Download Harper-Introduction-Met Mus Art Bulletin v41

Introduction
Author(s): Prudence O. Harper
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 41, No. 4, Ancient near
Eastern Art (Spring, 1984), pp. 2-5
Published by: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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This Bulletincelebratesthe new installationof
the Metropolitan's
collectionof ancientNear
Easternart.Itis dedicatedto the memoryof
CuratorinCharge
VaughnE.Crawford,
formerly
of thatdepartment,underwhose leadership
the plansforthe new gallerieswere initiated.
Hiseffortsand those of his colleagues now
culminatein a significantachievementinthe
historyof the Museum:oursubstantialholdings of ancientNearEasternartwillbe once
againfullydisplayed.
Formanyreaders,"ancientNearEastern
art"bringsto mindthe monumentalreliefs
fromthe Assyrianpalace of AssurnasirpalII,
whichcommandthe firstgalleryof the new
otherswillthinkof the strong,
installation;
compactsculptureof Gudea,governorof
Lagash,the stridinglionsfromBabylon,orthe
imposingsilverhead of a Sasanian king,all
highlightsof previousinstallations.NowMuseum visitorswillhavethe chance to become
acquaintedwiththe fullrangeof ancientNear
Easternart,producedovera span of more
thansix thousandyears and across a vast
regionthatincludesancientMesopotamia,
Iran,Syria,Anatolia,and otherlands.The
visitor'stourof the chronologicallyarranged
installationconcludeswiththe splendidcourtly
artof the Achaemenidand Sasanian dynasties of Iran,housed ingalleriesleadinglogicallyto the Islamicdepartment,whose holdings
date fromthe seventh centuryA.D.to the modern era.
Althoughthe Departmentof AncientNear
EasternArtwas notofficiallyestablisheduntil
1956, the historyof the collectionbegan much
earlierwithsubstantialgiftsfromJ. Pierpont
MorganandJohn D. Rockefeller,Jr. Charles
K.Wilkinson,a specialistinthe fieldaffiliated
withthe Museumsince 1920, administeredthe
departmentfrom1956 untilhis retirementin
1963, when VaughnCrawford,a prominent
Sumerologist,tookcharge.Bothmen were
seasoned archaeologistsand each furthered
the Museumexpeditionsindispensableto a
deeper understandingof this art.AlthoughDr.
Crawforddied in 1981, he livedlongenough to
see the completionof the Raymondand BeverlySacklerGalleryforAssyrianArt,which
opened in the springof thatyear.He was
succeeded by PrudenceO. Harper,who has
of the
supervisedthe rest of the reinstallation
collection.
The new galleriesare a tributealso to those
collectorswhose giftsand supporthaveenrichedand strengthenedthe collection.We
thankthe RightReverendPaulMoore,Jr.,
Bishopof the EpiscopalDiocese of New York,
forthe long-termloanof the Mrs.WilliamH.
Moorecollectionof seals. Weare most gratefulforthe recentgiftsof glypticartfromDr.and
Mrs.MartinCherkaskyand the two largegifts
of seals, tools, weapons, and vessels of westernCentralAsiafromJudge Steven D. Robinson and SheldonLewisBreitbart.Special
thanksgo to NorbertSchimmel,forhis great
generosityto the departmentovera long periodof time-reflected inthe numerousgifts
and loans highlighting
the galleries-and his
importantroleinthe developmentof the
collection.
Forthe installationitselfwe are deeply
indebtedto The HagopKevorkian
Fund;James
N.Spear;The DillonFund;the NationalEndowmentforthe Humanities;and Raymondand
BeverlySackler,whofundedthe expansionof
the gallerythatbears theirnames. Onlya few
of the manydonorsand supporterswho have
aidedthe growthof the departmentcan be
acknowledgedinthisbriefspace, butallshould
take prideinthe new installationand the role
they playedin itsformation.
Philippede Montebello
Director
INTRODUCTION
Mesopotamia, the heart of the Near East
and the land that has produced the first
traces of civilization,lies between two great
rivers,the Tigris and the Euphrates. These
riverswere majorroutes of communication,
opening the way to distant regions and
encouraging contacts between the settle-
ments thatsprang up as earlyas the
seventh millenniumB.C.Intime, irrigation
canals were constructedto divertthe
watersand bringfertilityto landswhere
rainfallalone was notadequateto support
agriculture.
Twoimportantdevelopmentsare often
associated withthe beginningof civilization:the establishmentof largepopulation
centers withincities, and the introduction
of a system of writing.Archaeological
excavationshave revealedthatthis stage
inthe historyof mankindwas reached
shortlybefore3000 B.C.in southern
Mesopotamia.Urbancenters replacedthe
pastoralvillagecultures,and specialized
societies withpriests,scribes, craftsmen,
and farmerscame intoexistence. The
people responsibleforthis urbanrevolution,as it has been called, were the
Sumerians.They enteredMesopotamia
sometimeduringthe fifthmillenniumand
developedthe firstknownscript,a system
of pictographsthatlaterevolved into
wedge-shapedcuneiformsigns.
Throughthe millennia,southernMesopotamiaremainedan importantcenter,
strategicallylocatedon landand water
routesto Egyptand the Mediterranean
worldinthe west, and to the IndusValley
and CentralAsia inthe east. The capital
cities of the Sumerians, Akkadians,
Babylonians,Kassites, Seleucids, Parthians, and Sasanians all lay in this fertile
agricultural
region.Because southern
Mesopotamiais poorin naturalresources
-primarily metal,stone, and wood-the
inhabitantsof Sumerestablishedcontacts at an earlyperiodwithneighboring
countriesrichin rawmaterials.Excavationsof Urukperiod(ca. 3500-3100
B.C.) settlementshave revealedthatthe
Sumerianstradedwithpeoples livingin
Anatolia,Syria,and Iran,and maintained
outposts inthese lands. By the mid-third
millenniumB.C.gold, silver,tin,copper,
and semipreciousstones (carnelianand
lapislazuli)were importedfromthe regions east and west of Mesopotamia.
This livelytradeis documentedinthe
cuneiformtexts and in the richand exotic
burialsin the RoyalCemetaryat Ur(see
fig. 66). A thrivingtextileindustrydeveloped in Sumer,and the woven goods
manufacturedinthe south formedan
importantpartof its foreigntrade.
The Sumerianlanguagedoes not belongto a recognizedlinguisticgroup,
and consequentlythe ethnicoriginof
the Sumeriansis not yet known.They
were succeeded, however,by a Semitic
people, the Akkadians,who had entered
The MetropolitanMuseumof ArtBulletin
Spring1984
VolumeXLI,Number4 (ISSN0026-1521)
Museumof Art,FifthAvenueand 82nd Street,New York,N.Y10028. Second-class postage paid at
Publishedquarterly? 1984 by The Metropolitan
New York,N.Yand AdditionalMailingOffices. Subscriptions$18.00 a year.Single copies $4.75. Sent free to Museummembers. Fourweeks' notice
requiredfor change of address. Back issues availableon microfilm,fromUniversityMicrofilms,313 N. FirstStreet,Ann Arbor,Michigan.Volumes
I-XXVIII
(1905-1942) availableas a clothboundreprintset or as individualyearlyvolumes fromThe AyerCompany,Publishers,Inc.,99 MainStreet,
Salem, N.H.03079, or fromthe Museum,Box 700, MiddleVillage,N.Y11379. GeneralManagerof Publications:John P O'Neill,Editorin Chiefof the
Bulletin:Joan Holt.Associate Editor:Joanna Ekman.Photography:LyntonGardiner,The MetropolitanMusuemof ArtPhotographStudio. Design:
AlvinGrossman.
2
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southernMesopotamia,probablyfrom
the west, duringthe centuriesof Sumerian
domination.This new dynasty(23342154 B.C.) expanded its controlwithin
Mesopotamiaand made its presence felt,
throughtradeand militaryinvasion,as far
as the "cedarforests"of Lebanon,the
Taurusmountains,and
"silver-bearing"
the highlandsof Iran.The artsflourished
duringthe Akkadianera. Seal stones are
finelycarvedwithelaboratemythological
scenes (see fig. 30); stone and metal
sculpturesare of highartisticandtechnical
quality.
This periodof brillianceended with
invasionsof Guti,tribesmenfromthe
Zagrosmountains,who disruptedthe
course of lifeinsouthernMesopotamia.
Duringthe followingdecades a few
Sumeriancity-statesgraduallyreestablishedtheirauthorityover a limitedarea.
One of these states, Lagash,was ruled
by Gudea (fig.2), who is prominentin the
historyof ancientNear Easternartbecause of the largenumberof massive
dioritesculpturesthathave survivedfrom
the periodof his rule(2144-2124 B.C.).
By the end of the thirdmillenniumB.C.
a new wave of Semiticpeoples, Amorites
fromthe ArabianDesert, had spread into
Mesopotamia and Syria. A common
writtenlanguage,the OldBabyloniandialect of Akkadian,came intouse over a
widearea and opened the wayto increasinglyefficientcommunications.The most
famousof the Amoriterulersis Hammurabi
of Babylon(1792-1750 B.C.),whose code
of laws, based on earlierSumerianmodels, is a comprehensiverecordof legal
practicesand an importantdocumentfor
the historyof Mesopotamiancivilization.
Interconnectionsin the Near East, both
peacefuland warlike,increasedduring
the second millennium.Assyrianmerchants fromthe northof Mesopotamia
establishedtradingcolonies inAnatolia
(see fig. 73); Hittitekingsrulingin central
AnatoliamarriedBabylonian,Hurrian,
and Egyptianprincesses; Elamitearmies
fromsouthernIraninvadedMesopotamiaand carriedoffstatues of the kings
and gods to the capitalat Susa.
The firstmillenniumwas a periodof
greatempiresinAssyria,Babylonia,and
AchaemenidIran.Assyria-or northern
Mesopotamia-differsgeographically
fromits southernneighbor,Babylonia.
Cropsgrownon the fertilenorthernplains
producedsufficientfood forAssyriaand
sustained her armiesand herempirein
times of expansion.Stone and timber,
whichthe south lacked,were also available inthe moretemperatemountain
countryof the north.WhileBabylonia
was to some extentborderedand enclosed by the Tigrisand Euphratesrivers,
Assyriawas notclearlydefinedby natural
features,and so its boundariesexpandedor contracteddependingon the
balanceof powerwithinthe region.Inthe
firstmillenniumB.C.-fromthe ninthto
the seventh century-Assyria achieved
supremepowerinthe NearEast.Assyrian
rulerscontrolledthe majortraderoutes
and dominatedthe surroundingstates in
Babylonia,Anatolia,and the Levant.Lavishlydecoratedpalaces were constructed
inthe capitalcities of Nimrud,Nineveh,
Khorsabad,and Assur.The downfallof
this mightykingdomwas finallyachieved,
at the end of the seventh century,by
Babylonia,a long-standingrival,and by
Medianand Scythianforces.
Fora briefperiodBabyloniareplaced
Assyriaas a majorpower.Inthe seventh
and sixthcenturiesB.C. Chaldeankings
fromthe southernmostregionof Mesopotamiaunifieda diversesociety and fended
offattacksof westernSemites-Aramaean
tribesmen.Butrebellionswithinthe kingdom weakenedthe powerof Nebuchadnezzar'sdynasty(625-539 B.C.)and left
Babyloniaand all Mesopotamiaopen to
attackand conquest by Iran.
SouthwesternIranwas Mesopotamia's
closest neighbor,bothgeographicallyand
The modern-dayprovinceof
politically.
Khuzistan-ancient Elam-in southwestern Iranis an extensionof the southern
Mesopotamianplain,and throughouthistorythe developmentof civilizationinthis
importantculturaland politicalcenterwas
affectedby events thatoccurredinthe
landbetweenthe Tigrisand Euphrates
rivers.Inmoredistantareas, on the
centralplateau,the eastern desert, and
the northernhighlandsof Iran,Mesopotamianinfluencewas alwaysweaker.Duringthe fifthand fourthmillenniaB.C.both
Khuzistanand the centralplateauwere
sources of particularly
strikingpottery
thatwas decoratedwithelaborategeometric,plant,and animaldesigns (see fig.
58). Since writtenrecordsare lackingfrom
before3000 B.C., it is impossibleto give a
name or an ethnicidentification
to the
peoples who producedthese wares.
Inthe latefourthmillenniumB.C., contacts withMesopotamiaincreasedas the
Sumeriansbecame active inthe tradein
semipreciousstones and metalsthat
movedthrougheastern Iranand Afghanistan. UnderSumerianinfluencethe
cuneiformscriptwas adoptedin Iran,and
before3000 B.C.a majorcenterwas established in Khuzistan,at Susa, a site that
has been excavatedby Frencharchaeologists. Thiscityand Anshan(modern
Malyan),in neighboringFarsprovince,
were the most importantpoliticaland
culturalcenters throughoutthe long historyof the Elamites.OldElamiteworksof
artproducedinthis regionduringthe third
and earlysecond millenniawere influenced by the artof Sumerianand
AkkadianMesopotamia.The images,
however-particularlythose of animals
and fantasticcreatures-are renderedin
a distinctiveElamitestyle thatis characterizedby naturallyrenderedformsand
decorativesurfacepatterns.Contactswith
landsfarto the northand east, in presentday Afghanistan,as wellas withpeoples
livingalong the Induscoastline inthe
southeast, exposed the artistsof Iranto
culturesthatwereunfamiliar
to theirMesopotamianneighbors,and this is reflected
inthe characterand appearanceof their
worksof art.UnderkingsrulingfromSusa
inthe second halfof the second millennium
B.C. Elambecame a majorpoliticalforce
inthe Near East. Wheneversouthern
Mesopotamiawas controlledby weak or
ineffectiveleaders,Elamitearmiesinvaded
the region,destroyedits cities, and briefly
controlledthe course of events there.
Northwestof Khuzistanlies a region
withinthe Zagrosmountainchainthatin
antiquitywas the home of semi-nomadic
peoples. Littleis knownof the historyor
cultureof the inhabitantsof Luristan,as
the regionis nowcalled. Inthe third,
second, and earlyfirstmillenniaB.C.the
importanceof the areaas a centerof horse
breedingresultedin frequentcontacts
betweenthe mountainpeople and their
sedentaryneighborsin Babyloniaand
Elam.Bronzes made in Luristanduring
the thirdand second millenniaB.C. illustratethe influenceof southernMesopotamiaand Elam.Inthe firstmillennium
B.C.the florescence of a distinctivelocal
style is documentedbya profusionof cast
andhammeredworksof art-the "Luristan
bronzes"-for whichthis regionis justifiablyfamous. Excavationsin recentyears
have uncoveredbuildingsand tombs, but
the ethnicoriginof the inhabitantsandthe
reason forthis richartisticproduction
remainuncertain.
Lateinthe second millenniumB.C., the
arrivalof Indo-Europeans,the Iranians,
began a new periodinthe historyof the
region.Bythe middleof the firstmillenniumB.C., Mesopotamiaand Iran,
underthe ruleof Achaemenidkings,
were partof an empirethatexceeded in
its geographicalextentanythingthat
had come before.Fromcapitalcities at
Susa, Ecbatana,and Babylon,the Iranian rulerscontrolledan empirethat
reachedfromTurkmenistan
to the Mediterraneanseacoast and Egypt.Inthe art
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of the Achaemenidcourt,influencesfrom
Assyria,Babylonia,Egypt,and Greece
are apparentin bothstyle and
iconography.
The imperialambitionsof the Achaemenids,whichled them twiceto attack
the Greekmainland,were the cause of
theirdownfall.In334 B.C.Alexanderthe
GreatinvadedAsia fromMacedoniain
Greece. Fouryears later,the victorious
Greekarmyreached Persepolis in southern Iranand burnedthis greatceremonial
centerto the ground.Achaemenidrulein
the Near East was at an end.
The Greekconquestof the Achaemenid
the culturaldevelopempireinterrupted
mentof the Near East and alteredthe
course of civilizationinthatregion.Earlier
invasions,inthe thirdand second millennia,had broughtpeoples fromdesert
and mountainareas as well as fromthe
steppes intothe fertilelands and urban
centers of the Near East. The arrivalof
these seminomadictribesmenfromoutside the civilizedworlddid not radically
transformthe culturesthathad developed
overthe millennia.New concepts and
values were graftedonto existingtraditions, the societies were modified,and
the fabricof civilizationwas enriched.
The invasionof the Greeks, however,
differedfromthese earlierincursionsbecause itbroughtintothe NearEastforthe
firsttime a people who had highly
developed culturaltraditions.Greek
soldiersand merchantscame to livein
Syria,Anatolia,Mesopotamia,and Iran;
they foundedcities and introduceda new
way of life.When,inthe latethirdcentury
B.C.,the IranianParthiansreclaimedMesopotamiaand Iranfromthe Seleucidsthe successors of Alexanderthe Greatthe Greeksettlers and theirculture
remained.The Orienthad adoptedthe
West,and forthe nextmillennium,intimes
of peace and war,the kingdomsof the
Near East and the Romanand Byzantine
empires inthe West maintainedpolitical
and economicties as wellas commonculturaltraditions.
A reassertionof a NearEasternidentity,
an Iranianrenaissance, is apparentin
the artsat the beginningof the firstcenturyA.D., and itdeveloped underanother
Iraniandynasty,the Sasanians, who ruled
Mesopotamia,Iran,and partsof Syria
and AnatoliafromA.D.226 to 651. Forms
and motifswere adoptedfromthe West,
buttheirsignificancechanged, and they
expressed OrientalratherthanWestern
concepts. Similarly,in the Iraniannationalepic, the Shahnameh, originally
compiledat the end of the Sasanian
period,a legendaryAlexanderthe Great
is half-Persianand half-Greekby birth,a
modificationof historythatmade events
understandableand meaningfulto the
Near Easterner.
Anatoliaand Syriaare geographically
and culturallypartof the Near East,
butthey also face the West and are
neighborsof the Mediterraneanworld,of
Egypt,Cyprus,Crete,and Greece. Their
proximityto these lands affectedtheir
culturaldevelopment,and a distinctive
characteris apparentinthe worksof art.
Manydifferentcivilizationsflourishedin
Anatoliaand Syriaoverthe millennia,
and new peoples enteredbothregionsat
varioustimes: Hittitesand Phrygians
inAnatolia;Hurrians,Mitannians,and
Aramaeansin Syria.
Anatoliais richin metalore-notably
gold, silver,and copper-and the skillof
the Anatolianmetalworkeris evidentin
findsdatingfromthe end of the third
millenniumB.C. (see fig. 32). Vessels of
gold and silverfoundinthe tombs of local
rulershave long,delicatespouts and
handsome curvilineardesigns on the
bodies (see fig. 10), featuresthatare
also seen on the exceptionallyfine ceramicwares made inthis period.When
the Indo-EuropeanHittitesenteredAnatoliaat the beginningof the second
millenniumB.C., they maintainedmany
of the traditionsin metalworkingand
potterymakingestablished by theirpredecessors. A spectaculargroupof gold
and silverobjects inthe collectionof
NorbertSchimmeldeserves special
mentionhere bothas an illustrationof the
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skill of the Hittiteartist (see front and back
covers, fig. 24) and as a rare example of
the art made in court workshops.
The Hittiteempire collapsed at the end
of the second millennium B.C.in a period
of foreign invasions and general chaos
that also affected much of southwestern
Anatolia and Syria. Inthe early first millennium B.C.,a number of smaller kingdoms
replaced the Hittites as major political
powers in Anatolia-notably Urartu,with
its capital city at Lake Van, a rivalof
Assyria from the ninth to the end of the
seventh century B.C.(see fig. 74), and
Phrygia, which in the eighth and seventh
centuries B.C.occupied the earlier Hittite
realm in central and western Anatolia
and established its center at Gordion.
Duringthe seventh century B.C.,nomadic tribesmen from the steppes north
of the Caucasus mountains poured into
Anatolia, destroying Phrygian power and
disrupting life in western Anatolia. In eastern Anatolia Scythian tribes moved into
Iranand Mesopotamia, where they joined
with Median and Babylonian armies in
their attack on Assyria late in the seventh
century. The influence of the Scythians
on the art of the Near East is apparent in
works made in Iran,Anatolia, and Syria
during this period. The objects are executed in a distinctive, beveled style and
display a repertory of designs in which
stags, panthers, birds of prey, and griffins
are favorite subjects.
By the beginning of the sixth century
B.C.the Scythians had retreated from the
Near East through Anatolia and had returned to the steppes around the Black
Sea. The rising power of Achaemenid
Iranreached into Anatolia, and in the
middle of the sixth century, Persian
satraps and officials, responsible to the
Achaemenid king at Susa, extended their
control as far as the Aegean seacoast.
Syria, to the south of Anatolia and west of
Mesopotamia, was a crossroads between
the great civilizations of the ancient world
and was often disputed by rivalpowers.
The rulers who controlled this land held
vitaltrade routes linkingthe Mediterranean
worldand Asia. Evidence of trade between
Syria and Mesopotamia in the late fourth
millennium B.C.marks the beginning of
direct contacts that increased over the
centuries. Although foreigners, notably
Mesopotamians, lived and traded in Syria
continuously from the earliest times, its
art had a distinctive character, which has
been demonstrated in recent excavations
of the third-millenniumlevels at such sites
as Mariand Ebla. Inthe second millennium
B.C.a trulyinternational
style developed
inthis region.Motifsand designs from
worldwere
Egyptand the Mediterranean
adoptedand passed intimefromSyria
intothe artof Mesopotamia.Inthe first
millenniumB.C.Assyriaand Phoenicia
replacedEgyptand the Myceneanand
Minoanempiresas a majorsource of
influencein Syrianart.Ivorycarvings
fromArslanTash-exhibited now inthe
Raymondand BeverlySacklerGalleryfor
AssyrianArt-clearly illustratea combinationof variousartisticstyles. The small
plaqueswithreliefcarvingsof human,
animal,and plantdesigns decoratedfurnitureand objectsof luxury.Egyptianizing
motifsintroducedthroughPhoeniciaare
combinedwithstylisticand iconographic
detailstakenfromthe artof Assyria.
Exhibitedin the same galleryare ivories
excavatedat Nimrud,in northernMesopotamia,where craftsmen,deportedfrom
Syriaand Phoenicia,workedforthe Assyriancourt.TheAssyriansmustalso have
receivedsome ivories,whichwere treasuredobjects,as tributeand bootyfollowingtheirconquest inthe earlyfirstmillenniumB.C.of towns inthe Syrianwest.
The Assyriandominationof Syriawas
followedby Babylonianconquests and
finallyby Achaemenidrule.Withthe invasion of Alexanderthe Greatinthe fourth
century,a largepartof Syriafell into
Greekhands, and latercame under
Romanand then Byzantinecontrol.The
borderbetweenthe westernempiresof
Rome and Byzantiumand the Parthian
and Sasanian lands inthe east ranalong
the centraland northernEuphratesRiver
throughSyria.
Fora thousandyears, fromthe last
centuriesbeforeChristto the comingof
Islam,the historyof the regionwas one
of almostcontinualwarfareas the great
empiresof Byzantiumand Sasanian Iran
battledand ultimatelyexhaustedtheir
resources inthe effortto controlthe rich
traderoutesand cities of Anatoliaand
Syria.Finally,Arabarmiesfromthe western desert-followers of the prophet
Muhammad-overranthe NearEast, and
bythe middleof the seventhcenturyMesopotamiaand Iranas wellas almosthalfof
the ByzantineempirehadfallenunderIslamicrule.Withthe introduction
of this
new religionand way of lifeanotherperiodin the historyof the Near East began.
ingof the universeand man'srelationship
to the divinepowersare the religionsof
and ZoroastrianJudaism,Christianity,
ism. Ofthese faithsthe least familiarto
us is the Zoroastrianreligion.Duringthe
Sasanian period(thirdto seventh century
A.D.)thiswas the officialstate religioninthe
Near East, as Christianity
became, under
Constantinethe Great(A.D.313-37), the
religionof the ByzantineWest.The
prophetZoroaster,who mayhave lived
abouta thousandyears beforeChristor
somewhatlater,preacheda doctrinein
whichthe powerof Good (personifiedby
the god Ahuramazda,orOhrmazd)is confrontedbythe powerof Evil(personified
bythe god AngraMainyu,or Ahriman).
Man'snaturalroleis to followGood,
buthe is free to choose betweenthe
two principles.Incontrastto otherearly
NearEasternreligions,few of the deities
are depictedin art.The most notable
representationsof Zoroastriangods from
the pre-lslamicera appearon rockreliefs
carvedduringthe Sasanian periodon the
clifffaces of Iran.
in processions celebrating special occasions. Ancient man believed that the gods
controlled the forces of nature and governed the course of events in daily life.
Notable exceptions to this understand-
A section on writingis by IraSpar,
Associate Professor of Historyand Ancient
Studies at Ramapo College.
PRUDENCE 0. HARPER
Curator,Ancient Near Eastern Art
Archaeologicalfieldworkand the study
of ancientrecordsprovidethe means to
reconstructancienthistoryand to understand the worksof art.Since the early
1930s, whenexpeditionsfirstwentto Iran,
the Museumhas continuedto mountand
supportexcavationsinthatcountryas well
as Iraq,Jordan,Syria,and Turkey.A portionof thisBulletinis devotedto thiswork.
Inscribedclay tabletswere amongthe
firstNearEasternantiquitiesthe Museum
acquired,andthe presentcollectionranges
in date fromaround2600 B.C.to the first
centuryA.D.The writtentexts and the
designs on stamp and cylindersealsobjectsof exceptionalinterestand oftenof
greatbeauty-document aspects of Near
Easternlifeand culturethatwouldotherwise remainunknown.
Worksof artfromMesopotamiaand
Iranformthe majorpartof the exhibition
inthe new galleriesof the Departmentof
AncientNearEasternArtand are the
primarysubjectof this Bulletin.The artof
Anatoliaand the Levant,as wellas the
collectionof seals and tablets, is represented by a smallerselection of objects.
Galleriesforthe displayof these artifacts
are plannedforthe future.
Allof the curatorialmembersof the
Throughoutantiquityone of man'sprimary
concernswas his relationshipto the gods.
Departmenthave contributedto this
Statues of the deities, generallyin human Bulletin:OscarWhiteMuscarella,Holly
form,were set up intemples and carried
Pittman,BarbaraA. Porter,and myself.
5
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