The Sport of Kings. A king who was a successful hunter proved that the gods favored him and that his power was therefore legitimate. The earliest known artworks depicting royal hunts date from the Late Uruk period (circa 3300 - circa 3000 B.C.E.). On the so-called Lion Hunt Stele, a large relief-carved boulder, a king is shown slaying lions with a spear and a bow and arrows. On a cylinder seal from the same period, a king hunts bulls with a bow and arrows.

Assyrian Royal Hunts. The Assyrian kings were renowned for hunting lions, elephants, ostriches, wild bulls, and other beasts, particularly large, aggressive species. Tiglath-pileser I (circa 1114 - circa 1076 B.C.E.) claimed that he killed 4 wild bulls, 10 elephants, and 920 lions. A relief at the palace of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 B.C.E.) depicts him hunting lions and bulls from a...