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Semitic Art
Mesopotamian
Semitic Art
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The history of Mesopotamia can be divided into two periods:
Sumerian (3500-2350 BC) and Semitic (2350-612 BC).
The term “Semitic” is derived from the name of Shem, one of the
sons of Noah, and is generally used to refer to people speaking a
Semitic language.
In the ancient world, these included the Akkadians, Babylonians,
Assyrians and Phoenicians.
The most common association with the word “Semitic” is the
Jewish people. Their language falls into this group and they
originated in Mesopotamia.
The founder of the Jewish race was Abraham from Ur of Chaldea
around 1800 BC. There are enough references to him in the ancient
world to verify that he was an historical person.
Arabic is also a Semitic language (Abraham fathered Ishmael through
Hagar and Ishmael became the progenitor of the Arab people).
Semitic Art
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Akkadian and Babylonian Culture.
From 2350 to 2100 BC, the whole of Mesopotamia came
under the control of the Semitic king Sargon and his
descendants.
The name of this period comes from the capital of
Sargon, Akkad.
The art of this Akkadian period shows a continuation of
the trends of Sumerian age.
Total submission to the gods is replaced with a more
positive attitude to human achievement.
Semitic Art
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Stone relief depicting Sargon (c. 2334–c. 2279 BC)
standing before a tree of life; in the Louvre, Paris.
Semitic Art
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Bronze head of a king, perhaps Sargon of Akkad, from
Nineveh (now in Iraq), Akkadian period, c. 2300 BC. In the
Iraqi Museum, Baghdad.
Semitic Art
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Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (reigned 2254–2218 BC),
stone, Akkadian period; in the Louvre, Paris.
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The victory stele of Naram-Sin shows the king wearing a
horned crown standing beneath symbols of the gods, but
standing on his enemies. This shows the king as a go-between
the gods and man.
Around 1800 BC, Mesopotamia had once again been unified,
this time by the Babylonians.
Their most famous king, Hammurabi, was the author of a law
code that was one of earliest attempts to achieve justice
through legislation. A major step forward in human
development.
The laws were carved on a stele, showing Hammurabi in the
presence of Shamash the sun god.
Many of the law codes provisions deal with the relationship
between husbands, wives, and other family members.
Semitic Art
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Diorite stele inscribed with the Code of Hammurabi,
18th century BC.
Semitic Art
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Winged bull with a human head, guardian figure from the
gate of the palace at Dur Sharrukin, near Nineveh; in the
Louvre. Akkadian period.
Semitic Art
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Nergal, a Mesopotamian god of the underworld, holding
his lion-headed staffs, terra-cotta relief from Kish, c.
2100–c. 1500 BC; in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Eng.
Semitic art
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Cylinder seal impression from the Akkadian period with a
combat scene between a bearded hero and a bull-man
and various beasts; in the Oriental Institute, University of
Chicago.
Semitic art
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Peace side of the “Standard of Ur,” mosaic of lapis lazuli,
shell, coloured stone, and mother-of-pearl, from the Royal
Cemetery, Ur, Early Dynastic period, c. 2500 bc. In the
British Museum. Length 47 cm.
Babylonian art
Semitic art
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A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate, at the ruins of
Babylon, near Al-Ḥillah, Iraq.
Semitic art
Semitic art
Babylonian art
Babylonian Art
Babylonian art
Babylonian art
Babylonian art
Babylonian art
Babylonian art
Semitic art