These gates were erected by Shalmaneser III (858-824 BCE) in his templs at Balawat. The original gates were wood, partly covered and reinforced with bronze strips, which are the only parts that survive. The bronze strips are embossed with scenes from Shalmaneser's campaigns. Each strip contains events from a single campaign. The Assyrian army marches forth from camp; enemies are defeated in open battle or attacked in their towns; the Assyrians offer sacrifices and set up memorial stelae. Cuneiform captions give the names of countries captured or from which the king was receiving tribute. The variety in the details of the workmanship and of the subject matter suggests that several workmen were involved in the manufacture, possibly one for each strip. Other fragments of the Balawat gates are in museums in Baltimore, Paris and Istanbul. (ANE 121651-121663)
aperture=f2.8 focal length: 60.0 mm exposure 1/30 sec ISO: 2000