage stamps from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, and paintings by Calcutta-born polymath Rabindranath Tagore - who won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 - also bless this bewitching gallery. Roaming most of the galleries here, you might think the British Museum is a misnomer for this place. Perhaps the World Museum would be more appropriate (more than two million years of global human history and culture are explored here). But there is a more domestic flavour at least between rooms 41 and 50, where you'll find Bronze Age, ancient Roman and Viking hoards unearthed on the British Isles as well as relics from the Norman and Tudor eras. Beyond the gaze-worthy coins, pottery and jewellery are standout objects like the helmet from the Anglo-Saxon ship burial discovered at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, one of most important moments in British archaeology when it was dug up on the eve of World War II. Another object that stirs the imagination is the bronze head bust of Hadrian, Roman emperor from AD117-138. Believed to have once topped a statue that stood in a public space in Roman-ruled Londinium, it was plucked from the River Thames near London Bridge. The British Museum is the kind of place you could (and probably should) visit every time you're in London, because as well as its mind blowing permanent collection, it also stages a mix of free and paid-for temporary exhibitions with themes that may pique your interest. From the Silk Road to the Incas, Islamic empires to the pharaohs, every region and epoch comes under the museum's spotlight at some point. Current exhibitions showcase the 19th century art of Utagawa Hiroshige, an icon of Edo-era Japan, and the heritage of traditional Afghan rugs (and how they're woven with highs and lows of the nation's knotted history). A new exhibition, Ancient India: Living Traditions, begins on May 22 and will run until October 19. Check the museum's website closer to your visit to see what else is on. You may need to book tickets and a time slot for the most popular exhibitions. + Apart from December 24-26, The British Museum is open daily 10am to 5pm (and until 8.30pm on Fridays). For more information, see + To help plan a trip to Britain, see
Shafaq News
19-02-2025
- Shafaq News
German mission begins excavations at UNESCO's Assur in Iraq
Shafaq News/ The Directorate of Antiquities in Saladin announced on Wednesday that a German archaeological mission has begun excavations at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Assur (Ashur). Ali Ahmad Abdul Latif, the Inspector of Antiquities in Saladin, told Shafaq News that 'the German mission's work will play an important role in uncovering further archaeological findings in this significant location in the province.' The ancient city of Ashur is located on the limestone plateau of northern Mesopotamia, perched on a cliff along the western bank of the Tigris River. Founded in the 3rd millennium B.C. along a key trade route connecting the Iranian plateau to Central Anatolia, Ashur grew in prominence and became the capital of the Assyrian Empire from the 14th to the 9th centuries B.C. The city's name is derived from Ashur, the chief deity of the Assyrians, who became the national god of the Assyrian kings. Although King Ashurnasirpal II later moved the capital northward to Kalhu (modern-day Nimrud), Ashur retained its religious significance as the dwelling place of the national god and the burial site for deceased kings.
