A team from Heidelberg University excavating in Iraq made a spectacular find: In the throne room of the North Palace of King Ashurbanipal in the ancient city of Nineveh, the archaeologists discovered large portions of a monumental relief that depicts the ruler of the Assyrian empire from the seventh century BC along with two important deities and other figures. The relief was carved on a massive stone slab 18 feet (5.5 meters) long and 10 feet (three meters) high and weighing approximately 12 tons. The find is extraordinary for the researchers not only for its size, but also for the scenes depicted. "Among the many relief images of Assyrian palaces we know of, there are no depictions of major deities,"
