The Architecture of Late Assyrian Royal Palaces

Abstract

Abstract The Late Assyrian Empire (c.900–612 BCE) was the first state to rule the major centres of the Middle East. The Assyrian court inhabited some of the most monumental palaces of its time. The Architecture of Late Assyrian Royal Palaces is the first book to provide an in-depth analysis of Late Assyrian palatial architecture; it offers a general introduction to all major royal palaces in the major centres of the empire: Assur, Kalḫu, Dur-Sharruken, and Nineveh. The book gives a comprehensive overview of all the relevant excavated materials, bringing together the architecture as currently understood within the broader framework of textual and art-historical sources, and providing new plans for all palaces. Research has often focused on a duality between public and private realms. This book redefines the architectural principles governing these palaces and proposes a new historical framework; it analyses the organization of access and movement, the spatial organization of the palace community, and the role of the king within the palaces. The book argues that architectural changes were guided by a need to accommodate ever-larger groups as the empire grew in size. The main reception suites became more monumental over time, but the general principles of Late Assyrian architecture remained. This included an architecture that focused on the interior of spaces, placed the king front and centre, and was primarily geared to state activity even in the more residential areas of the palaces.

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