2,600-Year-Old Stone Relief Unearthed in Ancient Nineveh

The ancient stone relief depicts Ashurbanipal, the ruler of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 699 to 631 BCE, two deities and other figures, according to a team of archeologists from Heidelberg University.

The 2,600-year-old stone relief was unearthed at the archaeological site of Nineveh in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

Nineveh was the capital and largest city of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, as well as the largest city in the world for around five decades.

“The ancient city of Nineveh is considered to be one of the most important cities of North Mesopotamia and under King Sennacherib became the capital of the Assyrian Empire in the 8th century BCE,” said Heidelberg University’s Professor Aaron Schmitt and his colleagues.

The ancient relief, which was found in the throne room of the North Palace of King Ashurbanipal, is extraordinary not only for its size, but also for the scenes depicted.

It was carved on a massive stone slab 5.5 m (18 feet) long and 3 m (10 feet) high and weighing approximately 12 tons.

“Among the many relief images of Assyrian palaces we know of, there are no depictions of major deities,” Professor Schmitt said.

“Shown in the center of the recently discovered relief is King Ashurbanipal, the last great ruler of the Assyrian Empire.”

“He is flanked by two supreme deities: the gods Ashur and Ishtar, patron goddess of Nineveh.”

“They are both followed by a fish genius, who grants the gods and the sovereign salvation and life, as well as a supporting figure with arms raised, most likely to be restored as a scorpion-man.”

“These figures suggest that a massive winged sun disk was originally mounted above the relief.”

The archaeologists now plan to investigate the depiction in detail and publish the results in a scientific journal.

“The relief was originally located in a niche across from the main entrance to the throne room, i.e., the most important place in the palace,” Professor Schmitt said.

“We discovered the relief fragments in an earth-filled pit behind this niche.”

“It was probably dug in the Hellenistic period in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE.”

“The fact that these fragments were buried is surely one reason why the British archeologists never found them over a hundred years ago.”