Art and History of Ancient Mesopotamia and Persia

Pictorial Narration in Ancient Sumer

• Ancient Sumer: Known as the ‘cradle of civilization’ in Mesopotamia, it was the location where humans first used the wheel and plow, controlled floods, and constructed irrigation canals.
• Key Inventions: In the $4^{th}$ millennium BCE, Sumerians invented writing, established city-states (complex urban societies), and pioneered using pictures to tell coherent stories.
• Warka Vase ($FIG. 2-1$): Found in the Inanna temple complex at Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq). It is the first known great work of narrative relief sculpture.
  • Pictorial Conventions: The artist established conventions used for the next $2,800$ years.
  • Registers/Friezes: The pictorial field is divided into three bands.
  • Ground Line: A strict compositional format where figures stand on a common line, breaking from haphazard Stone Age figure placement.
  • Lowest Band: Depicts crops above a wavy line representing water.
  • Middle Register: Alternating ewes and rams; these are fertility symbols representing the blessing of Inanna on crops and herds.
  • Center Band: A procession of naked men moving in the opposite direction of animals, carrying baskets and jars of produce as a votive offering (a gift of gratitude to a deity made in fulfillment of a vow).
  • Uppermost Band: The tallest register. Features a female figure with a tall horned headdress next to two reed posts with streamers (sign of Inanna). A nude male brings an offering vessel. Behind him is a ‘priest-king’ (both religious and secular leader) wearing a tasseled skirt with an attendant.
  • Hierarchy of Scale: The greater height of the priest-king and Inanna compared to others indicates their importance, a convention pioneered by Sumerians.

Mesopotamia and the Neolithic Revolution

• Neolithic Revolution: The shift from hunting and gathering to farming and herding, first occurring in Mesopotamia.
• Etymology: Mesopotamia is Greek for ‘the land between the rivers’ (Tigris and Euphrates).
• Fertile Crescent: The foothills surrounding the Mesopotamian valley, presumed locale of the Garden of Eden and birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
• Archaeological History: Systematic excavation began in the $19^{th}$ century. Early popular acquisitions included stone reliefs of warfare/hunting and lamassu (man-headed winged bulls) from Assyrian palaces ($9^{th}$ to $7^{th}$ centuries BCE).
• Royal Cemetery at Ur: Excavated in the $1920s$ by Sir Leonard Woolley ($1880-1960$). The gold objects and jewelry discovered there rivaled the find of Tutankhamen in $1922$.

The City-State and Specialization of Labor

• Sumerian Politics: Ancient Sumer comprised about a dozen independent city-states under different deities. Rulers were stewards of the gods’ treasure and representatives on earth.
• Socio-Economics: Advanced agriculture allowed for a population that did not all have to produce food. This led to specialization of labor (manufacturing, trade, administration), the hallmark of complex urban society.
• Institutionalization: Individual activities became institutionalized (defense, infrastructure) under rulers or councils.

The Gods and Goddesses of Mesopotamia

• Anu: Sky god and city god of Uruk; chief deity. The White Temple was likely dedicated to him.
• Enlil: Anu's son, lord of winds and earth. Eventually replaced Anu as king of the gods.
• Inanna: Goddess of love and war (later Ishtar). Most important female deity. Sanctuary built at Uruk in the $4^{th}$ millennium BCE.
• Nanna (Sin): Moon god and chief deity of Ur.
• Utu (Shamash): Sun god. Revered at Sippar. Depicted in Babylonian reliefs with flames radiating from shoulders.
• Ningirsu: Local god of Lagash and Girsu. Helped Eannatum defeat enemies. Featured on the Stele of the Vultures ($ca. 2600-2500$ BCE).
• Marduk: Chief god of the Babylonians.
• Nabu: Marduk’s son; god of writing and wisdom.
• Adad: Babylonian god of storms.
• Ashur: Local deity of Assur; king of the Assyrian gods.

The Invention of Writing

• Origins: Oldest documents ($3400 to 3200$ BCE) were Sumerian administrative and commercial records.
• Pictographs: Early records used simplified pictures for words, drawn in soft clay with a stylus.
• Cuneiform: By $3000 to 2900$ BCE, signs were simplified into wedge-shaped characters read top to bottom and right to left. This development marks the beginning of writing as strictly defined by historians.
• Epic of Gilgamesh: A late-$3^{rd}$ millennium BCE work recounting the story of the legendary king of Uruk and the monster Huwawa. It predates the Iliad by $1,500$ years.

Sumerian Architecture: The White Temple at Uruk

• Urban Context: Uruk was $500$ acres with a population of approximately $40,000$ in the late $4^{th}$ millennium BCE.
• Material: Built with mud bricks because stone was scarce. Mud brick is durable but erodes with water.
• Layout: The temple stood on a platform $43$ feet above street level (Kullaba).
• Bent-axis Plan: A standard Sumerian arrangement where the stairway necessitates angular changes in direction to reach the door, unlike the linear Egyptian approach.
• Cella: The central hall or ‘divinity’s room,’ housing a stepped altar. The Sumerians considered temples as ‘waiting rooms’ where the deity might descend.
• Ziggurat Height: The tallest at Babylon was about $270$ feet high (Tower of Babel).

Sumerian Sculpture and Votive Statuary

• Female Head from Uruk ($FIG. 2-4$): Fragmentary white marble face. Originally featured colored shell or stone in eye/eyebrow recesses and a wig of gold leaf. Missing body was likely wood.
• Eshnunna Statuettes ($FIG. 2-5$): Carved of soft gypsum, inlaid with shell and black limestone ($under 1 foot$ to $30$ inches tall).
  • Function: Votive offerings representing donors. Men wear fringed skirts; women wear long robes with the right shoulder bare.
  • Style: Simple forms like cones and cylinders. Eyes are oversized to symbolize ‘eternal wakefulness’ to offer prayers to the gods.
• Urnanshe (Mari): A beardless eunuch and singer at the Mari court. Depicted sitting on a cushion with legs crossed, hands in prayer.

The Royal Cemetery at Ur and Associated Objects

• Royal Cemetery: Burial ground for leading families of Ur. Bodies were found with retinues of servants/charioteers who probably drank poison to accompany them.
• Bull-Headed Harps: From the tomb of Queen (Lady) Puabi. Featured gold leaf bulls' heads with lapis lazuli beards.
• Meskalamdug’s Sound Box: Inlaid with panels showing a hero embracing man-bulls and animals acting as people (e.g., donkey playing a harp).
• Cylinder Seals: Cylindrical stones engraved to produce a raised impression when rolled on clay. Used to authenticate documents and protect goods against tampering. Puabi’s seal ($FIG. 2-8$) mentions her name in cuneiform.
• Standard of Ur ($FIG. 2-10$): Wood box inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone.
  • War Side: Shows war chariots (earliest known representation) pulled by onagers, trampling enemies.
  • Peace Side: A banquet scene with a larger-than-life king, dignitaries, and musicians.
  • Interpretation: Likely represents the two roles of a Sumerian ruler: mighty warrior and chief administrator.

Stele of the Vultures

• Definition of Stele: A carved stone slab commemorating an event or marking a grave.
• Context: Celebrates Eannatum’s victory (Lagash) over Umma.
• Imagery: Vultures carry off severed heads. God Ningirsu holds enemies in a net. Eannatum is depicted as a fearless general, larger than life, leading an infantry battalion and attacking from a chariot.

The Akkadian Empire and Divine Kingship

• Sargon of Akkad ($r. 2332–2279$ BCE): Introduced a new concept of royal power based on loyalty to the ruler rather than the city-state.
• Naram-Sin ($r. 2254–2218$ BCE): Sargon’s grandson. Called himself ‘King of the Four Quarters’ and assumed god-like status.
• Akkadian Portraiture: Life-size copper head of a king from Nineveh. Oldest known life-size hollow-cast metal sculpture. Demonstrates balance of naturalism (nose, beard) and abstract patterning.
• Naram-Sin Stele ($FIG. 2-13$): Commemorates defeat of the Lullubi.
  • Iconography: Naram-Sin wears a horned helmet (sign of divinity). Stands alone, far taller than men.
  • Innovation: Rejected the register format; placed figures on levels within a tiered landscape setting.
• Enheduanna: Daughter of Sargon, priestess of Nanna. Author of hymns to Inanna. She is the oldest recorded name of a poet/author in world history. Featured on an Alabaster Disk ($FIG. 2-14$).

Neo-Sumerian Age (Third Dynasty of Ur)

• Gutians: Overthrew Akkadians ($ca. 2150$ BCE) but were driven out by the kings of Ur.
• Ziggurat at Ur ($FIG. 2-15$): $50$-foot-high mud-brick platform faced with baked bricks laid in bitumen. Begun by Ur-Namma ($r. 2112–2095$ BCE). Three ramplike stairways ($100$ steps each) converge on a gateway.
• Gudea of Lagash ($ca. 2100$ BCE): Ensi of Lagash. Portrayed in numerous diorite statues (rare, hard dark stone from Oman).
  • Votive Tradition: Depicted with hands clasped in prayer, eyes fixed on gods.
  • Architecture: One statue shows him with a temple plan for Ningirsu on his lap.
  • Overflowing Jar: One calcite statue shows him with streams of water/fish, symbolizing prosperity.

Old Babylon and the Laws of Hammurabi

• Hammurabi ($r. 1792–1750$ BCE): Reestablished centralized government in Babylonia. Famous for his comprehensive laws (nearly $300$ laws).
• Hammurabi's Stele ($FIG. 2-18$): Basalt stele found at Susa.
  • Top Relief: Hammurabi alongside Shamash. God gives him the rod and ring (builders' tools: measuring rod and coiled rope) symbolizing authority to measure lives.
  • Artistic Innovation: Experimented with foreshortening (Shamash's beard and throne depicted at an angle to suggest depth).

Art of the Hittites and Elamites

• Hittites: Anatolian warriors who sacked Babylon ($1595$ BCE). Their capital was Hattusa.
  • Lion Gate: $7$-foot-tall lion guardians projecting from massive stone blocks.
• Elam: Based in Susa (Iran).
  • Susa Beaker ($FIG. 2-18B$): Ceramic vessel with stylized profile animals (bearded ibex with exaggerated horns, racing dogs, wading birds).
  • Statue of Queen Napir-Asu: $3,760$-pound bronze-and-copper statue ($ca. 1345–1305$ BCE). Made with a solid bronze core inside a hollow copper shell to ensure the votive offering remained permanent and immovable.

The Assyrian Empire ($ca. 900–612$ BCE)

• Assyrian Royal Citadels: Fortified complexes like Dur Sharrukin (Sargon II).
• Lamassu ($FIG. 2-20$): Colossal ($14$ feet tall) man-headed winged bulls. Sculptors gave them $5$ legs ($2$ from front, $4$ from side) to satisfy both front and side views.
• Reliefs and Murals:
  • Ashurnasirpal II ($r. 883–859$ BCE): Palace at Kalhu. Reliefs show war scenes with documentary detail (e.g., soldiers swimming in the Euphrates with inflated skins).
  • Ashurbanipal ($r. 668–627$ BCE): Palace at Nineveh. Hunting reliefs show the king killing lions. Animals are depicted with anatomical realism (straining muscles, swelling veins) to glorify the king’s victory over a noble foe.

Neo-Babylonia ($605–539$ BCE)

• Nebuchadnezzar II: Restored Babylon. Constructed the Ishtar Gate and the Etemenanki (Tower of Babel).
• Ishtar Gate ($FIG. 2-24$): $47$-foot-high double gate. Blue-glazed bricks with reliefs of dragons (Marduk/Nabu), bulls (Adad), and lions (Ishtar).
• Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Included Babylon’s ‘hanging gardens’ (actually at Nineveh) and walls. Other wonders: Pyramids of Gizeh, Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum at Halikarnassos, Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria.

The Persian Empire (Achaemenid and Sasanian)

• Achaemenid Empire ($559–330$ BCE): Founded by Cyrus. Largest empire of the time, reaching the Indus River and the Danube.
• Persepolis: Administrative complex built by Darius I and Xerxes.
  • Apadana: Royal audience hall ($1,173$ square feet) with $36$ colossal columns ($65$ feet tall). Capitals featured animal protomes (bulls, lions, griffins) to support cedar beams.
  • Reliefs: Processions of $23$ subject nations bringing tribute. Forms are rounded, showing Greek influence.
• Achaemenid Rhyton: Gold conical pouring vessel (repousse technique) in the form of a winged lion.
• Sasanian Empire ($224–636$ CE): Founded by Ardashir I. Challengers of Rome.
• Shapur I ($r. 241–272$): Captured the Roman emperor Valerian in $260$ CE. Commemorated the event in rock-cut reliefs at Bishapur.
• Ctesiphon Palace: Known for the iwan (brick audience hall) with a vault rising more than $100$ feet high. Became a standard for later Islamic architecture.