Publisher's Synopsis
An excerpt from the Introduction:
THE Nimroud Central Saloon contains principally sculptures excavated by Mr. (now Sir Henry) Layard in 1847 and 1850 in different parts of the great mound of Nimroud; also some sculptures afterwards obtained by Mr. H. Rassam from the same place; several Babylonian boundary-stones, most of which were also obtained by Mr. Rassam; and a number of Babylonian tablets, some of which were obtained by Mr. George Smith, and some by Mr. Rassam, in Babylonia.
In the north-east corner of the room, on the right of the entrance to the Kouyunjik Gallery, are sculptures discovered in the south-west edifice of the great mound of Nimroud, which is believed to have been constructed by Esarhaddon, son and successor of Sennacherib, towards the beginning of the seventh century B.C., with materials obtained, in great measure, from the spoliation of the palaces erected in other parts of Nimroud by an earlier Assyrian dynasty-most likely that founded by Tiglath-pileser in. (745-727 B.C.), the sculptures referring to the campaigns of that king. The heads of winged man-headed bulls on the right, however, probably belong to the time of Esarhaddon, the builder of the south-west edifice. On the opposite (western) side of the room, are bas-reliefs found by Mr. Layard in ruins of the central edifice at Nimroud. These, which consist also of slabs representing incidents of the campaigns of Tiglath-pileser III., probably belong to the same series as that with which Esarhaddon had begun to adorn his own palace.
The man-headed lion and bull, with the smaller slabs accompanying them, as well as the large lion in the northwest corner of the Gallery, were found by Mr. Layard partly in the ruins of a large building in the north-west quarter of Nimroud, and partly in two small temples (one of which was dedicated to the Assyrian god Ninip) close by.
These sculptures belong to the reign of Assur-nasir-apli or Assurnasirpal, the earliest king of whom any large monuments have been discovered, and who began his reign about 885 B.C. Close to the large lion is a statue of this king on its original pedestal; and a monolith sculptured for him, and found at Kurkh, is placed near one of the western pilasters.
Other objects of note are the Black Obelisk and the monolith of Shalmaneser II. (B.C. 859). The former, which is sculptured with many interesting bas-reliefs, and inscribed with his annals, was erected by him at Nimroud; and the latter at Kurkh. Both these monuments are exceedingly important on account of the light which they throw upon Biblical history.