Displaying Social Dynamics in Clay: The Decorative Use of Baked Bricks in the Upper Parts of Mudbrick Walls in Sennacherib’s Building Programs at Nineveh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36253/asiana-3351Keywords:
baked bricks, architecture, Sennacherib, Nineveh, Assyria, Iron AgeAbstract
The paper aims at reconstructing the decorative use of baked bricks in relation either to buildings of official or private destination in early 7th century BC Nineveh, also highlighting some aspects of Sennacherib’s decorative program inside royal buildings and city gates. Specific building choices enact a visual performance of kingship, thus contributing to the affirmation of Sennacherib’s royal identity and exercise of power. The identification of different brick types and of their distribution inside buildings sets the foundation for integrating them within the material culture framework, highlighting their contribution to the creation of social identities underlying the circulation of brick types within the city borders, focusing on the actors involved in the actualisation of the building act.
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