Hunting

Sources

The Sport of Kings. A king who was a successful hunter proved that the gods favored him and that his power was therefore legitimate. The earliest known artworks depicting royal hunts date from the Late Uruk period (circa 3300 - circa 3000 b.c.e.). On the so-called Lion Hunt Stele, a large relief-carved boulder, a king is shown slaying lions with a spear and a bow and arrows. On a cylinder seal from the same period, a king hunts bulls with a bow and arrows.

Assyrian Royal Hunts. The Assyrian kings were renowned for hunting lions, elephants, ostriches, wild bulls, and other beasts, particularly large, aggressive species. Tiglath-pileser I (circa 1114 - circa 1076 b.c.e.) claimed that he killed 4 wild bulls, 10 elephants, and 920 lions. A relief at the palace of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 b.c.e.) depicts him hunting lions and bulls from a chariot. The Assyrian royal hunt often took place in royal game parks.

Ashurbanipal’s Hunt. The Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (668-circa 627 b.c.e.) held carefully staged lion hunts. From a booth above a wooden cage, a servant raised a door and released a lion, which was first attacked by dogs and beaters. The beaters’ job was to drive the lion toward the king, who killed it from his chariot using a spear or a bow and arrows. Sometimes, as on his official seal, Ashurbanipal is shown on foot, killing the lion by holding his mane and thrusting a sword into his prey. (The depiction of the king using a sword to slay a rampant lion was a common motif on Neo-Assyrian royal stamp seals.) When Ashurbanipal’s hunt was over, he poured a libation over the dead lions to atone for killing them and appease their angry spirits. He also recited a speech attributing the success of the hunt to his patron goddess. The popularity of this sport is apparent from information preserved on tablets and from the many life-like hunting scenes carved on Assyrian palace walls.

Sources

Suzanne Herbordt, Neuassyrische Glyptik des 8.–7. Jh. v. Chr., State Archives of Assyria Studies, volume 1 (Helsinki: Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1992).

Michael Roaf, Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (New York: Facts on File, 1966).

H. W. F. Saggs, The Greatness That Was Babylon: A Sketch of the Ancient Civilization of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, revised and updated edition (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1988).