EPILOGUE

"This book examines the presentation and reception of Assyrian art by different cultures, in different contexts, over time. The focus is a group of sculptures from the palaces of Assurnasirpal II at ancient Kalhu and Sennacherib at ancient Nineveh, which were presented in five different contexts: The Assyrian palace, the Nineveh Porch, the antiquities market, the American art museum and the modern press.

The Assyrian Palace:

The sculptured slabs that form the focus of this study were once parts of a continuous wall friezes in the palaces of Assurnasirpal at Nimrud and Sannacherib at Nineveh.

  The function of these sculptures seems to have been purely practical. They were carved as visual records of the King’s accomplishments and pious deeds, as models for correct behavior and warnings of the consequences of incorrect behavior, as apotropaic guardians of the palace and its inhabitants, and, in the case of Assurnasirpal at least, as reflections of the activities that went on in different parts of the palace.

  The Assyrian practice of decorating palaces with wall reliefs apparently originated with Assurnasirpal--there is no evidence that it was the continuation of an earlier tradition. Neither is there any evidence that the Assyrians considered these sculptures to be art, or indeed that they even had a concept comparable to what we call art.