1

Chapter 2

Mesopotamia and Persia

2

The Ancient Near East

3

Goals

• Understand the cultural changes in the Neolithic Revolution as

they relate to the art and architecture.

• Understand the concept of civilization and the importance

of Sumer in the ancient Near East.

• Examine the artistic materials, techniques, subject matter,

styles and conventions developed in the ancient Near East.

4

The Cradle of Civilization• Mesopotamia, the core of the region often called the Fertile

Crescent and the presumed locale of the biblical Garden of

Eden (Gen. 2:10–15), was where humans first learned how

to use the wheel and plow and how to control floods and

construct irrigation canals. In the fourth millennium bce, the

inhabitants of ancient Sumer, the first great Mesopotamian

civilization, also established the earliest complex urban

societies, called city-states , and invented writing. They

may also have been the first culture to use pictures to

tell coherent stories, far surpassing Stone Age artists’

tentative efforts at pictorial narration.

• The so-called Standard of Ur Fig. 2-1), from the Sumerian city

that was home to the biblical Abraham, is one of the earliest

extant works incorporating all of the pictorial conventions that

would dominate ancient narrative art for more than 2,000 years.

• Sumerian 35000 – 2332 • World’s first city states founded and writing

invented • Construction of oldest temples on ziggurats • Artists present

narratives in register format

• Akkadian 2332 – 2150 • First Mesopotamian rulers to call themselves kings •

Earliest preserved hollow-cast bronze statuary

• Neo-Sumerian and Babylonian 2150 – 1600 • Largest extant ziggurat erected

at Ur • Gudea rebuilds temples and commissions portraits • Hammurabi sets up

a stele recording his laws

• Hittite and Assyrian 1600 – 612 • Hittites sack Babylon and fortify their capital

at Hattusa • Assyrians rule a vast empire from citadels guarded by lamassu •

Extensive relief cycles celebrate Assyrian military campaigns

• Neo-Babylonian and Achaeminid 612 – 559 • Nebuchadnezzar II rebuilds

Babylon, which boasts two of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world • Persians

build an immense palace complex at Persepolis

• Greco-Roman and Sasanian 330 BCE – 636 CE • After conquest by

Alexander the Great, Mesopotamia and Persia are absorbed into the Greco-

Roman world • New Persian Empire challenges Rome from Ctesiphon

5

6

The Neolithic Revolution• When humans first gave up the dangerous and

uncertain life of the hunter and gatherer for the

more predictable and stable life of the farmer and

herder, the change in human society was so

significant that historians justly have dubbed it the

Neolithic Revolution (see Chapter 1). This

fundamental change in the nature of daily life first

occurred in Mesopotamia—a Greek word that

means “the land between the [Tigris and Euphrates]

rivers.”

• Mesopotamia is the region that gave birth to three

of the world’s great modern faiths—Judaism,

Christianity, and Islam—and consequently has long

been of interest to historians.

Sumer• The Sumerians were the people who in the fourth millennium bce

transformed the vast and previously sparsely inhabited valley between the

Tigris and Euphrates into the Fertile Crescent of the ancient world.

• Ancient Sumer, which roughly corresponds to southern Iraq today, was

not a unified nation, however. Rather, it comprised a dozen or so

independent city-states under the protection of different Mesopotamian

deities (see “The Gods and Goddesses of Mesopotamia,”).

• The city-state was one of the great Sumerian inventions.

• Another was writing. The oldest written documents known are Sumerian

records of administrative acts and commercial transactions.

• The Sumerians also produced great literature. Their most famous work,

known from fragmentary cuneiform texts, is the late-third-millennium

Epic of Gilgamesh, which antedates the Greek poet Homer’s Iliad and

Odyssey by some 1,500 years. It recounts the heroic story of Gilgamesh,

legendary king of Uruk and slayer of the monster Huwawa.

7

White Temple, Uruk

• The layout of Sumerian cities reflected the central role of the gods

in daily life.

• The outstanding preserved example of early Sumerian temple

architecture is the 5,000-year-old White Temple (Fig. 2-2) at Uruk,

a city that in the late fourth millennium bce had a population of

about 40,000.

• As in other Sumerian temples, the corners of the White Temple

are oriented to the cardinal points of the compass. The building,

probably dedicated to Anu, the sky god, is of modest proportions

(61 by 16 feet). By design, it did not accommodate large throngs of

worshipers but only a select few, the priests and perhaps the

leading community members.

• The Sumerians referred to their temples as “waiting rooms,” a

reflection of their belief the deity would descend from the heavens

to appear before the priests in the cella. Whether the Uruk temple

had a roof, and if it did, what kind, are uncertain.8

Figure 2-3 Reconstruction drawing of the White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000 BCE.

9

Figure 2-2 White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000 BCE.

10

The Gods and Goddesses of Mesopotamia

• The Sumerians and their successors in Mesopotamia

worshiped numerous deities, mostly nature gods.

Listed here are the Mesopotamian gods and

goddesses discussed in this chapter.

• Anu. The chief deity of the Sumerians. Anu was the

god of the sky and of the city of Uruk. One of the

earliest Sumerian temples (Figs. 2-2 and 2-3) may

have been dedicated to his worship.

• Enlil. Anu’s son. Enlil was the lord of the winds

and the earth. He eventually replaced his father as

king of the gods.

11

• Inanna. The Sumerian goddess of love and war, later known

as Ishtar. Inanna was the most important female deity in all

periods of Mesopotamian history. As early as the fourth

millennium bce, the Sumerians constructed a sanctuary to

Inanna at Uruk. Amid the ruins, excavators uncovered

statues and reliefs (Figs. 2-4 and 2-5) connected with her

worship.

• Nanna. The moon god, also known as Sin. Nanna was the

chief deity of Ur, where the Sumerians erected his most

important shrine.

• Utu. The sun god, later known as Shamash. Utu was

especially revered at Sippar. On a Babylonian stele (Fig. 2-18)

of ca. 1780 bce, King Hammurabi presents his laws to

Shamash, whom the sculptor depicted as a bearded god

wearing a horned headdress. Flames radiate from the sun

god’s shoulders.

12

• Marduk, Nabu, and Adad. Marduk was the chief god of the

Babylonians. His son Nabu was the god of writing and

wisdom. Adad was the Babylonian god of storms. Marduk

and Nabu’s dragon and Adad’s sacred bull adorn the sixth-

century bce Ishtar Gate (Fig. 2-24) at Babylon.

• Ningirsu. The local god of Lagash and Girsu. Ningirsu helped

Eannatum, one of the early rulers of Lagash, defeat an

enemy army. The Stele of the Vultures (Fig. 2-7) of ca. 2600–

2500 bce records Ningirsu’s role in the victory. Gudea (Figs.

2-16 and 2-17), one of Eannatum’s Neo-Sumerian

successors, built a great temple around 2100 bce in honor of

Ningirsu after the god instructed him to do so in a dream.

• Ashur. The local deity of Assur, the city that took his name.

Ashur became the king of the Assyrian gods. He sometimes

is identified with Enlil.

13

14

Figure 2-4 Female head

(Inanna?), from Uruk (modern

Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000 BCE.

Marble, 8” high. Iraq Museum,

Baghdad.

15

Figure 2-5 Presentation of offerings to Inanna

(Warka Vase), from Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq,

ca. 3200–3000 BCE. Alabaster, 3’ 1/4” high. Iraq

Museum, Baghdad.

16

Mesopotamian Religion, Mythology, Gods and Goddesses

• Eshnunna Statuettes: Sumerian

• All of the statuettes represent mortals, rather than

deities, with their hands folded in front of their

chests in a gesture of prayer, usually holding the

small beakers the Sumerians used for libations

(ritual pouring of liquid) in honor of the gods.

• The oversized eyes probably symbolize the

perpetual wakefulness of these substitute worshipers

offering prayers to the deity. The beakers the figures

hold were used to pour libations for the gods.

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Figure 2-6 Statuettes of two worshipers, from the

Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar),

Iraq, ca. 2700 BCE. Gypsum inlaid with shell and

black limestone, male figure 2’ 6” high. Iraq

Museum, Baghdad.

2-6A Seated statuette of Urnanshe, from the Temple of Ishtar at Mari (modern Tell Hariri), Syria, ca. 2600–2500 BCE. Gypsum

inlaid with shell and lapis lazuli, 10 1/4” high. National Museum of Damascus, Damascus.

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19

Figure 2-7 Battle scenes, fragment of the victory stele of Eannatum (Stele of the Vultures), from

Girsu (modern Telloh), Iraq, ca. 2600–2500 BCE. Limestone, fragment 2’ 6” high, full stele 5’ 11”high. Louvre, Paris.

Cuneiform inscriptions on this stele describe Eannatum’s victory over the city of Umma

with the aid of the god Ningirsu. This fragment shows Eannatum, at gigantic size, leading

his troops into battle.

Standard of Ur, ca. 2600–2400 bce.• This wooden box inlaid with lapis lazuli, shell, and red

limestone has broad rectangular faces and narrow trapezoidal

ends. It is of uncertain function. The excavator, Leonard

Woolley, thought the object was originally mounted on a

pole, and he considered it a kind of military standard—hence

its nickname.

• Using a mosaic-like technique, this Sumerian artist depicted a

battlefield victory in three registers. The narrative reads from

bottom to top, and the size of the figures varies with their

importance in society.

• Art historians usually refer to the two long sides of the box

as the “war side” and “peace side,” which celebrate the two

principal roles of a Sumerian ruler, but the two sides may

represent the first and second parts of a single narrative.

• The artist divided each side into three horizontal bands. The

narrative reads from left to right and bottom to top.20

21

Figure 2-8 War side of the Standard of Ur, from Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600 BCE.

Wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, 8” x 1’ 7”. British Museum, London.

22

Figure 2-1 Peace side of the Standard of Ur, from Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600

BCE. Wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, 8” x 1’ 7”. British Museum, London.

23

2.2 Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian, and Hittite Cultures

• In 2332 bce, the loosely linked group of cities known as Sumer

came under the domination of a great ruler, Sargon of Akkad (r.

2332–2279 bce).

• The Akkadians were Semitic in origin—that is, they were a

Mesopotamian people who spoke a language related to Hebrew

and Arabic.

• Akkadian Portraiture: A magnificent copper head Fig. 2-12) found

at Nineveh that portrays an Akkadian king embodies this new

concept of absolute monarchy. The head is all that survives of a

statue knocked over in antiquity

• But the damage to the portrait was not the result solely of the

statue’s toppling. There are also signs of deliberate mutilation. To

make a political statement, the attackers gouged out the eyes (once

inlaid with precious or semiprecious stones), broke off the lower

part of the beard, and slashed the ears of the royal portrait. Later

parallels for this kind of political vandalism abound, for

example—in the same region—the destruction of images of

Saddam Hussein after the Iraqi ruler’s downfall in 2003.

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Figure 2-12 Head of an Akkadian ruler,

from Nineveh (modern Kuyunjik), Iraq, ca.

2250–2200 BCE. Copper, 1’ 2 3/8” high.

Iraq Museum, Baghdad.

The sculptor of this

oldest known life-size

hollow-cast head

captured the

distinctive features of

the ruler while also

displaying a keen

sense of abstract

pattern.

Figure 2-11 Banquet scene, cylinder seal (left) and its modern impression (right), from the tomb of Pu-abi (tomb 800),

Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600 BCE. Lapis lazuli, 2” high. British Museum, London.

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26

Ancient Near Eastern Politics and Art• Naram-Sin Stele

• The godlike sovereignty the kings of Akkad claimed is also

evident in the victory stele Fig. 2-13) Naram-Sin set up at

Sippar. The stele commemorates the Akkadian ruler’s defeat

of the Lullubi, a people of the Iranian mountains to the east.

• It carries two inscriptions, one in honor of Naram-Sin and

one naming the Elamite king who captured Sippar in 1157

bce and took the stele as booty back to Susa in southwestern

Iran (Map 2-1), the stele’s findspot.

• The sculptor depicted Naram-Sin leading his army up the slopes of

a wooded mountain. His routed enemies fall, flee, die, or beg for

mercy. The king stands alone, far taller than his men, treading on

the bodies of two of the fallen Lullubi. He wears the horned

helmet signifying divinity—the first time a king appears as a god in

Mesopotamian art. At least three favorable stars (the stele is

damaged at the top) shine on his triumph.

27

Figure 2-13 Victory stele of Naram-Sin,

from Susa, Iran, 2254–2218 BCE. Pink

sandstone, 6’ 7” high. Louvre, Paris.

To commemorate his

conquest of the Lullubi,

Naram-Sin set up this stele

showing him leading his

army up a mountain. The

sculptor staggered the

figures, abandoning the

traditional register format.

Important First in the Ancient Near East• In the man’s world of ancient Akkad, one woman stands out

prominently—Enheduanna, daughter of King Sargon and

priestess of the moon god Nanna at Ur.

• Her name appears in several inscriptions, and she was the

author of a series of hymns in honor of the goddess Inanna.

Enheduanna’s is the oldest recorded name of a poet,

male or female—indeed, the earliest known name of the

author of any literary work in world history.

• The most important surviving object associated with

Enheduanna is the alabaster disk Fig. 2-14) found in several

fragments in the residence of the priestess of Nanna at Ur.

• It also credits Enheduanna with erecting an altar to Nanna in

his temple. The dedication of the relief to the moon god

explains its unusual round format, which corresponds to the

shape of the full moon.

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Figure 2-14 Votive disk of Enheduanna, from Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2300 – 2275 BCE. Alabaster, diameter

10”. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia

Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon of Akkad and priestess of Nanna at

Ur, is the first author whose name is known. She is the tallest figure on

this votive disk, which she dedicated to the moon god. 29

Third Dynasty of Ur

• Around 2150 bce, a mountain people, the Gutians,

brought an end to Akkadian power. The cities of

Sumer soon united in response to the alien presence

and established a Neo-Sumerian state ruled by the

kings of Ur.

• Historians call this period the Neo-Sumerian age or

the Third Dynasty of Ur.

• The most imposing extant Neo-Sumerian

monument is the ziggurat Fig. 2-15) at Ur. One of

the largest ever erected, with a massive mud-brick

base 50 feet high, it is about a millennium later than

Uruk’s more modest White Temple (Figs. 2-2 and 2-

3).

30

31

Figure 2-15 Ziggurat (looking southwest), Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2100 BCE.

The Ur ziggurat is one of the largest in Mesopotamia. It has

three (restored) ramplike stairways of a hundred steps each that

originally ended at a gateway to a brick temple, which does not

survive.

32

Babylon & The Code of Hammurabi

• Hammurabi

• Babylon was a city-state until its most powerful king,

Hammurabi (r. 1792–1750 bce), reestablished a

centralized government in southern Mesopotamia in the

area known as Babylonia, after its chief city. Perhaps the

most renowned king in Mesopotamian history,

Hammurabi was famous for his conquests. But he is

best known today for his laws Fig. 2-18), which

prescribed penalties for everything from adultery and

murder to the cutting down of a neighbor’s trees (see

“Hammurabi’s Laws,”).

• In the early 18th century bce, the Babylonian king

Hammurabi formulated a set of nearly 300 laws for his

people.

33

Figure 2-18 Stele with law code of

Hammurabi, from Susa, Iran, ca. 1780 BCE.

Basalt, 7’ 4” high. Louvre, Paris.

The collection of

Hammurabi’s judicial

pronouncements is

inscribed on the Susa

stele in Akkadian in 3,500

lines of cuneiform

characters. Hammurabi’s

laws governed all aspects

of Babylonian life, from

commerce and property

to murder and theft to

marital infidelity,

inheritances, and the

treatment of slaves.

34

Hammurabi and Shamash, detail of the stele of Hammaurabi, (fig. 2-17), from Susa, Iran, ca. 1780 BCE.

Example of Laws• Here is a small sample of the infractions described and the

penalties imposed, which vary with the person’s standing in

society and notably deal with the rights and crimes of women as

well as men:

• If a man puts out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put

out.

• If he kills a man’s slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina.

• If someone steals property from a temple, he will be put to

death, as will the person who receives the stolen goods.

• If a married woman dies before bearing any sons, her dowry

shall be repaid to her father, but if she gave birth to sons, the

dowry shall belong to them.

• If a man strikes a freeborn woman so that she loses her unborn

child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss. If the woman dies, his

daughter shall be put to death.

• If a man is guilty of incest with his daughter, he shall be exiled.35

36

Power and the Assyrians

• The Assyrians took their name from

Assur, the city on the Tigris River in

northern Iraq dedicated to the god

Ashur. At the height of their power,

the Assyrians ruled an empire that

extended from the Tigris River to

the Nile and from the Persian Gulf

to Asia Minor.

37

Figure 2-20A Reconstruction drawing of the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad), Iraq, ca. 720–705 BCE

(after Charles Altman).

38

Figure 2-20 Lamassu (winged, human-headed

bull), from the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin

(modern Khorsabad), Iraq, ca. 720–705 BCE.

Limestone, 13’ 10” high. Louvre, Paris.

Ancient sculptors insisted

on complete views of

animals. This four-legged

composite monster that

guarded an Assyrian

palace has five legs—two

when seen from the front

and four in profile view.

2-21 Ashurnasirpal II with attendants and soldier, from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Kalhu (modern Nimrud), Iraq,

ca. 875–860 BCE. Glazed brick, 11 3/4” high. British Museum, London.

Paintings on glazed bricks adorned the walls of Assyrian palaces.

This rare example shows Ashurnasirpal II paying homage to the

gods. The artist represented the king as taller than his attendants.39

40

Figure 2-22 Assyrian archers pursuing enemies, relief from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Kalhu (modern Nimrud),

Iraq, ca. 875–860 BCE. Gypsum, 2’ 10 5/8” high. British Museum, London.

Extensive reliefs exalting the king and recounting his great deeds have been

found in several Assyrian palaces. This one depicts Ashurnasirpal II’s

archers driving the enemy into the Euphrates River.

41

Figure 2-23 Ashurbanipal hunting lions, relief from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh (modern Kuyunjik), Iraq, ca.

645–640 BCE. Gypsum, 5’ 4” high. British Museum, London.

In addition to ceremonial and battle scenes, the hunt was a

common subject of Assyrian palace reliefs. The Assyrians viewed

hunting and killing lions as manly royal virtues on a par with

victory in warfare.

42

Mesopotamian Architecture• The most renowned of the Neo-Babylonian kings was

Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605–562 bce), whose exploits the

biblical book of Daniel recounts. Nebuchadnezzar restored

Babylon to its rank as one of the great cities of antiquity.

• The city’s famous hanging gardens were counted among the

Seven Wonders of the ancient world.

• Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon was a mud-brick city, but

dazzling blue-glazed bricks faced the most important

monuments, such as the Ishtar Gate Fig. 2-24), really a pair

of gates, one of which has been restored and installed in a

German museum.

• The Ishtar Gate consists of a large arcuated (arch-shaped)

opening flanked by towers, and features glazed bricks

with reliefs of animals, real and imaginary. The

Babylonian builders molded and glazed each brick

separately, then set them in proper sequence on the

wall.

43

Figure 2-24 Ishtar

Gate (restored),

Babylon, Iraq, ca. 575

BCE. Staatliche

Museen, Berlin.

Nebuchadnezzr

II’s Babylon was

one of the

ancient world’s

greatest cities

and boasted two

of the Seven

Wonders. Its

Ishtar Gate

featured glazed-

brick reliefs of

Marduk and

Nabu’s dragon

and Adad’s bull.

44

2.4 Persian Power and Opulence

• Although Nebuchadnezzar—the “king

of kings” in the book of Daniel (2:37)—

had boasted in an inscription that he

“caused a mighty wall to circumscribe

Babylon … so that the enemy who

would do evil would not threaten,”

Cyrus of Persia (r. 559–529 bce)

captured the city in the sixth century.

45

Persian and Sassanian Splendor

• The most important source of knowledge about

Persian art and architecture is the ceremonial and

administrative complex on the citadel at Persepolis Fig. 2-25), which the successors of Cyrus, Darius I (r. 522–

486 bce) and Xerxes (r. 486–465 bce), built between 521 and

465 bce. Situated on a high plateau, the heavily fortified

complex of royal buildings stood on a wide platform

overlooking the plain.

• Alexander the Great razed the site in a gesture symbolizing

the destruction of Persian imperial power. Some said it was

an act of revenge for the Persian sack of the Athenian

Acropolis in 480 bce (see Chapter 5). Nevertheless, even in

ruins, the Persepolis citadel is impressive.

46

Figure 2-25 Persepolis (apadana in the background), Iran, ca. 521–465 BCE.

The heavily fortified complex of Persian royal buildings on a high plateau

at Persepolis included a royal audience hall, or apadana, with 36 colossa

columns topped by animal protomes (Fig. 2-26)

2-26 Columns with animal protomes, from the apadana of the palace, Persepolis, Iran, ca. 521–465 BCE.

The 64-foot columns of the Persepolis apadana drew on Greek, Egyptian,

and Mesopotamian models but are unique in form. The back-to-back

protomes of the capitals supported gigantic wood beams. 47

48

Figure 2-27 Processional frieze (detail) on the terrace of the apadana, Persepolis, Iran, ca. 521–465 BCE. Limestone, 8’ 4” high.

The reliefs decorating the walls of the terrace and staircases leading up to the Persepolis

apadana Fig. 12-25) included depictions of representatives of 23 nations bringing tribute

to the Persian king.

2-26A Rhyton in the form of a winged lion, from Hamadan, fifth to third century BCE. Gold, 8 3/8” high. Archaeological

Museum of Iran, Tehran.

49

50

Figure 2-28 Palace of Shapur I, Ctesiphon, Iraq, ca. 250 CE. The last great pre-Islamic civilization of

Mesopotamia was that of the Sasanians. Their palace at Ctesiphon, near Baghdad,

features a brick audience hall (iwan) covered by an enormous pointed vault.

51

Figure 2-28A Triumph of Shapur I over Valerian, rock-cut relief, Bishapur, Iran, ca. 260 CE.

• Sumerian Art ca. 3500–2332 bce

• The Sumerians founded the world’s first city-states in the valley between

the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and invented writing in the fourth

millennium bce.

• They were also the first to build towering temple platforms, called

ziggurats, and to place figures in registers to tell coherent stories.

• Akkadian Art ca. 2332–2150 bce

• The Akkadians were the first Mesopotamian rulers to call themselves

kings of the world and to assume divine attributes. The earliest recorded

name of an author is the Akkadian priestess Enheduanna.

• Akkadian artists may have been the first to cast hollow life-size bronze

sculptures and to place figures at different levels in a landscape setting.

• Neo-Sumerian and Babylonian Art ca. 2150–1600 bce

• During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerians rose again to power and

constructed one of the largest ziggurats in Mesopotamia at Ur.

• Gudea of Lagash (r. ca. 2100 bce) built numerous temples and placed

diorite portraits of himself in all of them as votive offerings to the gods.

• Babylon’s greatest king, Hammurabi (r. 1792–1750 bce), formulated

wide-ranging laws for the empire he ruled. Babylonian artists were among

the first to experiment with foreshortening.52

• Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Art ca. 900–539 bce

• At the height of their power, the Assyrians ruled an empire that extended

from the Persian Gulf to the Nile and Asia Minor.

• Assyrian palaces were fortified citadels with gates guarded by monstrous

lamassu sculptures. Paintings and reliefs depicting official ceremonies and

the king in battle and hunting lions decorated the walls of the ceremonial

halls.

• In the sixth century bce, the Babylonians constructed two of the Seven

Wonders of the ancient world. The Ishtar Gate, with its colorful glazed

brick reliefs, gives an idea of Babylon’s magnificence under

Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605–562 bce).

• Achaemenid and Sasanian Art ca. 559–330 bce and 224–636 ce

• The capital of the Achaemenid Persians was at Persepolis, where Darius I

(r. 522–486 bce) and Xerxes (r. 486–465 bce) built a huge palace complex

with an audience hall that could accommodate 10,000 guests. Painted

reliefs of subject nations bringing tribute adorned the terraces.

• The Sasanians, enemies of Rome, ruled the New Persian Empire from

their palace at Ctesiphon until the Arabs defeated them four years after

the death of Muhammad.

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54

Discussion Questions

Discuss how many artworks are intended to celebrate a

ruler’s accomplishments—even if they did not occur? Give

specific examples of ancient Near Eastern art and

architecture that do this.

Identify evidence of the Sumerian culture’s lasting

influence today.

Identify evidence of the Persian Empire’s lasting influence

today.