History of Western Paintings - The Ancient Near East

Palaeolithic people led an unsettled life; thisaptly describes the appearance of this writing, has
nomadic society of hunters and gatherers hasbeen deciphered; our ability to read ancient
little control over their food supply. BeginningMesopotamian texts makes the ancient art of the
around 8000 B.C. however, people began to growregion more accessible to the contemporary
their own food, raise their own animals, andviewer than the art of prehistoric societies.
organise into permanent communities. Although,Ancient near Eastern images usually have clearly
like their Palaeolithic predecessors, the Neolithicstructured compositions, ground-lines and readable
people (from neos, meaning "new" in Greek) usednarratives emphasising human beings, their history,
stone to make basic weapons and tolls, organisedand their relation to their gods and goddesses. All
agriculture and animal husbandry left more timeof these characteristics enable us to interpret the
and labour for other activities, including theart more easily than the more elusive prehistoric
production of clay vessels. Since their size andcave paintings discussed earlier.
weight made them difficult to carry, clay vesselsNeolithic village communities in the ancient Near
are characteristic of stationary communities.East gradually developed into complex city-states,
Neolithic villages made their first appearance in thewhich were often politically unstable societies
Near East, an area consisting roughly ofalmost contstantly at war with east other and
modern-day Turkey, Iraq and Iran. A lateagainst invading peoples. War and victory are
example of Neolithic painted pottery from thisfrequent subjects of ancient Near Eastern art.
region is a beaker from Susa (present day ShushThis image, an inlaid panel from the side of a box,
in Iran) dating to c. 4000 B.C. The highlymay show an actual historical event, depicting the
abstracted animal forms contained withinaftermath of war, with a victorious banquet
patterned borders are common to many worksscene in the top register. Historical narrative and a
of art from this area. Decoration takesclear, formal composition distinguish this image
precedence over naturalism to create designsfrom prehistoric cave paintings.
with beautiful stylised animals, such as the thinThe various city states that comprised ancient
band of elongated dogs beneath a frieze ofSumer were often at war with one another. The
graceful long necked birds around the top of theso called Standard of Ur is a box, the function of
beaker, and the marvellous ibex with circularwhich is not known, that was found in a royal
horns, it's body composed of two curvedcemetery among daggers, helmets, and other
triangles, that dominates the large central portion.military regalia. The box displays scenes of both
In contrast with Palaeolithic depictions of animals,war and peace, probably episodes of specific
which may represent attempts to control thehistorical events. Stylistically, the depictions of
animal kingdom, animals, now domesticated, seemhuman form in the Standard of Ur resemble
simply to decorate this Neolithic vase.those we will see in other ancient cultures. Frontal
The Paleolithic peoples who created cave paintingsand profile views are combined in a single figure,
were monadic hunters and gathers. Neolithicemphasising the conceptual over the illusionistic,
culture (New Stone Age), which first appeared inand the size of a figure directly corresponds to
the Near East c. 8000 B.C. is characterised byhis importance; on the Standard of Ur, the
settled villages, domesticated plants and aminals,seated, regal figure in the top row is bigger than
and the crafts of pottery and weaving. The highlythis standing before him. Also typical is the
abstracted, stylised animals forms, representativearrangement of figures in the bands. There is little
of the "Animal Style", and patterns decorating thisoverlapping of forms, or any indication of a
Neolithic beaker from Iran are commonly found insetting, resulting in a very two dimensional image.
workds from the ancient Near East. An ibex (wildThis straightforward, regimented presentation of
coat), with enlarged, circular horns and a bodyfigures contrasts markedly with the informal
consisting of two curved triangles, decorates thearrangement of imagery in prehistoric caves.
centre of this vessel. The top band containsPriest Guiding a Sacrificial Bull
skinny, long-necked birds, and, directly below, aAmong the most famous achievements of the
band of elongated dogs encircle the beaker.Mesopotamians are the construction and
The early Neolithic agricultural communitiesdecoration of the Ishtar Gate, originally one of the
gradually evolved into more complex societies,main entryways to the ancient city of Babylon
with systems of government, law, formal religion,(Iraq). Babylon had been the political and cultural
and, perhaps most importantly, the firstcapital of Mesopotamia under Hammurabi, and
appearance of writing, thus marking the end oftowards the end of the seventh century B.C. with
prehistory and the beginning of recorded history.the decline of the Assyrians - probably the most
The political structures alternated betweenpowerful people to dominate Mesopotamia and
conglomerations of independently ruled city-statesthe surrounding regions - The Babylonians
and centralised governments under a single leader.reasserted their power. The best known ruler of
The city-states of the Near East frequentlythis Neo-Babylonian period was Nebuchadnezzar II
fought one another. In addition, the lack of natural(ruled 604-562 B.C.), the famed leader mentioned
barriers made the area particularly vulnerable toin the Old Testament who was responsible for
invasion. This almost constant warfare was abuilding the Tower of Babel and the Hanging
frequent subject of art. A further destabilisingGardens of Babylon, as well as the Ishtar Gate,
factor was the unpredictable climate; floods,now reassembled in Berlin. The Ishtar Gate and
drought, storms, and the like plagued thethe walls lining the Processional Way (the street
inhabitants of this region. This, theyleading from the Gate) were faced with glazed
understandably tended to worry considerablybrick. Sacred animals, also of glazed brick - among
about survival in this world - a world of invasions,them, lions, associated with the Goddess Ishtar,
political instability and natural catastrophes.and dragons, sacred to Marduk, the patron God
From about the fourth millennium B.C. theof Babylon - and these geometric borders
Sumerians inhabited southern Mesopotamia, aornamented both the Gate and Processional Way.
Greek place name meaning "the land between theThe somewhat stylized forms of these animals,
rivers", that is the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers.and their rhythmic arrangement within the
They invented the wheel and a form of writing indecorative borders, recall the Neolithic vase from
which a stylus, usually a length of reed cut at anSusa, with which we began our discussion of the
angle, was used to impress characters on wetart of the ancient Near East.
clay. Cuneiform, meaning "wedge shaped", which