Til-Tuba and Mesopotamian Perspectives

Response to Rituals of War 1,3,6.

The compostiton of the Til-Tuba relief mirrors the textual evidence of statue removals from cities in Mesopotamia. The relief offers a glimpse into Assyrian military success, yet it lacks any linear progression and is very repetetive. The repetetive decaptiations mirror the multiple statue removals, and the missing timeline correlates with the uncertainty of omen results that drive military action.

According to Bahrani the human body itself is like a clay text, since both organic and inorganic representations can be associated with identity. Personal identity transcended to the belongings of a person, and material objects could hold the identity of divinity. Thus the inorganic statues of gods were manifestations of their identity, and the removal or manipulation of them signaled defeat. The Babylonian statue of Marduk was taken multiple times, which stopped ideological activity of the temple. The divine statues were even sought after by enemy states, and became an impetus for warfare and inteneted victories. The decapitations seen on the Til-Tuba relief are suggestive of such repetetive victories (or defeats), and even decaptitating the same person multiple times is shown. This correlates with Marduk's statue and the idea of multiple manifestations of identity, which would allow one identity to be killed twice, depending on the different manifestations of their identity.

Executable military action is governed by omens, so the removal of enemy statues resulted from favorable consultations with divine power. The process of finding the answers to specific questions through omens made strategic war moves very unpredicable. In other words, the expected upcoming victories and defeats were unknown, lacking any linearly planned progression. The Til-Tuba relief also lacks any depiction of linear progression, and may depict a clear uncertainty of when a victories would be had. The repetition of certain characters in the relief may also deptict the uncertainty of the future military action, since future enemies are unknown and are also dependent on divine responses.