ANE: Akkadian to Persian Empires
I.
Akkadian Dynasty
A. Naram-Sin (2254-2218 BCE)
1. Sargon I (means “True King”)– founder of the Akkadian
dynasty (line of kings who took over Sumer). Naram-sin was
Sargon’s grandson.
a) Akkad not located yet, near Babylon
1. Different language than Sumerian, but used
cuneiform for writing the language.
b) Observe the sculpture of an Akkadian king
1. Cast copper, very sophisticated technique
2. From Nineveh (Kuyunjik, Iraq)
3. Life-size
4. Individualized features and abstract pattern:
note different ways hair is depicted
c) This may be Sargon I
d) Introduced loyalty to king not city-state (or god
of city-state. King assumes divinity.
2. Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon I, priestess of moon god
Nanna. Wrote hymns to Nanna: oldest recorded name of any
author.
3. Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (2254- 2218 BCE, from
Susa, Iran), Sandstone, now in Louvre, Paris
a) STELE – a large, stone slab used to commemorate a
historical event or major achievement
b) Victory Stele of Naram-Sin commemorates his victory
over King Satuni of the Lullubi people
c) Notice the cuneiform inscription on the right side of the
mountain
d) Look closely at Naram-Sin
1. HIERARCHICAL SCALE – he towers over all
2. He is the highest up the mountain – closest to the
gods (connection to ziggurats)
3. Gods may be represented by the suns/stars above
the mountains
4. He is a dauntless (fearless) conqueror who leads
his troops up the mountain. Note how NaramSin steps on the defeated enemy soldiers.
Another defeated soldier (king?) prays for mercy
while the man in front of him attempts to pull a
spear from his neck
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5. Carefully note Naram-Sin’s helmet. He is
wearing the HORNED HELMET OF
DIVINITY. HORNED HELMET OF DIVINITY
means that the person or creature wearing it is
god-like --- a popular symbol with ancient Near
Eastern art. Shows concept of godlike
sovereignty
e) Notice how orderly Naram-Sin’s soldiers march up the
mountain, trampling on their enemies. Notice how
chaotic and hopeless the Lullubi soldiers appear.
f) Naram-Sin and his soldiers in composite view,
conventional.
g) Unconventional: Used landscape to create successive
tiers to visually compose image and relay narrative –
break with horizontal registers.
B. Gudea
1. 2150 BCE Akkadians overthrown by Gutians.
2. Gutians overthrown by Sumerian city-states. Established
Neo-Sumerian state ruled by kings of Ur = Third Dynasty of
Ur.
a) Ziggurat of Ur-nammu built ca. 2100 BCE.
1. Bigger than Uruk ziggurat
2. Outside facing made of baked bricks laid in
bitumen (asphalt-like substance)
3. Three ramp-like stairs of 100 steps each
converge on gateway (probably lead to another
flight of steps to temple proper that no longer
exists).
3. Gudea was ruler of the Sumerian city of Lagash during 3rd
Ur dynasty (c. 2100 BCE)
4. Twenty diorite statues. Most are in the Louvre. The Met has
the only complete statue of Gudea in the U.S.
5. Gudea is usually shown with hands clasped as a sign of
reverence, kneeling, standing, or sitting on a throne. He has a
peaceful expression and either has a bald head or wears and
woolen cap.
6. Gudea’s portrait sculptures convey a different message from
those of Naram-Sin.
7. Gudea wanted to be remembered for his piety (holiness) and
munificent (generous) actions toward the gods and his people
8. Cuneiform inscriptions referred to his beneficent acts and
the temples he built
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9. Compare Gudea portraits with worshippers of Temple at
Eshunna (2700 BCE) and (possible) Sargon portrait (2250 –
2200 BCE). Discussion Question: What are the differences
and what can you infer from them?
C. Babylon
1. Neo-Sumerian Dynasty soon fell to Elamites. Mesopotamia
was then governed as independent city-states for two
centuries.
2. Babylonian King Hammurabi (r. 1792 – 1750 BCE)
reestablished centralized government.
3. Best known today for his written law code – earliest, wellunderstood law code in existence
4. Hammurabi’s Law Code
a) Shows Shamash giving rod and ring to
Hammurabi giving him authority: Rod and
ring from builder’s tools- measuring rod and
coiled rope- gives him right to build society and
dispense justice by measuring people’s lives.
b) Laws governed all aspects of people’s lives (commerce
and property to murder and theft to marital fidelity,
inheritances, and treatment of slaves.
c) Law code favored the higher classes of people
d) Code was inscribed in cuneiform on a stele 7’ 4” tall
a. Top part of the stele depicts Hammurabi
meeting with the god Shamash (Note the horned
helmet of divinity) in BAS RELIEF (low relief).
Figures in composite view except Shamash’s
horned helmet, foreshortened. Shamash’s
helmet has 5 pairs of horns…He must REALLY
be powerful!
e) Notice Shamash is in hierarchical scale compared to
Hammurabi – Shamash is his size while he is still
sitting. Also, notice the flames behind Shamash’s back.
D. Hittite Art
1. History: Hittites from Anatolia (modern Turkey) sacked
Babylon. Retreated back to Anatolia and left Babylon in
hands of Kassites.
2. Remains of Hittite capital city, Hattusa (Boghazkoy,
Turkey), ca. 1400 BCE
i. Made of stone not brick
ii. Pair of carved stone lions guard entrance to city.
iii. Lions, wild beasts, and fantastic creatures
are used as guardian motifs in many
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cultures. Demonstrates a theme that was
echoed throughout the Ancient Near East.
The gate presents the idea of protection; the
lions protect the city.
E. Elamite Art
1. Elam east of Tigris River. Elamites plundered Babylon
and took stelea of Naram-Sin and Hammurabi.
2. Had their own votive tradition
i. Queen Napir-Asu, Susa, Iran, 1350 – 1300 BCE
ii. Solid core of bronze, almost 2 tons!
1. Can’t steal this!
iii. Frontal with tight silhouette, Cylindrical volume
iv. Crossed hands, well modeled, close observation, not
conceptual. Discussion Question: Observational vs.
Conceptual Art
v. Fine treatment of fabric and pattern
vi. Hands over belly: Reference to fertility?
II.
The Assyrians (850-612 BCE)
A. Rise of Assyrian power first half of the first millennium. Sacked
Elamite Kingdom’s capital city, Susa, in 641 BCE.
1. Home is city of Assur (god = Ashur)
2. Assyrian soldiers had iron swords and iron-pointed spears.
3. Iron is much stronger than bronze.
4. The most disciplined army the world had yet seen. Trained to
march and fight in tightly organized columns and divisions
led by commanders of different ranks.
5. Invented large siege machines to overpower city walls
6. Struck terror in enemies by torturing and killing prisoners,
mutilating their bodies, and enslaving large groups of people
7. Predominant theme of Assyrian Art: War and
hunting scenes
B. Empire
1. From Tigris River to Nile River
2. From Persian Gulf to Asian Minor
C. Dur Sharrukin – first major Assyrian city
1. Today, it’s called Khorsabad in Iraq
2. Citadel of Sargon II
3. Built ca. 720-705 BCE
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4. Strong defensive walls
5. Palace complex of the king was elevated on a 50 foot mound
and was as large as 25 acres
6. Palace had 200 courtyards and rooms
7. King greeted foreign visitors in courtyard with sides 300 feet
long (as long as a football field!) Visitors entered this
courtyard from another courtyard that had larger than lifesize RELIEFS of Assyrian king and his courtiers. Assyrians
are famous for their RELIEF SCULPTURE.
8. Sargon II regarded city and palace as an expression of his
grandeur: Inscription “Sargon, King of the World…”
and “I built this city with [the labors of] the peoples
subdued by my hand …” What do you think Sargon is
trying to convey?
9. Courtyards, throne room, guard chambers, government
chambers, service quarters
10. Ziggurat with as many as 7 levels – four levels exist today
a) Each level is 18 feet high and painted a different color
b) Used bent-axis plan
11. Why so “over the top?”
D. Famous Assyrian kings
1. Sargon II – founder of the empire
2. Ashurnasirpal II
3. Ashurbanipal
E. Treasures of Assyrian Art
1. LAMASSU
a) The Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC =
MMA) has two lamassu that are 10 feet tall
b) The lamassu guarded the gate to Sargon’s palace,
protected it from evil forces
c) Lamassu combine the fierceness of a lion or bull (note
the legs and body), the farsightedness of an eagle (note
the wings) and the intelligence of a human (note the
human head) with the stylized Assyrian beard.
d) The horned helmet of divinity – show that the
lamassu are divine like gods
e) A fifth leg!! – When viewed from the front they
appear to stand still. When viewed from the side, they
have four legs to provide a complete picture. This is a
CONCEPTUAL PICTURE not an OPTICAL
PICTURE. In other words, they added the fifth leg so
that the animal would not look incomplete from the
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side. The extra sculpted leg also gives the effect that the
lamassu are in motion.
f) presents a front view of the animal at rest and a side
view of it in motion, thus showing the creature with all
its important parts.
g) Moving the lamassu was an immense feat --- Assyrian
reliefs from Sargon’s successor chronicle how workers
accomplished the task
h) Modern museums sent teams to specially cut the
lamassu from their sites in the ancient Near East and
reassemble them in the museum.
i) Notice the cuneiform carved into the stone beneath the
belly of the lamassu. Remember, cuneiform was
originally designed to be created by pressing reed tips
into wet clay – which was technically easy. Think about
the fact that something designed for one material is
mimicked in another material at a later date. You will
see this often in art history.
2. Reliefs of royal hunting scenes in Ninevah
a) The palace walls were covered in reliefs that showed the
power of the Assyrians
b) The king staged hunts in the royal gardens in which his
servants would release captive lions for him to kill. He
usually had bodyguards to protect him from the lions,
while he shot them with arrows or speared them
c) Assyrian reliefs that have survived show many of these
hunting scenes
d) Example:
1. DYING LIONESS
i. Blood streams from her wounds, as the
lioness drags her hindquarters, which
have been paralyzed by arrows that have
pierced her spine
ii. The artist depicts straining muscles, the
swelling of veins, and the proud
creature’s last roar (British Museum
website)
iii. Ashurbanipal Hunting Lions
1. Meant to glorify king
2. Modern interpretation is
sympathy for lions.
3. More powerful the foe overcome
the more powerful the king looks.
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4. Notice how Ashurbanipal is totally
calm while killing a lion.
iv. Other ritual hunting scenes
3. Reliefs showing war scenes
a) Assyrian Archers Pursuing Enemies
(Ashurnasirpal)
1. Painted gypsum relief
2. Shows archers driving infantry into the
Euphrates
3. One swimmer has arrow in back
4. Other two try to float to safety by inflating
animal skins.
5. Trying to reach fort
6. Fort looks like it is in river: really isn’t
7. Artist compresses time and space to tell story
clearly
8. Fort soldiers too tall
9. Different viewpoints in same picture
10. Composite bodies of archers
11. Archers heads inside bows! Done for narrative
and pictorial clarity, not optical reality.
4. PDF pages 51 to 67
a) Assyrian infantry
b) Assryians besieging the Elamites
c) Killing enemies
d) Stealing their gods
e) Being bowed to by defeated king
f) Cutting enemies feet off and putting heads and bodies
on stakes.
g) Ashurbanipal celebrating his victories
h) Stylistically I find page PDF page 59 strange. The
Assyrians organize their reliefs so well yet they seem to
not care about the carved writing going over figures
and under flowers.
5. Taken as a whole, what was the purpose of Assyrian art?
III.
Neo-Babylonian Empire and its Art
A. Reminder: Original Babylonian Empire: King Hammurabi (r. 1792 –
1750 BCE) reestablished centralized government in Mesopotamia
after Neo-Sumerian Empire.
B. The Babylonians of the Neo-Babylonian Empire replaced
the Assyrian empire more than 1000 years after first
Babylonian Empire.
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1. Their most famous king was Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 604 – 562
BCE) known from the Book of Daniel in bible.
C. The Great Double Wall of Babylon
1. 80 feet thick, 13 miles long, 2 chariots could ride on the tops
of the walls side by side according to ancient accounts
2. Although Babylon was a mud brick city, dazzling blue-glazed
bricks decorated important monuments.
D. Processional Avenue
1. 73 feet wide and bordered by towering walls 23 feet high
2. Decorated with brilliantly covered enameled bricks
3. Reliefs of 120 lions (sacred to the goddess Ishtar) lined the
way, pointing in the direction of the Ishtar Gate
4. The avenue had a paved walkway with pink marble and
limestone
5. This is reconstructed in the Berlin Museum (Staatliche
Museen, Berlin)
6. The Berlin Museum permanently loans extra bricks that
were discovered to other museums including the Met!
E. Ishtar Gate
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Dedicated to the goddess Ishtar
Main entrance to Babylon
Large arcuated (arched) entrance
Glazed blue bricks
Molded, reliefs of animals real and imaginary – bulls (the
symbol of the Babylonian god Adad, the weather god) and
strange long-necked dragons with scorpion’s tails called
mushushus (important to the god Marduk)
6. Today, the Ishtar Gate is also reconstructed in the Berlin
Museum in Germany (Iraq has smaller copies of it, built
during Saddam Hussein’s reign).
7. The site was discovered under 32 feet of rubble. It was a 30
year process to excavate.
F. Marduk Ziggurat (Tower of Babel?)
1. Rose in 7 stages, each covered in a different colored stone
according to Herodotus, the Greek historian (considered the
first historian).
2. Rose to a height of 300 feet!
3. Topped by a 48 ft temple dedicated to Marduk
4. The temple’s walls were plated with gold and inlaid with blue
enameled bricks, so that the sun, striking the tower’s top,
illuminated the entire city with a blaze of reflected light.
Some sources state that a gold statue of Marduk and golden
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furniture was kept in temple. However, Herodotus says
temple was empty except for couch for Marduk to visit in
person.
G. Hanging Gardens of Babylon
1. One of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World
a) Great Pyramid of Gizeh
b) Hanging Gardens of Babylon
c) Statue of Zeus at Olympia
d) Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
e) Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
f) Colossus of Rhodes
g) Lighthouse of Alexandria
2. Built by King Nebuchadnezzar to comfort one of his young
wives, who missed her verdant homeland to the north
3. A miracle of engineering skill, a marvel of architectural
design (water was possibly delivered to the different levels by
a hydraulic system --- researchers have found some evidence
of this machinery as well as evidence of seeds that were not
indigenous to the region!)
4. The leafy terraces and platforms were of extraordinary grace
and charm and elegance, so that in truth they appeared to
float over the city like something in a dream.
5. New Seven Wonders of the World (2007)
a) Chichen Itza
b) Christ the Redeemer statue – 150 ft tall (Rio de Janeiro)
c) Great Wall of China
d) Macchu Picchu
e) Petra
f) Colosseum
g) Taj Mahal
h) (Honorable mention – Great Pyramid (Pyramid of
Khufu) at Gizeh --- the only surviving wonder from the
ancient wonders of the world!
H. What ever happened to Babylon?
1. Captured by Cyrus the Great of Persia (r. 559 – 529 BCE) in
539 BCE and became a major city in the Persian Empire
2. City’s inhabitants revolted in 482 BCE, Persian king harshly
suppressed the revolt
3. Babylon never regained its former glory. Walls and temples
and palaces fell into ruins, and the desert gradually engulfed
everything
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4. By the 6th century CE, Babylon was inhabited only by
peasants living in huts. By the 13th century, it was entirely
abandoned, its vanished glory hidden beneath sand and mud.
VII. PERSIAN EMPIRE (Achaemenid Dynasty)
A. Background
1. Founded by mythical King Achaemenes
2. The main nemesis of the Greeks were the Persians led by their
King Xerxes (one famous battle: Battle of Thermopylae: movie
“300”).
3. The Persian created the largest empire the world had ever seen
around the year 480 BCE.
 Grew out of present-day Iran but spread throughout
the Middle East and the Anatolian peninsula touching
even eastern Africa
4. Capital – Persepolis
5. Major leaders
 Cyrus the Great
 Darius the Great
 Xerxes - son of Darius
6. The Persians did invade and gain control of large parts of Greece
including Athens. Ultimately, they were defeated by the Greeks.
 Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) conquered what
was left of the Persian Empire
B. The Apadana
1. Apadana - royal audience hall in Persepolis
i. 60 feet high with 36 colossal columns
ii. Persepolis built in time of Darius the Great and Xerxes
on high plateau.
iii. Persepolis was a Persian citadel with administrative and
ceremonial functions.
iv. Razed by Alexander the Great as symbol of the
destruction of Persian power and as revenge for
sack of Acropolis (Athens).
1. Now power was focused on Alex the Great and
the Greeks, which leads to primacy of the
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Romans. Had profound impact on the course of
Western civilization.
2. Part of the oldest construction period of Persepolis that
survives
3. Depicts representatives of 23 subject nations bearing tribute to
Persian King (part of Palace of Darius)
i. Note modeling of forms: crisp
ii. Figures relate to each other: in conversation
iii. Were painted
iv. Inspired by Assyrian reliefs but more rounded and stick
out more from background
v. Drapery shows archaic Greek influence
vi. Shows how much ideas and art were exchanged in
Persian civilization: Heterogeneous work force.
VIII New Persian Empire (Sasanian)
1. Alexander the Great conquered Persia in 330 BCE
2. Greeks then Romans ruled ANE
a. Alex the Great’s general, Seleucus I (312 – 281 BCE)
founded Seleucid dynasty
3. Sasanian king Artaxerxes founded in 224 CE by defeating
Parthians (Roman enemy): Started Sasanian Empire
about 500 years after Alexander the Great’s victory
over the Persians.
a. Believed to be descendents of Achaemenid
(Persian)kings
4. Artaxerxes son Shapur I built palace at Ctesiphon ca. 250
CE. (Iraq), the capital his father founded.
a. Monumental iwan (brick audience hall) covered by a
vault almost 100 ft. high.
b. Façade to left and right of iwan divided up into
horizontal bands of blind arcades ( a series of arches
without actual openings; used as a wall decoration)
5. Shapur I defeated Roman emperor Valerian (260 BCE).
6. New Persian Empire lasted until Islam started.
a. Rock cut relief in Bishapur, Iran (ca. 260 CE)
commemorates victory showing Valerian
begging for mercy and Shapur I hieratically
scaled big. Shapur 1 wearing Sasanian crown.
Breaks border to bring attention to king (like Standard
of Ur). Reversal of usual scene in Roman art.
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