Photos of the Beautiful Ancient Assyrian Art of Khorsabad

Home  / Historic Photos Index /  Ancient World Photos /  Ancient Assyrian Photos

Photos of the Beautiful Ancient Assyrian Art Relief Panels from Khorsabad – Beautiful Photos from the best museums of Europe & the Near East. Photos by Photographer Paul E Williams. (TIP – use the icons below the slideshow for thumbnail photos and info)

How To Download These Photos ?

Photos of the Ancient Assyrian Relief Panels from Khorsabad

---

Photos of the Ancient Assyrians stone relief sculptured panels from Dur Sharrukin, the palace of Assyrian king Sargon II at Khorsabad. 713-706 BC.

Dur-Sharrukin (Fortress of Sargon), present day Khorsabad, was the Ancient Assyrians capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria. Khorsabad is a village in northern Iraq, 15 km northeast of Mosul.

The great city was entirely built in the decade preceding 706 BC. After the unexpected death of Sargon in battle, the capital was shifted 20 km south to Nineveh. Sargon II ruled from 722 to 705 BC.

The town was of rectangular layout and measured 1758.6 by 1635 metres. The enclosed area comprised 3 square kilometres, or 288 hectares. The length of the walls was 16280 Ancient Assyrian units, which according to Sargon himself corresponded to the numerical value of his name.

The Dur-Sharrukin palace complex was situated on the northern wall of the city. At the entrance of the palace were a ramp and a large doorway with the god-protector of the city Lamassu on one side.

Adorned with sculptures and wall reliefs the gates of Dur-Sharrukin palace were flanked with winged-bull statues weighing up to 40 tons. Supposedly at least one of these winged bulls were lost in the river as the rafts that were delivering it sank..