The White Obelisk and the Problem of Historical Narrative in the Art of Assyria
Abstract
The narrative imagery carved on the sides of the White Obelisk in the British Museum is shown to be a direct copy of a program that lined the walls of a long, narrow room in a palace of an unknown Assyrian king. As a record of a lost architectural program the Obelisk composition is used to illuminate the poorly known beginnings of Assyrian visual historical narrative in the late Middle Assyrian period of the twelfth and eleventh centuries b.c.
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The 'White Obelisk' is to be ascribed to Aššur-nāṣir-apli I.
“The present author followsFrahm (2009b: 119-22) in ascribing the 'White Obelisk' to Aššur-nāṣirapli I”
From A New Reconstruction of the Reigns of Adad-nārārī II and Tukultī-Ninurta II in Light of Five Unattributed Royal Inscriptions (2023) · cites this paper as Pittman 1996
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Edmonds, A. J. (2023) · Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History · doi:10.1515/janeh-2023-0004
- Authors
- Pittman, H.
- Corresponding author
- Pittman, Holly
- ORCID
- Pittman, Holly
- Venue
- The Art Bulletin
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1996-06
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 334-355
- ISSN
- 0004-3079 (ISSN-L)
- 1559-6478
- OpenAlex
- W2013904845
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 13 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Art Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Near East History
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Egypt and Archaeology
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Classical Antiquity Studies
- Keywords
- Assyrian art, historical narratives, narrative imagery, Middle Assyrian period, architectural program, British Museum, palace architecture
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