Deported women
Type:
Sculpture
Year:
Neo-Assyrian Empire, reign of Ashurbanipal (668-627 B.C.)
Material and technique:
Alabastrine limestone
Origin:
From northern Mesopotamia, Nineveh (Kuyunjik), North Palace
Inventory:
Inv. MB 48
By comparing this fragment with the original drawings made in the 19th century, it is possible to attribute it to the series of reliefs found in Courtyard J of the North Palace at Nineveh, which depicted mass deportations from a Babylonian city. Fragment MB 56 must have belonged to the same series.
The deportation policy that the Assyrian rulers followed constantly, and on a large scale, had two purposes: to repopulate the Assyrian cities and countryside, whose men had been drained off in numerous military campaigns; and to crush the conquered peoples’ national and cultural identity. This was especially the purpose of mass deportations from one province to the other and vice versa.
