Department of the Middle East, Room 9 – Nineveh Palace Reliefs. Formerly the Department of the Ancient Near East
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Contributor:
Rik Hamilton / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
DPAND7File size:
59.2 MB (4.2 MB Compressed download)Releases:
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6202 x 3334 px | 52.5 x 28.2 cm | 20.7 x 11.1 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
2 January 2014Location:
Department of the Middle East, Formerly the Department of the Ancient Near EastMore information:
Department of the Middle East, Room 9 – Nineveh Palace Reliefs. Formerly the Department of the Ancient Near East, with a collection numbering some 330, 000 works, the British Museum possesses by far the world's largest and most important collection of Mesopotamian antiquities outside Iraq. A collection of immense importance, the holdings of Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian antiquities are among the most comprehensive in the world with entire suites of rooms panelled in alabaster bas-reliefs from highly important sites between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris and include the biblical cities of Nimrud, Nineveh and Khorsabad. The collections represent the civilisations of the ancient Near East and its adjacent areas. These include Mesopotamia, Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia, the Caucasus, parts of Central Asia, Syria, Palestine and Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean from the prehistoric period until the beginning of Islam in the 7th century. The collection includes six iconic winged human-headed statues from Nimrud and Khorsabad. Stone bas-reliefs, including the famous Royal Lion Hunt relief's (Room 10), that were found in the palaces of the Assyrian kings at Nimrud and Nineveh. The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh and Sumerian treasures found in Royal Cemetery's at Ur of the Chaldees. The earliest Mesopotamian objects to enter the collection were purchased by the British Museum in 1772 from Sir William Hamilton. The Museum also acquired at this early date a number of sculptures from Persepolis. The next significant addition (in 1825) was from the collection of Claudius James Rich. The collection was dramatically enlarged by the excavations of A. H. Layard at the Assyrian sites of Nimrud and Nineveh between 1845 and 1851.