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Mesopotamian Gardens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

D. J. Wiseman
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Extract

Tribute must be paid to Richard Barnett for his contributions, inter alia, to the interpretation of many of the scenes on the Assyrian sculptures. His studies have drawn attention to the detailed information which may be drawn from this important source. In many conversations with me as a colleague in the British Museum he showed particular interest in the Assyrian landscape and representation of nature. Thus he identified the Assyrian garden in the reliefs of Ashurbanipal's N. Palace at Nineveh (Plate XXXIIIa). In this the garden is drawn as planned around a hill, or high feature, on top of which is a garden house. Watering was by aqueduct and channels arranged so that in the downhill flow no material part was inaccessible to irrigation. Trees which provided some shade, also served as supports for vines planted between them. In the Assyrian tradition temples also had similar gardens associated with them.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 33 , December 1983, pp. 137 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1983

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