Assyrian Lion Hunt: Audio Walk
A short audio sequence exploring the Assyrian Lion Hunt reliefs in the British Museum through power, landscape and visual display.
An introduction to the mystery of the Hanging Gardens and the Lion Hunt reliefs as a staged image of royal power.
Entering the gallery
A closer look at how the sequence begins and what the background landscape means.
The first encounter
How carved hair, muscles, weapons and reins turn violence into a carefully controlled visual performance.
The staged hunt
One of the most striking images in the gallery, where suffering, realism and control meet.
The wounded lion
How the reliefs turn danger into spectacle, and what that tells us about Assyrian kingship.
The royal viewpoint
Why the king appears at the centre of the action, and what the garden was meant to say about rule and authority.
The king and the garden
How the controlled landscape was understood as an older idea of paradise, and what that tells us about Assyrian kingship.
The garden as paradise
A final reflection on the gallery as a whole, and on preservation and the role of the museum.