Glass paste depicting a human head from Nimrud

(Source: centroscavitorino.it)

Winged Genie. Nimrud, Assyria (modern-day Iraq). Neo-Assyrian Period, reign of Ashur-nasir-pal II, circa 883–859 B.C.E. Alabaster, 93 1/16 x 80 13/16 in. (236.3 x 205.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Hagop Kevorkian and the Kevorkian Foundation, 55.147

“How the Reliefs Came to Brooklyn

In 879 B.C.E., King Ashur-nasir-pal II celebrated the completion of his palace at Kalhu by hosting a banquet for 69,574 guests, but the glorious palace was soon abandoned and forgotten. In 1840, nearly three thousand years later, a young English diplomat named Austen Henry Layard noticed an unusually large mound while rafting down the Tigris River. He returned in 1845 to unearth the remains of the palace, sending his discoveries to the British Museum in London. He sent so many monumental sculptures and relief-decorated slabs that the museum sold some of them, including these twelve reliefs. In 1855, the expatriate American Henry Stevens purchased the reliefs and shipped them to Boston. Unable to raise funds for the reliefs there, he sold them to James Lenox for the New-York Historical Society. In 1937, the Society lent them to the Brooklyn Museum and in 1955, Hagop Kevorkian, the New York collector and dealer, donated the funds to purchase and install the reliefs in the renamed Hagop Kevorkian Gallery of Ancient Near Eastern Art at the Brooklyn Museum.”

storvandre:

British Museum by guillermogg on Flickr.

Ivory head of a lion

Assyrian, 900-700 BC
From Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud, southern Iraq

studentreader:

This relief was behind Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal’s throne. He appears twice, wearing ritual robes and holding the mace of authority. In front of him is a Sacred Tree symbolising life, and he makes a gesture of worship to a winged disc contain a god who may be the sun god Shamash, has a ring in one hand; this is an ancient Mesopotamian symbol of god given kingship. There are protective spirits on either side behind the king.Similar scenes were also embroidered on the royal clothes.

Ivory Plaque

From Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud, Mesopotamia (modern Iraq)
Ht 24.2 cm, Thickness 0.4 cm
Date ca 9th century BC

[Nicholson Museum, The University of Sydney]

Glass jar found in Nimrud (Kalhu)

[British Museum]

A beautiful alabaster column from Nimrud

[British Museum]

BREATHTAKING!

worldofmesopotamia:

Nimrud (ancient Kalhu) - Second Assyrian capital. King palace Ashurnasirpal II.

http://www.geolocation.ws/v/P/36690539/nimrud-ancient-kalhu—-second-assyrian/en

(Source: ancient-mesopotamia)

Glazed terracotta tile

Neo-Assyrian, about 883-859 BC
From Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Iraq

[British Museum]