Assyria vs Elam: The battle of Til Tuba

The battle of Til Tuba reliefs are among some of the great masterpieces of ancient Assyrian art. The movement and details are truly stunning. That said, the scenes actually being depicted are anything but easy on the eye.

Join curator Gareth Brereton as he walks you through the reliefs that once decorated the last great king of Assyria's royal palace.
WARNING: includes scenes of drowning, flaying and wearing your deceased leader's head as a necklace.

DOUBLE WARNING: includes scenes of extreme royal hat misplacement.

The BP exhibition I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria
8 November 2018 – 24 February 2019

Supported by BP
Logistics partner IAG Cargo

#Ashurbanipal #Assyria #Ancientwarfare

[britishmuseum]

Want to find out more about Ashurbanipal and the Assyrians? We've made you a master list of links all about Assyria's last great king :


Exhibition details:
The BP exhibition I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria
8 November 2018 – 24 February 2019

Supported by BP
Logistics partner IAG Cargo

[oswaldspengler]

"WARNING: includes scenes of drowning, flaying and wearing your deceased leader's head as a necklace.

DOUBLE WARNING: includes scenes of extreme royal hat misplacement."

Really dig the humour in the description.

[KonstantinKovar]

He told that story brilliantly, I'd love it if he did another one.

[joed]

'having their tongues removed before being staked to the floor and flayed alive'
lovely.

[tonlito]

Even when making propaganda the Assyrians portray the enemy ruler and his son in a heroic light. Son saves his wounded father, and the father encourages his son to keep fighting. Didn't work out all too well, but still, its inspiring.

[ellenmadsen]

These essays from the British museum are fantastic. Thanks.

[billmiller]

Those cuneiform signs have a unique elegance and simplicity. A whole alphabet made out of like 10(?) ways to imprint a wedge into clay. Pure genius.

[westernassyrian]

Thank you British Museum for sharing the history of my ancestors.

[Bakarost]

Awesome, really enjoyed this and I hope one day to vist and see this relic of history

[anomalyp]

the reliefs are stunning and gruesome at the same time, the highlighting really brings it to life. Many thanks to Mr. Brereton and the production team! We want more of these :)

[SimonWelander]

Great video, and even more impressive seeing it in person at the exhibition with the audio storytelling and visual highlighting of the figures from a projector.

[mountvernon]

Great video! Hope to see more of these!

[ack]

Assyrians seem like lovely people to have over for cuppa tea....

[robertmoye]

Great view into history, really brought to life.

[chad-po]

Now this guy knows what he is talking about. Very good presentation.

[joshuaharahap]

Interesting, have you a book about All Asyur kings including sargon and sanherib?

[followersofyeshuahamashiac]

You know I’ve always struggled with the British Museums ancient artifacts, (I’m in my late 30’s) but I always felt they “stole” all these artifacts and should’ve left them in their native countries. BUT the older I get the more I appreciate the circumstances. Yes I know I might sound selfish. But the last couple decades of this nonstop destruction of the Middle East has decimated the Ancient Near East and we have lost hundreds of these ancient civilizations. At least we can keep all of what we do have left for the next generations to see and understand.

Thank you for the awesome explanation! It’s a brutal one there!

[matthewgoodman]

I want more videos just like this. I want more ancient carvings discussed.

[jefferywilliams]

Would the relief have been painted when originally finished?

[flamencoprof]

An excellent exposition on these stones. I am continually amazed at historians' ability to extract so much information from such artefacts. Are there also written tablets documenting these events that may have helped interpret the stones?