Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Lions lived in Mesopotamia up until modern times, and it was the king's duty to keep
the lion population down to protect farmers and herdsmen. This duty soon became sport,
with staged hunts and zoo-bred lions, as the kings of men proved their power by taking on
the king of beasts.
•
Continue ahead into the larger lion-hunt room. Reading the panels like a comic strip,
start on the right and gallop counterclockwise.
The Lion-Hunt Room
In these panels (c. 650
B.C.
), the king's men release lions from their cages, then riders on
horseback herd them into an enclosed arena. The king has them cornered. Let the slaughter
begin. The chariot carries King Ashurbanipal, the great-grandson of Sargon II (not to be
confused with Ashurnasirpal II, who ruled 200 years earlier, mentioned previously).
