VII. Assyria, Babylonia, Achaemenid Persia:
Age of Empires
Periods of Art History I: from Prehistory to Trajan
Plan of the lesson
1. Neo-Assyrian empire and its monumental art
a) Nineveh
b) Nimrud
2. Neo-Babylonian empire and major monuments in Babylon
a) Ziggurat of Etemenanki aka the Tower of Babylon
b) Isthar gate
3. Achaemenid empire and its monumental art
a) Persepolis
b) Susa
Assyrian warfare
Relief depicting the destruction of Susa of Elam by Ashurbanipal,
645-640 BCE, North Palace, Nineveh, British Museum
Lachish Relief, Palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh, 700–
681 BCE, British Museum
Austen Henry Layard, The Monuments of Nineveh, 1853
Gustave Doré, Jonah Preaches to the Ninevites, Bible anglaise, 1866 Rembrandt van Rijn, Jonah at the walls of Nineveh, 1655
In 1851 the British journal Athenaeum carried an editorial in
which the writer declared himself “satiated with these repeated
recurrences of the same formulae of expression,—and little
disposed to recommend that an inch more of the valuable
space in our Great National Building shall be given up to them
[Assyrian carvings]. It is sufficient for the national honour that
this country was among the first to possess any of these
primitive specimens of sculpture, with the valuable lessons
which they teach.”
Lady Layard’s jewelry in the Assyrian style. Carved cylinder and stamp seals
dating to various ancient periods; gold settings created in 1869; British
Museum, London
Lamassu statues from Nineveh, British Museum
Lamassu from Nimrud, ca. 883–859 BCE, MET
Lamassu from Khorsabad, Le Louvre
Lamassu, neo-Assyrian, c. 883–859 BCE, gypsum alabaster,
from Nimrud, MET
Lamassu, neo-Assyrian, reign of Sargon II, c. 721-
705 BCE, from Khorsabad, ancient Dur Sharrukin,
Iraq, excavated in 1843-44 / Musée du Louvre, Paris
The standard inscription
The Palaces of Nimrud
restored, 1853, after
James Fergusson
Relief panels, Assyrian, from the Northern Palace in Nimrud, ca. 883–859 BCE, Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York Times, March 5, 2015
Ivory panels ca. 800 BCE, from Fort Shalmaneser, Neo-Assyrian, Phoenician, MET
Relief depicting Ashurbanipal and his queen in a garden. The head of Ashurbanipal’s enemy hangs from a tree on the far left,
Nineveh, Iraq, ca. 645–640 BCE
Ashurbanipal, hunting lions, gypsum relief, North Palace of Nineveh (Irak), c. 645-635 BCE / British Museum, London
Relief from King’s gate, Hattusa,
Hittite, ca. 1350–1200 BC
https://mused.com/tours/964/assyrian-stele-harvard-museum-of-the-ancient-near-east/
Babylon
Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Tower of Babylon, 1563, Kunsthistorische
Museum Vienna
Ziggurat of Etemenanki, graphic reconstruction,
Likely built or expanded by Nebuchadnezzar II
605–562 BCE)
The remains of the Ishtar Gate at the beginning of the excavations, Babylon, 1902
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft
Kylix depicting a Greek slaying a Persian, by the
Triptolemos painter, 5th century BCE, National
Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh
Persepolis
Gate of All nations, (also Gate of Xerxes),
ca. 490–480 BCE, ruins of Persepolis, Iran
Monumental stairway leading
to Apadana, Persepolis, ca.
500–490 BCE
https://persepolis.getty.edu
Column from the Apadana of
Susa / Musée du Louvre, Paris
Griffin, Glazed bricks panel
from the Palace (Apadana)
of Darius, Susa, west
courtyard of the palace, 522-
486 BCE
Paris, Musée du Louvre
Depiction of guards from the Apadana in Susa, 522-486 BCE, Berlin, Pergamon Museum
Egyptian statue of Achaemenid Emperor Darius the Great as Pharaoh of
the Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt; 522–486 BCE; greywacke; height:
2.46 m; National Museum of Iran(Teheran)
Fragment of a Wall Decoration from the Palace of
Xerxes, gray limestone, 53x43,6 cm, 486-465 BCE,
Persepolis / Cleveland Art Musem
Gold dress ornaments, 6th-5th century BCE
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Vessel Terminating in the Forepart of a Leonine Creature
Achaemenid period, ca. 600–500 b.c. Iran
Gold; H. 6 3/$ in. (17 cm), MET