Lecture 3 Ancient Mesopotamia and Persia

1. Ancient Mesopotamia and Persia

2. • Mesopotamia: “the land between the rivers” in Greek. The rivers were Tigris and Euphrates.
• Sumer, Mesopotamia: “the cradle of civilization” (advances in agriculture and irrigation, discovery of writing, creation of complex
city-states).
• The oldest written documents known come from Sumer (records of administrative acts and commercial transactions from around
3400 to 3200 BCE). The Sumerian language made use of pictographs.
Example of Sumerian cuneiform

3. Warka Vase (ca. 3300 BCE)
The first great work of narrative
relief sculpture known. It represents a religious
ceremony in honor of Inanna (Sumerian
goddess of love and war) in which a priest-king
brings votive offerings to deposit in the
goddess’s shrine.
• Division of the pictorial field into three
bands (called registers, or friezes)
• Placement of all the figures on a common
ground line per frieze.
Narrative
Lowest frieze: Crops above a wavy line
representing water
Middle Frieze: 1 ) alternating ewes and rams. 2)
procession of men carrying baskets and jars
Upper Frieze: Goddess Inana/Priestess of Inana
accepting the offerings.
Warka Vase, from the Inanna temple complex, Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3300
BCE. Alabaster, 3' 1/4'' high. National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad.

4. Female head (Inanna?), from the Inanna
temple complex, Uruk (modern Warka),
Iraq, ca. 3300 BCE. Marble, 8’’ high.
National
Museum of Iraq, Baghdad.
• Face with flat back (incomplete finding).
• The rest of the head and body would have probably
been made of another material (possibly wood -
Sumerians had limited access to marble) as suggested
by the drilled holes.

5. Statuettes of two worshipers, from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar), Iraq, ca. 2900–2750 BCE.
Gypsum, shell, and black limestone. Man 2' 4 1/4‘’ high, woman 1’ 11 ¼’’ high. National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad.
Eshnunna Statuettes
• Votive statuettes donated by worshippers.
• The statuettes bear the names of the donors but are not meant
to be understood as realistic portraits of them.
• Simple forms, primarily cones and cylinders.
• Disproportionate relationship between eyes and hands.

6. Royal Cemetery, Ur
Bull-headed harp with inlaid sound box, from the tomb of Puabi (tomb 800), Royal
Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2550 bce. Wood, gold, lapis lazuli, red
lime- stone, and shell, 3’ 8 1/8’’ high. British Museum, London.

7. Detail of the sound box decoration, Bull-headed harp, from the tomb of Puabi (tomb
800), Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2550 bce. Wood, gold, lapis
lazuli, red lime- stone, and shell, 3’ 8 1/8’’ high. British Museum, London.

8. War side of the Standard of Ur, from tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2550–
2400 BCE. Wood, lapis lazuli, shell, and red limestone set into bitumen, 7’ 7/8’’ 1’ 6/12’’. British Museum,
London.
The Standard of Ur (ca. 2550–2400 BCE)
• Two narratives (war and peace?) divided into
three horizontal bands (progression of each
narrative from bottom to top).
• Lower band: War chariots in battle.
• Mid band: Soldiers capture foes.
• Upper band: Foes are presented to the king
as slaves.

9. Peace side of the Standard of Ur, from tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2550–2400 bce. Wood,
lapis lazuli, shell, and red limestone set into bitumen. British Museum, London.
• Lower band: Men carry
provisions on their backs.
• Mid band: Men transport
animals.
• Upper band: Banquet.

10. Akkad
In 2332 BCE, the loosely linked group of Sumerian city-states
came under the domination of a great ruler, Sargon of Akkad (r.
2332–2279 BCE). Sargon established a dynasty of centralized
political power (unlike the earlier organization of Sumerian city-
states).
Head of an Akkadian ruler, from the Temple of Ishtar, Nineveh (modern Kuyunjik),
Iraq, ca. 2250–2200 BCE. National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad.

11. Akkad
• Oldest known life-size, hollow-cast metal sculpture.
• The head is all that survives of a statue knocked over in
antiquity. Its damage (eyes, broken beard) may have
been deliberate – effacing the portrait of an absolute
monarch carries strong political symbolism.
• Balance of naturalism and abstract patterning: the
nose profile, long beard are distinctive features. On
the other hand, the repetition and symmetry of
geometrical shapes suggests a concern for form in its
own right.
Head of an Akkadian ruler, from the Temple of Ishtar, Nineveh (modern Kuyunjik),
Iraq, ca. 2250–2200 BCE. National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad.

12. Victory stele of Naram-Sin, set up at Sippar, Iraq, 2254–2218 BCE; found at Susa, Iran. Pink
sandstone, 6’ 10 5/8’’ high. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Victory stele of Naram-Sin (2254–2218 BCE)
• Stele commemorating military victory (Naram Sin’s conquest of
the Lullubi).
• Naram-Sin is leading his army up the slopes of a mountain. His
routed enemies fall, flee, die, or beg for mercy. His army is
depicted as highly organized and disciplined.
• The king stands alone, far taller than his men, treading on the
bodies of two of the fallen Lullubi.
• The king wears the horned helmet: symbol of divinity (the first
representation of a king as a god in Mesopotamian art. Further
divine associations: the stars at the top of the stele.

13. Victory stele of Naram-Sin, set up at
Sippar, Iraq, 2254–2218 BCE; found at
Susa, Iran. Pink sandstone, 6’ 10 5/8’’
high. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Ziggurat (looking southwest), Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, begun ca.
2100 BCE.
Ascension and its religious
significance.

14. Victory stele of Naram-Sin, set up at Sippar, Iraq, 2254–2218 BCE; found at Susa, Iran. Pink
sandstone, 6’ 10 5/8’’ high. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Victory stele of Naram-Sin (2254–2218 BCE)
• Abandonment of the frieze/register division of the narrative:
action takes place in a unified formally and conceptually space.
• The story unfolds in a landscape, rather than an abstract space.
• Figures are staggered, further highlighting the action.

15. Victory stele of Naram-Sin, set up at Sippar, Iraq,
2254–2218 BCE; found at Susa, Iran. Pink sandstone, 6’
10 5/8’’ high. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Peace side of the Standard of Ur, from tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca.
2550–2400 bce. Wood, lapis lazuli, shell, and red limestone set into bitumen. British Museum, London.

16. Babylon
• Babylon emerged in prominence after the
fall of Sumer.
• Hammurabi (r. 1792–1750 bce) was Babylon’s
most powerful king. He reestablished a
centralized government in southern
Mesopotamia in the area known as
Babylonia (after the city).
• Hammurabi was famous in antiquity for his
conquests, but he is best known today for his
laws.
Stele with the laws of Hammurabi, set up at Babylon, Iraq, ca. 1780
BCE; found at Susa, Iran. Basalt, 7’ 4’’ high. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

17. Babylon
• Hammurabi being handed the rod and ring
(symbols of authority) by the sun god
Shamash.
Detail of Stele with the laws of Hammurabi, set up at Babylon, Iraq,
ca. 1780 BCE; found at Susa, Iran. Basalt, 7’ 4’’ high. Musée du
Louvre, Paris.

18. Assyria
Lamassu (man-headed winged bull), from the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin
(modern Khorsabad), Iraq, ca. 721–705 bce. Limestone, 139 100 high. Musée du Louvre,
Paris.

19. Lamassu (man-headed winged bull), from the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin
(modern Khorsabad), Iraq, ca. 721–705 bce. Limestone, 13’’ 10’’ high. Musée du Louvre,
Paris.
• Gigantic sculptures of composite creatures meant to guard
palaces.
• Partly in the round, partly high relief.
How many legs does a Lamassu have?

20. Assyrian archers pursuing enemies, relief from the northwest palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Kalhu (modern
Nimrud), Iraq, ca. 875–860 BCE. Gypsum, 2’ 10 5/8’’ high. British Museum, London.
• Assyrians driving the enemy’s forces into
the Euphrates River.
• Three enemies attempt to escape
swimming: length of robes suggests that
they are not commoners.
• One of the fleeing enemies has been hit
with an arrow; the other two are using
inflated animal skins to stay afloat.
Notice a) proportions of figures in relation to
the setting b) combination of multiple
perspectives.

21. Persia
Citadel of Persepolis built between 521 and 465 BCE during
the reign of Cyrus, Darius I (r. 522–486 BCE) and Xerxes (r.
486– 465 BCE).
The Persian king would receive representatives of the nations
under his rule in the Apadana. The vast hall consisted
originally of 72 columns, each standing to a height of 24
meters which supported the roof.
East stairway, Apadana, Persepolis, Iran, ca. 520–465 BCE.

22. Apadana Reliefs
Persians and Medes, detail of the processional frieze on the east side of the terrace
of the apadana of the palace, Persepolis, Iran, ca. 521–465 bce. Limestone, 8’ 4’’
high.
Every emissary wears a characteristic costume and
carries a typical regional gift.

23. Persians and Medes, detail of the processional frieze on the east side
of the terrace of the apadana of the palace, Persepolis, Iran, ca. 521–
465 BCE. Limestone, 8’ 4’’ high.
Assyrian archers pursuing enemies, relief from the northwest palace of Ashurnasirpal II,
Kalhu (modern Nimrud), Iraq, ca. 875–860 BCE. Gypsum, 2’ 10 5/8’’ high. British Museum,
London.