Assyrian palates

The redécouverte of the ancient Assyrie was done in first by exploration of large the royal Palais of the néo-Assyrian capitals (9th-7th centuries), which were also the first vestiges of the ancient Mésopotamie to being put at the day starting from the middle of the 19th century, on the sites of Nimrud (Kalkhu), Quyunjik (Ninive) and Khorsabad (Hard-Sharrukin). Their size, their many courses and interior rooms and especially their low-reliefs reported in the large European museums marked the spirits of people who redécouvraient the power that Assyrie in Antiquity had had.

Beyond this interest historiographic, the royal palaces also had a great importance for the kings, who drew from their construction a great prestige. Proof is the fact that the last Assyrian sovereigns, who were also most powerful, put all a point of honor to build one or more these buildings and to report it in long inscriptions with their glory. These monuments were the heart of their empire, and they were thus to be with the height of its power and to relay the imperial ideology, in particular by the long planks that one had carved there.

The history of the Assyrian royal palaces follows that of the kingdom: initially confined at the town of Assur, place of origin of this political entity, they became more and more complex and took more importance in the large capitals of the empire néo-Assyrian, successively Kalkhu, Hard-Sharrukin and Ninive.

Palates of the 2nd millenium

The " Old man palais" of Assur

The oldest Assyrian royal palace is the Old palate, located at Assur, in the north of the old city, beside the complex palatial of the god Assur. It was built towards the beginning of the 2nd millenium, but these oldest levels are not known. It was of quadrilateral form, with almost perpendicular sides of 110 and 112 meters for the length, and around 98 meter for the width. It was divided into 162 rooms organized around 10 cours interior. Its plan was altered at the time of its restoration by Adad-nerari Ier about 1300, which reorganized it around a 31 meters length and 26 meters broad central court. It then precedes perhaps the future division of the royal palaces between private zone and public zone separated by a throne room, but this interpretation is still prone to guarantee, others simply seeing in the plan of this building that of a normal residence, but of bigger size.

The Old palate was still restored at the time néo-Assyrian, in particular by Assurnasirpal II and Sennacherib. One found in his basement of the royal tombs of this period, contained in stone sarcophagi, and plundered as of Antiquity. They are the burials of Assur-Beautiful-Kala, Assurnasirpal II, Shamshi-Adad V, perhaps even Sennacherib.

The " New palais" of Assur

A new palate was built in Assur by Tukulti-Ninurta Ier (1244-1208) - which also built a palate with Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta -, in the north-western angle of the city. It undoubtedly preceded already the néo-Assyrian palates, in particular from his internal division between private zone ( bītānu ) and public zone ( babānu ), but there remains very badly known because only the ruins of the terrace arranged to support it resisted until our days.

Edicts of court and harem

A series of shelves of the médio-Assyrian period contains provisions concerning the life of the residents of the private zone of the royal palace, before all the women lying in the harem. It governs their hierarchy, which place at the first rank the principal wife of the king and the queen-mother, and also their frequentations. The only men being able to approach them to transmit messages to them, perhaps Eunuques, were never to be alone and be with less than seven steps. Other strict rules gave instructions on the women and the men who could attend the residents of the harem, the vestimentary rules of these last, and the punishments in the event of infringement with one of his codes of conduct. One encourages the denouncement, the retention of information being liable to punishments, until roughing-hew it for the most serious cases. The women of the harem are however not cloîtrées, and can leave the palate on the condition of being constantly supervised.

Provincial palates

The excavations carried out recently into high Mésopotamie Syrian woman made it possible to release from the provincial palates of the médio-Assyrian time, whereas before palates of néo-Assyrian governors were especially known.

The palate of Such Sabi Abyad (unknown ancient name) is a fortress located in an enclosure coarsely square, of 60 side meters approximately. One penetrates there by a rectangular court of 15 meters out of 4, which carries out towards a square court of 15 side meters, constituting the heart of the building, around of which were laid out of the apartments, of the warehouses, workshops. Towards the North-East, one finds an administrative building occupied by the intendant of the governor (who seems little to reside on the spot), where one found tombs having delivered a small treasure made up of objects out of gold. Another palate was excavated on a site of the valley of the Khabur, has Hard-Katlimmu (Such Sheikh Hamad).

Néo-Assyrian palates

When Assurnasirpal II (883-859) decides to move its capital of Assur to Kalkhu, it equips the latter with a large palace, with the height of the power of Assyrie which it has just restored after several brilliant campaigns. With its continuation, the Assyrian kings will not have of cease to build new palates: Adad-Nerari III, Teglath-Phalasar III, Sargon II and Assarhaddon. Sargon II built in its turn a large palace in its capital, Hard-Sharrukin. This construction is quickly supplanted by the large “North-eastern Palate” built by Sennacherib in the new Assyrian capital, Ninive. It is undoubtedly more the néo-Assyrian royal large palace. Assurbanipal makes in its turn restore a palate with the opposite angle of the citadel of Ninive. Increasingly larger and opulent, each one of these buildings aims exceeding their predecessors, and at commemorating the power of its builder.

Accounts of construction

Resulting from the tradition of the inscriptions of foundation which each builder or restorer under a building left that it had built or just restored, the accounts of construction increasingly long and are provided as of the médio-Assyrian period, the top of the kind being reached at the time néo-Assyrian, in the Standard Inscription of Assurnasirpal II commemorating the rebuilding of Kalkhu, but also in the accounts of construction of Hard-Sharrukin by Sargon II and Ninive by Sennacherib, inter alia, which always make the good share with the construction of the new royal palace.

When the king decides the construction of the palate, all the empire mobilizes its power: the king requisitions his vassal and their richnesses, which enables him to spread out its power. The palates besides are often built when the sovereigns posed strong foundations to be able to them, do not feel more threats, eliminated their rivals, put an end to the revolts. The brought back spoils of these wars, as well as the prisoners become slaves with the service of the king, who they are simple workmen, or at best artists, thus will allow the erection of the large monument. Once the plan of the traced palate, one is put at work. One frame initially a powerful terrace being used as foundation, of which most remarkable is that Sennacherib will make build for its " Palate without rival" in Ninive. Thanks to that, the palate is posed on strong foundations, and one can undertake the remainder of construction, then finally to carry out the decoration of the palate, several texts proposing the splendid things which come to embellish the monument.

The completed palate, one carries out the inauguration, by a banquet where are invited notable kingdom, the vassal ones of the empire and the new residents of the city in the Standard Inscription , or more often a feast by which the king inserted the protective gods in his new residence, during the ritual of the Takultu.

Space organization

The néo-Assyrian palates were organized around two courses, forming two units. For the public life of the king, the other for his private life. They were often separated by the throne room, which delimited two spaces.

The first court is the babānu , the interior court. It is reserved space with the administration palatiale, where the public could go. It is there that the king exerted his public office. One finds there civils servant, servants, priests, well-read men, and the notable ones of the kingdom. It was estimated that the population residing in the royal palace, in the two parts, but especially in this one, could rise with more than 10.000 people. The whole was managed by the intendant of the palate ( ša pān ekalli ), which stored its resources in the many stores being in this part. It directed also all the servants and craftsmen of the unit, as well as the internal administration.

The second court is the bītānu , place reserved for a restricted personnel, prohibited with the public. It is about the place where the apartments of the king were, and its harem. Y resided the queen mother, the favorite wife, these two having the best rooms, then the other wives of the king and even his sisters nonmarried. The children of the king who are still young resident near their mother. This part is very well kept by Eunuque S. One knows that the women residing in the harem can, in the absence of being all authorized to leave place, to manage their own economic affairs which can be rather important.

The whole forms a whole of parts laid out in a quasi-labyrinthian way, articulated around the two courses. Beside those, one could find other sectors in the palate. Thus, to Ninive, the palates delivered the corpus known under the name of “Bibliothèque of Assurbanipal”, including/understanding most of the known literary shelves dating from the néo-Assyrian time. Certain palates had even gardens, in particular in Ninive where they are arranged in terraces, and which are perhaps at the origin of the legend of the Jardins suspended of Babylon. Beside the royal palace often a religious building was. Thus, to Hard-Sharrukin, the palate gives on the Ziggurat.

Architectural elements and decorations

The Assyrian art is very strongly inspired by those of its neighbors of Babylon, of Syria, the Hittites, and even of Egypt. The royal palaces were built out of bricks, risings, or cooked, materials local, however perishable, which explains why the buildings required such a maintenance. The palate was a monument with the massive aspect, and for little, its appearance would be similar to that of a fortress. The walls were imposing, broad of a score of meters. One penetrated in the building by a flanked door of two turns. Two statues of geniuses protect the access. The rooms were covered with a roof supported by barrel vaults. Some openings bored on the top of the walls let penetrate a timid light. One avoids thus that the heat wave reigning outside enters the palate. The doors are mainly curved. They were generally closed by simple curtains on the level of the rooms. The Assyrians had also borrowed from the people Araméens named construction Bīt hilāni , inspired by the Hittite art, a building including/understanding a gantry supported by several columns, being able to be at the entry of the palate, with doors decorated by large statues.

To decorate the doors, the windows, or even the vaults, one used glazed bricks, on which animals were represented, trees, as well as of the tools symbolic systems. The walls were decorated by Orthostate S, large plates made in Albâtre or Calcaire. By aligning them the ones following the others, one obtained long planks. Those found in the Assyrian palates are more the good examples of the art of the country. They represented with a certain meticulousness of the scenes on subjects varied, although the war prevails above all, like the religion. These planks are used indeed often as illustrations with the yearly of the king who made build the temple, and one finds there the most important passages, sometimes registered with the back of the steles.

Assyrian art palatial, it is thus before a whole apparatus of propaganda dedicated to the glory of the king and the god Assur. The visitor must be struck by the Assyrian power as of the moment when it penetrates in the palate. Certain walls of some of these monuments were even decorated by paintings. The statuary in sculpture in the round is especially represented the gigantic statues of winged geniuses androcéphales keeping the entry of the palate. Sennacherib speaks even in its annals about the way in which it (or rather one of its craftsmen) worked out a novel method connected with that of the lost Cire being used to mould a statue of Bronze of only one block.

Examples

The palate of Assurnasirpal II in Kalkhu

Built towards 860 by Assurnasirpal II, which moved its capital of Assur with Kalkhu (Nimrud), the " Palate without égal" is one of the first to be excavated by English Henry Austen Layard in the middle of the 19th century. It is one of the first monuments of this type to be built, and is in that the precursor of the future palates of Sargonides. They is here that the first planks are on orthostates realized in Assyrie, the building being in general richly decorated like says it the king in the account of the Standard Inscription , describing the restoration of the new capital. This palate is located at the North-West of the citadel of Kalkhu (from where its other name, Palais north-western). On its northern face, the palate is next to two temples, dedicated to Ishtar and Ninurta, and in the south a palate builds later by Adad-Nerari III.

Dimensions of the palate were approximately 200 meters out of 130 meters. It is organized around a rectangular throne room, measuring 45 meters length on 15 of width, which separates the two parts of the palate. On a side, two doors give on the babānu , in the western part of the palate, around which several stores are, and the administrative sector. Other side, towards the part is palate, one reaches the bitānu by the throne room. Around the principal court of this zone, measuring 32 meters out of 27, one finds a part where the private king and his guests diverted themselves, with the royal south, and apartments, in the east. In the North-East the Harem was, where the women of the king, their young children, like his/her sisters and the queen-mother lived (majority not having the right to leave there). This palate poses the principles according to which the Assyrian palates will be built after him.

The palate of Sargon II with Hard-Sharrukin

The town of Hard-Sharrukin, built by Sargon II, realized at the end of the 8th century, comprised an imposing royal palace, known as " Palate brûlé" , because of a fire which devastated it. It was located in the citadel being at the north of the city, that it overhung since it was built on a 15 meters height terrace. This imposing unit extended on approximately 10 hectares, and comprised approximately 200 rooms and about thirty course. Largest, the first which one reached after having penetrated in the building by a large door kept by statues of winged geniuses, measured 103 meters out of 91. From there, one could reach the religious sector, the stores, the administrative sector, and the palate itself, located at north. One reaches by there the babânu, then in the rectangular throne room of dimensions 45 meters out of 10 meters. Towards the west, the private apartments are. This palate was richly decorated, by large statues, orthostates and even of paintings decorating the throne room. In the west, one finds a building of the type bit-hilāni .

The palate of Sennacherib with Ninive

Built by Sennacherib in the old city of Ninive, of which it makes its capital then, the " Palate without rival" is undoubtedly the most remarkable building which the Assyrians constructed, in most beautiful of their city, to be with the height of their power. It was high on the Tel. of Quyundjik, on the remainders of an old palate strongly damaged by the risings of the Khosr river, whose course was diverted for the occasion. It was built on foundations of more than twenty meters of depth, very solids, since they perduré until our days. Its dimensions 503 meters length were on 242 meters of width. One penetrated there by several doors with gantries supported by immense columns of wood and even of bronze. The palate of Sennacherib formed a complex of more than 200 rooms, decorated by pus with 3 km planks. This palate was richly decorated remainder, and for its construction the most advanced techniques were used. The plan of this palate is however badly known, because only part of the building was excavated.

Provincial palates: Til-Barsip and Hadatu

The palate of Til-Barsip (current site of Such Ahmar), an néo-Assyrian provincial capital is a building being 130 meters long for 30 broad. It misses its southern part, currently under the Euphrate, but what remainder is well preserved. It is a massive construction, surrounded by ramparts, undoubtedly without another opening that the main entrance located at north. Of one reached the first court, of approximately 21 X 6,7 m, centers public space, from where one reached while passing by the throne room towards the court being used as center with private space (much vaster, 65 X25 meters). Other courses smaller were used as a basis for the organization of interior space. This palate does not comprise reliefs carved like the contemporary royal large palaces, but of the painted frescos, taking again the same reasons as the orthostates of palate of the royal capitals. Another provincial palate, dating from the 8th century, was released in the town of Hadatu (Arslan Tash). It is approximately 150 meters long, and organizes to him also in a bipartite way according to the traditional plan.

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