(artist(s) unknown, located in the palace complex of Assurnasirpal II, Nimrud) (c.850 bc). Assurnasirpal II Killing Lions [alabaster]. The British Museum, London.

The trend from prehistoric western visual expression crossing over into ancient civilization was to achieve the highest level of “understandability”, or communicative power, within technological limitations. Assurnasirpall II Killing Lions is a strong example of this. Forms are distorted and fractionally represented, though with noticeably more realism typical of Near Eastern ancient art than that of their Egyptian cousins. Almost all ancient visual communication had a political component, but even more casual works by the Egyptians had nothing more than even energy. Here, the rightward directionality, emphasized by orientation, threatens instability. It is centered by the elevated, front-and-center position of the subject and balanced distribution of forms.

The scene does not, in my opinion, communicate the idea that the king is an all-powerful intermediary between the heavens and the Earth. He seems to be engaged in sport, slaying beasts as a form of entertainment, in no real danger, escorted by foot soldiers. One lion is pierced by four arrows while another is in the throes of expiring. The horses assume a variation of the flying leap pose, in this case with hind legs grounded. Respectable depth is created through gestalt, forced into a decorative manner largely due to the medium.

As chaotic as life in ancient times was, control, and by extension safety, was a treasured commodity similar to spare time today (which probably reveals my biases). This is a primary reason why a sense of eternity, of internal and external control, was a goal of ancient visual expression. Parallel, unfocused vision, features smoothed and idealized, and interactions with deities and personified forces of nature were among the many measures used in ancient visual expression to communicate the immunity autocratic religious-political leaders had against the ravages of time. The immediacy of this work breaks from that tradition.