Neo-Assyrian wall panel
- Gallery: Room 9
- Culture: Neo-Assyrian
- Date: 640BC-620BC
- Object type: wall panel, relief
- Materials: gypsum
- Museum number: 124774,b
- 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.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
"This is a Neo-Assyrian wall panel from the 640 to 620 BCE period, carved from gypsum. Before you is a vivid relief that shows a marsh scene filled with fighting on boats, prisoners, and enemies hiding in reed thickets. The scene is part of a set illustrating Assyrian military campaigns in southern Iraq.
The image shows Assyrian warriors in boats following enemies through narrow marsh paths, with captives and slain on display. This design is among the most detailed from the Assyrian pictorial series. The boat shapes and marshes are based on those still found in southern Iraq. The wall panel helps reveal how ancient armies navigated these waters. This piece was excavated from the South West Palace in Nineveh and was brought to light by Sir Austen Henry Layard."
See it in person
Neo-Assyrian wall panel is on display in Room 9 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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