Ashunasirpal's Nimrud Reliefs: The Birth of Pictorial Propaganda

Modern references to political propaganda often conjure up imagery of Joseph Goebbels and his Nazi propaganda machine, but it should come as no surprise that the origins of propaganda date back much farther that the Nazis. Some scholars consider the Behistun Inscription, which describes the ascension of the Persian king Darius I to the throne in the late 6th Century BCE, to be the first appearance of propaganda in art (Nagle 133), yet others have suggested that the earliest examples of propaganda date back to the 9th Century BCE with the rise of the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II. Art historian Irene Winter argues that the first examples of propagandist art are the Nimrud reliefs from Ashurnasirpal’s Northwest Palace, which also represent the the first example of a successful pictorial narrative. This coincidence suggests that the advent pictorial narrative gave rise to propaganda, for the narrative of events is inherently perspectival. Art had for centuries been used to commemorate military victories, but it was not until the reign of Ashurnasirpal that art was used as historical narrative, let alone a propagandist historical narrative. Thus, the Nimrud reliefs are unique in that they represent an attempt to control the subliminal messaging of pictorial narrative. This paper will present a two-fold argument about the qualities of these reliefs that allow them to become effective propaganda and the incentives of their patron to use them accordingly. First, innovations in Neo-Assyrian artistic techniques led to the advent of pictorial narrative art, which in turn allowed for this art form to be propagandized, and second, Ashurnasirpal effectively employed this style of propagandist narrative art to advance his political ideology. 

Credits

Ameek Shokar