Mesopotamia through palaces, stories and cities

The protective lions from Nimrud introduce a palace threshold. The Black Obelisk and lion-hunt reliefs then show different Assyrian kings presenting authority through tribute and carefully arranged royal action. Keep the rulers distinct as you compare the images. The Gilgamesh Flood Tablet changes the scale from carved palace scenes to writing pressed into clay for a royal library. The Standard of Ur takes the visit much further back, to southern Mesopotamia more than a millennium before those Assyrian rulers. Warfare and a banquet give another way to examine rank and resources. The selection joins these periods through objects and stories, while keeping the earlier city of Ur separate from the later Assyrian empire.