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Til BarsibSyria |
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Til BarsibSyria |
page added December 21, 2007
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| The Palace at Til Barsib extends at least over an area 88 x 132m; most of the rest of the building had eroded away or been lost when the ground it was built on slipped into the river (at the south). The palace has an elaborate subfloor drainage system and one of the most extensive collections of ancient wall paintings that has survived from antiquity. The building plan consists of a series of three large open courtyards separating distinct self-contained suites of rooms (cursor over the plan below to identify the major suites which are visualized farther below). |
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Til Barisb, palace plan (source: F. Thureau-Dangin and Maurice Dunand. Til-Barsib. Avec le concours de Lucien Cavro et Georges Dossin. 2 vols., Paris:Paul Geuthner, 1936. Plan B). (cursor over the plan to locate the major suites) |
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| The Throne Room suite encompasses rooms accessible by visitors through Court B or by the royal family from their suites through Court C. The Throne Room itself (Room XXII; pictured below as it was found and as we have reconstructed it) is 9m wide and probably was about 27m long (extending farther to the south beyond the now-eroded areas), given the placement of doorways and similarity in proportions to other major rooms in the palace.
Built into the north wall of the room is a vertical recess framing a low stepped platform (3.60 x 3.50m; 40cm high) that was apparently the throne dais. In front of the platform, on the floor, is a narrow paving of stones. Against the west wall is a shallow basin. As with the other important rooms of the palace, the Throne Room's walls were decorated with elaborate paintings. An upper band consists of a band of repeating geometric and floral shapes. The only figural scenes to survive depict a line of horses and soldiers along the east wall, near the throne area.
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| The so-called King's Suite encompasses six rooms at the north of Court C (Rooms XXIV-XXVIII, XXX; see the plan above). The main entry is via Court C into the so-called Reception Room (XXIV; see below for a reconstruction), which then opens to the other spaces. The Reception Room is the largest in the suite and is arranged similarly to the Throne Room, with a segment of paved floor in the center, a basin along one wall, and large double doors leading in. Among the other rooms are the bathroom (Room XXVII; see below for a reconstruction), bedroom (Room XXV), and several subsidiary spaces.
Each of the rooms has elaborate wall paintings (generally with a decorative geometric and floral band above narrative figural scenes, set on top of a low bitumen band presumably to keep the paintings off the damp floor) that include depictions of the king on his throne receiving visitors, tribute scenes, priests and guardian spirits, animals, and hunting scenes.
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| The so-called Queen's Suite encompasses at least four rooms to the east of Court C (Rooms XLIV-XLVII, see the plan above; if there were additional rooms, they have disappeared to the south). The main entry is via Court C into the so-called Reception Room (XLVII; see below for a reconstruction), which then opens to the other spaces, in an arrangement very similar to the King's Suite. Among the other rooms are a bathroom (Room XLIV; see below for a reconstruction), bedroom (Room XLV), and a transition space.
Again, each of the rooms has elaborate wall paintings (generally with a decorative geometric and floral band above narrative figural scenes, set on top of a low ground-level bitumen band presumably to keep the paintings off the damp floor) that include depictions of the king on his throne receiving visitors, various procession scenes, guardian spirits, animals, and hunting scenes. There is no clear depiction of a queen.
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| NB: QTVR panoramas and renderings from this project are available for purchase and use in any noncommercial educational context by visiting the Institute for the Visualization of History (www.vizin.org); just click on the Products button. | ||||
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Information
page created: December 13, 2007 page added: December 21, 2007 you are here: Learning Sites Home page ==> Learning Sites Index page ==> Til Barsib, Syria, Homepage ==> Til Barsib, the Palace this page's URL is: http://www.learningsites.com/Barsib/Barsib_html-pgs/Til-Barsib_Palace.html page author: Learning Sites, Inc. © 2002-2007 Learning Sites, Inc. |
