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Home / How Does the Assyrian Palace at Dur Sharrukin Use Art as Political Propaganda?

How Does the Assyrian Palace at Dur Sharrukin Use Art as Political Propaganda?

Art History Assyrian Art and Architecture
Paul Collins, Talah Anderson
  • LAST REVIEWED: 18 August 2021
  • LAST MODIFIED: 21 February 2022
  • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199920105-0093

Introduction

Ancient Assyrian art and compages has been the subject of scholarly interest, analysis, and argue since the mid-19th century when archaeological excavations began to reveal physical evidence of this ancient culture. Initially viewed equally historical sources for illuminating the earth of the Hebrew Bible, late-20th- and early-21st-century piece of work has utilized current fine art historical theory to explore multiple levels of significant expressed in the layout of ancient buildings, as well every bit through the grade of objects and their associated visual imagery. It is articulate that Assyrian art and architecture is inseparable from ancient Mesopotamian studies in general. Both the cultural background of earlier periods in northern Mesopotamia and the parallel history of Assyria's southern and western neighbors, Babylonia and Syria, are intimately linked and highly relevant to Assyrian cultural practices of all kinds. The Oxford Bibliographies commodity "Babylonian Art and Compages" is essential reading for introducing the broader study of ancient Mesopotamian visual culture, as well as the fields of archeology and aboriginal history that an agreement of Assyrian fine art and architecture depends on. "Assyrian" here denotes northern Iraq in the menses, extending from the 14th to the 7th century BCE, during which the cities of Ashur (alternate spelling: Assur), Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), Khorsabad (aboriginal Dur-Sharrukin), and Nineveh were the successive political capitals of the region. The nature and extent of Assyrian culture and its influence across the Assyrian heartland, especially during the catamenia c. 900–610 BCE when Assyria came to dominate the entirety of Southwest Asia, the region still widely referred to past European and American scholars as the ancient Almost E (too aboriginal Middle Eastward), is a matter of continuing investigation. The entire period is literate, and detailed historical information is available.

Assyrian Art and Society

The study of aboriginal Assyrian visual culture depends on an understanding of the fields of archaeology and ancient history, and requires an introduction to social, cultural, and textile contexts different from modernistic comparators. Likewise equally general surveys of the imagery and media seen in Mesopotamian art, therefore, this section suggests critical readings that get beyond our contemporary systems of visual interpretation to investigate how Assyrian images were understood to role in their ancient contexts. A useful starting point is Bahrani 2017, the most recent survey of Mesopotamian art. Other useful surveys, if now somewhat dated, are Frankfort 1996, an updated version of the author's original 1954 publication; Moortgat 1969; and Parrot 1961. Aruz, et al. 2014 provides a modern review of key artefacts and situates Assyrian art in the context of its more western neighbors. A significant development in the estimation of aboriginal Mesopotamian fine art is reflected in the work of Bahrani 2003, which applies 21st-century theory to the imagery.

  • Aruz, Joan, Sarah B. Graff, and Yelena Rakic, eds. Assyria to Iberia: At the Dawn of the Classical Age. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014.

    Published in collaboration with Yale University Press, a catalogue of an exhibition that surveys the art of the 1st millennium BCE, focusing on the interaction betwixt societies. Places Assyria in the context of neighboring cultures, especially with those of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean, with essays on the history and fine art of the period.

  • Bahrani, Zainab. The Graven Epitome: Representation in Babylon and Assyria. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Printing, 2003.

    DOI: 10.9783/9780812206777

    Innovative, theoretically informed study of representation in ancient Mesopotamian art. Considers the functions and meanings of images in guild, their production, and magical and religious roles. Particularly important for its discussion of ancient Mesopotamian concepts of the prototype as an agile participant in the world, and the perceived supernatural powers and properties of representations.

  • Bahrani, Zainab. Mesopotamia: Ancient Art and Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson, 2017.

    Essential introduction to the visual and textile cultures of the unabridged ancient Mesopotamian flow, covering art and compages from Iraq, northeast Syria, and southeast Turkey from 8000 BCE to 636 CE. This work is particularly compelling in its presentation of the historical development of Mesopotamian art alongside critically informed and contextualized interpretations of the visual imagery and buildings.

  • Brereton, Gareth, ed. I Am Ashurbanipal: King of the World, King of Assyria. London: Thames and Hudson, 2018.

    Exhibition book for the 2018 British Museum exhibition of the same proper noun. Essays encompass various topics relating to Assyrian art and society during the reign of Ashurbanipal, from the textile remains of his capital at Nineveh to the empire and its inner workings more broadly.

  • Frankfort, Henri. The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient. fifth ed. New Oasis, CT: Yale Academy Printing, 1996.

    Influential survey of ancient About Eastern fine art and compages. Compartmentalized approach with Mesopotamia at the center and therefore dated in its approach but nonetheless remains essential reading in its revised edition.

  • Groenewegen-Frankfort, H. Arrest and Move: An Essay on Space and Time in the Representational Art of the Ancient Near East. London: Faber & Faber, 1951.

    For its time, this was a groundbreaking examination of the formal representation of space and fourth dimension in the art of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete. Interprets the art'due south significance as an outcome of cultural rather than aesthetic necessity.

  • Groß, Melanie, and David Kertai. "Becoming Empire: Neo-Assyrian Palaces and the Creation of Courtly Culture." Journal of Ancient History vii (2019): one–31.

    DOI: ten.1515/jah-2018-0026

    Relates the architectural layouts of Assyrian royal palaces to the functions of the royal courts that inhabited them, particularly in terms of how spatial arrangement helped regulate access to the king.

  • Moortgat, Anton. The Fine art of Mesopotamia: The Classical Art of the Almost East. London and New York: Phaidon, 1969.

    Kickoff published as Die Kunst des alten Mesopotamien: Die klassische Kunst Vorderasiens. Translated from the German language past Judith Filson. A broad survey of Mesopotamian art with some interesting coverage of the Centre Assyrian material rarely included in comparable studies.

  • Parrot, André. Nineveh and Babylon: The Arts of Mankind. London: Thames and Hudson, 1961.

    The partner book to Babylonian Art and Architecture: Sumer: The Dawn of Art (1960), this volume captures the full sweep of Assyrian art from the 13th to 7th century BCE, as well as the later Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods. Especially useful for color reproductions of the wall paintings from the Assyrian provincial eye of Til Barsip (see Thureau-Dangin and Dunand 1936, cited nether Palace and Temple Architecture).

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