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A rich production followed of objects for daily use, ritual, and luxury living, finely carved in various materials or fashioned of clay. Monumental sculpture was made in stone or bronze, and dramatic friezes were composed of brilliantly glazed bricks. Among the discoveries are tiny, intricately carved cylinder seals and splendid jewelry. Clay balls marked with symbols offer fascinating testimony to the very beginnings of writing; clay tablets from later periods bearing inscriptions in cuneiform record political history, literature, business transactions, and mathematical calculations. A very important group of finds from Susa is made up of objects brought back as booty from conquests in Mesopotamia. These works, many of them the royal monuments of Akkadian and Babylonian monarchs - for instance, the great stele of Naram-Sin - are among the best known of all objects from the ancient Near East.
A sumptuous survey of ancient silver and other precious objects originating in the East from the prestigious al-Sabah Collection, now in paperback Available for the first time in paperback, Arts of the Hellenized East is a visually compelling, informative, beautifully produced guide to one of the world’s most spectacular collections of precious metalwork, part of The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait. Leading expert Martha Carter contextualizes eighty spectacular bowls, drinking vessels, and other luxury items from the Hellenized East dating from the age of Alexander the Great up to the period preceding the advent of Islam. The decorative motifs of these exquisite objects testify both to the astonishing skill of their craftsmen and to the complex interconnected cultural histories of Greece, Iran, and Central Asia. Two illustrated essays supplement the discussion: Prudence O. Harper’s exploration of a group of eighteen magnificent Sasanian and later Central Asian works of art, including some important royal seals; and an essay by Pieter Meyers on the technology of ancient silver production, including a new metallurgical analysis that helps to clarify the objects’ origins.
A fascinating study of Persia’s interactions and exchanges of influence with ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. The founding of the first Persian Empire by the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great in the sixth century BCE established one of the greatest world powers of antiquity. Extending from the borders of Greece to northern India, Persia was seen by the Greeks as a vastly wealthy and powerful rival and often as an existential threat. When the Macedonian king Alexander the Great finally conquered the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BCE, Greek culture spread throughout the Near East, but local dynasties—first the Parthian (247 BCE–224 CE) and then the Sasanian (224–651 CE)—reestablished th...
This magnificent volume explores the epochal transformations and unexpected continuities in the Byzantine Empire from the 7th to the 9th century. At the beginning of the 7th century, the Empire's southern provinces, the vibrant, diverse areas of North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, were at the crossroads of exchanges reaching from Spain to China. These regions experienced historic upheavals when their Christian and Jewish communities encountered the emerging Islamic world, and by the 9th century, an unprecedented cross- fertilization of cultures had taken place. This extraordinary age is brought vividly to life in insightful contributions by leading international scholars, accompanied...
In Civilizations of Ancient Iraq, Benjamin and Karen Foster tell the fascinating story of ancient Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements ten thousand years ago to the Arab conquest in the seventh century. Accessible and concise, this is the most up-to-date and authoritative book on the subject. With illustrations of important works of art and architecture in every chapter, the narrative traces the rise and fall of successive civilizations and peoples in Iraq over the course of millennia--from the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians to the Persians, Seleucids, Parthians, and Sassanians. Ancient Iraq was home to remarkable achievements. One of the birthplaces of civilization, it saw the w...
A “Community of Peoples”: Studies on Society and Politics in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Daniel E. Fleming draws together a diverse community of scholars to honor the career of Daniel E. Fleming as a historian of the Bible and ancient Near East. Together, these scholars participate in a dynamic historical enterprise, each one positioning themself along a Middle Eastern spatial-temporal continuum stretching from the Old Babylonian to the Persian periods. Each contributor attempts to touch a sliver of ancient history, whether a particular person or community, a text or visual image or scribal process. They do so through a diversity of methods and disciplines, which together reflect the possibilities and promises for history writing. The Harvard Semitic Studies series publishes volumes from the Harvard Semitic Museum. Other series offered by Brill that publish volumes from the Museum include Studies in the Archaeology and History of the Levant and Harvard Semitic Monographs, https://semiticmuseum.fas.harvard.edu/publications.
In the great tradition of publications on Chinese art from the Metropolitan Museum, China: Dawn of a Golden Age will become an essential text for years to come. This book is the catalogue for a major exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (October 5, 2004 to January 23, 2005).
Power, Image, and Memory examines how leaders and societies have used works of art commemorating historical events to shape collective memory. Through iconic artworks over centuries and across the globe, it explores the power of art to affirm cultural identities and thereby mold social groups and nations.
Relations between Byzantium and its neighbours are the focus of this volume. The papers address questions of cultural exchange, with special attention to art historical relations as shown by technical, iconographic and diplomatic exchanges. While addressed to specialists, both their approach and the language make these papers accessible to students at all levels.