The Ancient Art of Mesopotamia

Monument of King Naramsin c.2270BC

This week I am continuing my posts about art history. It’s been a revelation to me to see just how complex early art history is. 

What a lot of people probably don’t realize is that the Egyptians were around for thousands of years. It starts with the Predynastic Period around 4300-3000 B.C.E. Ancient Egypt emerged after 3100 B.C.E. in the region along the lower region of the Nile River in Northeast Africa.  While they were known for their innovations in science and architecture, other than a slight adjustment in style during the time of Tutankhamen, there was little change in the art produced at that time. There were strict rules about how art was to be stylized. 

Egypt was only one of the great and powerful empires which existed in the Near East for several thousand years. Little Palestine was located between the Egyptian kingdom of the Nile and the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, which had formed in the valley of the two rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Less is known about the art of Mesopotamia, as the valley of the two rivers was called in Greek, than Egyptian art. This is largely due to the fact that there were no stone quarries in these valleys. Most of the buildings and sculptures were made from baked brick. This material, of course, didn’t withstand the test of time.

This is probably not the only reason there aren’t many artifacts. The Mesopotamian didn’t hold the same religious beliefs as the Egyptians that the human body and its likeness must be preserved if the soul is to continue on into the afterlife. Though the Mesopotamian artists weren’t tasked with decorating the walls of the tombs, they, too, had to ensure that the image helped to keep the powerful alive. 

It was the custom of Mesopotamian kings to commission monuments to their victories in war. These artworks would tell of the tribes that had been defeated, and the booty that had been taken. It has been speculated that the idea behind these monuments wasn’t just to keep the memory of these victories alive. In early times, the ancient beliefs in the power of the image may have still influenced the commissions. Perhaps the thought was that as long as the image remained of the king with his foot on the neck of his enemies, that the defeated tribe would not be able to rise up again.