Image: Shalmaneser III, detail, North Face, East End, Throne Dais of Shalmaneser III from Nimrud, Iraq

Description: This scene is part of a long tributary one where the king receives tribute from Qalparunda of the Land of Unqi (a Luwian Syri-Hittite state, also known as Pattin). Here, the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser III (r. 858-824 BCE), stands below a parasol. His left hand rests on the tip of his bow while the right hand (grasping a pair of arrows) is raised in salute. The king is surrounded by his attendants. The most striking feature is that the sculptor did not adopt the convention which made the king stand a head taller than his subjects, and his technique, particularly in attention to detail, was markedly superior. On the counterpart scene of the West End of the South Face, the king was depicted as noticeably taller than his companions. This dais was found in the eastern end of the throne room (T1) at Fort Shalmaneser in the city of Nimrud (in modern-day Nineveh Governorate, Iraq) in 1962 CE. The front and sides of the dais were carved in relief depicting various tributary scenes. The dais was completed around 846-845 BCE (and that would be the king's 13th year of reign). On display at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Iraq.
Title: Shalmaneser III, detail, North Face, East End, Throne Dais of Shalmaneser III from Nimrud, Iraq
Credit: Own work
Author: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes