This ivory panel, currently a valued possession of Aleppo's Museum, was discovered at ʾArslān Ṭāš (ancient Ḥadātū) in northern Syria near the Turkish border. According to Assyrian texts, it originally belonged to the treasure of Hazael, King of Aram-Damascus (844-812 BC), until his son, Ben-Hadad II (or Ben-Hadad III, depending on the source), was forced to hand it—as part of a substantial booty including a bed and a litter of ivory—to the Assyrian king Adad-nirari III to persuade the latter to abandon the siege of Damascus. This elaborate panel displays Syrian art with a marked Egyptian influence, as demonstrated by the two winged sphinxes crowned with pschents and facing a sacred plant.
René Dussaud , Paul Deschamp, Henri Seyrig. La Syrie antique et médiévale illustrée. Paris, Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner 1931.
No comments:
Post a Comment