Relief - The Aftermath

myminifactory

Two significant events unfold across these three panels. In the top register, a scene takes place in Erbil, Assyria's capital city. Captives from the Gambulian kingdom are paraded through the streets as part of a grand military procession, where they are subjected to humiliating treatment and brutal torture. Two envoys sent by Urarty's king bear witness to these events. Meanwhile, in the lower register, a scene unfolds at Madaktu, showcasing an Assyrian general presenting Ummanigash, Elam's new ruler, to his subjects who emerge from the city to greet him warmly. Moving left along the far panel, Assyrian soldiers arrive at Madaktu in a chariot, accompanied by pro-Assyrian Elamites riding in carts. Traveling up the middle panel, Dunanu and his brother Samgunu are forced to wear the severed heads of their allies as a gruesome reminder of their defeat. Dunanu was subsequently laid on a slaughtering block at Nineveh and brutally slaughtered like a lamb. The brothers' bodies were then mercilessly chopped up and sent out to be exhibited in all the lands. Below this scene, the face of pro-Assyrian Elamite king Ummanigash is visible, though it's hacked away from its original position, a testament to the sack of Nineveh by the Babylonians and Medes. Moving rightward, Elamite musicians play double pipes, vertical harps, and a horizontal stringed instrument, possibly a hybrid harp and drum. Along the bottom of the relief, the River Ulai flows, with fish swimming amidst headless corpses, drowned horses, and Elamite carts. A large horse stands out on the top right corner of the right panel, facing left - this is Ashurbapinal's horse, decorated with a tasselled neck strap and a beautifully adorned headstall. Unfortunately, Ashurbapinal's image has been vandalized during the sack of Nineveh by the Babylonians and Medes. Scanned at The British Museum's 'I Am Ashurbapinal' exhibition in 2019.