3704116 Orthostat relief:lion-hunt scene, c.9th century BC (painted basalt) by Neo-Hittite (9th century BC); 56 high cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA; (add.info.: From Syria, Tell Halaf (ancient Guzana) A number of small but powerful Aramaean city-states acted as a barrier between Assyria and the Mediterranean, called Neo-Hittite city-states because of their dynastic continuity and relation to the preceding Hittites of Anatolia. These rival states were gradually brought under the control of the Neo-Assyrian Empire by military conquest. Stone slabs carved in low relief had traditionally decorated the walls of the Neo-Hittite palaces and temples. ); out of copyright.