The huge relief of the last Assyrian ruler was discovered in the old Ninaveh

A team of German archaeologists who dug in the ancient city of Nineveh, located near the modern Iraqi capital of Mosul, announced a “unusual” discovery inside the throne room in the northern palace of King Ashurpanpal: remnants of the huge comfort that depicts the legendary ruler of the automatic Empire along with two goals.

According to statement From Heidelberg University, relief was carved on a 5.5 -meter stone plate and 3 meters high, and weighs about 12 tons. Professor Aaron Schmidt of the prehistoric Institute, the Proteuhorestore, and the ancient East East Archeology, said that not only the size of the slab, but the story that it tells this is prominent among the discoveries that his team has achieved since the convergence began in 2018 as part of the Heidelberg Ninva project.

“Among the many relief pictures of the Assyrian palaces we know, there is no depiction of the major deities,” he said.

Nineveh created herself as one of the most influential cultural capitals in the ancient world during the reign of King Sisrib, around 700 BC. The Assyrian Empire, which was already beaten by a civil war, fell in 612 BC to a joint attack by its former citizens, Babylonians, Medis, and the Setin. Ninaveh has never recovered its strength in the ancient world, but it still plays a pivotal role in devoting arts and sciences as a pillar of modern human civilization.

Schmidt and his team had previously dug with the kuyunjik meat in the heart of the northern palace, which was built by Ashurbanipal, who ruled from 669 BC until his death around 631 BC, and is considered the last senior leader of the empire. The same site has witnessed an archaeological activity since the end of the nineteenth century, when the British researchers found the first large -scale inscriptions inside the northern palace, which is now located in the British Museum in London.

The newly discovered relief is depicted by King Ashurbanibal at a divine conference with two prominent Assyrian gods: Ashour and Ishtar, the last of which was the Nineveh Shepherd gods. The three legendary figures are accompanied by a fish genius, which gave gods, kings of salvation and longevity.

“These numbers indicate that a huge winged sun disk was originally installed above relief,” Schmite said, adding that more relief investigations will be conducted in the coming months.