Ricerc@Sapienza

Despite the persisting topos, until recently supported by distinguished scholars, according to which Egypt would have been immune to any external cultural influence, at least for a great part of its long history, there are undeniable clues that this is often just a prejudice.
It is undeniable that ancient Egypt has a strong and consolidated religious (self)-identity, which however does not exclude at all forms of appropriation and acculturation of difference. The result of such phenomenon is a new form of identity, enriched by the incorporation and inclusion of otherness.

Neo-Assyrian letters are a broad and interesting corpus of data to investigate how ancient Assyrians dealt with the manufacture of statues, the shaping of royal and divine effigies, and the final arrangement of sculptures. This paper aims to analyse the ritual and practical aspects of the making of images in the Neo- Assyrian period with reference to this corpus of letters, which reveals how Assyrian kings, officials and sculptors worked together for this purpose. It explores the role of the personnel involved, the process of the creation, and the final display of statues.