Naram-Sin's rock-cut relief at Darband-i-Gawr, Iraq

[Sharur]

Chanced upon an unexpected new photo of this relief panel during one of my periodic Mesopotamian online trawls today, thanks to this image posted in late March on Wikimedia Commons, linked from the Naram-Sin Wikipedia page. This is rather exciting, as I've never previously managed to locate any images of this carving (mentioned in my notes on the Lullubi in Slingshot 265, p.16).

The photo's good, but I did some more hunting, and tracked down this webpage by the man who took the photo. There are more images here, showing tremendous amounts of detail, along with some useful notes and commentary - and see the discussion at the foot of the page for three further images.

Indeed, this Ancient History Et Cetera website looks like a quite useful find. There are, for instance, images of other ancient Mesopotamian objects hidden away in it, some with similar free re-use options to those on Wikimedia Commons (hope our Editor's listening!).

Only downside is the site seems to run a little slowly for me, and there are irritating amounts of adverts and pop-ups at times.

Worth a fresh Mesopotamian Notelet, d'you think?

[Paul Innes]

Thanks, Alastair, message came through loud and clear!

Paul

[Patrick Waterson]

Worth a fresh Mesopotamian Notelet, d'you think?

Assuredly!

[Duncan Head]

Worth a fresh Mesopotamian Notelet, d'you think?

Assuredly!

And the Belula Pass relief might be worth another.

[Jim Webster]

You do wonder who was expected to wander past and see it!

Jim

[Patrick Waterson]

I wonder if there was a cliff road back at the time when it was carved.  There did seem to be a convenient, if crumbled, remnant of ledge which the photographers were able to use, though if there was a road one is left wondering what it connected with what.

[Jim Webster]

It was certainly the 'high road' to somewhere!

I wonder if viewing one was somewhat akin to a pilgrimage, in that you got brownie points from god/the king/the local administrator for going and standing and looking at it?

Jim

[Sharur]

You do wonder who was expected to wander past and see it!

Well, the Darband-i-Gawr and Belula reliefs are both in passes through the Zagros Mountains, and pretty much any pass seems to have been used as a "roadway" of sorts into or across the mountains back in the third millennium BC and before. I've discussed aspects of this in various of my Mesopotamian articles in Slingshot previously. Whether the passes were heavily used isn't certain, but the reliefs do at least indicate likely movement routes for the armies (as who else would have bothered carving them?).

The reliefs - and there are others scattered elsewhere across the Zagros (including four believed to be Lullubian from the late 3rd millennium at Sar-e Pol-e Zahab in Iran; link is to the Livius.org website, as it has photos of all four, plus a fifth from the Parthian period) - seem to have been used as propaganda tools by both the Zagros peoples, and those like the Akkadians who invaded the mountains from Mesopotamia. The most famous of the Sar-e Pol-e Zahab quartet actually names its figure as the Lullubian king Anubanini, who's known from Mesopotamian textual sources around the turn of the millennium (or from the Isin-Larsa period, if you're not keen on the conventional absolute chronology!).

Thanks for the "subtle hint" about the Belula Pass relief, Duncan 

[Duncan Head]

Thanks for the "subtle hint" about the Belula Pass relief, Duncan 

You're  most welcome 

[stevenneate]

Crackin' stuff lads!  I never tire of reading or viewing them.  Took about 30 seconds of looking at these two for that little gaming light in my head to go on and a scenario game is developing..... 

[aligern]

Stephen, might that be a small Slingshot artick
le on how to turn such an obscure piece of propaganda artwork into a scenario? I meet many members and ex menbers who struggle to relate the sometimes academic articles in Slingshot into relevance to their gaming and it sounds as though you have done this in a flash of inspiration. It is really good when anyone as lucid as yourself can walk readers through the synthesis of research and game.

Roy