BALAWAT
![](balawat.jpg)
Balawat
shown within Iraq
Location
: Nineveh
Governorate, Iraq
Region
: Northern
Mesopotamia
Coordinates
:
36°13'46 N 43°24'12 E
Site
notes :
Excavation
dates :1878,
1956, 1989
Archaeologists
: Hormuzd
Rassam, M. Mallowan, D.J. Tucker
Balawat
(Classical Syriac: bet labat) is an archaeological site of the ancient
Assyrian city of Imgur-Enlil, and modern village in Nineveh Province
(Iraq). It lies 25 kilometres (16 mi) southeast from the city of
Mosul and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the south of the modern Assyrian
town of Bakhdida.
Ancient
name :
Balawat is the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Imgur-Enlil.
The meaning of Imgur-Enlil is "Enlil agreed". Note that
there was also a wall in ancient Babylon named Imgur-Enlil.
History
of archaeological research :
![](390px-Balawat_Excavation_Plan_1882.png)
Balawat
Excavation Plan 1882
The site was excavated in 1878 by archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam.
The site was again excavated by Max Mallowan for the British School
of Archaeology in Iraq in 1956. A surface survey was conducted by
D. J. Tucker in 1989 for the British Museum. The town walls enclosed
an area of around 64 hectares.
Occupation
history :
The city of Imgur-Enlil was founded by the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal
II (884-859 BC). It lay 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) up the Derrah river
from the Tigris, where the city of Kalhu (Biblical Nimrud/Calah)
was situated. Imgur-Enlil lay between the major Assyrian cities
of Nineveh and Arrapha (modern Kirkuk) in the southeast along the
royal Assyrian road. Ashurnasirpal II had already transferred the
capital from Assur to Kalhu, and the foundation of Imgur-Enlil may
have been a further step to knit up the Neo-Assyrian empire. Construction
at the site continued under Ashurnasirpal II's son Shalmaneser III.
The city existed for about two and a half centuries but was, like
most Assyrian cities, sacked and destroyed by the Medes, Babylonians
and Scythians during the fall of the Assyrian empire 614-605 BC.
Post
U.S.-Iraq War construction :
In November 2004, the village had roads constructed by the United
States Army, which connected the modern Assyrian village to the
ancient Assyrian city of Kalhu and the village of Bakhdida (Al Hamdaniyah.)
The project was dubbed "Ninewa Village Roads Project"
and was funded by the U.S. government. The contract to build the
roads was given to the Ashour General Construction Contracting Company
and cost $1,120,000.
Material
culture :
![](640px-Assyrian_-_Fragments_of_Bands_from_a_Gate_-_Walters_542335_-_View_A.jpg)
The Walters Art Museum fragments of the Balawat Gates. (Top) Syrian
porters in long robes and conical hats carry tribute to the Assyrian
camp. (Bottom) Assyrian soldiers carry logs as they march through
a hilly, forested landscape
Aside from temples and palace buildings, the most important artifacts
discovered there were the so-called Balawat Gates. The gates measured
about 20 feet in height and belonged to the temple of Mamu, the
god of dreams. These were made up of bronze bands attached through
nails to two wooden gates of the palace. The bronze bands depict
a sacrifice and war scenes from the campaigns of the Neo-Assyrian
king Shalmaneser III (859-824 BC), and were the first depictions
of landscape elements (such as trees and mountains) in Assyrian
art.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Balawat