The Assyrian “Sacred Tree” in Assurnasirpal II’s North-West Palace (Nimrud)

DELLA CASA, ROMINA

Oxford

Conferencia; Oxford Postgraduate Conference in Assyriology; 2013

Oxford University, Wolfson College

IIn the present analysis I suggest that the focus of the discussion about the Assyrian “Sacred Tree” should be based on the dynamics used by the Assyrians to represent their sacred world. Such dynamics imply that the best view of an image is the one that represents it more appropriately –meaning, for example, that even if the general apprehension of a relief is from above, it may include elements that appear depicted from another standing point. In other words, this means that the Assyrian way of representing an object or the human anatomy could reflect different, but also simultaneous points of views. Accordingly, I propose a new way of looking at the image of the “Sacred Tree” depicted in the 23 Panel of the Thrown Room B, in the North-West Palace of Assurnasirpal II’s (Nimrud). Broadly speaking, I will propose that the “Sacred Tree” combines two points of view respectively connected to the concepts of chaotic and cosmic spaces, to further hypothesize that the image represents the symbol of an axis mundi.