Bronze Reliefs From the Gates of Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, B.C. 860-825 is edited by L. W. KING.
Abstract
The present volume contains a complete reproduction in collotype of the hammered and engraved bronze bands which ornamented a pair of wooden gates set up at the entrance to a palace of Shalmaneser, King of Assyria B.C. 860-825. In it are also included reproductions of two bronze bands from a smaller pair of gates, which we now know were made by Ashur-navir-pal, from whom Shalmaneser inherited the palace. The scenes upon these larger gates illustrate the principal incidents of a series of campaigns which were conducted by Shalmaneser during the first thirteen years of his reign, and the scenes upon the bands from the smaller gates are also of a military character.
In the year 1876 the natives of the district of Nimrad (the Calah of Genesis x. 11) discovered these bands, and some fragments of them were dispatched to London and Paris for examination by experts and sale. In the following year the Trustees of the British Museum sent the late Mr. Hormuzd Rassam to MQul to continue their excavations at KuyBnjik. Whilst there he acquired for the Trustees the bronze reliefs published herein, as well as a stone altar, and a stone coffer containing two inscribed stone tablets of Ashur-nasir-pal, These tablets commemorated the building of the city of Imgur-Bel, and the founding of the Temple of Makhir within it. Therefore it was believed that the bronze gates came from the doorway of that temple. All these objects, according to the native stories, were found in the mound near the village of Tell Balawat, which is situated on the east or left bank of the Tigris, from 15 to 20 miles south-east of Mosul. When I was in Assyria in 1888 I endeavoured to acquire any further fragments which might possibly be in the hands of natives, but it was not until I was in Mesopotamia on my third Mission in 1890-1 that I was able to visit Balawat. Having examined the mound I found it impossible to believe that this insignificant site could have contained an Assyrian temple. In 1901 Mr. L. W. King was sent to Assyria to examine Assyrian sites, including Balawat, with a view to further excavations, and in his official report he expressed a similar opinion arrived at independently. Meanwhile the Bronze Gates have become commonly known as the ‘Gates of Balawat’.
Matters stood thus until the present publication was undertaken, when it became necessary to examine the inscriptions systematically. In the course of this work Mr. King obtained evidence which showed that the smaller gates at all events, stood in a palace of Ashur-nasir-pal, This fact finally disproves the statements of the natives about their place of origin, for it is quite impossible that Tell Balawat contained an Assyrian Palace as well as a temple. Therefore we must conclude that the site of Imgur-Bel is still problematical, and that the place where the bronze reliefs published herein were found has not yet been ascertained.
The importance of the Bronze Gates of Shalmaneser for the study of ancient art cannot be overestimated, and it was necessary that accurate reproductions of them should be available for students. The green-tinted photographs published under the title ‘The Bronze Ornaments from the Palace Gates of Balawat, London 1880-1902, were made from plaster casts much restored, and a great deal of the sharpness of outline of the original disappeared in the moulding. The reproductions in the present volume have been photographed direct from the metal, and though the scale has, necessarily, been reduced a little less than one-half, the smallest detail of costume, etc, is now apparent. Full descriptions of the bronze reliefs are given in the introduction, and short labels have been printed on the Plates to facilitate their use. A complete translation of the cuneiform text, engraved on the bronze sheathing which protected the edges of the gates of Shalmaneser, has also been given. All these are the work of Mr. L. W. King, M.A., Litt.D., Assistant Keeper in the Department.