Stone relief from the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (Room B, Panel 10)

The two chariots shown on the relief carry standards probably symbolizing the ancient Mesopotamian gods Adad and Nergal. Adad embodied the power of storms but also had a beneficent aspect as a god of fruitful rain and mountain streams, imprtant in areas such as Assyria where rain was vital for agriculture. He is often represented on stelas in symbolic form by a forked lightning bolt. On other monuments he is associated with a bull or a lion-dragon. Storm clouds were called Adad's 'bull-calves'. Nergal was a god associated with the Underworld and was usually regarded as the husband of Ereshkigal, queen of the Underworld. He was also associated with forest fires, fevers and plagues, and sometimes, as here, he had a warlike aspect, usually carrying a scimitar and a single or double-headed lion-sceptre. The scene is continued to the right and left.