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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, 〔(British Museum Collection )〕 Small sections of the Shalmaneser bronze door bands are also at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore〔(Fragments of Bands from a Gate ), art.thewalters.org, retrieved 11 December 2013〕 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.〔(Hormuzd Rassam and His Discoveries ), Julian Reade Iraq , Vol. 55, (1993), pp. 39-62, Published by: British Institute for the Study of Iraq〕 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.〔(Bronze band from the gates of the palace of Shalmaneser III ), British Museum, accessed 11 December 2013〕 The pictorial information is supplemented by inscriptions which give further information.〔
The bands describe an important religious discovery in 852 BCE when King Shalmaneser found the source of the River Tigris at Tigristunnel. This was a very important event because the rivers were thought to be deities. The pictures also show the workmen carving walls to represent their King in the way that he would approve.〔 Carvings can still be seen in East Turkey of markings made by Shalamaneser's workers to the south west of Lake Van.〔 Possibly the most important pictures are the ground plans of nearby buildings as these restored the reputation of Rassam who discovered the gates. Following the gates discovery there was a lot of debate about whether these gates were found here and whether Rassam had given an accurate account. It was argued that these were an important find in a minor place and these gates must have come from a more important nearby city like Nineveh. However excavations at the site have revealed that pictures on the gates agree with evidence on the ground which provides proof that the gates were indeed at Balawat, Balawat was important, the gates were here and Rassam had been telling the truth. Rassam felt that the credit for many of his other discoveries had been taken by senior British Museum staff.〔
In 1893 Rassam had sued the British Museum keeper E. A. Wallis Budge in the British courts for both slander and libel. Budge had written to the trustees of the museum saying that Rassam had used "his relatives" to smuggle antiquities out of Nineveh and had only sent "rubbish" to the British Museum. The elderly Rassam was upset by these accusations and when he challenged Budge he received a partial apology and retraction that the High court considered "insincere" and "ungentlemanly". Rassam took the matter to court and he was fully supported by the judge but not by the jury.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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