Mesopotamia: Ancient Art and Architecture

Description

This book is the first in ten years to present a comprehensive survey of art and architecture in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, northeast Syria and southeast Turkey), from 8000 BCE to the arrival of Islam in 636 CE. The book is richly illustrated with c. 400 full-colour photographs, and maps and time charts that guide readers through the chronology and geography of this part of the ancient Near East. The book addresses such essential art historical themes as the origins of narrative representation, the first emergence of historical public monuments and the earliest aesthetic commentaries. It explains how images and monuments were made and how they were viewed. It also traces the ancient practices of collecting and conservation and rituals of animating statues and of architectural construction. Accessible to students and non-specialists, the book expands the scope of standard surveys to cover art and architecture from the prehistoric to the Roman era, including the legendary cities of Ur, Babylon, Nineveh, Hatra and Seleucia on the Tigris. Cover Contents Introduction. Becoming art Mesopotamia in art history Influence on artists Innovation and creativity in Mesopotamian art The approach of this book 1. The search for origins: Mesopotamia and the cradle of civilization Early archaeology in Mesopotamia Archaeology and photography The emergence of art: Prehistoric Mesopotamia Time and chronologies 2. Uruk: The arts of civilization Architecture Anu Precinct Eanna Precinct Sculpture Cult statues: Imagining the invisible Votive offerings: The essence of beings and things Public monument: The spur of rock in the city Seals: The mark of identity Writing: The beginning of history Archaeology and history: The Uruk phenomenon Mythic history Enki and the world order “Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta” 3. Early dynastic Sumer: Images for the people, temples for God Sculpture: The votive image The portrait as text and substitute images Metalwork Architecture Architectural ritual 4. Early dynastic Sumer: Art for eternity The art of death: The royal cemetery of Ur Royal tombs and the afterlife The goat in the thicket statues The royal standard of Ur Music for death The Mari treasure Inventing the public monument Seals and sealings Iconography and style Cutting and using steals 5. Art of the Akkadian Dynasty Royal monuments and sovereign power Connoisseurship and archaeology Portraiture and identity: The royal image Lost-wax casting Assailing the images Images of royal women Non-royal works Architecture Cylinder seals Chronology and iconography 6. Gudea: Royal portraits and the lifespan of images The emergence of portraiture Statues and the forms of representation Images of Gudea, Prince of Lagash Images and texts of the Lagash dynasty Texts: Building a house for the god The function and lifespan of images 7. The third dynasty of Ur Architecture The Ziggurat at Ur The sacred precincts Sculpture Foundation figures Stele of Ur-Namma Representations of Shulgi Other sculptures Regional art Cylinder seals 8. The age of Hammurabi The Codex Hammurabi Portrait sculpture and vital images Kanesh, an Assyrian trading colony in Anatolia The palace at Mari The discovery of Mari The beginnings of aesthetic discourse Life and clay: Terra-cotta images 9. Kassite and Assyrian art at the end of the Bronze Age Kassite art and the question of style Architecture The Amarna Archive The Kudurru Middle Assyrian art Sculpture and narrative Texts and seals A seal collection from Thebes Image wars Cult statues The travels of the statue of Bel-Marduk 10. Assyrian art: Narrative and empire Nimrud The Neo-Assyrian Empire Wall reliefs Dur Sharrukin Nineveh Sennacherib at Lachish The North Palace of Ashurbanipal The library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh 11. Assyrian art in context Art in death: Royal tombs of the Assyrian queens Ivories from the empire Monuments in place Rock reliefs: Landscape as the terrain of kingship Cylinder seals 12. Babylonian art Babylonian sculpture: Looking to the past Babylon: The city as a work of art Babylon, the center of the world Calligraphic texts Cylinder seals 13. Achaemenid Persian art Babylon The Cyrus Cylinder The city of Babylon Pasargadae Mesopotamian rock-cut tombs and reliefs The Bisotun Relief Persepolis Naqsh-i-Rustam Sculpture Applied arts and luxury objects Cylinder seals The end of the Persian empire 14. Alexander in Babylon and Hellenism in Mesopotamia: Seleucid and Parthian art Hellenism in the art of Mesopotamia Seleucia on the Tigris Burials Continuity and change Mesopotamian arts under the Parthian-Arsacid rule Hatra and the Mesopotamian legacy Interacting with the past The end of an era: Sassanian Empire and the rise of Islam Epilogue. The past in the present Glossary Further reading Sources of illustrations Index