Neo-Assyrian wall panel
- Gallery: Room 8
- Culture: Neo-Assyrian
- Date: 728BC
- Object type: wall panel, relief
- Materials: gypsum
- Museum number: 118934
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
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About this object
Before you is a Neo-Assyrian wall panel carved from gypsum, dating back to 728 BC. This intricate relief depicts events from a military campaign in vivid detail.
At the top, a besieged city is shown in a layered, complex composition combining plan and elevation. Assyrian forces appear in the middle section, where women await surrender. Below, archers defended a city while others seize goods, and enemy dead lie among the spoils. Soldiers with lances attack the corner of a wall, depicted in both elevation and plan.
In the lower part, Assyrian soldiers carry away statues of gods, including forms of Ishtar and the weather god Adad.
On the central band is an important cuneiform inscription referring to deities and a campaign led by Tiglath-pileser III. The text describes how deities were returned to their cities after a major conflict.
This panel reflects the complexity of military and religious life in the Neo-Assyrian era, as recorded at Nimrud.
See it in person
Neo-Assyrian wall panel is on display in Room 8 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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