Balawat Gates

The Balawat Gates were three sets of gates from Balawat or Imgur-Enlil, an ancient outpost of the Assyrian Empire. The greater part of the gates has decayed and deteriorated over time, leaving behind a unique collection of inscribed bronze bands that describe the exploits and lives of the Assyrian Kings. The remains of two sets of gates can be found in the British Museum's collection, the other set in the Mosul Museum. Small sections of the Shalmaneser bronze door bands are also at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.

Description

Contemporary inscriptions suggest that the gates at Balawat near Nimrud were made of cedar. They were not hinged as they opened by turning massive pine pillars which were decorated with bronze and turned in stone sockets. Archaeologists believe that the gates were originally 6.8 metres high and these estimates have been used to create full size reconstructions of the gates at the British Museum. The gates in the British Museum were discovered in 1878 by local archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam. Rassam was the first Assyrian archaeologist. By the time of their discovery the wood had already rotted away and only remnants of the decorated bronze bands remained. The eight bands on each door would have been over 285 feet long in total and they decorated and strengthened the outer face and door post of each door. 265 feet of the bands are in the British Museum whilst 2 feet are at the Walters Museum in Baltimore. The variety of the images gives archaeologists an insight into the life, technology and civilisation at that time. The pictorial information is supplemented by inscriptions which give further information.

Balawat

Balawat (Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܠܒܬ‎, beṯ labat) is an archaeological site 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

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.