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Secondary sourcePainting

Relief with a Bivouac Scene on a Campaign of King Ashurbanipal

A later engraved drawing copying a relief that shows a military camp scene from one of Ashurbanipal's campaigns.

This drawing copies a palace relief depicting a military campaign of Ashurbanipal, showing how his conquests were commemorated in art.

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Pen and grey wash drawing in a sketchbook of a relief scene: a wheel of a chariot or cart dominates the center, two seated figures face each other at right, a standing figure with a headband carries a long pole at far right, a basket sits near them, and a horse-like animal appears at left, with a few wavy lines of a ground or stream at bottom. Page number 6 is at top right.
Engraved drawing of a relief with a bivouac scene from a campaign of King Ashurbanipal. Art Collection of the University of Göttingen, Germany.

About this source

What it is

This is a pen and wash drawing that copies a stone relief depicting a military camp, or bivouac, during a campaign of King Ashurbanipal. It shows a chariot wheel, seated figures, a standing attendant, a basket, and an animal. The drawing is held in the Art Collection of the University of Göttingen, Germany.

Why it matters

Reliefs like the original showed scenes from Ashurbanipal's military campaigns, which were a central part of how Assyrian kings displayed their power. This drawing is a later reproduction, not the ancient object itself, made to record and study the relief's imagery.

Look closer

  • What objects and figures can you identify in the scene, and what might they suggest about daily life on campaign?
  • Why do you think later artists took the time to copy ancient reliefs by hand?
  • What is missing from this drawing that the original stone relief might have shown, such as color or scale?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ashurbanipal on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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