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 NARRATIVE ART AND EMPIRE:
THE THRONEROOM OF ASSURNASIRPAL II

Stephen Lumsden

One of the most powerful ways of

imaginatively constructing a nation is
to tell its story, and thereby to endow
it with an existence through time. I

It seems appropriate to honor my friend and colleague, Mogens Trolle Larsen, by

offering a report on some of the preliminary conclusions from a project that he
initiated. This is a long-term, multigenerationaI (faculty, graduate students, and
undergraduates), and interdisciplinary program that integrates the study of narrative
in annalistic texts and in the contemporary art of ninth to seventh century Assyria.
This project's goal is to heed the call for an integrated agenda in the study of political
and historical narrative in text and image in the ancient Near Eastern World (see
Michalowski 1990: 53), through its emphasis on narrativity, and the inter-
disciplinary - and combined - approach to the integration of the study of narrative in
political discourse in both media.? Avenues of research include developments in
Assyrian narrative structure over time (the apparent experimentation in telling a
'better story', for instance, in both the annals and the reliefs), comparisons with other
narrative traditions, and investigations into the properties and techniques of narrati ve
in political systems - the connection, and tension, between narrative and ideology.'
My contribution is concerned with the onset of narrative art and of empire at the
beginning of the Neo-Assyrian Period. The main focus will be on the largest grou p
of narrative scenes on the western section of the southern wall of the throneroom of
Assumasirpal IT (Fig. 1). These narrative scenes are adjacent to the important
symmetrically arranged scene of kings and geniis flanking a 'sacred tree', opposite
the central door, and they are spread across nine orthostats in two registers separated
by the Standard Inscription (Fig. 2). On the upper register, from the left, the Assyrian
army attacks an enemy in the field, and, on the right, the army attacks an enemy city.

I J. Dickie, 'La Macchina da scnvcre: The Victor Emanuel Monument in Rome and Italian National-
ism', The ltalicmist 14 (1995), 261-285.
2 An approach pioneered by Irene Winter in her L981 article, 'Royal Rhetoric and the Development of
Historical Narrative in Neo-Assyrian Reliefs'.
3 These were some of the approaches suggested by Professor Larsen to the members of the serninar at
its inception.
 360 S.LUMSDEN

'Mi(ia{!i~~;_"
,',' . ,,.ro"1
b
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r' tOil
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23:
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e
c

E ED

Fig. I. Layout of reliefs in the throneroorn of Assurnasirpal TI (after Russell 1998: PI. IV).

Fig. 2. Symmetrical scene opposite the central entrance into the throneroom, and the adjacent
narrative scenes (after Meuszynski 198 I: PI. 2).
 NARRATIVE ART AND EMPffiE 361

EB N

B a c

1- __ ====---:..-.:---::::::.=_-_- .=::.::.:.- - - -- "

d

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 362 S.LUMSDEN

In the central orthostats of the upper register the king returns triumphantly to his
camp. In the lower register, scenes of the king leading his army across a river and of
him leading a siege of a walled city flank a central scene of the king receiving
defeated enemies.
Julian Reade and Irene Winter, especially, have contributed greatly to an under-
standing of how these narrative scenes might have been 'read', and my approach is
founded on their seminal work. My introductory summary here is based on their
important analyses of the general structuring principles of the scenes, of the parallels
between textual descriptions and visual representations of specific military
campaigns, and of the reliefs' propagandistic properties. I hope, in turn, that my
approach may contribute to a more complete understanding of the 'deep structure' of
the visual narrative by connecting it more explicitly to textual narrative structures and
rhetorical devices.

General Observations

Assurna~irpal II introduces the first full use of historical narrative in the history of
Mesopotamian art (Groenewegen-Frankfort 1951; Winter 1981). The structure of the
narrative scenes in Assurna~irpal's throneroom have been characterized as 'strip
cartoons' (Reade 1979b); action is from top to bottom in the simpler scenes, and in
the more complex action scenes on the western section of the southern wall sequences
of 'approach, conflict and consequences' are distributed over top and bottom
registers (Winter 1981). The king is the principle actor, and in the main narrative
section the king - with one exception - always faces away from the throne at the
eastern end of the room, so that the general direction is away from the throne (Winter
1981).
Winter has cautiously suggested parallels between battle scenes in the throneroorn
and specific campaigns described in Assurna~irpal's annals, and that the geographical
extent of the empire would have been represented by the placement of particular
battle scenes within the throneroom (Winter 1983). After initially suggesting that the
reliefs 'were intended to give a generalized picture of the campaign or campaigns by
representations of what mayor may not be seen as specific episodes' (Reade 1979b:
64), Reade attempted his own identification of specific parallels, which in the main
do not coincide with Winter's (Reade 1985: 212-213).
Ever since Olmstead's famous remark about the 'calculated frightfulness' of
Assurna~irpal's reliefs (1918), scholars have also addressed the ideological and
propagandistic value of the Neo-Assyrian reliefs." Parallels have been drawn between
individual scene types in Assumasirpaj, throneroom and the qualities of the king
represented in epithets in the annals (Winter 1983). This approach has been extended

4 See Reade 1979c: Winter 1981, 1983, 1997; Bersani & Dutoit 1985; Bachelot 1991; Russell 1991,
1998, 1999; Marcus 1995; Cifarelli 1998; Porter 2000.
 NARRATIVE ART AND EMPIRE 363

to the relief decoration throughout the entire palace, which is said to express Assur-
nasirpal's royal ideology of 'military success, service to the gods, divine protection,
and Assyrian prosperity' (Russell 1998). The scenes on the reliefs also acted to
promote the power and invincibility of the king and the Assyrian army (Winter
1981). More broadly, it has been asserted that the annalistic texts and the palace
reliefs served as integrated representations of state ideology - of the institution of
kingship and the 'ideal of the Assyrian state' (Winter 1981: 22).

What Narrative Does

Narrative has been called the central function of the human mind (Jameson 1981:
13). Hayden White argues that it is a metacode for making sense: 'To raise the
question of the nature of narrative is to invite reflection on the very nature of culture
and possibly even the nature of humanity itself ... far from being one code among
many that a culture may utilize for endowing experience with meaning, narrative is a
metacode, a human universal on the basis of which transcultural messages about the
nature of a shared reality may be transmitted' (1981: I). Narrative, then, may be said
to encompass the transformation of knowing into telling (White 1981), and historical
narrative in art represents a 'specific event, involving specific persons, where the
action may be historical, but not necessarily' (Kraeling 1957: 43).
It is the 'structured content', the way the story is told, which characterizes the
discourse of narrative (Winter 1981: 2). Thus, there is a distinction between narrative
and story. Narrative is the combination of story and discourse: 'story is an event or
sequence of events (the action), and narrative discourse is those events as
represented' (Abbott 2002: 16). Tension is created between the 'denotative' (what is
being told) and the 'connotative' (how the story is told), the effect is enhanced by the
physical context (why it is being told) (Winter 1981: 3), and the interpretation is
produced by the audience (to whom it is being told). So, teller, tale, telling/structure,
audience, and context - all playa role in the creation of meaning of the narrative.
Among other functions, narrative works to organize human experience and to
construct models of reality; it 'creates and transmits cultural traditions, and builds
values and beliefs that define cultural identities' (Ryan forthcoming). It has been
argued, in fact, that narratives enable the ongoing construction of social realities,
rather than simply represent constructed realities (Bruner 1991). Narratives act to
assign meaning to events and invest them with coherence, integrity, and closure.
They can also serve as transformative tools by presenting the world in new ways and
by communicating new ideas (Gudmundsdottir 1995).

Visual Syntax

Narrative is medium-independent (Barthes 1977), and juxtaposed pictorial images

364 S.LUMSDEN

in deliberate sequence are one of the oldest and richest forms of narrative (McCloud
1993). Visual narratives and verbal narratives share some common properties,
making both suitable for communicating ideological or rhetorical messages in
didactic, directed, and connotative ways (Holliday 1993: 6, 8). However, visual and
verbal narratives are not identical, perhaps even structurally distinct: 'artists structure
visual narratives in order to ensure clarity and comprehensibility' (Holliday 1993:
12; Moriarty 1994). Writing orders words in a linear format 'which reproduces in
space what spoken words do in time', while visual narratives do not necessarily
conform to this linear format (Miller 1983: 44).
Syntax refers to the 'study of discourse, or narrative techniques' (Ryan 2003). It
provides a framework for content, and it also may be used to convey meanings
beyond the content of the story (Sherman & Craig 1995), so that in visual narratives
sequence is imposed on a set of images 'to imply meaning' (Worth 1968: 18). In
addition, relief sculptures, for instance, have their own syntax, sometimes developing
both diachronic and synchronic modes of reading (Brilliant 1984: 17, 19).
The visual syntax of complex representational scenes in the ancient Near East
prior to the Neo-Assyrian Period ordinarily worked through verticality, for which
there seems to be a strong cognitive attachment (see Brilliant 1984: 96). Vertical
stratification of scenes can serve to connect otherwise discrete registers (Brilliant
1984: 23), and monuments meant to be read from bottom to top include the Warka
Vase, Standard of VI', Stele of the Vultures, Naram-Sin's Victory Stele, and Ur-
Nanunu's Stele (see Winter 1996: 329). The sequence of the scenes on the Black
Obelisk of Shalmaneser III is also arranged from bottom to top (Winter 1981: 22).
And, of course, the visual narrative depicted much later, on Trajan's Column, is also
'read' from bottom to top (Brilliant 1984).
Although verticality remains an integrating syntactical factor in the decoration of
the throneroom, two other organizing principles predominate: horizontality (moving
borizontally down the wall from the throne, rather than vertically up a stele), and
action moves from top to bottom (and, sometimes, back towards the throne). A
Middle Assyrian carved stone lid already sets the precedent for a two-registered scene
in which the king defeats enemies in the top register and celebrates victory in the
bottom register (Reade 1979b: 52-53). The arrangement in the throneroom, then,
seems more text-like than earlier monuments organized vertically, or, at least, a
compromise between textual and visual narrative syntax. Directionality is important
for both, although each differs slightly syntactically; it probably works better for
scene continuity for the visual narrative to move downward in a boustrophedon
fashion.
Another possible organizing principle for the narrative reliefs on the south wall of
the throneroom is one of development in scenic complexity from simple to complex,
moving from east, near the throne, to west, that is, from left to right (Winter 1981:
29). The hunt scenes, closest to the throne, are confined to single orthostats, while the
adjacent battle scenes are arranged across two orthostats, and the narrative beyond the
symmetrically arranged scene opposite the central door is much more complex
 NARRATIVE ART AND EMPIRE 365

Fig. 3. Narrative scenes nearest to the throne (after Meuszynski 1981: PI. 1).
 366 S.LUMSDEN

covering many orthostats (Figs. 2-3).

If this arrangement is a conscious design decision (again, see Winter 1981), the
progression of the narrative scenes on the southern wall of the throne room acts
almost as a primer to help orient the viewer to this new version of an ancient
medium. Of course, this would only work if, at least on certain occasions, the scenes
were meant to be viewed from east to westlleft to right. Unfortunately, the users) of
this room are not clear, nor how these reliefs were meant to be viewed. Perbaps on
certain occasions a guide would have led people through tbe public rooms of tbe
palace, beginning by reacting the text of Assurna~irpal's Banquet Stele, adjacent to
the eastern entrance into the throneroorn, then explaining the scenes in the
throneroorn, beginning with the simplest nearest to the throne (Fig. 4)5 New media
(perhaps, also new versions of old media) frequently need intermediaries to belp
explain what is happening. Luis Bufiuel describes in his autobiography bow the
pictorial grammar of the earliest silent films was so new that an explicador bad to
'tell' the story along side the images (Buiiuel 1983: 32; Levin 1996: 3]). Perhaps tbe
audience for Assurna~irpal's throneroom reliefs (especially the more complexly
organized western group) would also have needed assistance in making new visual
conventions intelligible.

Linearity or Symmetry?

Most analyses of the main group of narrative scenes on the soutbern wall of the
throneroom, to the right of the symmetrically organized scene centered on the sacred
tree, have accepted it as an early version of the standard Assyrian linear narrative
sequence of approach - conflict - resolution (Fig. 5). Winter breaks it up into events
corresponding to particular episodes in the Ninurta text (1981: 14-15). Russell sees
the conflict on the right and the resolution in the center as part of single episodes
(1991: 216-217). Reade, at least, sees the possibility that the violent scenes to tbe
right and left of the triumph and review may be connected to them, but in the end
dismisses tbis notion as being too 'abstruse' (1979b: 63-64).
Only Pittman has argued persuasively for a symmetrical, rather than a linear,
arrangement for this complex group of narrative scenes (1996: 6)6 She points out

5 For guides (scribes/translators), see Reade 1979c: 336; Paley 1983: 53; Russel 1991: 233; Porter
2000: 16.

6 My own epiphany can perhaps be said to have resulted from an accident. The narrativity seminar
started with the scenes depicting the triumph of Assurbanipal over the army of the Elamites at the Battle
of the Ulai River, at the end of the development of historical narrative during the Neo-Assyrian Period.
Although complexly organized, the Ulai Battle scenes seemed to me to be perfectly understandable, and
'accessible', as familiar examples of the linear, strip cartoon format. When we then turned to the
beginning of the process, in Assurnasirpal's tbroneroom, I, for one, became disoriented. More
specifically, r simply could not understand the organizing principles behind the main narrative scenes
in the western half of the southern wall. I found the earlier descriptions of these scenes as examples of
continuous, linear narrative to be unconvincing. However, out of my initial confusion _ I should have
 NARRATNE ART AND EMPIRE 367

--
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,
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:
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l. " L~~ ..
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"

i i
Fig. 4. Plan of the Northwest Palace (after Russell 1998: Fig. 1).

accepted these scenes as early, 'undeveloped' examples of linear narrative, the hallmark of Assyrian
representation of action - came my conviction that the 'deep' organizing principle behind the
arrangement of these scenes was not linearity, but symmetry.
 368 S.LUMSDEN

-----------------~---~---~~~!~~~~~~
B-7 8-6
~~~~-,---c=

8-4 8-3

Fig. 5. Main group of battle narratives (after Meuszynski 1981: PI. 2).
r-
NARRATIVE ART AND EMPIRE 369

how action in both registers frames a central, visually dominant feature - the circular
camp in the upper register, and the king in the lower register. Although composi-
tionally distinct, the two registers are 'clearly planned as a visual unit', and are
connected by means of the cruciform symbol in the circular camp, which acts to
direct the gaze of the viewer down to the king in the register below (Pittman 1996:
6). Albenda's term for this arrangement in narrative compositions IS 'centrality',
which she defines as a composition dominated by a centered motif or figure, such as
the king, flanked by groupings of figures on either side (J 998: 15, 30). Such a
symmetrically organized narrative scene IS given coherence by means of the
movement of the lateral elements towards the central axis (Albenda 1998: 30).
So, following Pittman, it is argued here that these scenes at the western part of the
southern wall are not organized in the standard linear progression of beginning -
middle - end. Either the scenes on the left are not connected to those in the center
and right, or, I think more probably, each register represents a progression of
episodes, in the following manner: approach - culmination - conflict, or beginning -
end - middle. An important aspect of this structuring principle is directionality: left
and right (four slabs on each side) direct the viewer's attention to the centrally
located culminating scenes, and those directly adjacent to the central slabs act to
connect the other scenes with the central ones (Fig. 6). Perhaps another visual
strategy to direct attention to the central slabs in the two registers is the relatively
static aspect of the central scenes (review/camp), and greater amount of 'open space'
in them, compared to the slabs to the left and right, filled with action and figures.
Finally, as Pittman notes, the cruciform symbol in the circular camp in the central
slab in the upper register acts to move the viewer's attention both horizon-tally and
vertically, thus serving to connect the scenes in the upper and lower registers (Fig. 6).
This role for the camp in the relief is a very nice visual equivalent of the literary role
of the camp in the annalistic texts as a trope that connects individual episodes in
military campaigns.'

20 19 ta

.
K

oK
-
- -0 ~ K
x

o
- K

-J
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)

Fig. 6. Directionality in the main scene.

7 See, for example, the account of campaigns in the Ninurta text, Grayson 1991: 208-209, 212-213.
 370 S.LUMSDEN

Other important aspects of the syntactical quality of the visual narrative, as pointed
out by Winter (1981), include profile views of characters, which conveys action, and
the role of the king as the principal actor who defines the course of action. This last
point seems especially important for understanding the narrative scenes under
discussion here. The figure of the king has both a narrative centrality as the main
protagonist of the story, and a semantic centrality as the indicator of action and
directionality. The figures of the king highlighted in Fig. 7 illustrate how it is his
movement and direction, emphasized by active gestures, which direct the action and
the viewer's attention (mainly towards the central scenes in both registers). It is only
in the review scene in the central slab of the bottom register - the climax of the enrire
sequence - that he is in relative repose.
Of course, this main narrative sequence is some 20 meters in length; so viewing it
in its entirety would not be like comprehending an image on a page or computer
screen. Presumably a viewer might move around, stop at places of interestlbreaks in
symmetry, like the major siege scene in the western end of the lower register.
However, the directionality of the action scenes that flank them, and the actions of
the heroic protagonist, direct attention continuously back to the central slabs with
their connective, culminating, and climactic scenes - a narrative contained in
symmetrical, or iconic, form.

Rhetoric

How is intended meaning produced and conveyed in visual images? I follow

Pittman in arguing that the narrative scenes in the main group are not arranged in a
linear fashion. The primary organizing principle here is symmetry, which is a kind of
parallelism, and this is both a literary and visual code. Symmetry in narrative scenes
in Neo-Assyrian art 'may have served specific purposes' (Albenda 1992: 300). The
positions in the scenes - and the directionality - of the figure of the king, along with
the syntax of the episodes, correspond to the rhetorical devices of parallelism and
chiasm. Chiasm is a stylistic literary device in which a central theme is framed by
balanced and inverted statements (a-b-o-b' -a'). The pivotal theme at the center forms
a kind of crossing point, illustrated by the Greek letter chi. These devices are
commonly found in Mesopotamian literatures, and they are the most common
rhetorical tools used in the Old Testament (see Welch 1981; Meynet 1998). Initially,
then, I would suggest the following points:
I) There is a quite beautiful and complex organization to the main body of the
narrative in the throneroom, characterized by interplay between visual and textual
syntactical arrangements.
2) The main organizing principle is one of symmetrical focus on culminating scenes
in the center, which are emphasized by directionality and by the principal actor/king.
Two general characteristics of symmetry seem applicable: the deviation from mirror
symmetry creates a more interesting composition, and the focus of attention is on the
 -.
NARRATIVE ART AND EMPIRE 371

:Mi.~,
~ ..
.
. :
I

8-4 8-3

Fig. 7.
 372 S. LUMSDEN

main figure (Assurna~irpal) at the axis of symmetry (see Thonsgaard 2003). In

addition, the important information, the essential plot of the story, is conveyed by
changing the chronological order of events (see Zwaan, Madden & Stanfield 2001).
3) Within this general arrangement there are further literary/visual refinements in the
form of parallelism and chiasm, which lead to a kind of tension between the iconic
and the narrative, between the constant and the dramatic. Rather than a clear
differentiation between narrative and iconic, which ordinarily characterizes historical
and mythological representations in ancient Near Eastern art (see Winter 1985: 20),
there is a combination in the large section of the reliefs nnder discussion here of the
'transcendental' significance of symmetrical structure with the 'actuality' of narrative
action.
4) Just as parallelism/symmetry is an element of iconicity, so is chiasm a way of
expressing notions deliberately different from normal speech patterns. Chiastic
structure conveys the central idea of poetry and prose by accentuating the central
theme of the message. It does this by rearranging the narrative in a rhetorical manner,
thereby enhancing 'its validity and persuasiveness' (Brilliant 1984: 100). Visual
parallelism in the reliefs is represented by the action scenes flanking the central scenes
along the axis of symmetry, while visual chiasm plays on directionality in each of the
flanking scenes in both registers (Fig. 8).
5) This structure (symmetrical/parallelism & chiastic) has cosmic and theological
implications for this main narrative group. Just as Winter has described for the
adjacent scene with the sacred tree (1981: 10), this kind of 'heraldic abstraction'
divorces the narrative from time and space. The structure of the large group of
narrative scenes also serves, it seems to me, 'to lift the function of the king to the
realm of the "ideal" world that implies the divine'. Winter has also noted that the
Mesopotamian king always bridged the gap between the mundane and the divine,
and that in monuments like Naram-Sin's Victory Stele the 'heroic action' of the king
serves to elevate him to divine or semi-divine status (1996: 332-333). Historical
narrative in this main section of reliefs in Assurnasirpal's throneroom is transformed
into a 'mythologized epic' accomplished by the heroic protagonist/king, set within a
historicizing framework."
6) On another level this main narrative scene in the throneroom serves to underscore
the theme of 'redundancy', which Winter notes is so important for ensuring the
understanding of new messages (1981: 18), and which Russell has emphasized for
the sculptural program in the palace as a whole (1998). Paradoxically, all the
accompanying violence ends with a single theme/climax: the king in a calm, tranquil
'space', receiving the defeated enemy; a space representing equilibrium, harmony,
peace, restored order. In the end this main group of narrative scenes is simply a more
complex presentation of the same theme in the hunt scenes, the simpler battle scenes,
and the tribute scene on the outer facade of the throneroom.

8 Tbis is how Brilliant (1984: 97) describes the structure of the narrative on Trajan's Column.
 NARRATfYE ART AND EMPIRE 373

BEGINNING END MIDDLE

APPROACH CULMINATION ACTION

upper register

lower register

KING ATTACK TRIUMPH/CAMP KING KING

RIVER/CROSSING KING REVIEW/PRISONERS KING CROWN PRINCE/

CHARIOT

Fig. 8. Rhetorical features in the main scene.

Reasons for Rhetoric

If I am correct so far in my interpretation, then the next question should address

the reasons for the rhetorical use of symmetrical organization, of parallelism and
chiasm. The 'timeless' quality of the major group of scenes, suggested above,
certainly runs counter to what is usually taken to be the basic nature of Assyrian
pictorial narrative, that is, its linearity and its particularity. This aspect of the main
group might be due to the experimental nature of early Neo-Assyrian historical
narrative, or, perhaps, it may be connected somehow to the more widespread use of
apotropaic scenes in Assurna$irpal's palace than in those of later kings.?
The use of rhetorical compositions in the main narrative unit may also be
connected to the special character of the throneroom at the beginning of the empire.
Winter has stressed this aspect of Assurna$irpal's throneroom: She has argued for its
role as the central ideological place in the empire, in which basic messages are

9 For these qualities of the early reliefs, see Reade 1979a: 29; 1985: 213. Russell (1999) has argued
that the lack of 'captions' in the reliefs in A~~urna$irpal's palace may indicate a desire to make the
scenes less specific.
 374 S.LUMSDEN

emphasized (1981; 1983). Are some of them new, or refined versions of traditional
concepts, and so need to be rhetorically highlighted? There may be indications that
certain of the scenes in Assurna~irpal's throneroom differ from the way they are
presented in other monuments of his. Even in the same palace, it seems that similar
scenes are presented differently in the western reception suite (WG- WT): Reade has
noted that the military narratives in Room WO, for instance, are 'more tightly
composed and plainly episodic' than those in the throneroom, while the hunting
scenes in Room WI are more 'discursive' (1985: 213) (Fig. 9). In addition, individu-
als other than the king (and the crown prince) also hunt lions and besiege cities in the
rooms of the western reception area.

r----------------------, ,, r------------------;
, ,,
,
, ,, ,
,
i
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,
, ,
i, ,,
,,
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:- _-=--~J

WFl-2Q WFL-21

Fig. 9. Scenes from the western reception suite (after Paley & Sobolewski 1987: PI. 5).

I would like to suggest that in this central room of the first Neo-Assyrian palace to
be filled with carved stone orthostats proclaiming the new state and royal ideology,
the visual strategy was of a more rhetorical nature than in other rooms or other
monuments. At the moment of its creation, new ideological conceptions - new
 NARRATIVE ART AND EMPlRE 375

principles of power relations, internally and internationally - this new story - needed
to be emphasized in a special, and reinforcing, visual combination of narrative and
iconicity. For instance, an important component of the audience for the visual
messages in Assumasirpal' s throneroom would have been an Assyrian elite whose
power sometimes may have equaled or surpassed that of the king, so that obedience
to the king may have been part of the message specifically meant for this group
(Cifarelli 1998: 212 and note 12). In addition, perhaps the focus on the king as the
main heroic protagonist throughout the narrative in the throneroom, and especially
his 'iconic', axial position in the large section, was meant to promote the supreme
position of Assurna~irpal in the new imperial order. So, by means of the rhetorical
manipulation of narrative images, at least in the large group of narrative scenes that I
have been discussing, the central ideological value of Assurna~irpal's concept of
kingship, and of the power structure of the new empire, were made more persuasive,
valid and memorable.

Author/Patron and the Role of Scholars

Like all later Neo-Assyrian city and palace builders, Assurnasirpal was undoubted-
ly deeply involved in the creation of his new urban, palatial, and pictorial vision. In
this regard, he boasts of decorating his new palace with scenes of his 'heroic deeds'
on his Banquet Stele (Winter 1981: 6). Perhaps the participation of court poets, or
scholars (word-smiths), as the actual authors of the form of the narrative scenes might
account for the interplay between the visual and the textual in the pictorial program
in Assurna~irpal's throneroom. If so, then those members of court responsible for
composing royal documents, and the rhetorical and literary devices used in them,
would also have worked out the overall organization of the visual narrative. While
tbe simpler narrative scenes in the throne room are expressed in 'simple declarative
sentences' (Winter 1981: 13, 17; 1997: 362), I have argued that the large section of
narrative scenes, at least, is organized in a more rhetorical, or poetical, fashion.
In other periods in the ancient Near East artists appear to have been mere
technicians, who followed instructions from patrons and their officials (see Gates
1990: 35). For instance, it has been shown that at Persepolis, where the relief
decoration was created in a kind of assembly line fashion, artisans did not establish
the overall artistic program. They had a repertoire of set figures and scenes, and
masters created new ones; however, the overall design was developed by a higher
authority within the imperial court (Roaf 1990; Root 1990).
Scholars probably played a similarly authoritative role in Assyrian times in the
creation of large decorative programs. Reade has discussed two instances in the
representations of the visit to the source of the Tigris on the Balawat Gate of
Shalmaneser ill, in whicb courtiers/scholars seem to be involved in the creation of
stone-cut monuments (I979a: 23). In an upper register one figure in court dress is at
a distance, in overall cbarge, while another in court dress, with tablet and stylus,
 376 S.LUMSDEN

instructs an artisan, who is chipping a sign into the rock. In the lower register a stela
of the king is being executed by an artisan taking orders from a courtier/scholar, who
is, in turn, drawing the king's attention to the work.

The Audience

Current approaches to textual and pictorial narratives emphasize the role of the
reader/viewer in the construction of meaning (Holliday 1993: 3-6). In this view, the
audience is the producer of narrative meaning, not the author (de Certeau 1984: x.ii-
xiii). Although Assurna~irpal and his scholars obviously wished to communicate
certain messages in the reliefs, the messages perceived or understood by the audience
for the reliefs would have depended largely on the character of that audience rather
than the intensions of the communicators (see Ruby 1995).
The audience for Assurna~irpal's relief program was probably a broad one
(Liverani 1979: 298-300; Winter 1981: 30; Russell 1991: 223-240; Porter 2000).
Above I have suggested that the main message of the reliefs may indicate that the
Assyrian elite would have formed the principal intended audience (see also Cifarelli
1998: 212). However, the text on Assurna~irpal's Banquet Stele may indicate that, at
the inauguration of the palace, many other folk, Assyrian and non-Assyrian, may
also have viewed the reliefs in the outer courtyard and throneroom, at least (Winter
1981: 29-30; Russell 1991: 224-5). Visiting foreign dignitaries would also have
viewed the reliefs in the throneroom (Porter 2000: 15). In later times, as entry into
the imperial elite became more inclusive, the audience for the Assyrian reliefs and
their projected messages became even more heterogeneous (Winter 198 I: 30).
An important requirement of pictorial narratives is 'clarity', so that the audience
can more easily comprehend intended messages (Reade 1980: 71). Winter has argued
that historical narrative is best suited for the clear presentation (and manipulation) of
messages to a heterogeneous audience, because it requires less prior knowledge of
symbolic codes than (iconic) cultic or mythological scenes (1981: 29-30). An already
heterogeneous audience for Assurnasirpal's reliefs required a simple narrative, 'both
in style and in compositional articulation', and, although the linear narrative grew in
complexity in later reigns, it remained intelligible to an increasingly heterogeneous
audience (Winter 1981: 29-30).
This progression from simple to complex seems clear in general except for the
large group of scenes in the western section of the throneroom that has been the topic
of this paper; that is, perhaps the most important narrative scenes in the throneroom
of Assurna~irpal II. I have argued that the linear chronology of the narrative in these
scenes has been distorted into a more complex iconic and rhetorical format. Perhaps
this sophisticated and beautifully arranged group of scenes would have been too
difficult for at least part of the audience for the reliefs to easily comprehend, an
unsuccessful experiment deleted from later, more linear pictorial narratives. Such a
progression might better match the Roman development from an esoteric
 NARRATIVE ART AND EMPIRE 377

iconography aimed at an 'educated elite' in the Republic to a more easily

comprehensible 'lower level' of narrative in the Empire aimed at a much wider
audience (see Winter 1981: 35, note 24; Gruen 1992).
There seems to be a similar progression in the representation of time and space in
narrative art in China from its inception during the Han Dynasty (207 BC-220 AD)
to the Six Dynasties Period (220-589 AD). In the Han Dynasty the story is usually
summarized in a single scene, terminating in the middle. Figures are on the same
register, lacking depth, and the narratives, which lack a decipherable temporal
progression, are difficult to understand (Chen 1995). Later, in the Six Dynasties
Period there is more attention to landscape settings, and time and space are clarified
in continuous compositions. Here, too, then, there seems to be a development from
an 'achronological' narrative, which is 'more concerned with the pictorial
arrangement of these incidents than with their temporal sequence in which they took
place', to a chronological narrative in a linear layout, in which the 'pictorial sequence
corresponds to the temporal progression of a text', in landscape settings (Chen 1995:
252-254).
In line with Porter's admonition not to underestimate the complexity and subtlety
of Assyrian visual propagandistic messages (2000: 9), perhaps it can be suggested
that there were at least two specific audiences in mind for the images in Assurnasir-
pal's throneroom. The general scheme that moved from simple scenes to complex
ones along the southern wall of the throneroom may have served as a kind of primer
(pictorial and ideological) for a wide and heterogeneous audience, unfamiliar with
narrative images. The most complexly organized group, at the western end of the
wall, would have been specifically directed at a sophisticated elite Assyrian courtly
audience schooled in literary and rhetorical stylizations.

Text, Image, and Oral/Aural Tradition

The Athenian Black-Figure vase paintings of the sixth century also show a
preference for a symmetrical balance of figures around a central figure or scene as a
way to convey narrative meaning. In this case, it has been argued that this
arrangement is a visual parallel to early Greek oral, or orally derived, narratives - the
Homeric poems, for instance (Mackay, Harrison & Masters 1999). Homer often
repeats narrative elements in ring-like patterns (a-b-c-b-a), ensuring that listeners will
appreciate the central, framed point. The sixth century vase painting tradition of
'symmetrical enclosure' was parallel in form and function to ring compositions in
'imposing structure on a group of elements so as to impose unity, define entity, and
suggest interpretation' (Mackay, Harrison & Masters 1999: 141).
Of course, unlike Iron Age Greece, where pictorial narratives developed alongside
writing, literacy had existed in Mesopotamia for two millennia when Assurna~irpal
introduced the first full use of historical narrative in Mesopotamian art. Still, scribes
worked in societies that remained largely illiterate, and oral traditions remained
 378 S.LUMSDEN

important in both scribal and popular, illiterate traditions (Cooper 1992: 104). An
'oral explanatory component' remained a crucial element of instruction in the scribal
schools (Michalowski 1990: 58), and there probably continued to be interaction
between the oral and the written traditions throughout Mesopotamian history (Alster
1992: 59; Cooper 1992: 109).
Another important component of literary texts and epics was their aural quality.
Most such texts were meant to be read aloud, or recited, or performed/sung to an
audience (Larsen 1989: 139; Michalowski 1990: 65; Alster 1992; 1995; Cooper
1992: 115). If, as seems to be the case, Standard Babylonian, the literary and poetical
language used for royal texts in the Neo-Assyrian Period, could not be understood by
the vast majority of people, then the question arises as to whom the audience might
have been for the aural component of texts (Cooper 1992: 118-21; Michalowski
1992: 245). If texts were read or performed in Standard Babylonian, then either the
only intended audience was the educated elite (and the gods), or the audience was a
wider one and Standard Babylonian would have worked like Latin in Catholic Mass
after it was no longer understood by most people. Alternatively, if the story were
meant to be understood by a broad spectrum of people, perhaps the texts would have
been recited or performed in a vernacular language, which would have required an
oral tradition in the vernacular (although based on written versions in the literary
language) at court.
Perhaps, on occasion the messages - visual and written - in the throneroom would
have been recited or performed to both audiences that I have proposed, in Standard
Babylonian to the court elite and in the vernacular to a more heterogeneous group. In
each case, the scenes in the western end of the southern wall might have been
accompanied by a very poetical 'epic' recital of Assurna$irpal's heroic deeds. In any
case, there may be an interesting and contrastive development between text and
image during the Neo-Assyrian Period. At the beginning of the process the annals of
Assurna$irpal are written in rather straightforward linear prose, while later annals are
characterized by the use of a number of literary devices (for the later periods, see
Zaccagnini 1981; Gerardi 1992). On the other hand, narrative images begin (at least
with the group under discussion here) in a very rhetorical fashion and develop
towards a purely linear sequential narrative.

Narratives, Identity, and Empire

I) Rhetorical Composition - I have argued for a close interplay between text and
image in the throneroom of Assurna$irpal II. This interplay does not necessarily
indicate connections between particular textual descriptions in the annals and
particular scenes in the reliefs, nor a dependence of the pictorial narrative on the
structure of textual narratives. Rather it suggests that both 'systems of representation'
developed together and were linked together structurally, contextually and thernat-
 NARRATIVE ART AND EMPIRE 379

ically.l''
I have suggested that the author(s) of the relief program might reasonably be the
same men responsible for court poetry, epics, annalistic accounts, and other
important royal narratives, especially during the Neo-Assyrian Period when scholars
were so closely associated with the court (see Vanstiphout 1995: 2273). The message
was also similar in many respects to traditional Mesopotamian representations of the
attributes of royal power and prestige. However, the particular political context of
Assurna~irpal's story - a new imperial situation, a new political center, and, perhaps,
a new relationship between ruler and Assyrian aristocracy - required refinements to
that message. I I In addition, anew, more heterogeneous audience for the reliefs
brought with them different belief systems and levels of visual literacy.
For these reasons, how the story was told in the throne room was also new.
Although other examples of Assurna~irpal's narrative reliefs are organized in simple
linear fashion, I have adopted Pittman's argument that the largest section of narrative
reliefs in the throneroom was organized in a very complex symmetrical scheme. This
is a visual analog of poetic language, of rhetoric, used in the throneroom, just as in
certain texts (see Veldhuis 1999), as a tool of persuasion. The device of matching the
form of the image with the meaning of the image ('iconicity of form') is a powerful
means of persuasion (Turner 1998). It moves the audience towards accepting the
whole message by involving them in the basic structure of the meaning. The image
symmetrically framed is naturally associated with its meaning as the essentially
important element (Turner 1998); the center is the place of harmony and of the ruler
(see Kress & van Leeuwen 1996). Perhaps it is no accident that this group is located
adjacent to the formally symmetrical scene with the kings and geniis flanking the
sacred tree. Although both groups may be connected to particular textual (oral!
aural?) messages about the Assyrian king, they convey the essential points in
representational ways that are characteristic of visual images.

2) Context - Historical narrative develops in the context of the new imperial situation
in the ninth century (Winter 1981). The construction of a new capital city may have
enabled a new legitimizing discourse that would have been more difficult at the old
center of Assur (see Joyce 2000: 80); the historical narratives within the palace at the
new center played active roles in the structural transformations of the early imperial
period. If the beginning of narrative intelligibility marks the beginning of
community (see Winter 1981; Marcus 1995; Cifarelli 1998), then perhaps over time
linear narratives would have been more appropriate, requiring less prior knowledge

10 Pittman (1994) argues for connections in the development of writing and of 'action art' at the
beginning of the process in the Uruk Period. She notes that 'both "writing" and "picturing" systems of
representation shared many features suggesting that the mind of the artist and the mind of the scribe
were at least in some respects two facets of a larger system of representation' (1994: 189). Surely this
connection continues on into later periods, particularly when both texts and images are transformed in
innovative times such as the Nee-Assyrian Period.
II See Winter 1981, 1983; Cifarelli 1998: Russell 1999.
 380 S.LUMSDEN

than the complicated rhetoric of the first 'experimental' Neo-Assyrian throneroom.

The throneroom of Assurnasirpal II has been characterized as the symbolic center
of the empire, a microcosm of the state (Liverani 1979; Winter 1981 and 1983).
However, it is also a boundary space between the 'outer' and 'inner' parts of the
palace.'? so perhaps also liminal and transformative. As such the throneroom and tbe
relief program therein served as a transfonnative space in the production of meaning.
Perhaps in the period of radical change at the beginning of the empire, the meaning
and connection offered by the scenes in the tbroneroom marked the transformation
of individuals from a previous state of existence to the new imperial 'Assyrian' one.

3) Time - One final point, in the form of a question, really, and a possible avenue of
future research. The Neo-Assyrian Period was a hugely innovative one. There were
innovations in the representation of space and time in the narrative reliefs (Russell
1991). There were innovations in the measurement of time and celestial space (Brown
2000). I have recently argued tbat there were also experiments with the perception of
space in the Neo-Assyrian Period (Lumsden forthcoming). Is there also an innovation
in the perception of time, represented by the linear sequence that comes to dominate
historical narratives in this period?
At the beginning of the process, in the throneroom of Assurnasirpal II, there seem
to be three different representations of time. The hunt and battle scenes nearest to the
throne are arranged in simple versions of linear narrative, or 'fixed' time (Winter
1996: 327-329). The emblematic scene opposite the central door represents
'transcended' time (Winter 1996: 329-332). Perhaps the section of narrative scenes
that are the topic of this paper fit into Winter's intermediate category of 'mythic', or
'heroic' time (1996: 332-335). Since, as I have argued, sequential time was not
intended in this section of narrative, it may also be termed 'hierarchical' time (see
Small 1999: 564-565). Events here are arranged without any regard for temporal or
spatial logic; instead they are organized in their order of importance. The heroic
protagonist is framed in the central axis by his victorious activities.
Time is a cultural construct (Winter 1996: 326-327). For many societies in the past
the sequential, linear ordering of events 'as they actually happened' was not of great
importance (SmaJJ 1999). In the bistory of Mesopotamia it is only in tbe Neo-
Assyrian Period, particularly in the developments in narrative art after the reign of
Assurnasirpal, that there is such an emphasis on sequential linear story telling in
narrative art, in representing the whole story as it happened and replete with a
myriad of details. Would such a development towards a causative and inexorable
linear sequence of events have contributed to a new perception of time?

12 Russell notes that the throneroom 'represents both the innermost zone of the Assyrian empire _ the
place where Assyrian subjects come before the "king of the worJd" - and the outermost zone of the royal
apartments' (1998: 714).
 NARRATIVE ART AND EMPIRE 381

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