Scribd
Upload
80 views1 page

Royal Lion Hunt Relief of Ashurbanipal

The low relief sculpture depicts King Ashurbanipal and his entourage releasing captured lions and lionesses from cages to do battle. The suffering lions are shown being defeated with weapons and dying in agony. The ancient artist expertly captured the lions' movements, creating a masterpiece of Assyrian art that depicted each animal as a unique individual. The sculptures were created over 2,500 years ago and originally decorated the palace, representing a ritual hunt where the king would slaughter Asian lions released from cages.

Uploaded by

Moyrah Macapaar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
80 views1 page

Royal Lion Hunt Relief of Ashurbanipal

The low relief sculpture depicts King Ashurbanipal and his entourage releasing captured lions and lionesses from cages to do battle. The suffering lions are shown being defeated with weapons and dying in agony. The ancient artist expertly captured the lions' movements, creating a masterpiece of Assyrian art that depicted each animal as a unique individual. The sculptures were created over 2,500 years ago and originally decorated the palace, representing a ritual hunt where the king would slaughter Asian lions released from cages.

Uploaded by

Moyrah Macapaar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Royal Lion Hunt of King Ashurbanipal

“The Lion Hunt” is a low relief sculpture showing the Royal Lion Hunt of King Ashurbanipal with his royal
entourage, together with horses, dogs on leashes, and chariots. The sculpture shows captured lions and
lionesses being released from cages to do battle with the King. The Lion Hunt is one of the most
captivating works of art from antiquity. The suffering lions are depicted as brave and defiant, but they
are eventually defeated with arrows, spears, and swords and are shown in individual suffering and dying
in agony. The ancient artist expertly captured the lions in motion depicting each animal as a unique
individual. This intricate artistry was created over 2,500 years ago with primitive tools, and it is a
masterpiece of Assyrian art. These masterpieces were made about 645–635 BC, and originally formed
different sequences placed around the palace. They may originally have been painted and formed part
of a brightly colored Palace décor. They represented a formalized ritual “hunt” in an arena, where
captured Asian lions were released from cages for the king to slaughter. There may have also been a
religious or royal privilege dimension to the Lion hunt. An ancient clay tablet records that when a lion
entered a house in the provinces, it had to be trapped and taken by boat to the king.

Uruk Head, also known as the Mask of Warka (c. 3000 BCE) This is the first almost complete and life-size
depiction of the human face in history, with respect to its anatomical details. It is made of marble and is
about 20 cm tall. The eyes may have been inlaid with shells and lapis lazuli. The head might have been
part of a large cult statue or it was attached to a wall. It may represent the Sumerian goddess Inanna
(Akkadian Ishtar). It was excavated by a German archaeological team in 1939 CE, in a temple dedicated
to Inanna at the Sumerian city of Uruk (modern-day Warka), southern Iraq, and has been in the Iraq
Museum since then. Shortly before the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 CE, the mask of Warka was
removed from its display case and was stored in Room 104 of the Museum for safekeeping. Somewhere
between April 10 to 12, 2003 CE, it was looted from the Museum after the fall of Saddam's regime. In
September 2003 CE, a tip from an informant to the US Military police was received, which said that it
was in a farm north of Baghdad. A raid was conducted by the US army and found the Mask of Warka
after digging 15 cm in the dirt. It is now on display in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Sumerian Gallery. It
dates back to Jemdet Nasr period, 3000-2900 BCE.

You might also like