Image Details

A river highway. A relief in Ashurbanipal’s palace depicts the garden of his grandfather Sennacherib, who ruled Assyria from 704 to 681 B.C.E. The elder monarch built a system of canals and aqueducts to bring water from the mountains 50 miles away to water the parks and gardens of Nineveh. At right, a large aqueduct with pointed arches feeds water into several irrigation ditches that crisscross a high hill planted with conifers and fruit trees. On the crest of the hill stands a stately porticoed building (perhaps a pavilion or a temple); to its left is a royal monument depicting a king. In the middle of a garden path leading up to the porticoed building is a crenellated altar. All the elements of Eden are here: the temple on the hill, the altar, the king, the variety of trees (in orderly rows), even the streams of water.