17 June 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Assyrian Art at Getty Villa

The Getty Villa in Malibu, California’s arts complex is showcasing superbly-restored gypsum reliefs from the Assyrian Empire’s palaces for its special exhibition, “Assyria: Palace Art of Ancient Iraq.”

The notion of the empire began to emerge during the beginning of the final millennium before the Common Era, in the ninth century B.C. For the following 200 years, Assyrians claimed territory spanning the Middle East and Central Asia, from the Persian Gulf to the present-day Turkish province of Mersin, comprising a large swath of eastern Anatolia and winding down through the Levant and most of the Nile, which spanned Egypt.

Despite its then-unrivaled military and administrative dominance over such large and diverse areas and peoples, the material culture of its palace artisans survives as the glittering legacy of its strong civilization, with visual themes that appear to be more Babylonian than Hittite.

The Getty Villa exhibition “Assyria: Palace Art of Ancient Iraq” attests to the power of physical might celebrated via a constant stream of conflicts and festivals that predated the classical notions of tragedy and comedy in mimetic works of earthly representation.

Protective Spirits
“Protective Spirits,” Assyrian, 645-640 B.C.

Mostly on loan from the British Museum in London, a special curator of ancient Assyrian sculpture is temporarily exhibited in an opulent Italian mansion complex overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The works date from the ninth to eighth centuries B.C. and are accompanied by a collection of 19th-century expedition drawings by English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard sourced from the Getty Research Institute.

When studying the monuments of Nineveh firsthand between 1849 and 1853, Layard understood how to decipher cuneiform and used his talents as a draughtsman and art historian.

Assyrian kings from the ninth to seventh centuries BC adorned their palaces with masterful relief sculptures that represent a high point of Mesopotamian art, both in terms of artistic quality and sophistication, as well as vivid depictions of warfare, rituals, mythology, hunting, and other aspects of Assyrian court life.

The reliefs in this exhibition are from the palaces of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) and Tiglath-pileser III (745–727 BC) at Kalhu, Sargon II (722–705 BC) at Dur-Sharrukin, and Ashurbanipal (668–627 BC) at Nineveh. Together, these works, which include some of Assyrian art’s classics, give a representative overview of the major topics, styles, and creative achievements of Assyrian art.

The significance of these historic artifacts has grown because ISIS recently destroyed many of the reliefs that survived in Iraq.

The special exhibition can be visited until September 5, 2022.

Related Articles

Archaeologists discovered floor mosaics with early Christian designs in Roman town of Marcianopolis, in Bulgaria

16 January 2024

16 January 2024

Archaeologists discovered floor mosaics with early Christian designs and nearly 800 artifacts in the archaeological reserve of Marcianopolis in Devnya,...

Flint tools found in Tunel Wielki Cave, Poland, about half a million years old

9 October 2022

9 October 2022

Flint tools discovered over 50 years ago in the Tunel Wielki Cave (Maopolskie region) are not tens of thousands of...

5,200-year-old stone carving silkworm chrysalis discovered in north China

19 July 2022

19 July 2022

According to the provincial archaeological research institute, archaeologists discovered a stone-carved silkworm chrysalis dating back at least 5,200 years in...

Bone workshop and oil lamp shop unearthed in Aizanoi ancient city in western Turkey

13 November 2021

13 November 2021

Archaeologists have unearthed a bone workshop and an oil lamp shop in an Aizanoi ancient city in the Çavdarhisar district...

The World’s Oldest Smiling Water Flask with Emoji will be on display

4 July 2021

4 July 2021

After the collapse of the Hittite Empire, the Late Hittite States was established in Anatolia and Syria. One of these...

A Mysterious Chapel Discovered in Istanbul Bagcılar

3 August 2023

3 August 2023

While Istanbul continues to surprise with the richness of its historical heritage, this time a chapel was discovered in Bağcılar....

The Oklahoma City Museum of Art will launch “The Painters of Pompeii” on June 26

23 June 2021

23 June 2021

A number of collection highlights will travel to North America for the first time as part of the exhibition The...

The Worst Torture Device in History “Brazen Bull”

2 February 2021

2 February 2021

Agrigentum Tyranny today is in the provincial borders of Agrigento in the Sicily Autonomous Region in the southwest of Sicily....

2,000-year-old Monumental Tomb of Roman Elite discovered in Apollon Smintheus sanctuary in Türkiye

2 January 2024

2 January 2024

A 2,000-year-old monumental tomb from the Roman era has been unearthed at the Apollon Smintheus Sanctuary in the village of...

8 ostrich eggs over 4,000 years old discovered near excavated firepit in Negev desert

13 January 2023

13 January 2023

Eight ostrich eggs dating between 4,000 and 7,500 years ago have been found during excavations next to a fire pit...

Unexpected Results Of Ancient DNA Study: Analysis sheds light on the early peopling of South America

3 November 2022

3 November 2022

Around 60,000 years ago, modern humans left Africa and quickly spread across six continents. Researchers can trace this epic migration...

Archaeologists unearths Unique Tomb of 6th Century BC Egyptian Commander at the archaeological area of ​​Abu Sir

24 July 2022

24 July 2022

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced on July 15 that a team of Czech archaeologists, while excavating near the Giza...

A Unique Structure Discovered in the City of David Ancient Jerusalem – The Only One of Its Kind

14 January 2025

14 January 2025

A unique structure was discovered on the eastern slope of the City of David, within the Walls of the Jerusalem...

A huge artificial lake in Sicily is an ancient sacred pool that was aligned with the Stars and used 2,500 years ago, study reveals

17 March 2022

17 March 2022

A sacred freshwater pool on western Sicily’s San Pantaleo Island that dates back some 2,500 years was aligned with the...

A marble slab with an inscription from the 2nd century was discovered during excavations in Bulgaria

18 October 2023

18 October 2023 3

Archaeologists discovered a 1,900-year-old marble slab bearing an ancient Greek inscription in the Roman Baths of Hisarya, a small resort...