Mesopotamian Art and Architecture

V

Neo-Sumerian Period

After ruling for about a century and a half, the Akkadian Empire fell to the nomadic Guti, who did not centralize their power. This enabled the Sumerian cities of Uruk, Ur, and Lagash to reestablish themselves, leading to a Neo-Sumerian age, also known as the 3rd Dynasty of Ur (about 2112-2004 bc). Imposing religious monuments made of baked and unbaked brick and incorporating ziggurats were built at Ur, Eridu, Nippur, and Uruk. Gudea (2144?-2124? bc), a ruler of Lagash, partly contemporary with Ur-Nammu, the founder of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur, is known from more than 20 statutes of himself in hard black stone, dolomite and diorite. His hands are clasped in the old Sumerian style, but the rounded face and slight musculature in the arms and shoulders show the sculptor's will to depict form in this difficult medium with more naturalism than had his predecessors. Other sculptures and reliefs are quite static, except those that depict hybrid figures combining human and animal features. The most lively are small terra-cotta plaques and figurines—worshipers holding animal sacrifices, legendary heroes, musicians, and even a woman nursing a baby.

VI

Old Babylonian Period

With the decline of the Sumerians, the land was once more united by Semitic rulers (about 2000-1600 bc), the most important of whom was Hammurabi of Babylon. The relief figure of the king on his famous law code (first half of the 18th century bc, Louvre) is not much different from the Gudea statues (even though his hands are unclasped), nor is he depicted with an intermediary before the sun god Shamash. The most original art of the Babylonian period came from Mari and includes temples and a palace, sculptures, metalwork, and wall painting. As in much of Mesopotamian art, the animals are more lifelike than the human figures. Small plaques from Mari and other sites depict musicians, boxers, a carpenter, and peasants in scenes from everyday life. These are far more realistic than formal royal and religious art.

VII

Kassite and Elamite Dynasties

The Kassites, a people of non-Mesopotamian origin, were present in Babylon shortly after Hammurabi's death but did not replace the Babylonian rulers until about 1600 bc. The Kassites adapted themselves to their environment and its art. The Elamites, from western Iran, destroyed the Kassite Kingdom about 1150 bc; their art also displays a provincial imitation of earlier styles and iconography. Indeed, their admiration of Akkadian and Babylonian art inspired them to carry off the Stele of Naram-Sin and the Code of Hammurabi to their capital of Sūsa.

VIII

Assyrian Empire

The early history of the art of Assyria, from the 18th to the 14th century bc, is still largely unknown. Middle Assyrian art (1350-1000 bc) shows some dependence on established Babylonian stylistic traditions: Religious subjects are presented rigidly, but secular themes are depicted more naturalistically. For temple architecture, the ziggurat was popular with the Assyrians. At this time the technique of polychromed glazing of bricks was used in Mesopotamia; this technique later resulted in the typical Neo-Babylonian architectural decoration of entire structures with glazed bricks. Motifs of the sacred tree and crested griffins, used in cylinder seals and palace wall paintings, may have come from the art of the Mitanni, a northern Mesopotamian Aryan kingdom. Unlike earlier representations of vegetation, plant ornamentation is highly stylized and artificial. Symbols frequently replace the gods. Much of the art and architecture was commissioned by Tukulti-Ninurta I (r. 1244-1207 bc) at Assur and at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, his own residence. In the artwork at both locations, the distance between the gods and humans is emphasized. The narrative frieze, which was derived from the scenes on steles and seals, became the most important aspect of Assyrian art.

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The genius of Assyrian art flowered in the Neo-Assyrian period, 1000-612 bc, a time of great builders. The first of the great late Assyrian kings was Ashurnasirpal II (reigned 883-859 bc), who built at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu or Calah of the Bible). The walls of Nimrud encompassed an area of about 360 hectares (890 acres) which included the citadel, with the main royal buildings like his Northwest Palace, which was decorated with relief sculptures. Sargon II (reigned 722-705 bc) ruled from the city of Khorsabad (ancient Dur-Sharrukin), which covered 2.6 sq km (1 sq mi) and was surrounded by a wall with seven gates, three of them decorated with reliefs and glazed bricks. In the city was his palace of more than 200 rooms and courts, 1 large temple, and lesser temples and residences. Only part of the complex was completed when he died. His son and successor Sennacherib (reigned 705-681 bc) moved the capital to Nineveh where he built his “Palace without Rival,” also known as the Southwest Palace. The North Palace at Nineveh was built by Ashurbanipal (reigned 668-627 bc).

These Assyrian kings adorned their palaces with magnificent reliefs. Gypsum alabaster, native to the Assyrian region of the upper Tigris River, was more easily carved than the hard stones used by the Sumerians and Akkadians. Royal chronicles of the king's superiority in battle and in the hunt were recounted in horizontal bands with cuneiform texts, carved on both the exterior and interior walls of the palace, in order to impress visitors. The viewer was greeted by huge guardian sculptures at the gate; the guardians were hybrid genii, winged human-headed lions or bulls with five legs (for viewing both front and side) as known from Nimrud and Khorsabad. At times mythological figures are portrayed, a Gilgamesh-like figure with the lion cub, or a worshiper bringing a sacrifice, such as the idealized portrait from Khorsabad of Sargon II with an ibex (about 710 bc, Louvre). The primary subject matter of these alabaster reliefs, however, is purely secular: the king hunting lions and other animals, the Assyrian triumph over the enemy, or the king feasting in his garden, as in the scene (7th century bc, British Museum) of Ashurbanipal from Nineveh. The king's harpist and birds in the trees make music for the royal couple, who sip wine under a vine, while attendants with fly whisks keep the reclining king and seated queen comfortable. Nearby is a sober reminder of Assyrian might—the head of the king of Elam, hanging from a tree.

Sculptors were at their best in depicting hunting scenes, for their observation of real beasts was even more profound than their imagination in creating hybrid beings. The finest animal studies from the ancient world are the dying lion and lioness (about 668 bc, British Museum), details of a hunt from Ashurbanipal's palace at Nineveh. Other reliefs from this monument depict real events: battles, the siege and capture of cities, everyday life in the army camp, the taking of captives, and the harsh treatment meted out to those who resisted conquest.

The palace architectural reliefs at Nimrud, Khorsabad, and Nineveh are important not only because they represent the climax of Mesopotamian artistic expression, but because they are valuable as historical documents. Even though cities, seascapes, and landscapes were not rendered with the realism and perspective of later Western artists, the modern observer is still able to reconstruct the appearance of fortified buildings, ships, chariots, horse trappings, hunting equipment, weapons, ritual libations, and costumes through the skill of Assyrian sculptors. The various ethnic groups inhabiting Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine in the 1st millennium bc are depicted with great realism and can be identified by their dress, facial features, and hairstyles.

Between the 9th-century bc Nimrud reliefs and the 7th-century bc Nineveh reliefs, stylistic changes took place. In the earlier scenes, armies are represented by a few soldiers only, without regard to the relative size of humans and architecture. Figures are in bands, one above the other, to suggest space. In the Nineveh scenes, the figures, carved in lower relief, fill the entire picture plane. Not only is there more detail, but at times figures overlap, giving the viewer a sense of people and animals in real space.

The art of the late Assyrian seal cutter is a combination of realism and mythology. Even the naturalistic scenes contain symbols of the gods. Beautiful ivory carvings, found especially at Nimrud but also at Khorsabad, were also made in this period. Among the Nimrud ivories was a pair of plaques, each depicting a lioness attacking an Ethiopian (Iraq Museum and British Museum). They are about 10 cm high (about 4 in) and carved in ivory, partly gilded and inlaid with lapis lazuli and red carnelian. These exquisite objects may have originated outside of Assyria, for they resemble Syro-Phoenician crafted objects found at Arslan Tash on the upper Euphrates and at Samaria, capital of the Israelite kingdom. The lioness plaques incorporate Egyptian iconography and are examples of the best Phoenician craftsmanship. The British Museum piece has the Phoenician letter aleph on the base, presumably a fitter's mark. They were either imported from Phoenicia or possibly made by Phoenician craftsmen at the Assyrian court. Thousands of ivory carvings displaying a variety of styles have been recovered at Nimrud. Many, such as the lioness plaques, were thrown down one of two wells in the Northwest palace when the city was sacked around 612 bc.

The art of the peoples who lived on the fringes of the Assyrian Empire at times lacks the aesthetic appeal of that of the capital. In Tell Halaf, a local ruler's palace was decorated with weird reliefs and sculpture in the round; among the hybrids is a scorpion man. At the site of Tell Ahmar in northern Syria, ancient Til Barsip (Assyrian Kar Shalmaneser), a palace decorated extensively with Assyrian wall paintings was uncovered. Some of the paintings are attributed to the mid-8th century bc; others to a rebuilding by Assurbanipal in the 7th century bc. From the earlier building are scenes with winged genii, the defeat of the enemy and their merciless execution, audiences granted to officials, and scribes recording booty from subjugated nations. The paintings in Khorsabad were more formal—repeat patterns in bands are topped by two figures paying homage to a deity. Excavations in Lorestān, the mountainous region of western Iran, yielded fine bronzes of fantastic creatures, probably made in the middle or late Assyrian period. These were used as ornaments for horses, weapons, and utensils.

IX

Syrian, Phoenician, and Palestinian Art

Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine were on the land route between Asia Minor and Africa, and the ancient art of this area always shows the influence of those who conquered, passed through, or traded with its inhabitants. Mesopotamian-style cylinder seals from the Jamdat Nasr period were found at Megiddo in Israel and at Byblos, the capital of Phoenicia; in a later period the Hurrians of northern Syria specialized in seal cutting. Pottery, works in stone, and scarabs were influenced by dynastic Egypt beginning in the 29th century bc. Bronze figurines from Byblos of the early 2nd millennium are more distinctly Phoenician, as are daggers and other ceremonial weapons found there. Although the motifs used by local artisans came from beyond the immediate region—Crete (Kríti), Egypt, the Hittite Empire, and Mesopotamia—the technique embodied in crafted objects found at Byblos and Ugarit (with its Hurrian and Mitanui cultural strains) is distinctly Phoenician. Phoenician goldsmiths and silversmiths were skilled artisans, but the quality of their work depended on their clientele. Ivory work was always of the highest standards, probably because of Egyptian competition. Phoenicians sold their wares all over the Middle East, and the spread of Middle Eastern style and iconography, like the alphabet, can be attributed to these great traders of antiquity.

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