The Anubanini rock relief, also known as the Sar-e Pol-e Zahab rock relief, is a significant archaeological artifact located in western Iran, near the town of Sarpol-e Zahab in Kermanshah Province.
The rock relief is believed to date back to either the Akkadian Empire period (circa 2300 BC) or the Isin-Larsa period (early second millennium BC).
The relief is thought to belong to the Lullubi culture, which was one of the ancient cultures in the Zagros Mountains region.
The relief shows a scene of several defeated rulers falling at the feet of the Anubis, accompanied by the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar.
Anubanini and the defeated ruler. He is equipped with an axe, a bow and an arrow. He is bare-chested, wears a short skirt, a roll-brimmed hat and sandals.
Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar. She wears a long, flounced dress, a hat decorated with horns and a headed collar. She is extending a ring in her right hand and has club-like weapons in her back.
Prisoners and their king (detail).
There's also an inscription in the Akkadian language and Akkadian script. In the inscription, he declares himself as the mighty king of Lullubium, who had set up his image as well as that of Ishtar on mount Batir, and calls on various deities to preserve his monument.
Anubanini, the mighty king, king of Lullubum, erected a image of himself and an image of Goddess Ninni on the mount of Batir... (follows a lengthy curse formula invoking deities Anu, Antum, Enlil, Ninlil, Adad, Ishtar, Sin and Shamash towards anyone who would damage the monument).
Behistun reliefs
This rock relief is very similar to the much later Achaemenid Behistun reliefs (fifth century BC), not located very far, to such an extent that it was said that the Behistun Inscription was influenced by it. The attitude of the ruler, the trampling of an enemy, the presence of a divinity, the lines of prisoners are all very similar.
