Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2016 Representations of Royal Power: Textual and Visual Discourse in Ashurbanipal’s North Palace Cojocaru, Gabriela Augustina Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-135476 Dissertation Originally published at: Cojocaru, Gabriela Augustina. Representations of Royal Power: Textual and Visual Discourse in Ashur- banipal’s North Palace. 2016, University of Zurich / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Theology. University of Bucharest, Faculty of History History Doctoral School PhD Thesis in Ancient History and Archaeology Gabriela Augustina Cojocaru Representations of Royal Power: Textual and Visual Discourse in Ashurbanipal’s North Palace Advisor: Prof. Dr. Gheorghe Vlad Nistor Referents: Prof. Dr. Christoph Uehlinger (University of Zurich) Prof. Dr. Miron Ciho (University of Bucharest) Prof. Dr. Lucretiu Birliba (Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi) President of the committee: Prof. Dr. Antal Lukacs (University of Bucharest) Bucharest 2015 Contents List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................. ii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................ iii List of Plates .......................................................................................................................................... iv I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Objectives of the analysis………………………………………………………………….……………………………………1 1.2. Prerequisites of the analysis ........................................................................................................ 2 1.3. State of research .......................................................................................................................... 4 1.4. Sources ........................................................................................................................................ 6 1.4.1. Royal inscriptions ................................................................................................................... 6 1.4.2. Collections of epigraphs.......................................................................................................... 9 1.4.3. Reliefs within the palace ....................................................................................................... 10 1.5. Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 12 1.6. Structure of the thesis ................................................................................................................ 16 II. Contextualizing the North Palace .............................................................................................. 19 2.1. Late Assyrian palaces and their builders ................................................................................... 21 2.1.1. From Ashurnasirpal II to Esarhaddon ................................................................................... 22 2.1.2. Ashurbanipal as palace builder ............................................................................................. 33 2.2. Archaeological context of the North Palace .............................................................................. 37 2.3. Architectural context of the North Palace ................................................................................. 42 2.3.1. General features of late Assyrian palaces ............................................................................. 42 2.3.2. Enclosing walls and inner space of the North Palace ........................................................... 43 III. Royal representations in the annals ......................................................................................... 50 3.1. First wave of annalistic editions ................................................................................................ 52 3.2. Second wave of annalistic editions ........................................................................................... 55 3.3. The North Palace building accounts ......................................................................................... 61 3.4. Last wave of annalistic editions ................................................................................................ 71 IV. Royal representations in epigraph collections ........................................................................ 78 4.1. The Teumman – Dunnanu series .............................................................................................. 79 4.2. The Šamaš-šumu-ukin – Tammaritu – Arabs series ................................................................. 87 i V. Royal representations in the North Palace reliefs ................................................................. 100 5.1. Courtyard O and Throne Room Suite: Rooms M, N and L .................................................... 101 5.2. Central Court J and suite I, H, G and F ................................................................................... 107 5.3. Western portico: Rooms S, T and V ....................................................................................... 119 5.4. Passages and corridors: Rooms D, C, E, A, R, W and K ........................................................ 126 5.5. The northeastern suite: Rooms B, P and Q ............................................................................. 134 VI. Reliefs out of context ................................................................................................................ 137 6.1. The S1 reliefs........................................................................................................................... 137 6.1.1. Royal lion hunt .................................................................................................................... 138 6.1.2. Warfare ............................................................................................................................... 144 6.1.3. Royal banquet .................................................................................................................... 149 6.2. The V¹/T¹reliefs...................................................................................................................... 155 VII. Case studies: Room F and Room M of the North Palace .................................................... 163 7.1. Case study: Bathroom F .......................................................................................................... 163 7.2. Case study: Throne Room M .................................................................................................. 175 7.2.1. The Southwest wall ............................................................................................................. 176 7.2.2. The Northeast wall .............................................................................................................. 190 VIII. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 194 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................... 204 Appendix 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 215 Appendix 2 .......................................................................................................................................... 222 ii List of Abbreviations RIMAP – Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian Periods (A. K. Grayson (ed.), University of Toronto Press, 1987- ) RINAP – The Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (G. Frame (ed.), Winona Lake Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2011-2014) CAD – The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (Chicago and Glückstadt: the Oriental Institute and J. J. Augustin, 1956- 2010) iii List of Figures Fig. 1. Individual plan of the throne room suite (after Turner, in Barnett, 1976: 28), p. 99. Fig. 2. Individual plan of inner court J (after G. Turner’s reconstructed plan, in R.D. Barnett, (1976: 28), p. 105. Fig. 3. Individual plan of suite of Rooms I, H, G, and F (after G. Turner’s reconstructed plan in Barnett, 1976: p. 28), p. 108. Fig. 4. Individual plan of the Northwest suit (after G. Turner’s reconstructed plan in Barnett, 1976: 28), p. 118. Fig. 5. Individual plan of passage C (after G. Turner’s reconstructed plan in Barnett, 1976: 28), p. 125. Fig. 6. Individual plan of suite of Rooms B, P, Q (after G. Turner’s reconstructed plan in Barnett, 1976: 28), p. 132. Fig. 7. Individual plan of Room F with the position of the slabs (drawing by author), p. 162. Fig. 8. Individual plan of Room M with the place of the relief slabs, (after J. Reade, 2001: Fig. 3), p. 173. iv List of Plates Pl. 1. Plan of Nineveh (after D. Kertai, 2015: Pl. 16 B). Pl. 2. Kuyunjik citadel at Nineveh (after D. Kertai, 2015: Pl. 16 A). Pl. 3. Reconstructed plan of the North Palace (after J. Reade, 2000: 417, Fig. 12). Pl. 4. Slab 4 at recess of main entrance