In present day Iraq, oil is the most coveted resource. But 2,500 years ago, water was the most prized resource of the Middle East. In response to the region’s water problems, the ancient Assyrian king Sennacherib developed extensive waterworks. Sennacherib, his waterworks and the inscriptions and reliefs depicting the massive construction projects were discussed in the Canadian Society of Mesopotamian Studies lecture on Wednesday, Jan. 14 at the Koffler Institute of Pharmacy. Dr. A. Kirk Grayson, the director of the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Project at U of T, conducted the lecture.

Sennacherib (704 – 681 BCE) was the most famous of Assyrian kings. His road to fame was paved by the expansion of Assyria’s borders to “an unprecedented size,” military campaigns to Babylon “which became known as notorious,” and the complete urban renewal of Nineveh, regarded as the “capital excellence” by the ancients, said Dr. Grayson.

On clay tablets placed against sheer cliffs 25 feet above the ground, Sennacherib wrote that “the fields had become arid land, cracked like cobwebs” before the establishment of his waterworks. He drained marshes and diverted 18 canals to a river flowing through Nineveh. The water was then transported via aqueducts to private gardens within the city and to agricultural fields outside the city. So thorough were Sennacherib’s designs, he even constructed a large marsh for holding excess water. “The waterworks would be a challenge, even for today’s modern engineers,” remarked Dr. Grayson.

Sennacherib boasted in his inscriptions that his forefathers had not elevated Nineveh’s status as he had with his waterworks. “It was common,” explains Dr. Grayson. “For kings to proclaim their predecessors didn’t do as much as they did.”

Unpublished copies of the inscriptions and reliefs remained at the British Museum for 150 years, until Dr. Grayson decided “it was necessary to provide them with a proper edition.” Although Dr. Grayson has never laid eyes upon the actual inscriptions on account of tight security in Iraq, two archeologists were able to visit the ancient city of Nineveh: Austen Henry Layard and Leonard W. King

Both men risked their lives in trying to collect copies of the inscriptions on the high cliffs. Dr Grayson explained why the tablets were placed so high up: “So they could be seen from far away by anyone who came to this part of the kingdom. Essentially, they were there for show, to impress the people.”

-Eventually, invading Mongols destroyed the waterworks. Yet, looming high above the land, Sennacherib’s words remain: “A warning to later princes, any who will divert the waters, may the great gods inflict on them an evil curse.”