Mesopotamian Art 2

1. Mesopotamian Art 2 • Assyria, Neo-Babylonia, and Persia

2. What do these pictures have in common?

7. Assyrian Empire • Had become very powerful around 1400 B.C. They began conquering around 1000 B.C. Height of empire was 800-700 B.C. Succumbed to internal weakness and enemies by 600 B.C. • Northern kingdom. Capital city was in Nineveh. • Extremely warlike and brutal. They would burn down the cities, tear down the walls, and wholesale cart off men, women, and children as slaves around their empire. • The whole time, they had to fight to keep their empire because all of their subjugated peoples hated them so much.

8. Assyrian Kings • Under Assurnasirpal III, Assyria became a formidable military force. His records are filled with boastful claims detailing his cruelty. He says that he dyed the mountains red like wool cloth, with the blood of his slaughtered enemies. From the heads fo his decapitated enemies he erected a pillar, and he covered the city walls with their skins. -History of Western Art. Laurie Schneider Adams. • Some notable kings were Assurnasirpal, Tiglath-Pileser, Shalmaneser, and Assurbanipal. (Good luck. You won’t have to know this for the test, but they sound cool.)

9. Citadel of Sargon II

10. Citadel of Sargon II • New capital at Dur Sharrukin. • Contained 200 rooms and 30 courtyards. • Palace complex raised 52 feet and can only be accessed by a ramp. • Service buildings on right. Temple on left. • Walls of alabaster were carved with bas reliefs celebrating the feats of the kings.

11. Lamassu: Sargon’s Citadel • A Lamassu is an ancient guardian that would be at the doors entering into the palace for protection. • Bull body and legs. Human head. Features highly stylized. • Wears the three-horned crown of divinity.

12. Assyrian Warriors

13. King Stabbing Lion

14. Neo-Babylonia (Chaldea) • This empire had been gathering power in the South. • In 612 B.C., the Babylonians united with the Medes to conquer Assyria. They completely wiped it out. • Pretty much only noteworthy king was Nebuchadnezzar II. He not only conquered other lands, but he also made Babylon a great city of beauty and culture. Beautiful palace, city walls, Ishtar gate, and one of the wonders of the world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

15. Nebuchadnezzar • Yes, you’ve probably heard the name before. • He was the one that sacked Jerusalem in 586 B.C. fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecies. He leveled the walls and razed the temple. • He took the Hebrews back to Babylon. (Babylonian captivity). He had many Hebrew princes in his court, including Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. • Lion’s den? That’s him. Statue with different metals? Him again. Throwing people in fiery furnaces? Right again.

16. Walls of Babylon • Walls of Babylon were massive and world-famous. • He specifically built them so that he could turn around a whole chariot on the wall.

18. Ishtar Gate • Anyone entering the city had to go through the Ishtar Gate. • Ishtar was the goddess of love and beauty. • Had to walk past soldiers on towers with bows pointed at you until you arrived at the gate itself.

19. Ishtar Gate • The Ishtar gate was tiled with a beautiful blue. • Crenellated notches on the top. Also known as dentives. Easily defendable. • Massive and impressive. This is a replica found in Berlin.

20. Mythical Animals • Two animals found on the gate. • Dragons symbolized Marduk, chief god. • Bulls with blue horns and tails were associated with other deities. • Lions perhaps represent the king or Babylon itself.

21. Hanging Gardens of Babylon • Considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. • Supposedly built to comfort the queen who was from the mountainous area of Medea. • It had plants hanging down from the terraced walls, almost looking like they were floating at times.

22. Persia • Cyrus the Great overthrew Babylon and established Persia as the new most dominant empire. He allowed the Israelites to return back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. It was finally overthrown in 334 B.C. by Alexander the Great. • A couple of years after Cyrus, Darius rose to power. Darius sought to further expand his empire by attacking Greece. When he failed, his son, Xerxes, attempted to again take Greece. According to the Bible, Xerxes wife was Esther.

23. Capital Cities • Darius liked to build monumental architecture to himself. • Darius built a new capital city called Susa. There he built a 32-acre administrative compound. • Later he began construction on a new city called Parsa (renamed Persepolis by the Greeks). He imported materials, workers, and artists from all over the world to build the projects. He thus combined art styles from all over the world into one place.

24. Persepolis • Not much left of the once capital of the world. More bas relief sculptures and massive arrays of columns combined with buildings.

25. Plan of Persepolis

26. Columns of persepolis • Multicultural. • Bell-shaped base. • Fluted shafts. • Log capitals representing palm fronds, papyrus, other plant forms, scrolls and creatures such as the bull.