RIPPING OPEN ARAB WOMEN IN RELIEF BM 124927 FROM ASHURBANIPAL’S NORTHERN PALACE. BUT WHY ARAB WOMEN? A FEMINIST READING ON VIOLENCE AND OTHERNESS

Abstract

Neo-Assyrian reliefs are known to depict various types of violent acts performed by the conquerors against their defeated enemies. The visual material speaks volumes about Assyrian state ideology, and about how the Assyrian elite viewed their adversaries. The latter should be submitted to all kinds of atrocities to emphasize the king’s glory and the greatness of the god Assur. The reliefs usually depict gruesome scenes, but the vast majority of those who suffer such a fate consists of enemy soldiers and leaders, and are almost exclusively men. In Neo-Assyrian war reliefs, women are seldom represented and they are not shown as victims of the atrocious conduct of the conquering armies. Nonetheless, there is a striking representation of violence against women depicted in the so-called relief BM 124927 from Ashurbanipal’s Northern Palace, hosted nowadays by the British Museum. Even though the ripping of enemy pregnant women seems to be a topos in the Hebrew Bible, it is rarely encountered in the Mesopotamian area which makes this relief even more interesting. In this article, I will try to discuss why such an atrocity was committed against the Arab women, what makes them different, and why they are the only female victims of the Assyrian rampage depicted in the visual sources.