Relief panel ca. 883-859 B.C. Assyrian In most rooms of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), the reliefs showing magical figures had a single, overlifesize pictorial register, with the inscription in the center cutting across the imagery. The relief shown here, however, in which two registers of imagery are separated by a central band containing the inscription, is a type found only in certain rooms of the palace. It is not clear why the design is different in these rooms, although their position in the palace suggests they had special ritual significance. One theory is that the reliefs were divided in order to multiply the number of magical protective images in these special spaces; another theory is that, because of their importance, these rooms were decorated first and the artistic plan subsequently changed. The stone of the reliefs in these rooms often has a more translucent and mottled appearance than in other parts of the palace, although whether this distinction was t