Assyria: lion hunts, Lachish and Khorsabad

The carved stories in this group belong to different kings and places. Room 10a contains the Assyrian lion-hunt reliefs made for the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal’s North Palace at Nineveh. Lions, attendants, horses and the king form a sequence of controlled danger around the royal hunt. Room 10b concerns the siege of Lachish, associated with Sennacherib. Room 10c contains sculpture from Khorsabad. Keep those names with the scenes as you look. The neighbouring rooms bring Assyrian palace art together without turning it into one event or one reign. In the lion hunts, pause over the animals’ bodies and the movements the sculptors gave them. Their wounds and effort are closely observed within an image meant to proclaim the ruler’s strength. The panels once continued around a palace room, where the story surrounded its viewers.