Course Readings: Web Gallery

Submission of the Elamites (Detail) (ca. 653 BC)

Ashurbanipal commissioned this relief to commemorate his victory over the Elamites at the battle of Til Tuba in 653 BC. In the bottom section, the Ulai River carries away the carnage of battle—dead soldiers, horses, and other debris. In the middle strip, the surviving soldiers of Elam kneel and bow in submission before the Assyrian general. Above, another Assyrian general introduces the defeated and submissive Elamites to their new ruler, Ummanigash. This relief appeared in the Nineveh palace of Sennacherib (r. 704-681) when Ashurbanipal renovated it in the middle of the 7th century BC.