Image Details

Erich Lessing

This 15-inch-high stand (compare with photo of Sennacherib carving), known as the “Taylor prism” (after Colonel James Taylor, a British diplomat who acquired it in 1830), describes all eight of Sennacherib’s campaigns. The prism was likely embedded in the foundation of the king’s “palace without rival,” to remind future kings of the glories of their predecessor’s reign: “When this palace grows old and falls into ruins, may some future prince repair its ruined parts! May he take notice of this inscription in which my name is recorded! May he anoint it with oil, pour out a libation over it and return it to its place!”