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Top image: Heidelberg University excavation team working in the

A stone picture of a king between two gods.

Nineveh, Iraq. the seventh century BC. Greece and Rome. Known. Free

Known. The stone shows King Ashurbanipal between two great gods.

It was found in his North Palace at Nineveh, near Mosul in Iraq. He ruled in the seventh century BC. The picture is cut into one stone slab, about 5.5 metres long and 3 metres high. The king stands in the centre. The god Ashur and the goddess Ishtar stand on either side. Other figures follow them. The broken pieces were buried in a pit of earth behind the throne room.

Historians still argue about whether this king's wars helped his empire fall.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/ashurbanipal-relief-ninevah-0022112