Mesopotamian art spanned several ancient civilizations along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. Sumerian art featured sculptures with stylized figures and relief work on objects like the Standard of Ur. Akkadian art assimilated Sumerian styles like the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin depicting military campaigns. Assyrian art specialized in narrative stone reliefs that decorated palaces and included scenes from the Palace of Ashurbanipal. Babylonians excelled at glazed tile sculptures and rebuilt the Ishtar Gate originally from the Temple of Bel.

1. Mesopotamian Art

2. Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu

3. The Peoples of Mesopotamia
The Sumerians
The Akkadians
The Bayblonians
The Assyrians
The Neo- Babylonians

5. The cuneiform script underwent considerable changes over a period of more than two
millennia. The image below shows the development of the sign SAG "head" (Borger nr. 184,
U+12295)
Stage 1 shows the pictogram as it was drawn around 3000 BC. Stage 2 shows the rotated
pictogram as written around 2800 BC. Stage 3 shows the abstracted glyph in archaic
monumental inscriptions, from ca. 2600 BC, and stage 4 is the sign as written in clay,
contemporary to stage 3. Stage 5 represents the late 3rd millennium, and stage 6 represents
Old Assyrian ductus of the early 2nd millennium, as adopted into Hittite. Stage 7 is the
simplified sign as written by Assyrian scribes in the early 1st millennium, and until the script's
extinction.

6. The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh
is, perhaps, the oldest
written story on Earth. It
comes to us from
Ancient Sumeria, and
was originally written on
12 clay tablets in
cunieform script. It is
about the adventures of
the historical King of
Uruk (somewhere
between 2750 and 2500
BCE).

7. Art of the ancient civilizations that grew up in the area around the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers, now in Iraq. Mesopotamian art was largely used to glorify
powerful dynasties, and often reflected the belief that kingship and the divine
were closely interlocked.
Sumerian (3500–2300 BC) The first of the powerful Mesopotamian
civilizations, Sumer was concentrated in the cities of Ur, Eridu, and Uruk in
southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerians built temples on top of vast ziggurats
(stepped towers) and also vast, elaborately decorated palaces. Sculptures
include erect, stylized figures carved in marble and characterized by clasped
hands and huge eyes; those found in the Abu Temple, Tell Asmar, date from
2700 BC. Earlier sculptures in alabaster, such as the Female Head (3000
BC; Iraq Museum, Baghdad), show a greater naturalism and sensitivity. Inlay
work is seen in the Standard of Ur (2500 BC), a box decorated with pictures
in lapis lazuli, shell, and red sandstone. The Sumerians, who are thought to
have invented writing about 3000 BC, produced many small, finely carved
cylindrical seals made of marble, alabaster, carnelian, lapis lazuli, and stone.
The Sumerians, like the ancient Egyptians who were more or less their
contemporaries, believed in an afterlife, and so their tombs were well
furnished with art, furniture, and other items to prepare them for the next
world.

8. Faces are dominated by very large eyes; but, for reasons we might take for
granted, artists of many cultures have placed emphasis on eyes.
The statues found at the Abu Temple in Tell Asmar from c. 2700 BCE

9. Helmet of King Meskalamdug, c. 2400 BCE

10. Sumerian Votive Figures

11. Victory of Naram-Sin
(2200 BC; Louvre, Paris),
carved in relief

12. Akkadian (2300–2150 BC) The Akkadian invaders quickly
assimilated Sumerian styles. The stele (decorated upright slab)
Victory of Naram-Sin (2200 BC; Louvre, Paris), carved in relief,
depicts a military campaign of the warlike Akkadians. The
technical and artistic sophistication of bronze sculpture is
illustrated by the Head of an Akkadian King (2200 BC; Iraq
Museum, Baghdad).
Assyrian (1400–600 BC) The characteristic Assyrian art form
was narrative relief sculpture. Unlike the other southern
Mesopotamian peoples, the Assyrians had access to large
quantities of stone, and their many carved reliefs have
consequently survived well. These shallow carvings were used
to decorate palaces, for example, the Palace of Ashurbanipal
(7th century BC). Its finely carved reliefs include dramatic
scenes of a lion hunt, now in the British Museum, London.
Winged bulls with human faces, carved partially in the round,
stood as sentinels at the royal gateways (Louvre, Paris).

13. Human-headed winged lion (lamassu), Assyrian 883–859 B.C

14. Winged Assyrian Bull c.721-705 BCE

15. Mesopotamia,
Nimrud, Head of
a Woman, late
8th century BCE,
ivory plaque,
originally part of
furniture.

16. Babylonian (625–538 BC) Babylon came to artistic
prominence in the 6th century BC, when it flourished under King
Nebuchadnezzar II. He built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a
series of terraced gardens. The Babylonians practised all the
Mesopotamian arts and excelled in brightly coloured glazed tiles,
used to create relief sculptures. An example is the Ishtar Gate
(about 575 BC) from the Temple of Bel, the biblical Tower of Babel
(Pergamon Museum, Berlin, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York).
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17. A Babylonian
relief sculpture
of a bull made of
brightly glazed
tiles on the
restored Ishtar
Gate. The
original
sculpture dates
from around 575
BC and stood on
the gate of the
Temple of Bel,
the biblical
Tower of Babel
in Babylon.

18. Persia, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, sixth century BCE. Accounts
indicate that the garden was built by King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled
the city for 43 years starting in 605 BCE, and that he built them to cheer up
his homesick wife, Amyitis. Medes, the land she came from was green,
rugged and mountainous, and she found the flat, sun-baked terrain of
Mesopotamia depressing, so the king decided to recreate her homeland
by building an artificial mountain with rooftop gardens. The Hanging
Gardens weren't actually "hanging", but instead were "overhanging" as in
the case of a terrace or balcony.