Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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ANATOIIIA'
the Ancient
Near East
SETON LLOYD
The Near East,
cradle of civiliza-
of monupainting
and
mental sculpture
gave birth to
tion,
long
time
in
arts
before
the
By
was bursting
and
their
on
back
Mesopotamia,
Egypt,
culture,
twenty-five
nearly
aspect
of
known
and
quota
in
to
its
each
exploited,
brilliantly
culture
expression
visual
adding
turn
the
its
ever-increasing
we
herited
from
have in-
ourselves
where
either
among the
great
their
distri-
museums
ogist ahke, in
ancient
time
Near East
presented
is
in
manner by one of
for the
a
the world's
leading authorities.
260 illustrations
73 color plates
first
popular
The
art of the
The
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FREDERICK A. PRAEGER
Publishers
NEW YORK
ip/^ed
WASHINGTON
Title
page (i) Persepolis: detail of the procession of Medes and Persians from the
in the
A.
United
States
of America in 1961 by
New York
3,
N.Y.
All
rights reserved
G. A.
ADAMS
^10 Hon
Contents
Page 7 Introduction
17
PART ONE
Egypt and Sumer: The Stimulus of Environment
49 PART TWO
Early Pharaohs and the Pyramid
79
Age
PART THREE
Creative Genius in Mesopotamia and a Reflection
in
115
Anatoha
PART FOUR
Development and Diffusion
151
,
193
PART FIVE
New Kingdom
in the
Sophistication in
Egypt
PART SIX
Assyrian and Iron
Age Art
An
283 BibUography
284
List
of Illustrations
293 Index
Introduction
one with
this is
significance.
The geographical
area with
development without
For
it
which had
we
its
to enrich the
Half a century ago the very history of the ancient Near East was
known. Much of the evidence which today makes its
understanding possible had not yet been discovered; and in the
imperfectly
realm of art
it
this
book.
end of the
It is
last
more
also interesting
century to such
works
as
depends, that
used in
its
is,
primarily
the manifold activities of a versatile and diversely occupied profession, the dual function
of which
is first
to
make
available historical
its
interpretation.
'lens',
and
historical
back-
now
said this
representative collection
their conspicuous
many
its
The
present
contents multiplied
from which
is
no more than
a chance residue
these are
microscopically small
modern
Yet
scholars.
their conclusions
of their discovery.
is
dependent for
why
all
frequently in a
on
explain
his interpretation
must occur
so
with
successive phases
the
first
revolution*
which
whose
it
of nomadic
of settled communities
existence.
Among
them from
the
such as the
agricultural
labour, or the story-tellers and musicians with their gift for stimulating
full
in man's progress
also,
from Neolithic
initiative
of precocious minorities
particular forms
extraordinary
phenomenon would be
a great deal
more
easily
^fertile crescent'.
its
accommodate
is
hmited to the
grouped on
tribal principles.
itself
and
new
novel invention,
whole
potential
understood and
fully
unhesitatingly exploited.
is
man's history
at
II
man
we
with
art
understanding of
as a reflective being,
One
mon
cardinal preoccupation
to
consists
in
speculation
into
which man
is
life
spirit.
'waters'.
And
this
first
From an
of this
miracle were recognizable by names or symbols. The primary
creator-spirit became the first of the 'Great Gods', Atum-Ra. Conearly stage, separate forces in the performance
of spirits, and they in their turn begat the twin elements of earth
and sky, which when separated shaped the 'firmament'. Shu and
Tefhut Geb and Nut their names are perhaps unimportant to the
lay reader, except inasmuch as their relationship shaped itself into an
pair
12
as the basis
thousand years.
However
of Egyptian belief
it may have been
was
this respect
Christian
its
all
compared them
to the
primary function
Holy
Eucharist.
one of which
is
principles,
is
own
as a 'throne'.
by a beneficent
who was
in fact
provisional incarnation,
was at first
perhaps dependent on their identification of kingship with divinity
for it manifests itself in the elaborate provision of funerary equipment for royal tombs. But similar privileges are later extended to the
Pharaoh's less exalted subjects, the prolongation of whose life after
death in a modified form was also provided for. There is an almost
macabre materialism in the form which these provisions took; in the
supply of comforts and amenities, undifferentiated in any way from
the requirements of a mere mortal. And it is therefore hardly surprising that, as metaphysical speculation increased, some more
abstract objective for human aspirations came to be sought. In the
course of time this need was met by the cult of the god Osiris.
By the end of the Egyptian Fifth Dynasty, in about 2500 B.C., we
have a new form of evidence for Egyptian religious beUefs in the
possibilities
of immortality and
life-after-death. This
13
form of the
persistence.
But
in deference to the
and
manifestations, or for
practices
two
to
become
their identity.
a lack
his
'leader' or 'shepherd'
that matter
a 'steward'.
life-after-death.
this generalization,
but in
Map
ancient
showing the main areas and sites important for the history of art in the
Near East: modem towns are capitaHzed, sites are shown in upper and
lower case
no more than
of
spiritual survival,
15
protective embrace of a
savour in
them
But our
young
deity,
own
ability to
text
things clear.
personal obligation.
fill
as I
the gaps in
my wife
my own
for advice
on
knowledge. Finally
aesthetics,
and to
could give.
i6
Mr
am
also indebted to
PART ONE
The Stimulus
This story of a
momentous
thought of
resembhng a Nativity
as
When
may be
the spectacle
is
in
The
effects
of
this early
still
to be seen in
and
its
sensitive
iconography.
itself,
earliest settlers
These
vessels
Persepolis are
motifs
for
panel-fdling
or
surface
ornament
its
falling
burden of
alluvial
mud, but
details
in
side.
conveniently
B.C.,
which Egypto-
named
it
is
100
witnessed the
cultural creativity
respect
B.C., there
Gerzean period
which is our
first
The
suffices to
subject.
is
mmm^B^r^^^
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IH
it
not only
is
fits
distinguished
by
the
same convulsive
first
cultural
considerable mani-
of creative
art.
simultaneously in the
Sumerians
is
whole
common
cultural
to both.
development of which
non-Indo-European,
non-Semitic
Euphrates
is
attested historically
from
by
the
people
Lower
we
of the
whose
Tigris
and
19
Today very
origins. They were
millenniuni onwards.
little
regarding their
the
marshes
an
at the
earlier
where
many
of the
resembled in
respects that
first
down from
remoter past
their
a pattern
exists
in the drying
first arrivals
home
merges into
new homeland
of mud
emerging from reedy marshes; for agriculture they depended both
on the annual flooding of the rivers and on irrigation; like the
Marsh- Arabs of modern Iraq they domesticated cattle of the waterbuffalo type and they hunted lions, boar, or wildfowl and fished like
Valley. Their settlements
were
raised
on
islands or banks
primitive contemporaries.
But here we
We
must
mean
start at the
earliest
germina-
returning for a
moment
to the semi-
It
is
provided a
with an
first
man
to create
something
utility
this
20
falling
new decorative
tive patterns
began
geometrical,
but
possibihties
would become
lines
from rim
apparent. Tenta-
later
Yet
earliest
it
would almost
certainly be
wrong
exclusively to pottery.
motifs
their
at
this
early period
simple
and varied
assemblage of material to illustrate such developments, and examples
can be chosen almost at random. As for the supposed influence of
textiles, it can perhaps most clearly be seen in the early *Eridu'
pottery of southern Mesopotamia and in the polychrome Tell Halaf
ware of the north (///. 5). Certainly in Persia, by the time the
historic period
is
is
a vast
on pottery
is
often
fabrics
(///.
4),
is
21
B.C.
in
Persia during the historic period of designs, including animal mptifs properly-
hnk
is still
when we
unknown
inter-
of animals and birds, like the dancing homunwhich must once have featured as individual figures, are even
linked together in a repetitive frieze, to form a band of enrichment
or to emphasize the horizontal significance of some plastic curve.
Here and there one still sees an isolated figure, whose sole function
simplified silhouettes
culi
is
to
fill
like the
bow
in
///.
22
5 Tell
polish.
The
designs used
show
is
it
a slight
who might
by
on the wall of a
as a decorative unit,
is
decorative value,
may
well
But
recognizable merely
become
cave.
its
it is set.
havebeen ignorant of
its
its
traditional
\.
significance.
These early vase-painters mark a stage at which regional characteristics in the development of art begin to be diiferentiated. Where
Persia
by
is
concerned,
we
shall presently
They
23
shows one
human
A bowl
instance of a
rare
figure, a hunter
as
with
a
his
filling
Dog,
bird,
re-
shall
intents
and purposes
indestructible.
early history
It
seems probable
of music,
traces
which
is
to
that, if more
is
to be learnt
in pottery,
The
form they take and their diverse peculiarities indicate as a rule the
period to which they belong rather than the place they come
from.
24
Of
made
hand which
are based
human
attributes,
distinction lies in the fact that they seek to give plastic expression to
it
those
symbolism become,
Nor
fertility
in these circumstances
is
and the
much
with
Asiatic
to be gained
>^
<r
from any attempted
distinguished
by
these
satisfied
seen to be gaining
momentum.
First we must refer to the invention during this period of the art
of writing, which again seems to have developed independently in
25
the
two
countries.
There
is
its first
appear-
and
it
what
was
first
is
26
purpose; in Egypt
represent tattooing.
9 Right:
carrying an emblematic
Al 'Ubaid with a
on the shoulders may
same type from Eridu,
levels at
mace
27
and
we
homogeneous people,
on
rest it
is
their forebears
of their
Where
of
derived no
and contemporary
to be influenced
by
associations;
whereas
Asiatic neighbours.
Predynastic art
is
artists
up
for this
intent
is
by
their truly
in almost
all
on stone or
They
consist mostly
of fine carvings
huge votive mace-head in the Ashmolean Museum (///. ii) commemorates the conquests of an
Upper Egyptian king, Scorpion', who is for some reason depicted
supervising the opening of a canal. This king seems to have succeeded
in relief
ivory.
in consohdating the
28
Museum
(///.
ij),
The slender form unhke the styHzed Gerzean figures recognizes the significance
of human anatomy. The rough painted designs are a combination of geometric
patterns, representations
of
dress
ornament
29
,'.
^i
^"!*^c^%''
^- -..-ti.iK-*
-'1^
',^,
,'
;>Jr^-;
^'
Hw^i!^lt
-*.-i
two ceremonial votive limestone macemace shows King 'Scorpion' ceremonicanal. He wears the white crown of Upper
II Hierakonopolis:
heads.
ally
The
larger
opening a
30
'-
//'.
~
//
Wifi
\m
the
relief-carving.
earliest
The
flint knife,
Egyptian
figure supported
on
(///.
18)
31
^Mf)f^
The
13
on which two groups of people, distinguished by standards, collaborate in what must have been a traditionally famous lion-hunt; and
others with wild animals and more fantastic beasts, whose significance for the most part escapes us. Finally, though it does not properly belong to the period, there is the famous 'Narmer palette'
a twofold monument, commemorating a royal victory
(///. 14)
and the final amalgamation of Upper and Lower Egypt under a
back to
Menes, the
first
king of their
ruled at
Nekhen
(Hierakonopolis), and
single
to be identical.
Taken
stages
of Egyptian
art.
The
14 Hierakonopolis: the votive palette of King Narmer, perhaps the first sovereign to
is a key monument of the Archaic period.
The King wearing the crown of Lower Egypt and preceded by his standards,
enemy dead. Entwined beasts below appear also in Sumerian
At
the
crown,
strikes
which they
down
in the
On
form of a wild ox
batters
now
decorate.
scattered in the
grouped and related to make a coherent scene. All these carvings showoutstanding craftsmanship, fine drawing of organic shapes and
what is more important an understanding of their adaptability to
without
parallel in
art.
But
their
secondary
33
15
shown on
woven
have
counterparts
httle in
still
^illustrations', in contrast to
of the canal
relationship
34
the other
1
6)
is
from Gebelein
(///.
The
relic
of its
Narmer
main
miniature.
As
expressed graphically), or
shoulder).
The
by
enemy
or
'interest' (a stag
heraldic device of a
by
intent'
enemies,
when
(sparring
the plural
human figure
is
its
supported by pairs
centrifugal pattern
istic
of the
and
significant that
first
art,
are so instructive
may
eventually be
35
17
Warka
stela
(Uruk).
and
detail
Granite
(right)
of
The comparison
with contemporary Egyptian
a lion-hunt.
carving
is
significant.
huntsmen
The two
long-
bearded,
haired, wearing a
head-band
heraldic
el-Arak knife-handle
(///.
*Hunter's palette'
continued.
The Gebelein
textile
13)
which
(///.
12),
on the
little
scope
is
afforded
by
the
Mesopotamia
more
earliest
Sumerian times in
of Predynastic
of southern
Iraq,
we
of stone in the
we owe
their recovery.
Two
36
(///.
i8).
If,
after so
milieu to another,
counterparts,
it
is
is its
first
indistinguishable,
place, the
and only
by
the technical limitations of the material. Next, there are the subjects
chosen and the actual figures composing them. That of the *Lionhunt' recalls the Hunter's palette; and no one can
fail
to observe
For
if
we
require a *least
common denominator',
from
either
rest,
naked
on
Such
parallels
is
concerned.
And
even
when we
turn to
Museum
(///.
is
ip),
field,
some
justifiable
comparison will be
line
Brooklyn
said that
it
*.
all
When
with which
man
ape. Similarly, if we
example
in
Egypt
to
it
becomes sculp-
Narmer's alabaster
38
(the only
{right) the leader of a proprobably a king (head and shoulders missing), presents a basket of fruit to
the goddess Innana or her priestess, identified by the two symbols behind her. In
the second row nude priests bring offerings; in the bottom rows are animals and
plants symbolizing two aspects of fertility
1
cession,
39
and
of world
both in
artistic
B.C.,
civilization,
we
of similarities,
of some mysterious
common
of two
is
it
the
which was
later lost in
Dynastic period
is
increasingly difficult to
on bitumen and
42
it is
would probably
modern
finished version
remember
that there
is
43
23 Cylinder-seal impression
period.
The
projecting
of these
is
a byre,
is
depicted.
bulls
waves over the forehead. This was fixed to the stone by metal studs
and no doubt appropriately engraved. The eyes, eyebrows, and
parting of the hair were finally emphasized with coloured inlays.
The appearance of the head with these supplementary adornments
can rehably be reconstructed by analogy with later sculptures; but
the mask in its surviving form has an air of simple nobility, derived
solely from the sensitive modelling and luminous quality of the
stone. To the modem eye, its effect is diminished by further embelUshment.
Next come
the
first
miniature (and
may
on
cylinder-seals,
at this
period
(///.
which appear
2j).
for
They reflect in
44
seals
were of course
objects
cyhnder
itself,
on which
it
appears rather
awkwardly
in negative.
art,
quite
hidden from
these quaint
such
as a
we
us,
little
Though
are impressed
by
their significance
is
often
But few of the individual motifs appear to be purely decoraand some of the most grotesque, like ^copulating vipers' or
*serpent-headed lions', are thought to symbolize the forces of nature.
A little later, however (///. ^g), the craftsmanship of the carving
declines
perhaps because the spread of writing had so greatly
lions.
tive,
increased the
demand
of
initial
is
taken to see
by secondary
engraving; and a
simplification
^Brocade'
Two
times.
now
come
to be
known
as the
style.
One
raised
is
which are
form of mosaic,
It is
on
recalls
cylinder-seals.
The
design the bi-chrome painted pottery of the time, which had reached
a high standard
46
a stage
at
Mesopotamian
{cf. III.
221)
were beginning
to be kept. We are in fact approaching the period at which written
history may be said to have begun. Babylonian historians of later
times used a traditional Flood', as a chronological landmark in
be expressed in written
signs,
sorts
dealing with these earliest ages. In their Dynastic hsts there are kings
*
stiU
can be identified with epic heroes and even with gods. If then
we
less
They
are
47
grouped under the names of major cities such as Kish, Erech, and Ur,
which must successively have estabUshed hegemony over the whole
of Sumeria.
From now onwards in the art of the two countries, the process of
characteristic differentiation completes itself and
them
separately
is
maintained almost
fifteen centuries.
and in
turn,
We
must
At
from other Near Eastern
contribution, though belated,
such
status
must be considered.
Persia's
as
as
whose
which
is
mainly
derivative.
relevant to the
history of art,
us in the rock-cut
take precedence.
48
PART
Early
TWO
late Professor
interested in
it
it is
mainly because
its
Peet gave
it as
his
opinion that
all, is
In
Germany during
this
the
49
lines, is still
art:
'irrelevant' circumstances
of
its
cultural background.
By
this
it
modern eye
absence in the
reliefs
to the unfamiliarity
rendering nature.
qualities'.
commented on
of perspective
of the
He
as
we
alternative
attributes
mainly to the
ourselves understand
method employed
in
it,
them
and
for
well escape one's attention, namely that 'the use of perspective, far
from being
natural or
common,
is
fifth
principle has
human
history,
its
who
is
indirectly influenced
by the
principles
of Greek
art. If
forms of art
It is
which he
uses.
qualities by
which Egyptian art is distinguished, let us consider for a moment the
wider subject of its purpose and raison d'etre. Here we shall immediately be confronted by the central fact of its intimate and almost
exclusive association with Egyptian religious beliefs. From the
earliest times Egyptian art had no serious purpose unconnected with
religion
a circumstance which becomes less surprising when one
remembers the magnitude of the part which religion played in
Egyptian life generally, among a people incapable of distinguishing
between religious and political thought. And here is another sense in
which the label 'pre-Greek' could be applied to Egyptian attitudes of
mind. For every aspect of their public and private lives was seen by
them against a pattern of religious beliefs or practices, which totally
excluded what might be called the *lay outlook'. The classical separation of religious authority from civic administration, or the still later
distinction between Church and State would have been incom-
of the formal
To
remember
first
its
we must
manifestation of divine
after death; the
ritual
main
and the imagery by which they were expressed, were
principles
life. Its
already stabilized during the Fourth Dynasty, but the centuries that
'Little
much grow
was ever
rejected
as
by
all
things to
all
it is
men
The
The
nature of this
consider.
We
shall
and
it is
settings
limitations
style, as
well
be identified
52
with royalty.
It
was
in fact con-
cerned with what has been called 'the grandiose paradox of sacred
kingship'; not, at
first,
with
divine kingship,
of kings seems to have been a secondary development; but with the prolongation of a cycle of existence which
ex
officio
divinity
of the
cult
(///.
27). It
is
little
remind oneself
be described as a
surprising to
way, fairly
'monumental mason', with little reservation regarding the connotation which modern usage has given to the term. The proper
setting for his work was in association with a tomb; and this in fact
is where it is for the most part found.
The function of a mortuary statue within the cult was that of a
human image, assuming or supplementing the identity of the embalmed corpse in perpetuity. For this purpose it had to be a portrait
of a sort which would avoid any suggestion of mortal frailty or the
ephemeral nature of human life. It therefore had to be rendered
without emphasis on the organic aspect of the original, and invested
with a static quahty compatible with the 'timelessness' of its purpose.
that the Egyptian artist could, in this
The Egyptian
sculptors,
with
their
as
'likeness'
incomparable
these,
not, in
skill,
not only
probability, a literal
would have involved them in irrelevant considerations such as character and mood, but the distinctive insignia
of the essential individuality. Actual resemblance was in fact a
resemblance, which
54
L
%
'i
"P^'-
^9g^
even
less
herein
equivocally established
by
a ritual process
on
lies
porating the
name of the
of ^naming'.
came
to be appro-
facial
A practice
evidence invalid.
And
title
tending towards
also,
fifty
were found
could be
Dynasty
mastaba of Khnum-baf.
is
artist
extent
by
his physical
him
were
for
Then
there
to a very great
rhythm of the
isolation
way of
life.
its
East. This
its
sides
As the
56
29 (above) Statue of Hemiunu, the vizier and architect to King Cheops. This
statue stands apart from traditional Egyptian sculpture and sets its own standards. It appears not to have been painted, so that the extreme subtlety of the
modelling is not obscured. No attempt has been made to disguise the symptoms of
advancing age, but the figure gives an impression of dignity and wisdom. This
famous
statue
is
art ever
probably
as
near to being a
'portrait', in the
modem
58
sense, as
Egyptian
got
A 'reserve
head' of the
sun was reborn each day and Osiris each year, so for the Egyptian
death was simply the night before the triumphant passage to everlasting day.
as a
we
official
agree with
we know of the
we must
Delta
it
look for
from what
from Upper
fact,
Egypt, not only in climate and economy, but in the character of its
inhabitants,
who had
to
some extent
may
Where
their art
is
of
con-
(///.
33).
in contrast to
59
Two
(left)
Granite
60
{right)
6i
Yet
it is
to the artists
we must
of Old Kingdom art,
primary
characteristics
as
Egyptian there were no circular horizons. The shape of his immediate world was manifestly rectilinear; confined between the ruthless
parallels
uprights.
Some
critics
have attributed to
this
Egyptian obsession
with the prismatic aspect of his world, the preference which he shows
for basically cubic forms in his sculpture. No one could fail to notice
which
adopts
satisfies
is first
his
aesthetic predilections.
to consider the
two
profiles
They
are then
By
the
same token
it
where tomb-paintings
each separate wall and an imrelated ceiling, like the *canopy' of the
sky. All this has
logical sense
of confinement
expressively calls
it),
which
sort
disposes
of
'claustrophilia'
him towards
(as
Aldred
the *comfort' of a
62
or rock-cut tomb.
It
is
of Upper Egyptian
if it
accounts
art, it also
helps to
explain
It is
As
we have
been con-
of the
earliest
men
now
consider their
work
in
greater detail.
The
first
two Egyptian
works of
art
it is
have survived.
One
conspicuous exception
is
the
Narmer
figures
64
is
35 Statue
(restored)
of
until the
more
lasting unity
was
(///.
of the
royal tombs.
typical
who
65
ing King
Udimu
striking
down
on the Narmer
palette
an Asiatic
is
the
(III.
same
and
14)
Udimu,
fifth
king of the
First
Museum
(///.
j6)
one
where he
of slaying an enemy, in
is
depicted in the
this case
now
recognizable as an
66
tomb
V;
A,
VII
lilt'.
67
'!
ornament
(///.
columns
stalks,
and
taste in
that
it.
v^ooden
rafters
no
his stone
of papyrus
of a
sensitive
set
of rather un-
illuminating wall-reliefs
taken
form
So
effect,
(///.
let
Kingdom
from
actual statuary
of the Old
individuals.
its
upon which
it
wall.
It is
King's
68
mortuary
on the base
name
incised
statue
wooden
which he
panels in
is
ship stand facing a long frieze, depicting, not as yet actual scenes,
but groups of his possessions and the everyday utensils of his life.
Next, dating from the Fourth Dynasty (when decoration was more
often austerely restricted), there are the paintings in the
Ranofer
Meidum, where he
at
also
(They are
tomb of
is
little
still
fully
developed
reliefs
registers'
dominates a
series
of busy and
life.
by
(///.
4j)
where the
naturalistic episodes
and
situations,
hunting expeditions
all
among
man
estate;
boating scenes or
as
watching them.
of the
reliefs is to
Mrs Frankfort
takes this to
Of rehefs
mean
in royal
life's
mortuary temples
What we
see
is
the
familiar manifestations'.
we
have so
far
mentioned
(///.
42).
where
It is
characteristic
of mentally perceived
realities.
picture,
70
whose function
combined
is
that
in the composition of a
of a meaningful ideogram
^, :ir^^r^i-^
.--.'';-
is
\.
a large private
(i.e.
non-royal)
tomb, containing painted limestone-reliefs notable for their bold execution and
originality of composition. They show mostly scenes from rural life. In the top
72
>i}
up
by
sticks.
into bundles.
In the bot-
The
hiero-
73
41 Relief of the
The
face
is
was often
mortuary
rehefs
private tombs.
If
we remember
Pharaoh became
74
at
what an
primary
article
of Egyptian
of the living
religious belief, a
^^^^
^*N*^.-;
\.'^'
':*
^xs::-.
<^..
in very
bone
low
false
structure
75
'Jii
moment's reflection will show that the function of the royal reliefs
must differ radically from that of pictures in the tombs of mere
mortals. The nostalgic confrontation of the dead man with the
amenities of human existence, in the case of a god, would be totally
paradoxical. Instead of watching', then, the figure of the King
participates in and even directs the events pictured; and one has the
*
76
43 Relief
of the
fields,
craftsmen
at
familiar to
We
produce
him during
of his tomb
77
in the hereafter
not for a
is
more ephemeral
moment
human
attributes
needs such
as
be ensured.
The
total
classes
of building, including
tomb of Ti at Sakkara (///. 57), constitute a major contribution of the Old Kingdom to the world's art-treasures. The dehcate line-drawing and
the astonishingly beautiful carvings
from
the
no equal
in later periods.
em-
less
made
by
the Sixth,
least,
the
exacting standards of earlier days are maintained until the end of the
reliefs
II
bear
era.
much
to physical
people with
78
environment
whom we
are dealing.
of the
PART THREE
Creative Genius
and a Reflection
in
in
IVIesopotamia
Anatolia
We
more
of the third
B.C.,
i.e.
the Sumerians.
were
reality in
listed
our
own
names mentioned
ments.
It is
known
as
Under
Cities
by Babylonian
generation
scribes
when
cities
of
as
Ur, Erech, or
archaeologists
in inscriptions associated
such
later times,
and gained
found
their
Sumerian period
is
usually
Early Dynastic.
this
were
were drawn up; canals were dug to irrigate the land and improve communications by boat; armies were equipped and troops
trained for the
time to
first
move
treaties ratified.
As
a result,
this
to
number of them have a monumental function, commemorating purely secular events such as military conquests, the completion of a building, or opening of a canal. These take the form of
that a fair
made
But the
to serve
category are
all statues
structed in the round, for these are invariably intended for a place in
first
are rarest
of
all
(though
whose
designers
first
effects
factor to note
is
of environment; the
stitions
which
in the end,
all
against hostile
80
44 Cylinder-seal from Ur, second Early Dynastic period. Two bulls couchant on
either side of a triple plant and protected by human figures from attacking eagles,
bulls, stag, and ibex underneath
caimot love'.
is
perfectly expressed in
8i
This
figures
depicted
82
by
artists,
and in certain
cases, as
83
from Ur. The 'war panel' face. The two lower registers depict
Sumerian infantry in metal helmets, cloaks, and fleece kilts; four-wheeled
chariots drawn by four wild asses. In the top register the King, taller than his men,
46
'Inlaid Standard*
a battle:
man
they
let
life
withheld in their
own
was with
the shadow of
own
their
mortahty; and
it
antiquity.
Nevertheless,
Cemetery'
84
at
Ur
it
is
that
from the
we
obtain a
first
47 The reverse side of the 'Standard', showing the victory feast. In the top register
the King and his officers are seated drinking. In the two lower registers booty,
including captured teams of asses, is paraded before them. The purpose of this
Standard' is not known
*
of Mesopotamian craftsmanship.
Archaic inscriptions found in the tombs themselves do not prove the
occupants kings and queens; they may also have been priests and
in design
versatility
However
this
may
playing
be,
by
treasures recovered
great interest.
from
Among
One of these
at least
the
works of
It
is
bitumen against
a mosaic
a battle
(///.
47)
3i
The
scene
shown on one
side
(///.
46)
is
in progress at
which
a victory
is
being celebrated,
48.
Carved
become
relief
by
fragment from a
size.
inexpUcably
as
this
recognizable
is
As an introduction
a feast in progress.
is
by
its
shghtly exag-
some
and be-
though
confusion of aspects
multiplication
by
(front-face
the echelon
and
method
such
combined), and
example the chariot
profile
(for
horses).
Other works in
stone.
And
this
category were
^conventionally'
is
in
86
at Khafaje,
watched by
register missing,
its
completion
commemorated
away
(///.
48). If the
Ur
Standard*
By
plaque, carved
by Urnanshe,
87
Eannatum's
stela
from Telloh.
of victory,
Left:
The god
Eannatum himself,
King of Lagash, leads his phalanx into battle and drives his
Right:
own
fragments: but
up
it
after a battle to
as a
chariot
boundary-stone,
set
'first
among
its
equals',
and his
is he who holds the King's enemies
A group
of rather
different
were of foreign
origin.
at first to the
erroneous impression
The
inlay technique
been so
skilfully
that, as Sir
lapis
^2.
///.
^y,
probably used
as a
There
emblem
goat in
figure,
all
materials have
to the incongruity
figures
///.
virility;
its
and
this
horns are
is
Then
there
is
the straight-
51
Carved
more
steatite vase
life
in
Mesopotamia. One
is not native to
with
their
and
crests
these
vases
of gold
with
their
(///.
studded
33)
lapis hafts
52
90
(///.
5^),
purpose
is
illustrated
bull's head, from a lyre, found at Ur. Gold-leaf over a wooden core;
and beard of lapis-lazuli. This head ornamented the sound-box of the lyre;
perfection of design makes the beard appear hardly incongruous
Gold
hair
its
filigree
Some ceremonial
-X
'ijl
I3i
M
t
o^
'^^K^^^pWj^^^^^^BF
'- **
^^^^M^H
St
-m
t4
!"
'
S^^^H
^HIK^x^
T^!^!^^^H|^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
m
i
K\
it
^^ wiiL ^Q
'wmm
Eannatum
seen to be wearing a
more
practical counterpart
38 surmounted by an
and
ass,
(///.
the king
3j).
The
rein-ring in
of gold
silver,
relief-carving
be found on cylinder-seals. In
its
is
to
had
sometimes
still just
recognizable as
and forming
there
was
a pattern
woven
moving
files
pictorial possibilities
of
the designs; and no lack of subjects was found among the fantastic
imagery of Sumerian mythology (///. 60, 61), Elaborate scenes, in
92
54 Head-dress of a woman, from Ur. This consists of leaves and flowers made in
gold in a setting of semi-precious stones such as carnelian.
cannot be certain
how it was meant to be worn; possibly the ornamental wreath should be raised
clear of the forehead
We
which
roles,
vv^here
space-filling
is
required,
is
thus devised.
Two
figures
frequency
as protectors
a *bull-man'
with the
93
U;
11
(''(?^0
*The
Ram
An offering-stand of gold,
58 Ornamental rein-ring
from Ur. The wild ass is finely
characters
epic.
of Gilgamesh and
his
of the
Ur
bottom
'Standard'
46)
This connexion has never in fact been proved and the hero
later
mythology. Indeed,
it
There
is little
is
carefully observed.
from the
96
first,
files
m^E>i
m
The
stylized
for-
way
to representa-
63
The
shipper'
largest pair
statues
of 'wor-
from
Tell
is
its
apparent. Empanelled
and
98
*t^^i
^^V
I
1
rSiniP
'^^^^^^^1
round.
is
is
the most part been unearthed during the past thirty years.
it
has for
No special-
statues
is
An
clear.
is
inscribed.
'It
offers prayers'
is
when
'Statue, say to
my king (god)
.'
100
as
At Tell Asmar on the Diyala, a collection of twentyone discarded statues was discovered buried beneath the floor of a
temple-sanctuary (///. 6j, 64) and they included two abnormally tall
figures with exaggeratedly large inlaid eyes. The male statue was also
distinguished by the emblems of a vegetation cult sculptured on its
base, while the figure of a child had been inset into that of the female.
yet been found.
On this
there
a strong
is
argument
all
the
They
their breasts
The
Tell
Asmar
statues,
from
Tell
From
the
drawn,
it
first,
may
this.
is
to be found,
and for any purpose it must be imported from elswhere (///. 66).
When one remembers the plentiful granite and limestone quarries of
the Nile Valley, the contrast becomes obvious.
An
Egyptian king
come by and
this,
there
a spoilt
is little
65 Female head from Tell Agrab, Early Dynastic period. The hair was originally
modelled in bitumen and protruded from beneath the head-cloth; the ears would
of Stone were retained, or (as in the case of the Tell Asmar *cultstatue') there was a disproportionate thickening of the ankles.
A term such as 'cautionary reticence' brings one now to the
subject of sculptural style. We must next consider the formal
principles of design, which these early artists seem to have devised
(unconsciously, for they would have been no more capable of
expressing them in words than the abstract interpretation of their
own myths). Their central problem was to create a three-dimensional symbol, based on the shape of the human body but capable of
asserting its own independent reahty in space. It has been suggested
that in Mesopotamia as in Egypt this was done by approximating the
general shape of the statue to some simple geometrical form, and
that, whereas the Egyptians preferred a cube, Sumerian sculptures
were usually based on a cylinder or cone. This is an ingenious theory
and has been argued in great detail. It provides, for instance, a reason
why the seated statues, which are so familiar and satisfying a feature
of Egyptian sculpture, when attempted in Sumer so often resulted in
102
\.X
66 Group of coloured stone mace-heads from Tell Agrab. Mace-heads were sometimes engraved with patterns or, as in most of those shown here, were polished to
display the natural qualities of the stone. They illustrate the rarity-value of coloured
stone in an alluvial country
conspicuous
tions
failure.
Yet
it
of
styles
(as
(///.
with pleasure
from
modeUing of
artist's interest
62).
as
well
as interest that
(///.
one regards
62-3, 6y).
The
this
places
strange
where
it
has been found are widely separated geographically, and the materials
enhanced by
of female
statues date
and the
ears
from
this period.
we have
suggests
of the stone
The majority
(As
many
is
its
details
from Ur
tentatively
made
104
68 Copper
Khafaje.
from
statue
An ofFering-bowl
to
is
ary
human
naturalism
or an ordin-
being.
A new
now
appear-
is
105
69 Model chariot from Tell Agrab. The group is badly corroded; but the delicate
modelling of the four asses' heads can still be appreciated. The chariot has solid
wheels with studded rims; it has no body, and the charioteer stands on treads above
the axle. This little group is the earliest known example of the cire perdue technique
of casting bronze
as yet,
capital
Nineveh
(///.
70)
106
at
and the magnificent sculptured stela commemoraof Naramsin over a mountain people (///. yi). If
70 Life-sized bronze head of an Akkadian king from Nineveh. The eyes, probably
made of precious stones, have been removed. The elaborate treatment of the hair
and beard contrasts with the smoothness of the face. This head, says Henri Frankgrandeur without precedent in Mesopotamia'
107
new understanding of
composition in relief; the diagonal emphasis is well adapted
to the shape of the stela. The upward surge of the victorious
army directs one's eye to the mountain-top. Naramsin
(wearing the homed crown of divinity) faces the disordered remnants of his foes; above him are the emblems
of his protecting gods
io8
the
first
logical ability
modulated design,
statue
of
Gudea, governor of Lagash. The hard stone is
carved with complete mastery and brought to a
72 Diorite
perfect finish.
still
The
face
is
conventionalized, but
most of his
statues;
IIO
w
S3v
i^at.
confmed
to eastern Anatolia
estabhshed
as
last
century,
models by which
ANATOLIA
we
are
two
to the
great river
and here
artistic
there
we
should
now
development. In
is
fact, it is surprising to
discover
how
little
no
III
The
nomadic
art
this early-
period, and written history does not begin until the time of the
The
other source
is
the
Hittite remains
of a
Both groups are now dated to the twenty-fourth or twentyand they suggest that three hundred years or so
after the Sumerians had made their unconscious bequest to posterity
in the 'Royal Cemetery' at Ur, comparable craftsmanship had begun
objects.
to appear in the
The cemetery
no reason
for suspecting
as
characteristic
figures
of these
of bulls or
stags,
with
their feet
drawn together
to
fit
metal
on to the
113
head of a pole and strange metal grilles, also sometimes ornamented with animal figures, which for want of a better name have
been described as *sun-disks'. Ornamental heads for the poles supporting a canopy or catafalque
would probably
purpose, as the poles had golden handles which also survived. These
personal
ornaments,
utensils,
cult
hammering,
casting
(///.
soldering, repousse
cire
perdue process of
74-7).
When first
discovered, though
the ^treasures'
it
has
Anatolian
But more
sites
excavations
may
by
77 Jewellery from the royal tombs of Alaca Hiiyuk. Beads and gold
is of a remarkably high standard
craftsmanship here
114
pins.
The
PART FOUR
Development and Diffusion
the Second Millennium B.C.
in
by barbarian
tribes
from
its
Iran,
regional dynasties
The
central authority
as the First
to the
whole country.
Political stability
and
last fifty
Menthu-hetep
II,
artistic traditions.
115
some of the
traditions
of the
most sympathetic,
it is
III
in basalt.
The
may be in part
Old Kingdom
it
From
the aesthetic
viewpoint he
forward,
sees that
'.
so far
was
ii6
to a
Among them
79 Head of Senusret III in red quartzite. The refinement of this head and the
dehcate modeUing of the flesh, gives it an expressiveness unusual in Egyptian
sculpture. Critics have spoken of its 'pensive melancholy' and 'haunting humanity*
Ra
a^
reUgion
by
more
One
can see in
as a
Osiris, as in
his cult
This
other
the
separately
tenons.
ticated,
The style is
and,
as
'trembling
says,
carved
limbs
and attached by
sophis-
Aldred
on
the
verge of mannerism'
established in
now
its
presided as a
mood
of disillusion.
All this materially affected the
The
in the light
of the
new
beliefs,
118
///.
82-3).
As
in
much of its
and was
(///.
80),
magical significance
while a
new
type of figure
Mesopotamia, where
its
function
was
81
in granite.
119
82 Statue
of
Senusret-
feet
living
universally accepted, so in
Egypt
it
now
human
being
afforded to an absent
wor-
undergone
a significant
traditional severity
change in shape
of the sarcophagus
(for
(///.
86). Instead
whose
of the
rectangularity
significance),
we
mummified
an ex voto
type
throughout
Ameny
fashion
which
the
period.
squats
tailor-
in
is
of a
popular
statue,
was
that
long
stretched
kilt
tight
remains
as a prerequisite
of
is to be seen in the
with the funerary temples of the
spiritual release. It
Middle Kingdom Pharaohs (///. Sy), Like the 'block' statue, which
was now adopted as a suitable form oex voto [III. 82-3), these figures
with their severely rectangular back-pillars well illustrate the
'engaged' character of contemporary design.
121
r
r^i-ifrv- nrte
84
.t^..
Ill
laLV >L1
-%tii4ai
the
Asiatics bringing
85
Head of
woman
122
series
was decorated
hair at this
which
women
123
86 Coffin of Steward Knum-Hetep, showing the gilded portrait-mask of the deceased wearing a heavy wig, bead
fact
both of
Kingdom
is
reliefs
largely derived
(///.
go).
On
as
which had hitherto been considered a poor substitute for painted reliefs, had now come into
its own as an independent art worthy of the highest patronage
(e.g. ///. 84). There are new subjects in evidence, including battle
scenes to remind one how recently the peace of the country had been
disturbed by civil war and even by foreign invasion. There are
hunting scenes from the tombs in Meir (///. go) which may well
have inspired Assyrian artists of later times; and from the same
incidentally that tempera-painting,
124
88 Senusret
a pillar
It is
to be noticed that
The
relief-style
87 Funerary statue of
King
Osiris,
two
but with
little
is
on
89
the
rich
were placed
Life-like
in the
models
stables,
\.4
gk^%ty<ir
127
some
ing the
activities
attained
by
the
expressed.
91 Hippopotamus. Blue faience. In this little
figure it is easy to see the Egyptian's humorous
regard for the ungainly beast, whose grossness
further emphasized
and
butterflies that
by the
bedeck
is
true
period
when
Ur
city-states
World War,
the First
light
no
single
know
(///.
p2),
we
in the
their
Ischali,
itself
Eshnunna,
Ur
at
Ur and
is
it
but
at
other
at least
one seated
statue
Hammurabi
(///.
129
temporary wall-painting
The
(///.
g6).
Ak-
is
whose
The
result
is
a stylistic flavour
of
as
(///.
most elementary
92 Stela of Hammurabi. At
the head of the stela inscribed
with his law-code, Ham-
trayed
in
The
scene
heavy
is
por-
rounded
in granite has
a crudity
which
is
occasionally
amus-
The seals of the period are also artistically uninspired (///. 102).
All the fireedom of design and variety of subject which animated the
carving of Akkadian times has vanished. There is now a standard
ing.
scene in
which
human
figure
is
The
latter
as the Kassites.
But the
Kassite
in the south
by
131
Sea-land*
Hammurabi
Kingdom
at the
who
occupied
extending
as far
south
as
they found
it.
132
104), as
now
also
At *Aqarquf
(///.
03)
which by
its
resemblance to con-
one of the
close
at this
time
between
and a Kassite king containing mutual criticism of
presents exchanged on the occasion of a royal marriage), and sensitive terracotta figures of animals (///. 103).
The excavation of a Mitannian city at Nuzi, near Kirkuk, pro-
Amenophis
III
134
135
97
nineteenth
B.C.
Left:
He
wears a turban
and a fringed robe. Right: PuzurIshtar. Derived from a city whose
Ishtup-Ilum.
are
ruins
statues
Sumerian
which
set
now
show
art
in
Syria,
these
the uniformity of
a dark
centuries
136
beard
The rendering of
and the
tasselled
the
cloak
century B.C.
Three examples of work in terracotta: 99 {above) Two life-size lions from a temple
gate at Harmal, showing an extraordinarily bold and effective handling of the
medium on a large scale. Right: Terracotta plaques about four inches square. 100
(above) Bitch with puppies
an offering suggesting wish-fulfilment. loi (below)
Warrior or god destroying a fiery cyclops. Many of these mythological subjects
are
now
difficult to interpret
the
its
when
capital at Hattusas
over
(Boghazkoy) in
figures
from
the
from the
city-gates at
religious shrines. In
both
in
much
on
one's
little
138
of technical
ability.
139
fl
iiuiijjiul
seals
seal-owner
by
cow and
suckling calf
BoghazBut
here
as
elsewhere
it
is
not
easy
to
dissociate
113-14).
the intrinsic merit of their design from the dramatic effects of the
setting chosen for them
mysterious clefts in the rock which could
only be approached through a series of man-made antechambers.
The pageant of deities in their outer sanctuary proves to have been
inspired by a foreign queen who seems to have been less interested
in portraying the Hittite gods than those of a neighbouring State
called Kizzuwatna. Nevertheless, the whole atmosphere of the shrine
evokes the mythological climate of ancient Hattusas and emphasizes
the preoccupation of its inhabitants with the symbolic security of
the rocks among which it was built. The relief-figure in the inner
sanctuary of the young King embraced by a god, carries a force of
conviction which can only be the outcome of strongly felt rehgious
the famous reliefs in the rock-sanctuary at YaziHkaya, near
koy
(///.
emotion, while the great dagger, buried in the rock before him,
creates a sculptural device
140
no
less
arresting in
its
symbolism
(///.
114).
reminiscent
is
Of the Boghazkoy
is
the best
preserved. Archaeologically
its
known,
subject
is
as
is
kept
from the
of great
interest
its
(it
was
style has
at
been
But as a
criteria of the contemquite unremarkable. As
work of
art, if judged
for instance
by
some
and hybrid
interest
as
the
it is
initiating
much
141
142
104 Facade ornament from a Kassite temple at Warka. Male and female deities bear
architecture,
the
143
gg).
Dur
///.
loj this
(cf.
comes from
But taken
as a
accomplished.
The
found themselves in
conflict
now become
144
io6 Boar's head in faience, from Nuzi. Such bosses were widely
used
as
107 Mitannian painted pottery from Atchana ( Alalakh). The pots are ornamented
in white on a dark ground, with formalized patterns usually derived from nature.
is
fifteenth
145
'
.^^: ;^^1K'
Principality
art
lines:
and this circumstance may explain why the countries of the Levant,
which were distinguished as the birth-place of two world religions
and much fuie literature, lack any notable artistic tradition in ancient
times.
It
is
as
Byblos, Ras
Shamra (///. iij), and Megiddo (///. 112), did in the rare intervals
of tranquilHty endeavour to emulate the grandeur of Babylon or
Thebes; we possess remarkable samples of their jewellery, metal146
The winged
left)
by a pillar,
on cosmology. Note the gar-
Mitannian ideas
ments with their heavy folds. 109 [bottom left) Bull-man
and goddess destroying a lion, and a 'sacred tree', no
(above) Seated figure drinking through a metal tube, with
reflecting
is
so notably
inferior
Atchana, of which
ii5
///.
is
city
on
the
periods of prosperity.
The
and
thoroughly competent
is
is
is
artist.
147
Ill Painted clay dog, found in the Assyrian trading-station {karum) of Kiiltepe.
is
112
Winged
griffin in
the
148
It
time
it is
high.
at this
iPff#;
A
^ir'-v
\ \
'^
1^
I
v^t"
,,
^*;^^ Jllik
*],
-'
W^
114
king
is
{right)
young
embraced by
his
god. On the
a huge sculptured
protecting
left is
ornamented
hilt,
which
downwards
in the
rock
149
..
.:
116 Ivory
Beida.
lid
wild beasts', is seated and wears a neckand a diadem round her hair. Goats
lace
thrust
up
their heads, as
though reach-
150
Mesopotamian
motifs.
In
the
inner
PART FIVE
New Kingdom
Sophistication
in
Egypt
relief to the
in Egypt.
artists
Many
not
alter
in fact be
were well
entitled to a little
of either, provided
it
did
there could
to protect the
ephemeral
And of this
taste
primary forms of
their culture
from
the effects
of
throughout the period and the character of the experiments are them-
tical events
Anatoha and Greeks into the Aegean. Their occupation of the Delta
caused a second major break of the thread of Egyptian Dynastic
history; but
it left
a legacy
effects
were
now
of which
of foreign conquest.
No more
than a century
position as
the
Sudan
to the Euphrates.
151
The
of which
developments.
Dynasty
political
First there
is
falls
a period
of military
successes
new
and
spoils
of foreign conquest.
interval
scene at
queen, the
as in
It
also covers
an
personified the
newly
new inspiration to
artists and writers of her court. Next there are three reigns during
which long intervals of peace and security gave respite from political
cares and leisure to enjoy the fruits of conquest. Expanding commerce and foreign trade could by then provide material luxuries
unheard of in earlier times and increasing familiarity with foreign
the
152
1 1
girl
musicians dance as
they play.
is
sure, but
it is
it is
in fact
easy to enumerate
154
Queen
Queen
as the protectress
of
the city of the dead. In the Queen's hair the protecting pharaonic snake (uraeus)
the early
is
to be
New Kingdom
at
155
\fSmM
from
the
which
life,
at this
buildings located
a long process
the
of architectural elaboration
of the
ruler
buildings
is
the architect
Sen-Mut
for
beautiful arrangement
Egypt.
low
Queen
of three
Hatshepsut.
With
colonnaded
rising
possibihties
of the
its
astonishingly
terraces, perfectly
site
on which
it
is
Within
its
relief illustrating
colonnades,
the
walls
are
decorated with
all
the
little
156
120).
Cut
tomb-chapels of court
independent
art.
The
officials.
life
on
earth
(///.
122-j).
One
notices that
as
scene
which were
actually
found
tomb of Tut-ankh-amon
earlier times.
But
of
feasting,
and other
owner
is
mihtary
functions
training
recruits
or
receiving
aimed
at the
his life.
But
is
distinguished
in the
their true
purpose
may
wish-fulfilment, to
158
If
^^^
J-*--^'
values of life such as power, wealth, and abundance, seen sub specie
aeternitatis.'
This interpretation by
Where
it
less
at first sounds.
is
no
steadily
human-
become
from the
shahti figures
which had
little
toy
159
i6o
123 Scenes of feasting also from the tomb of Neb-Amon. In the top row sit guests
wearing perfume-cones on their heads. The bottom register shows musicians (two
of them drawn full-face, a practice hitherto unheard of) and dancers, whose gestures are those of modem Arab dancing. The musicians show the soles of their feet
i6i
four inches
servants
tall.
Now,
of
of the
shrine.
become merely
official
memorials of the
number of
is
no longer
in the
/>
growing
(///.
124),
During the early part of the dynasty it was the great metropolis of
Thebes which provided a centre of gravity for the cultural and
rehgious life of the nation. The task of expelling the Hyksos from
Lower Egypt had fallen to the Theban princes, and they were now
able to watch the gradual recovery of the Delta from the devastation
which the invasion had caused. Culturally, the northern cities were
bound to be affected by a century of alien occupation, and in the
realm of art foreign influences now began to be unmistakably
apparent. Foreign goldsmiths from Crete are already thought to
have established their workshops in Memphis, and to their presence
are attributed idiosyncrasies of style which now appear for the first
164
c
;s>
l'"^/
'^^
f
125 [above)
Cretan tribute-bearers
ben-Mut. Not
IN ot only
ot Sen-Mut.
trom the tomb of
from
are Minoan garments and vessels
F.crvnarrnrafplv depicted,
rlenirtpfl. but
hut the
the. Egypaccurately
tian
artist
has
here
A 1 1\
^*s.4
^^ %
deliberately
from
its
best:
Amongst
its
and
*cavalier perspective', a
is
to correctly depicting
Minoan costume,
the
of Cretan
(///.
12^).
Minoan world
['homo ludens
*man
at play'
may
court. In
many
aspects
is
sometimes nicely
used
of
their
artists
work symptoms
of Hatshepsut's
are apparent
of a
165
127
Statue
Hatshepsut.
womanly
of
Queen
Hatshepsut's
majesty as Queen-Pharaoh
are sensitively and harmoniously reconciled. A
new element of femininity
is
new
of her reign
-:yjW'-^.WW
deference to her
of the Queen
womanly
(///.
how,
in
166
III.
the
Eighteenth
Dynasty:
it
wisdom of
looks
upon
the King, as he
down
his
complacently
obedient people
ordinary
artist
would
ning of the
And one
Amamah period,
up
to the begin-
still
standardized to a point
It is
the abstract
167
129
the
painting here
is
in a freer con-
it
not
fully
trained
has been
artist
was
the
in
accepted methods
who seem
New Kingdom
Utopia
of subversion, these
preside benignly over a political and moral
figures
(///.
improvements
in the quality
trade, a profusion
and
skilled labour
symbols of wealth
168
of commercial
at this
IJI-2).
Diversity
art.
131-7)
all sorts
Through
is
and
foreign
them
into
of production kept
130 Servants
skilful
at
Thebes.
The group
is
is
pace with the demand for more and more compUcated luxuries
whose design, as might have been expected, did not unfailingly
conform to the highest canons of good taste. Even the production,
unprecedented in earlier times, of art-forms with no practical
purpose was now stimulated by periodical exhibitions of craftsmanship, sponsored by royalty.
of the
New
at this
time
is
in the
of painting had
169
on
the base
132
Young
girl.
The unguent-cone
on top of the head is pierced, as if the figure
were to be suspended. This object again is a
mere ornament
the hair black, the lips red.
170
in the preceding
.7
wmMBM
M mm
..///
t
'^<:
5
%>
*
y^^-
>\
/.
jA^^^
/<
9'
'14
From the same tomb as the wineof ///. 130. The pool in the background (shown in
the plan, though the trees are in profile) illustrates the new
interest in 'landscape'. The figures are grouped with the
intention of showing spatial recession one man's leg
passes behind a tree. But within their careful outlines the
133 Water-carriers.
carriers
colour-washes are
still flat
171
136
Two
instances
'cavalier'
(i.e.
of
perspective
elevated
view-
from a
Mycenaean fresco and
(below) from a Nineteenth Dynasty Egyp-
point): [above)
tian
relief.
the
attitude
Compare
fallen warrior,
of the
and the
172
134 Hunting scene from the tomb of UserThis is the first instance of chariot horses
het.
arranged
in
this
curious
diagonal
stance,
135 Last rites before the tomb. Tomb of NebAmon. The widow poignantly caresses the feet
of the mummy-case in a final gesture of farewell. For the
first
ordered ceremony of the funerary ritual culminates in the portrayal of actual human grief.
The colour
is
173
it
(///.
ijj)
*cavalier perspective'
is
taking place
(///.
ij6).
Both
stages in this
development are
IJ4), where
motion against a
background of open country, clearly seen and grasped, though never
quite attaining the vivid reality of desert chases in Assyrian reliefs of
(///.
///.
167-g),
Interest in landscape
pools
(///.
is
ijj), chapels,
of houses, which
now
more
and even
first
with formal
parts
of daily
ship are
174
life'.
employed
by
facial expression as
is
now made
well as gesture
in the convention
(///.
of rect-
with
little
The
not lend
on
naturalistic or *elegant'
itself to
treatment. Significant
become matters of
greater significance.
The
third
been divided
(///.
140-7)
is
difficult to assess.
The
interpretation
of Akhenaten's
175
/^'"
ill
'^p
Vim
^,r
']/if(
Amon
seen in the
scale in
sunk
co-regent.
Thus the
first
represented on a splendid
relief
which he became
virtually
its
effects
belongs to the short period directly before and directly after his
actual accession to the throne, during
at
still
remained
Thebes.
Artistically this interlude has a character
development of the
^naturalistic' style
reigns
176
>v
140 'Caryatid* statue of King Akhenaten from Kamak. One of thirty such statues
Aten temple during the first years of his sensational apostasy. The
Expressionist distortion of form amounts almost to caricature and has no parallel
erected in the
in ancient art
177
To
from
this
Kamak
(///.
140), in
which one
sees
aesthetic bewilderment conflicting with a desire to please and producing no more than a caricature. There is no doubt about the
embodying
he was personally
by
the King.
Nor
is it
who
form or
It
was
in the
greatest
themartists who,
*lost
were
By
days of
stylistic
was
compromise.
established in the
new
capital, these
is still
forces
apparent. *The
is
shown by
Egypt were
which new and unprecedented forms appear. It has in fact long ago
been reahzed that the artistic movement of el-Amamah cannot be
separated from the rehgious reform which led to the foundation of
new capital. The excavator of the site. Sir Flinders Petrie brought
the new art into connexion v^th Akhena ten's insistent claims that the
the
178
L#
141
A feast, from the tomb of Nakht, at Thebes. In his striving towards naturaUsm
the artist has here endeavoured to capture the passing impressions of casual inter-
contact.
179
'
1
'
an endeavour to express
is
in
its
own
right, as
the ^naturalism' at
become
which
it
a subject
origin-
of study
new
is
no longer any
hesitation in spreading a
Human
figures are
relief,
as a
pattern
180
grouped
by gestures of
official portraits
143 Detail of a relief from the tomb of the vizier Ramose. The subtle modelling
of the face is beautifully contrasted with the conventional texture of the hair to
produce a design without rival in the relief-carving of any other period
I8l
144 Portrait-bust of Queen Nofretiti. Part of a composite statue, and probably the
most famous of Egyptian antiquities. Only the imagination of an Amamah artist
could have produced this idealized portrait of Akhenaten's wife
182
of the rooms of the 'North Palace* at Tell-elwas decorated with a continuous scene of bird Hfe. Here we can see a
departure from linear conventions and a design built up from brush-strokes
145
Amamah
from
sculptors' studios
in the interesting
mostly
portraits
workshop' figures
(///.
183
146 Relief-carving of Akhenaten and his family, illustrating what critics have called
Amarnah art. The group is held together by the
children's gestures as well as by the rays of the Aten sun-disk
the 'cloying naturalism' of late
its
practical requirements.
unknov^ni.
184
^.llh....
147 Head of Nofretiti. This time the portrait is unfinished, and we are not distracted
from the modelling by the paint (cf ///. 144). A close-fitting wig of faience
would have been attached to the upper part; the eyes would have been painted in
185
148 Tutelary goddesses from the tomb of Tut-ankh-amon: Neith, Isis, and Selkit.
Each has a distinguishing symbol on her head, and is clad in a tight-fitting pleated
garment tied at the waist. The eyes are painted
some evidence
in a period
that
it
it
The fourth and last phase of the Eighteenth Dynasty the aftermath of the Amarnah experiment is best known artistically from
the contents of Tut-ankh-amon's tomb (///. 148-g). His short
reign saw the beginnings of a return to orthodoxy; the rejection of
Yet among
uncommon
is
but
hips.
in gilded
still
wood, guarding
predecessor, they
against the
tolerated if reaction
strangely enough,
reaction
all
felt.
when
But
the
of the revolution
and other Memphite tombs
political traces
187
show
to
New Kingdom,
it
is
Abu
Simbel in
(///.
133).
The
beyond which
to
been profitable.
188
150 Painting from the tomb of User-het. A formal portrait of the tomb-owner*s
wife and mother. Above them is a conventionaUzed fig tree laden with fruit.
collars
myrrh
///.
On
their
I2j)
189
i<i<s
god
I as
Osiris
152
(left)
The goddess
Isis,
from
the
head-dress encircled with cobras. Aesthetically this fmal stage of Egyptian art shows
191
153 Colossi of the Great Temple at Abu Simbel (Ramesses II). The four statues
of kings are more than forty feet high. Behind them the complex of halls and
chambers actually composing a funerary temple is carved into the solid rock.
The sheer scale creates an overwhelming impression but cannot disguise the lack
of inspiration. The technical qualities have become coarser
192
PART
Age
At
Art
of Assur on
small Sumerian State, and from
Mesopotamian
its
name
to a
from
But
it
SIX
about 1350
B.C.,
knov^n of
is
its
v^hen Babylonia
its
independence
B.C.
the
till
of Nineveh in 612
fall
B.C. as Late
Assyrian.
Unfortunately
little
has survived
is it
first
art
possible to
from
conspicuous
is
became
so notable a feature
of Assyrian
vitality to
both which
Even
the
its
on
the other
its
hand
is
represented
only
(///.
by
so prodigious a
Its
history
is
amber figure
at
work
to be considered as jewellers'
suggest
all
we know to
193
154 Middle Assyrian cylinder-seal stag and trees. Amidst the decadent tormalism
of Kassite and Mitannian glyptic the first purely Assyrian products show individual
vitality a non-heraldic interest in animals and the observation of landscape
:
182).
The
Assyrians
first
from Assur
Tigris.
It
itself to
this
was
till
been the processions of rather squat figures painted along the base of
the walls in Kassite palaces, as for instance at Dur Kurigalzu.
The earliest group of reliefs then, is derived from excavations at
Nimrud and date from the reigns of Assurnasirpal II and his son
Shalmaneser
161, 162).
III
155
round
this figure,
which
ornamented
if
for
and
than
of amber and
with a gold
a foot high,
setting
is less
precious
stones,
goldsmith's work.
It
is
also
with
his
hands
prayer
195
..MM
:^:
..-l^tSa"^-"^
''^'^-^^J^'^^^^
.-
--If
^i^^S:
^-iS:
^f',r.^
at
They were
which
transported
then finished
tons each
later buildings,
little
feet.
The
subjects generally
by
narratives
cellaneous
of
achievements. In the
more
This
King himself,
scenes
his
registers
pictorial
196
~^:A^jf
'^:<7:.^
The
army prepares for war; led by the King it crosses difficult
country on the v^ay to attack a v^alled city, probably among mountains: the city is taken, burnt, and demolished; the enemy leaders are
Assyrian
is
then celebrated. In
There
is
197
^#
\
///'^V
-r-.
.fiif'^^
.^p
K---^
$i
^
^'*,
M^^.*--:
r*r*^.?P^^
"^f-i
is
The
vertical
is
events directed to a temporal end. For this reason the figure of the
is never distinguished by disproportionate size.
no more than human. Nor does one find in the battle
scenes that which in the Egyptian reliefs has been called 'the timeless
assertion of inevitable royal victory'. The scenes themselves are
is
arranged
often
episodically
that
they
is,
them
in detail
cipated.
enemy
one
sees that at
no time
is
archers,
protected
(///.
represent
and
if one
the over-all
is
successive
examines
outcome
in obvious danger
anti-
from
137).
awfi'iiriiil
iriilliiiilrliir'iiilli'>MiMiBiiiiiiiiai^^
mimiiMiifii
ii
in
iii
iriiiniiiiii
[iiinii
iIiiiiii^im
iii_ii;
Vii'iriir.iil
199
where Assyrian
soldiers
strikingly
conveyed
Those drawing
realistically to the
in a
horizontal limitations
(///.
i6g).
Some of these
Shalmaneser
III,
architectural ornament,
wooden
gates
by
(///.
a repousse process
161).
The
distinction,
modelling
artistic
with a double
register
of narrative scenes
shows no
particular
200
fe'
-4 %s=r.
historical subjects,
mm-/
j?ie*ivam%*iWff
II,
When
reliefs
the
subjects has
tedious
it
had
201
been
officially
occupying the
full
stiffly
now
202
The scenes are arranged in bands onlyengraved and then embossed by hammering from behind.
Tyre, from its island, sends tribute to the Assyrians; at the
bottom
artist
and there
one rare
is
occasionally a hunting
record of a sea
However, the monotony of the processional scene is occasionally relieved by the sparing use of pigment on the reliefs. There
are traces of a warm flesh-tint and black paint on hair and beards.
Evidence of much ornament other than sculpture is to be found
scene
(///.
i6j), or, in
battle.
^-
citadel
(///.
ground on the
Temples of the same period had
203
^Mi;^*r-i^^vro
162 Reliefs of Assumasirpal. Two chariots, each drawn by four horses, are shown
behind each other. Details are rendered with vividness and variety even when the
subjects are the
same
sym-
floor-coverings.
embroidery are
of Mosul did
known
to
have excelled
in a later age.
trophies carried
home
Khorsabad experiment
of his son, Assurbanipal
(///.
(///.
time returned with unmistakable zest to the narrative and documentary subjects of the pre-Sargonid period.
They brought
new
it
was paid
when
of contrasting sculptural textures. This is best seen in the narrative of a campaign fought
by Sennacherib in the famous marsh-country at the junction of the
Tigris and Euphrates (///. 160) (which has for the first time been
attention
and
it is
205
interesting to
have presented
this
little difficulty.
The attempt
Assurbanipal's palace
Among
(///.
164).
is
206
evidence of
(///.
166-g).
kh^b
IwIi^^P^^SHL'
K*,..^^' I
wSaSx^'^m
165
The
detail
W^
from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. This is a
showing incidents in a battle. Corpses of
on every side among the conveniently drawn trees
from
lie
is
once more
some
critics are
inclined to detect in
masculine occupation.
And
Assurbanipafs palace
their
(///. 1
position
close,
The
many remarkable
and even
qualities
affectionate observation
from
known of all
dramatic comof
characteristic
207
i66
a road,
shown
beginning of perspective
208
At
the top,
being demohshed; and below, the looting soldiers leave the gate by
by two lines which widen towards the spectator, suggesting the
fortifications are
i67 Part of the Assurbanipal 'Lion Hunt' sequence. This marks the culmination of
Assyrian rehef-sculpture; in the portrayal of animals in violent
movement
it
has
never been surpassed. The occasional projection of the carving beyond the limits
of the frieze gives an extra sense of urgent vitality to the design
209
i68 (above)
A dying lion.
and
in a
is combined with
suddenly broken, the huge paws are paralysed. The
moment
the heavy
body will
210
The
mare's flight
is
hampered by
1 70 Painted ivory head from Nimrud. Eyes and eyebrows were originally inlaid
and pendants round the neck encrusted with gold
211
71
there has been a dispute over their place of origin. Patterns range
geometric,
as here, to
from purely
mythological scenes
no
sion of monumentality.
212
They
in fact resemble
this is
unusual in
is
its
use of Egyptian
trampling on enemies.
all
The
quite un-Egyptian
(///. 1
71-2)
vings
[III.
lyj)
much more
at
home
were
with
as a rule
reliefs
cloisonne inlays
paste;
213
To
of art during
this period.
The Anatolian
less
plateau
among
pretentious
was
now
the
works
occupied
Hama
courtesy as
of Hittite
*Hittite',
because
The
it is
art
of these
in the Orontes
cities is
language. But
it is,
known by
of the Luvian
as
restricted to a territory
complicated,
be, if
its
pre-
with a predomin-
Aramaeans; and
as the cities
came with
increasing frequency
all traces
of individuality in
their culture
interest
there
is
(///.
ij8)
and
life-size
177).
when one
At
Ivriz, too,
understands
its
the
Nimrud
of a life-giving
by
ivories,
workmanship. *In
gold overlay and blue and red incrustations, this ornament
still gives
the effect of a faceted polychrome jew^el.'
(Mallowan)
214
/^f
"Vi^r-v
r-
-^\>'^.?'
/x
/>//
.-^
/-.
Vf./
175
{right)
influence.
Two
216
name of an unknown
prince
1''
IfMM-^^^
^^v*'^
^^r:-^
-^^--r^,'^
218
more
to
V/
'j.
r
r,
178 Relief from a ninth-century gateway at Malatya.
a late survival
of the Hittite
tradition,
signs
of provincialism
in this relief
tion.
But by
far the
most
plentiful relics
side
side, to protect
Sinjerli, Sakjegozi,
Marash, and
many
other
cities,
crudely carved
v^th stiff and repetitive figures and scenes an art initially hampered
by choice of material, which was often intractable basalt, alternating
in a manner most disturbing to the eye with slabs of coarse limestone.
Perhaps aesthetically the least attractive of all are the reliefs which
accompanied the now-famous bilingual inscription written in
'Hittite'
and Phoenician,
northern Cilicia
uneven
size
(III.
bearing
in the
little
'country-palace' at Karatepe in
by
which may be
side,
one
may
see slabs
successively identified as
220
of
two Uons
is
to support
at the
time
221
river
222
223
'0-.:.f'y.'
183 Relief
from Carchemish.
Basalt
is
an
awkward
the Assyrian gift for drawing animals. Like other Hittite sculpture, this gives one
States,
centred upon Lake Van. Urartian art is perhaps derivatively too closely
related to that
But
it
minor
arts
are to be seen;
modelled
224
and
bulls' heads,
at
withfmely
an Urartian
site
near
184
relief
birds of prey
tween beasts
manner
Erzinjan.
More
with
its
styles,
on
the
bi-
lingual inscription
recently
known
Sargonid
relief,
little
later in Greece.
In another
known as
vessel
striking objects
it
(///.
186).
225
1 86 Bronze situla in the shape of a hon's head from Gordium. The eyes are inlaid
with white paste and blue stone. Objects like this are represented in Assyrian reliefs
of the time of Sargon II
and
inlaid
also
art
Beyond
this,
what
little
is
known of Phrygian
(///.
and
i8j).
craftsmanship
is
mainly in the sphere of architectural terracottas (///. 188); and rockmonuments, sculptured to resemble the fa9ades of buildings, give
some indication of the position in which they were placed. For the
rest Phrygian culture has so Western a flavour that its products are
out of harmony with those of the countries we are considering.
226
88
at
Gordium.
reliefs.
cotta
for
architectural
of
design
this
recalls
time.
those
The
on
earlier cylinder-seals
227
228
PART SEVEN
Some
a final flowering
a
fall
of Mesopotamian
culture.
Nabopolassar and
his son,
scale
were repaired and rebuilt in almost all the old dynastic cities, while
Babylon itself became the vast and sophisticated metropolis, against
which the Old Testament prophets directed the bitter invective of
their exile. In spite of the ultimate destruction, which they correctly
predicted for the great city,
buildings dating
any judgment
from
at all
this
it
is
upon
period that
we
earlier context,
we
considerable
works of
Nevertheless, the
that, so far
little
from being
a veritable revival
potamian traditions
collapse
art other
which has
art.
by
any
are struck
of Assyrian culture
was
or culmination of the age-old South Mesowhich had been largely in abeyance since the
a prolongation
late in the
this
second millennium.
For
this
to the
229
HI n
4:'U
rm'
^""3
^j^^,:"
^^m^
f 'i
'^i9i''^RJlKHM!l|iW HIHIffi^^l 1
1^fP|!**T^'^*''."'-J "H^
w:** ''
'':
^- - --
$
Jh
"'
'
^.-^ -T-m^'w^g^''^^^.;^-'^
--m:m
SIN
':"-"
7:11
"ir5"":^lfr
-^
^^^'
^Wifa'i:,
^^^l^jgjj^ ''?^r:^r.'?i
SSfJWim^^MWtMStnt^-
'
^^^V-i
R.^g-
ilE
''^:^;sp:4
m>
St
*'^^^-"^H
,.:,-:
--"
^ h -^m iim
mt.m ^-s?g%'^^y'9^-^y^lB^^'
'
^*ic-
:m'-^--^^
''
'
1'
?^^^^^'"'
"''""~%[^HfeiAMHBi
^^^^IjP ^
.
190
"
'^
iifik
->^P'|
figure
was modelled on
a rectangular panel
still
soft;
of clay; cut up
bricks, in
visitor,
made
to do;
as the
instead they
facade.
On
artlessly distributed
over the
iS^:^
in
'
^^^
1-^^^^
^^^"^i
pi^^^^
"-^^CdliAa^
j3
--.^.p
--"
In;-->ftSw?^
Pis-'"
Sff
3^
Pi
-iar.td.
m~^
m^ ---^-.
^H^^^l HBK-i^-^Bti
f1
**:#' c:^:^
.-.Siii-sa
'
s.ai
St^^
-^
'
JSR""
'
'
'
-2
j'^^^Ml Q^.SB^,pL
^M^M^'^^^'^'^'t'itvv
&,%*
WiS^
^---rMMt-i
';:iaSJ^
II
TV!T^^^>*rr:r^>i-g^
'^4i
191
The
231
:.~r
For the
rest,
art
of
handfuls of cylinder-seals
modelled
terracottas.
(///.
ig2)
evidence to the contrary, one might have been excused for suspecting the glories of Neo-Babylonia of being comparable with those
eighty years earlier: but his defeat in rapid succession of his Median
overlord, Astyages, of the Lydian king, Croesus, and finally of
Nabonidus, inaugurated a
new
era,
second millennia
B.C. are
known
it is
its
its
and the
(in
tribal peoples
known
of the Zagros
area,
Guti and
crudely imitated.
is
at
all.
Mesopotamian
232
cities,
famous
sculptures,
and served
of Iranian
artists.
as
Scythians
Iran.
Persians
But even
of Iranian
art
was the complex of Late Bronze and Iron Age cemeteries, which
in our own time became the source of the so-called 'Luristan
Bronzes'
(///.
ig3-20o).
233
Between the
excavated by
antiquities,
were
the sale of
who
commercially interested in
burials
above the
were
in shallow, stone-lined
surface;
and
in the course
of
have been
rifled,
graves.
The
objects,
few stone
of which soon
glass, a
all
two thousand
years:
of the
by
as
much
as
234
burials varied
These represent an
Iranian culture
known
which
only from
contents of graves
established
millennium
one group
B.C.,
as
belonging to the
later half
is
the
of the second
235
reminiscent of
but attributed to
the first half of the second
millennium B.C.
194 Rein-ring;
Sumerian
art,
it
must
clearly
which
The
and which,
many
in their
Achaemenian Persian
art.
Apart from
this there is
much
that reflects
Some of the
earliest
236
195
talisman;
old
the
beasts'
196 Another
standing
gives
it
talisman.
This
is
free-
stability
In general appearance
it
one from
or
'hero
rings.
between
beasts'
(Gilgamesh?)
{III.
igs-7),
sphinxes,
griffins,
harnessare also
237
197 cheek-piece from Luristan. The Mesopotamian motif once more appears in an eadier and
less
styhzed form
198 Bronze votive effigy from Payravand. Like much else in Iranian art of
period,
this
figure
fitted
is
of
this
to us
significance
the
unknown
fairly constant;
staff-heads
and
standards'
emblems
200).
it
But there
238
ornament
fittings
such as
consists
are also
human
is
more
with
talismans
(///.
195-6)
repertory of animals
make
decorated
character of the
bronze
(///.
The
199 (above) Bronze axe-head from Luristan. Another funerary treasure whose
symboHsm cannot be
interpreted
bit.
The occupants of
were
horsemen
239
>1
201 Detail of a gold cup from Hasanlu in Azerbaijan. Thought to be Manaean
fertility
is
subjects
of
goddess with hands upon her breasts. There are also halberd-
latter
with spikes
at the
back
(///.
igg)
from the
'King's Gate' at
Boghazkoy.
Among
the Iron
Age
fall
into a rather separate category, since the repousse designs are almost
exclusively
all,
known
representing
(///.
24.0
198),
as the
(///.
186).
The
latest
group of
some
barbarous
by-way of
Iranian
superstition
PERSIA
There
is little
if
came
to
power
of Iranian
cultural tradition in
he and
element in
its
first
artists.
A new
By
The
successful evolution
from
these ingredients
of an authentically
So
we
its
potentialities
is
also
much
to be admired.
quantity
achievement.
The
to
first fact
paragraph
when
given
full rein,
eventually
241
of Achaemenian
ceramic
artists
art
to
Iranian heredity,
traceable back
to the
modem
characteristic
all
spontaneously sustained:
clarity,
were
and meticulous
which seem to have been
a natural endowment in all the successive phases of Iranian culture,
is an inexhaustible talent for invention, a faculty which seems to be
self-generating for devising original, striking, and fehcitous forms.
Moreover, in practically all kinds of composition there is maintained
an aristocratic reserve. Yet this is not just a negative restraint. There
is an affirmative, even extravagant, love of elaboration and splendour
rhythmic design, the use of expressive
silhouettes,
242
from the
Persepolis.
treasury at
Xerxes,
the
The
being received
is
official
Mede
reliefs
interior
of
palaces,
these
approaches
to public buildings
M3
were
oftener
The
it
its
monuments
way
palaces,
interior wall-faces
of assembly-halls and
audience-chambers. This fact has been taken to explain a conspicuous disparity between the actual subjects respectively chosen
for the Assyrian
above
all
sometimes even
clarified
common,
therefore,
these
close
The Achaemenid
rehefs
on
the
Persepolis
do
suffer
had
of
less
superficial
to fear
stylized figures.
enrichment emphasizing
And
of figures bringing
reliefs
at
244
indeed the
would
suggest.
series
Any
is
suggested be-
(///.
204).
But
their general
245
205
Glazed-brick-relief of a
(above)
from
griffin,
The colouring
Susa.
206
is
that
of
metallic* finish
in stone.
Moreover,
it
should be borne in
many of
members of
and
than carving
Susa,
brilliant,
effect
(right)
from
is
as
may
the
Persian
Babylon
(///.
igo-i)
mind
must
originally
have been
and yellow have all left traces on the stone, w^hile metal
ornaments showed remnants of gilding. At Susa panels of glazed
bricks were used, but there was little departure here from the
technique associated with this forni of ornament in Babylon. Only
a frieze of armed men is an innovation, together with another of
hons, over which an Egyptian motif has intruded in the form of
purple,
lotus
246
ornament
(///.
206).
royal
be compared with
J:
.-^i
'9imit^
..V
>~
A 4*
M
i^i^^
"
ry-fPIl
^^?!^J
f
;
..i^>
(20-], left) from Persepolis and (208^ right) from Susa. These
which provide a wide bearing for the beam which they carried,
are a peculiarly Persian device; but there is a hint of Greek architecture in the
fluting and in the volutes of the Susa example
Double-bull capitals
sculptured imposts,
A
its
most
characteristic feature
columns.
pillars,
their
may
be
248
at
Persepolis;
approach
the
made by
Here again
is
is
said to
(///.
(///.
20J-S)
bulls,
form of
The
between architect
and sculptor which is so often evident in Persian composition.
These architectural sculptures are, as we have already said, the
Achaemenian
249
lion, finials,
212).
211 Griffin rhyton; silver, from the *Oxus Treasure*. The vessel obviously owes its
shape to the drinking-horn. The creature is the same as that represented in glazed
brick in
250
///.
205.
for ornament,
252
'r^.
213 Gold bracelet from the *Oxus Treasure'. This would originally have been encrusted with gems. The popular griffin figure appears again; the wings and oddly
///.
20s
253
m^m^
;^f^
fc*V
-^
,*V,
>^
\<
L'V^'
214 Achaemenian
winged
cylinder-seals.
griffin; bottom:
Hunting
Top
left:
scene. Seal-carving
now
top right:
has
much
Falcon and
in
common
widi rehef-sculpture
environment.
It
protected.
And
so at
last,
paradoxically
creative sensibility
254
we
on the
whole of our
historical
epoch to an
^- 9^r
V.
frontiers
of India
artistic
which
evolution were
permanently severed.
In the sixth century B.C., then, this story ends. Yet today, in
still
suffused with
the aftermath of their creative past; and one need not resort to the
all,
spirit
Yet
art,
as
distinct
from
his
first
recorded achievements.
other creations,
may
No
be said Hke
his creative
it
of his thinking
the main streams of his creative energy; not an accessory to his hfe,
but as vital a part of it as the bloodstream itself. To express the fuU
variety of his emotional experience, words have not sufficed; and
as long as the springs of inspiration rise unimpeded in his mind, he
will continue to interpret them in line, form, and colour.
256
An
Outline of Architecture
the Near East
In the
Near
in
the valleys and delta-lands of the great rivers either used reeds
plastered with
mud
make
a wall and
for the
216 Farm-house
at
Hassuna
-'Tt*^
:iS:^J^'^^*fe*iit^-i?^^^^
217 Temple
at
(///.
21 y).
An
exceptional survival
The
saw the
first
pubHc buildings.
Mesopotamia the mud-brick temples of the Al 'Ubaid period,
258
really impressive
21 8
Temple
with
at
platform
quantities
(///.
were
now
set
upon
a high brick
terracotta cones
copper (///. 2ig). A high sanctuary in the centre was lit by clerestory
windows and the gloom of the surrounding chambers brightened
by painted frescoes (///. 221), In Egypt brick mastaha tombs with
panelled facades foreshadowed the stone pyramids of dynastic times.
K.
15"
mmmm:/^
i^^^^^l4-l!_/-l
iPIlPIPPi
^S-J
(cf. ///.
25)
221
(/)e/(7M^)
frescoes
The
was
^-
of the temple
subject to three
primary
were geological
many varieties:
from
as
well
unhmited quantities.
of remarkable subtlety and without
apparent antecedents appears fully fledged in the time of the Third
An
architectural
Dynasty
(///.
260
220, 222),
Zoser at Sakkara
(///.
available in almost
style
^^V^i^
,.,v^'-'-
i^ir
<*JXvir<:: :'.=::-.,.
261
ajl
224 Capital from Zoser*s tomb area
mud-brick conventions
at
^^
B\
^
Sakkara
to the art
of building in
forms
(///.
beams of
attractive
224)
earlier
as structural
days,
now
papyrus
make an
fluting
seem
Greece
(///.
Its
225).
But
dehcate refinement
this
is
cross-section
similar elements
262
225 Fluted columns of Zoser*s temple, with the *Step Pyramid* in the background
263
I
%*.2iiL-^^^
i!S>L,T^
Dynasty
this
geometric form
whose
and architectural dependencies were ordered and disposed with the logic of
maturing religious conviction (///. 227). Meanwhile, for Zoser's
fmely jointed limestone the hard granite of Upper Egypt had been
substituted in blocks of cyclopean proportions, and his fluted
pilasters were replaced by huge monolithic columns, whose formal
ornament retained little trace of the earher, more elegant naturahsm.
(///.
226)
internal arrangements
Dynastic
(///.
228)
was
now
their
baked
{III.
22g).
and recessed
Birs
Nimrod
of Babel'.
It
(///.
as
bricks, panelled
twisted reeds
known
230).
to break the
monotony of their
Tower
of
brick,
roofs.
The
basic
flat
this unit
229 Reconstruction of Ur
Nammu*s
ziggurat at
(///.
could be multiplied
2ji).
Wall-ornaments,
Ur
265
as
surviving
231
Reconstruction
Ishtar
Kititum
of the Temple
at Ischali
.^*2^
of
at
Kamak,
Temple of Amon
at
Kamak,
233
lotus
ornament
267
which are found only in such buildings dating from the early
Sumerian dynasties, include square stone plaques sculptured in low
reUef, panels with mythical groups or animals' heads built up in
bitumen and sheathed in bronze, and friezes with religious scenes
inlaid in white limestone and rosettes or other ornaments carved
from coloured stones and affixed to the ends of terracotta nails.
Among
and other
palaces
they have
them
to distinguish
little
more
in evidence.
But
short axis
its
from an open
court.
The
first signs
about 1500
walls,
more
pretentious buildings,
have rooms facing on to and obtaining light from a central courtyard in the Oriental manner
The
most
architecture
(///.
2J4).
design.
Egypt offers a
of Mesopotamian
B.C. in
time by the inhabitants of the Nile Valley have become for succeeding generations such a
never before in
victions
of
human
history
a great nation
convincing that
it
had the
It is
religious
and
political
con-
One
manent
as to
history
From
be almost ineffaceable.
Kingdom
hardly a single
monument
survived the subsequent disturbances which led to the Hyksos conquest. Fortunately,
style
the
is
This Egyptian
tecture.
268
Of
illustrated
by
the buildings
whose remains
bequeathed to posterity.
style, then,
brick-buildings
is
in
Mesopotamia, which
we
have
mmjf
I
difficulties
is
as it
was
sometimes described
as
(///.
2j6).
is
forest
In
this,
them
which stone-grilled windows could be
inserted. In such buildings two main types of columns were in
general use, both having sculptural forms adapted from plant
motifs (///. 253). One, with a shaft curving inwards at the base, had
a capital in the form of a lotus or papyrus bud. The other, with a
simple tapered shaft, was crowned with the inverted bell shape of a
papyrus flower. The latter was used mainly for the central hypostyle pillars and in other conspicuous positions. Characteristic
also were the portals formed from pairs of pylons
towers with
and
their neighbours, in
269
r:;:
'"""fS
ffi
It:
Queen
at
Kamak, showing
Hatshepsut's obelisk
at
Amon
Karnak
was used
rehefs
(///.
and
to
empha-
to
which only
carved
figures at the
hall,
to the dark
priests
chambers and
hieroglyphic
inscriptions
and
halls,
were
270
at
Deir-el-Bahri
271
1,
caryatids,
of the Theban
cliffs (///.
238).
archaeologists.
But
there are
at
Thebes
(///.
239)
and Akhenaten's
mud-brick palaces
and mansions,
with wood-pillared
272
(///.
rooms,
240),
I^Jl p^Mi
II,
Thebes
is
reached historically,
at
Tell-el-Amamah
superstructure
at
Boghazkoy
was of mud-brick. At
intervals there
were gateways
frequent earthquakes.
at
Boghazkoy
243
The
first
rise
millennium
B.C.
gave
new
vitality to
tecture.
Hittites,
(///.
devised
244).
some
244 Reconstruction of
columns
(///.
245),
Sinjerli
bases, strikingly
duced some
new ornamental
The Babylonian
612
B.C.
brought
motifs.
renaissance,
many new
following the
fall
of Assyria in
10
20
30
40
276
'^'W^:^
'^^'^Mi^M
7!
when
the contemporary
at
.-^.
Naqsh-i-Rustam
to build
on
large scale, the Iranian genius for design gave a strong individuality
and
recalls
*Hall
277
of
Hundred Columns'
(///.
architects,
twin-bull capitals.
///.
204)
279
248 Reconstruction of portico leading to the 'Hall of a Hundred Columns'
III.
207)
(cf.
MESOPOTAMIA
EGYPT
ANATOLIA
SYRIA-
PALESTINE
IRAN
CHALCOLITHIC PHASES
BC 4500
Fayum A
Tasian
4000
CONTEMPORARY
Hassuna
Samarra
Badarian
Amratian
Gerzean
Halaf
Al'Ubaid
Tell
CHALCOLITHIC PHASES
Uruk
CAII
Pre-
DynastiO
AT
MANY
SITES
3500
PROTOLITERATE
3000
PROTO-
FIRST EARLY
EARLY
FIRST TO
BRONZE AGE
DYNASTIC
DYNASTIC
AND
PHASES
(TROY
UN AND
III
CTROY
2000-
10
ALACA
THIRD EARLY
LA6ASH
,
BRONZE AGE
i
CTROY
III
AND
IV)
MIDDLE BRONZE
AGE CKULTEPE)
SECOND INTER-
2\34
ISIN-
LARSA
KINGDOM
MEDIATE PERIOD
\230Q
GUTI
UR
MIDDLE
2400
BRONZE AGE
TOMBS
AKKAD
FIRST INTER-
MEDIATE PERIOD
2600
SECOND EARLY
BRONZE AGE
2500
OLD KINGDOM
I)
FIRST
DYNASTY
OF BABYLON
I500-
5
^
^
<
MIDDLE
1900
BRONZE AGE
1778
FOREIGN
DOMINATION TO
1450
HITTITE
COLD KINGDOM)
NEW KINGDOM
HITTITE (EMPIRE)
1576
LATE BRONZE
AGE
I085
lOOOiNEO
ASSYRIAN
LATE PERIOD
IHITTITE
IRON
AGE
NEO-BABYLONIAN
500
MAN
612
525
ACHAEMENIAN
SUPREMACY
PERIOD
OF
PERSIAN
DOMINATION
250 Outline chronology of the ancient Near East. The right-hand column
indicates fixed liistorical dates
Bibliography
List of Illustrations
Index
281
Bibliography
would clearly be impracticable in a work of this size to provide a complete or even adequate
must be content to put forward the following list
bibliography of so vast a subject.
of appropriate or easily available works covering between them almost every subject illustrated, since their texts can amplify our own commentary and their combined bibliographies
give direction for further reading.
It
We
AKURGAL,
E.
Catalogue of the
R. D.
Nimrud
Ivories
Museum 1957
in the British
MEKHITARIAN,
BARNETT,
A.
R. D.
NAUMANN,
R. Architektur Kleinasiens
1953
COSTA,
A.
and lockhart,
l.
Persia
Tarih
1957
1950,-53,-60 (Tiirk
Kurumu)
Egypt 1959
of Sennacherib 191
RUNDLE CLARK,
T.
R.
in
Near
East 195
Architecture
1958
GADD,
t. Kiiltepe,
c.
J.
A.
GfflRSHMANN,
GOTZE,
A. G. Arrest
R. Iran
POPE, A.
UPHAM
Orients
('Chapters
in
Art'
Series) 1955
VON DER
1957
1956
HALL, H.
R.
in the British
HOLTZMEiSTER,
Museum 1928
c.
and
G.
1955
VON OPPENHEIM,
WALLis BUDGE,
British
E. A.
Museum 1914
WOOLLEY,
c. L.
1935
283
List of Illustrations
The author and pubHshers
mentioned below for
East.
official
The
'Hunter's palette'
Upper
polis.
right
Persepolis.
Teheran
Powell.
13
Drawn by
5 Tell
many
Directorate
Kurt Lange.
1
Two
Predynastic
figurines
of
the
Gerzean culture from Naqada. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Photo: Department of Antiquities, Ashmolean Museum.
8
Museum,
Philadelphia.
Iraq
20 Statuette of a
Iraq
woman from
Khafaje.
Institute,
21 Female
Warka.
face
Iraq
in
white
marble,
from
quities, Iraq.
from
quities,
11
Ashmolean Museum,
Archives Photographiques.
284
Museum,
University of Chicago.
24 Warka,
Taf.
I.
Tweedy.
of Pepy
26 Statuette
from
I,
Museum.
Brooklyn
Uht.
Photo:
Sakkara.
Charles
Max
Meidum.
from
Institute,
Altdgyptischen
Wehmeyer.
30 Head of Prince Ankh-kaf, from Giza.
Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Photo:
Boston Museum.
head' of daughter-in-law of
Cheops. Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Photo: Boston Museum.
31 'Reserve
46 The
head,
from
Sakkara.
Cairo
from
Kephren,
Museum, Photo:
from
Max
Giza.
with
War
panel. British
inserted
Trustees of
from Khafaje,
from Ur.
Museum, Baghdad;
feast,
fragment
Cairo
Hirmer.
Ur
48 Rehef showing a
Arts.
'Standard';
Ur
32 Granite
1923-
Kulturgeschichte,
38, Taf. 2.
Hirmer.
49
Department of
Ashmolean Museum.
Obverse
36 Ivory label from a pair of sandals, from
Abydos. British Museum. Photo: Courtesy Trustees
Louvre.
graphiques.
50 Eannatum's
Max
Hirmer.
Carved
steatite
British
Museum.
vase,
from
Photo:
Khafaje.
John
R.
Freeman.
52 Gold bull's head on a lyre, from Ur.
University Museum, Philadelphia. Photo:
University Museum.
Wooden
ra,
Hirmer.
53
tiquities, Iraq.
285
tiquities, Iraq.
55
Gold
fluted vase,
'Ram caught
from Ur.
Photo John R. Freeman,
in the thicket',
British Museum.
58 Ornamental rein-ring,
72 Diorite
of Gudea of Lagash
from Lagash. British Museum.
statue
(Telloh),
Museum.
'Brocade'
Early
style,
59 CyHnder-seal,
Dynastic I. British Museum. Photo:
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago.
Boston Museum.
60 Cylinder-seal, Early Dynastic II. Iraq
Museum, Baghdad. Photo: Courtesy
General
Directorate
of Antiquities,
Iraq.
Museum.
female
'worshipper'
Tell Asmar.
and
286
Ankara
Ankara
Museum.
Alaca
Photo:
Josephine Powell.
78
Head
79 Head of Senusret
III
in red
quartzite.
unknown.
Metropolitan
Provenance
Museum of Art, New York. Photo:
Metropohtan Museum.
head,
Museum,
Institute,
Hiiyiik.
Iraq
from Alaga
75 Stag-finial,
Hiiyiik.
Photo: Oriental
University of Chicago.
Institute,
from Dahshur.
Max
Hirmer.
81 He<Td of the
82 Statue
unknown.
from Mari.
Ehemals Staatliches Museum,
Berlin. Body: Archaeological Museum,
(right)
Museum.
84 Paintings
85
Lepsius,
Denkmaler aus
Athiopen,
Agypten
2,
Taf
Statue of Puzur-Ishtar,
Head:
Courtesy
bul.
und
133.
Lisht.
AUen.
99
Two
Museum,
from
Khafaje.
Oriental
Institute,
University of Chicago. Photo: Oriental
Institute.
88 Senusret
from
Max
Photo: Oriental
89
Museum
New
of Art,
Courtesy Metropohtan
90
Two
reliefs
at
York.
Museum
Photo:
of Art.
Egypt Exploration
Society.
Museum.
92 Stela of Hammurabi, from Susa. Louvre.
Photo: Archives Photographiques.
93
Head of
from
a king,
possibly
Louvre.
Photographiques.
Susa.
Hammurabi,
Photo:
Archives
Museum.
106 Boar's
95 Green
Parrot.
head in
Museum,
faience,
from Nuzi.
Baghdad.
Photo:
Courtesy Directorate General of AnIraq
97
Institute.
Model
tiquities, Iraq.
from
painted
pottery,
107 Mitannian
Atchana. Drawn by Diana Holmes after
Woolley.
[08
cylinder-seal.
Mitannian
BerUn.
Photo:
Museen,
Museen.
Staatliche
StaatUche
287
Museum,
no
the British
125 Painting
Museum.
Durham.
from
Thebes
Photo:
Ankara
Kiiltepe.
115
Museum of
From a
Museum,
Scott,
in
cast
the
Edinburgh.
Edinburgh.
Ro.yal
Scottish
Photo:
Tom
MetropoUtan
York. Photo:
New
Metropohtan Museum.
(Thebes).
Art,
129 Painting from the tomb of Horemheb, Thebes (copy by Nina M. Davies).
Photo: Courtesy Oriental Institute,
University of Chicago.
of Art,
New
York.
from Thebes.
Metropohtan Museum of Art, New
York. Photo: Metropohtan Museum.
tomb of Menna,
Hirmer.
133 Painting
from
121 Painting
Thebes. Photo:
the
Max
35
Museum.
tomb of Neb-Amon,
Thebes; unlocated. British Museum.
(a)
Mycenaean fresco, Mycenae, (b)
Egyptian Nineteenth Dynasty fresco,
Abydos. Drawn by Diana Holmes after
Frankfort.
36
123 Painting
288
from
the
of Art,
New
York.
Amon,
Photo:
Max
Abydos.
Isis,
Abydos.
Morgan
Library.
155 Assyrian
amber
identified
king.
Max
Thebes. Photo:
Hirmer.
Museum.
143 Relief
Osiris,
as
Fine Arts.
141 Painting
Hirmer.
Werner Forman.
from
tomb of Ramose,
the
Max
Thebes. Photo:
144 Portrait-bust of
Queen
Nofretiti,
Max
Nimrud. British
Werner Forman.
from
Museen,
StaatHche
Tell-el-Amarnah.
Berlin. Photo:
Hirmer.
Hirmer.
Palace' of
Tell-el-Amarnah (copy by Nina M.
Davies). Photo: Courtesy Egypt Ex-
ploration Society.
Museum.
Photo:
Museum.
161 Bronze reUef
Steinkopf.
British
from
Museum.
Photo:
Werner
Forman.
147 Unfinished
Nofretiti,
portrait-bust
of
Queen
Nimrud. British
Werner Forman.
tomb of
Museum.
Institute,
149 Golden
Photo:
Cairo
Courtesy
Griffith
Tut-ankh-amon,
from
the
tomb of
Thebes.
Cairo
163
Museum.
Museum.
at
Photo:
Photo:
Khorsabad.
Courtesy
Museum.
Nineveh.
British
Museum.
Photo:
Werner Forman.
165 Relief from the palace of Sennacherib,
Nineveh.
British
Werner Forman.
Museum.
Photo:
289
1 66
Relief
from
Nineveh.
Courtesy
Museum.
of
Trustees
Photo:
the
British
180 'Caryatid' figure from Tell Halaf. Staatliche Museen, Berhn. Photo: Courtesy
Bildarchiv-Foto-Marburg.
Museum.
181
Rock
rehef, Ivriz.
182 Sphinx
at
Alaca
Josephine Powell.
Hiiyuk.
Photo:
Museum.
from
183 Relief
Nineveh. British
Werner Forman.
Museum.
Ankara
Carchemish.
Photo:
Werner Forman.
Karatepe
184 Relief from
Photo: Dursun Cankut,
Dr Halet Cambal.
from
185 Rehef
(Aslantash).
courtesy
Karatepe
of
(Aslantash).
170 Painted
British School
of Archaeology in
Iraq.
186 Bronze
bov^l,
from Nimrud.
British
Gordium.
Trustees of
the
Museum.
Josephine Powell.
188 Phrygian terracotta
173 Painted
British
Museum.
from
Photo:
Pazarli.
Josephine
Powell.
189 Relief
from
Ankara
Carchemish.
from Nimrud.
Photo:
relief,
Museum.
Ankara
Tumulus',
Photo:
'Child's
Ankara
'Ishtar Gate',
Museen,
Staathche
StaatHche Museen.
Courtesy
BerHn.
Babylon.
Photo:
Museum.
of the 'Ishtar Gate',
Babylon. Staatliche Museen, Berlin.
Photo: Staathche Museen.
191 Reconstruction
Ankara
from
gateway
Museum.
at
Photo:
Malatya.
Josephine
Powell.
290
cylinder-seal.
British
Trustees of
192 Neo-Babylonian
Museum.
from
Luristan.
Teheran
from
196 Talisman,
Teheran
Luristan.
Freeman.
197 Cheek-pieces, from Luristan. Boston
Museum of Fine Arts. Photo: Boston
Museum.
198 Bronze votive effigy from Payravand.
Paris Market, 1931, present location unknown. Photo: after A. Upham
Pope,
Survey of Persian Art, 1938,
pi.
73 D.
199 Axe-head,
200 Bronze
cheek-pieces
Luristan.
Teheran
with
from
bit
Museum.
Photo:
Josephine Powell.
203 Reliefs
Institute,
University of Chicago.
capital,
from Persepohs,
Oriental
Institute,
University
Chicago, Photo: Oriental Institute.
capital,
Museum.
213 Gold bracelet, from the *Oxus Treasure'.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
Photo: Crown Copyright reserved,
cylinder-seals,
British
214 Achaemenian
Museum. Photo: Courtesy Trustees of
the British
Museum.
period
After
temple.
colonnade.
Photo:
of
reconstruction
of Zoser's
pyramid complex. After Lauer.
223 Sakkara;
area.
from
Institute,
210 Rhyton,
Max
Hirmer.
finials,
the
'Great
291
Ur Nammu's
229 Ur;
reconstruction
ziggurat. After
of
WooUey.
242 Boghazkoy;
Ischali;
Hall',
W.
temple of
Amon.
walls. After
After
reconstruction
of
city-
Naumann.
Allen.
Sinjerli; reconstruction.
city.
After
After Naumann.
I.
244
233
Naumann.
231
II.
Institute,
Amon.
Queen
Hatshepsut's
237 Deir-el-Bahri;
temple. Photo: George W. Allen.
of the Hundred
248 PersepoHs; 'Hall
Columns', reconstruction of portico.
249 Persepohs;
Hatshepsut's
and
292
Wolf
temple.
After
Steindorff
University of Chicago.
Index
Numbers
Abu
II,
impost-block,
214;
215;
tomb
sure, 210;
revolutionary
48,
of,
70;
seal-cutters, 193
on,
effect
77; pair
of sculp-
186;
'North
184;
244-3;
building
and
tion
Neolithic,
261;
257,
com-
Assur
of,
to
sun-disk,
Nimrud,
234;
194;
Sumerian
166-g
reliefs at
moved
reconstruction
in
enshrined
house
Amen,
of,
244
240
head
I,
(god),
Palace'
Amratian
275,
Egyptian,
196
Assur (town),
III,
238;
220, I7g\
Amenemhet
flamingoes,
felines,,
on column-bases,
paired
Artaxerxcs
at,
216
130
life,
developments,
architecture, 274;
fme craftsmanship,
Amarnah,
munal
art
11 4\
Bronze Age
materials, 257;
Anatolia,
136;
78
Assyria,
of,
statues,
effect
133;
on
architecture, 275;
Taurus
Mountains,
214
by Cyrus, 232
Atchana, on the Orontes, 147
Astyages, defeated
culture, 18
293
Camel
17
Azerbaijan, 174
Canals, 80,
German
archae-
Neo-
229;
Neo- cylinder-seal,
art,
ig2; 'Proces-
Cappadocia, 136
Carchemish, basalt relief, 18 j, i8g;
statue of god-king, 214, 179
Cartouche, with name of unknown
prince,
75
Carvings,
amber
figure,
193,
155;
180
Cauldrons, bronze, 224, 225
Chariots, Assyrian, 161;
two drawn by
Badarian culture, 18
Bits, linked
Boghazkoy
cylinder-seal, 214
Choga Zambil,
ziggurat
bit,
discovered,
233
East,
250
137
Crimson
paste, 213
Croesus, defeated
by Cyrus, 232
Cuneiform
Bracelets, 250
dus, 232;
British Egyptologists, 49
capitals,
278
294
tri-lingual in-
scription, 21^
202;
Greek
craftsmen, 241
Persepolis
118
Deep
relief-carving, 78
Deir-el-Bahri,
Queen
Hatshepsut's
Dragons,
Dur
191,
2jo
Kingdom,
nium
B.C., 268,
260;
of,
34-5, 49-
2j6;
Dynasty
'hypostyle
mor-
rehgious beliefs
of,
Pyramid,* 260, 22^-yy stone, abundance of, 260; stone-carvings, 36, 38,
54,
with
257
First
Dynasty tombs, 84
First
Fifth
Dynasty
sculptures, 56, 74
Mrs
Frankfort,
H.,
69,
159;
book.
hall',
monuments
48,
by
New
Ethiopian, slain
Echelon method, 86
architecture.
56;
stone
pyramids fore-
of,
El Bershen, 124
El-Gebelein, painted cloth from, 36, id
Embroidery shown on sculpture, 204
Environment, affects building materials,
257
Erech, major city, 48, 79
Hasanlu,
20i\
from
from
on ivory
encrusted
head, 170
'Child's Tumulus',
with lion head, 225, 186
Gordium,
87; situla
Gouache-paintings, 157
Granite, 36, 60; temples, 74
'Great Pyramid' funerary boat, 227
Greek
art,
49-51; Caryatids, 272;
craftsmen employed by Darius, 241
295
Griffin,
237;
glazed-brick-relief,
20^;
gold bracelet from the *Oxus Treasure*, 2ij; rhyton from the *Oxus
Treasure', winged,
on
cylinder-seal,
style,
139,
141,
Hor, statue
'Groundline', 34
Gudea,
Governor
of Lagash, 109;
diorite statue of, 72; head of, 75
Guti, a tribe of Elam, 109, 232; devastate
southern Iraq, 232
Halberd, 240
of,
80
38, ij
Hama, 214
Hammurabi, cylinder-seal, i() 2; head of,
9j; stela of, 233, 92
Hare, trophy from hunting scene, 163
Harmal, life-size lions, gg; temple at,
130; terracotta-plaques, lOo; warrior
destroying cyclops, 101
Hasanlu (Azerbaijan), gold cup of
Manaean work,
201
from
mother of,
mortuary chapel
of, 120\
241-2
Hunting
scene,
cylinder-seal,
Ibex, heads
on dagger, 21^
Ideoplastic art, 51
tri-
Iraq, loi
Hemiunu,
Ischali,
statue of, 29
panel from
85
Heliopolis, 117
tomb
of,
wooden
129
Isin Larsa,
Isis,
129
132
Hippopotamus, 91
Ishtar
gods
of,
241-2; migratory
movement
bowl from,
95
Isin,
39
Hittites,
214;
Khorsabad, 16
Hurrians, 214
Hyksos, 'Shepherd Kings', conquest,
268; expelled from Egypt, 164;
invasion of Egypt, 151
Hypostyle hall, 269
lingual, 213
296
architectural
214
'Hall
to Anatolia, 15 1-2;
reliefs,
Kititum temple
Ivories,
box
side, 174;
at Ischali, 231
carved to adorn
by
from Nimmd,
Hathor
head-dress and breastplate, 176; openwork plaque, i/d; painted head, 170
Lion,
in
LuUabi,
grove,
lily
art,
'Luristan
Bronzes',
cemeteries
Karatepe,
bilingual
inscription,
220,
Kamak,
Kassite,
Dynasty,
collapse
of,
229;
copper
statuette,
statue,
20\ statue
38,
female
68\
of a
86;
Sumerian
man
life-size,
compare Egyp-
'King's Gate',
in,
97\
98;
100,
Puzur-Ishtan,
129;
Sumerian
statue, 67
axe, 240
Kirkuk, 132
Kizzuwatna, 140
dog. 111
Kuyiinjik (Nineveh), Assyrian
at,
197;
vase
exca-
251,
priest
Kilt,
slaying
176;
Ethiopian, 173
Lugal, King, 79
Megiddo,
winged
204
90\ herdsman, 90
Meket-re, model of fishing-boat from
the tomb, 89
Menes,
Lapis-lazuli, 213
64
the
tomb
of, 121
32, 59,
at
Assur-
53
297
of,
brick-
118;
43,
38,
36,
development
cultural
of,
19;
tomb
of,
232;
throne-
The', 232
Necklaces, 250
Negro girl, carrying ajar, 124
17; use
168-9; tombs,
Nimrud
box,
116
(Caleb),
on
river
moved
reliefs,
Assyrians
crossing
194;
earliest
group of
lion, i7j;
scopic
influence,
lys',
Nineveh,
reliefs
with stereo-
158
eflfect,
84, 106;
abandoned by Sargon,
45
of,
rebuilt
Mycenaean
229; group of
160;
fresco, 136
Kiiyiinjik
fall
palace-mound, 204;
head of,
Queen, 27
limestone
33;
with his
Mythological subjects, 201
pair-statue
155
63;
Mykerinus,
Gordium with
at
terracottas,
New Kingdom,
reliefs,
Midas,
ig2\
232,
Ningal, statue
of,
88
Nippur, 129
Nofretiti, head
06;
107
Warmer, King,
Neb-Amon,
JJ3;
last rites
before
painting from
tomb
tomb
of,
of,
122;
Nebuchadnezzar,
229;
Obelisk, 235
Old Kingdom,
cylinder-seals,
art,
62, 78;
mortuary
sculpture, 68
298
pillars',
270, 272
211, 213
Palaeolithic
man, cave-paintings, 22
Pylons, 269-70
227
198
Peet, Professor, 49
Pepy I, statuette of, 26
Queen
and
of Medes
Hatshepsut's
obelisk,
233;
Ra
'Hall
248',
propylae, 278,
249;
stairway,
203;
'Tripylon*, 203
Persians, 241; art, 24, 229; Central Asia,
rock-sculpture,
ibexes, 237
Rekh-mi-res,.
tery,
21,
23-4, 48;
tures in relief,
from tomb
244
Sea-land' King-
dom, 132
Perspective, i66\ use of diagonal lines,
servant
of,
wine
carrying
130
Reliefs,
164
Petrie, Sir Flinders, 178, 180
Sumerian, 258, 23
Portal-figures,
136,
194,
137;
from Khorsabad,
194,
163;
161-2;
from Nineveh,
tian,
206,
194., 160,
motif,
206,
164-g;
Egyp-
Eighteenth
groundlines
ignored,
i6g;
299
mound,
and
mare
i6g',
New
metal, 200,
mihtary con-
Kingdom,
interlaced beasts
Middle
impression from,
Khafaje,
61;
Assyrian,
134;
23;
Mitannian,
Sen-Mut,
quest, 196-8;
197;
on
137; soldiers
244; stereoscopic
eflfect,
stifl^y
138;
slabs,
of, 37;
tomb
250,
of, 143;
2io\
Vizier
Ramose,
griffin,
architect, 156;
bearers, 123;
165'
Sennacherib, 194; rebuilds palace after
Sargon's death, 204; defeat of the
Elamites, 163
god
I,
of, 81
Ptah, 88
Senusret
II,
head
of, 7g
Senusret-Senebef-Ni, statue, 82
Serdab chamber, 68
Serpent-headed
lions,
45
211
R(3cks, carving
on
vertical faces,
209
Sethos
Sahure, temple, 74
Sakkara, 256, 222-3; granite head, 32;
'reserve head', 31; tombs, 65-6, 70
Sakjegozi, sculptured 'orthostats', 220
Sargon, 106
I,
as Osiris
131; funerary
Shalmaneser
II,
Shalmaneser
III,
reliefs
79
Shrike in the marshes, 143
Sargonid,
Sialk,
reliefs,
225;
sculptures
are
animals,
Scythians,
Seals,
Siren heads,
Upper Egyptian
king, 28,
round,
179;
paired
from South
Sphinxes,
portal-figures at
79
cylinder-, 44,
Russia, 233
80, 92, 93,
136;
in
Greece, 225
Situla,
the
Assyrian
300
Shubad, Queen, 90
bronzes compared, 284
Sinjerli,
34
Sculpture in
painted, 203
Scarabs, winged, 172
'Scorpion',
dating from,
172;
Boghazkoy, 274
Sumer, great
Sumerian,
festivals, 83
art,
diadem, 90;
19,
129;
fertility,
81-2,
and
83;
beliefs, 80-1,
practices
religious
83-5; sculpture in
tomb-furniture and
wall-omaments, 205,
268; zigqurat, 265, 22g-jo
at Khafaje, 228;
treasures,
85;
'Sun-disks', 114
Susa, a
bowl from,
of Elam,
6; capital
TemenoSy 265
Tempera-painting, 124
Temple, ofAmon, atKarnak, ijg, 2^2-j,
233-6; Boghazkoy, 24J Hatshepsut's
and Menthu-hetep II's, 237-8; Ishtar
Kititum, 231 Ramesses II, at Abu Simbel, 272, 133; Ramesses II, at Thebes,
;
239
tomb of Sen-Mut,
life,
164,
165; temples
Ti,
tomb
of, at
Sakkara, 78, 37
201
Tigris, city
Tigris Valley, 80
'Hero
Talismans,
195-7;
between
beasts',
237,
138;
Tammuz,
117
Tanis-Avaris, old Hyksos stronghold,
188
Tasian
site,
18
at, 201
Tomb-statues, 159
'Tower of Babel, The', 230, 265
Trebizond, Empire of, 232
Turah quarries, 28
Tut-ankh-amon, 153; tutelary goddesses from tomb of, 148; golden
throne
of, 149
Tuthmosis
III,
smiting captive,
139;
'Caryatid'
iSo;
Two-dimensional ornaments, 21
'Two
Tyre,
213;
sends
grotesque
Udimu,
Ur Nammu's
Weaving, shown on
Wooden
WooUey,
see
harps,
Sir
Ur
sculpture, 204
'Standard*, 89
Young
49
Uruk,
girl,
at,
113-14
ivory, 1J2
Warka
from tomb
from tomb of, 130
of,
of,
233
basic
Nimrod, 'The
Votive
painted 187
233;
effigy, 19S
Warka
302
J 7;
Ur Nammu's,
at
Ur, 22g
'Ziwiye, Treasure of, 174
Zoser, capital of tomb, 224;
first King
of the Third Dynasty, 66, 68; tomb
at
funerary
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