Image Details
Zev Radovan/Collection Israel Museum
“It’s all in the wrists.” Why were the wrists of the Assyrian king Sennacherib (704–681 B.C.E.) mutilated on this relief from Nineveh, which shows the king receiving tribute from conquered Lachish? Very likely because they originally bore rosettes symbolizing his royal sovereignty—a common feature in depictions of many other Assyrian kings.