Mesopotamian 5

Question 1

Kassite Dynasty

Answer 1

Hittites sack Babylonia in 1595, there is a power vacuum, by around 1570 the Kassites rise to power. During this period less writing. Most archeological evidence from seals and kudurrus. Last til 1155.

Question 2

Middle Assyrian Period

Answer 2

Around 1365 to 900. Really sets the stage for Neo-Assyrian period. Conquering happens.

Question 3

Kingdom of Mitanni

Answer 3

Around 1475-1275 in the northern Tigris/Euphrates region.

Question 4

Dur Kurigalzu

Answer 4

14th cent. BC. Kassite king of Babylon, Kurigalzu, establishes new city in Southern Mesopotamia/modern Iraq. Unusual, as most Mesopotamians preferred continuity. Has an unusually well-preserved ziggurat.

Question 5

Dur Kurigalzu Palace remains with fresco

Answer 5

1400-1200 BC. Well preserved interior murals show figures with long dresses.

Question 6

Al Untash Napirisha, Ziggurat

Answer 6

1340-1300 BC, Elamite, Iran. Most comparable site to ziggurat in Dur Kurigalzu.

Question 7

Temple of Innin

Answer 7

15th century BC, Uruk, Middle Babylonian/Kassite Dynasty. Built under Kara-indash, prominent Kassite ruler. Kassites participated in renewing and rebuilding Uruk. Constructed a temple for Innana/Innin that is unique and may be called the Kassite style. Rectangular with subdivided rooms. Corner buttresses have a unique shape. Made of brick; entire facade surrounded by molded brickwork representing figural motifs.

Question 8

Karaindash Temple of Innin facade

Answer 8

15th century, Uruk. Molded brickwork figural motifs. One has a horned cap, scaly mountain pattern, jar with a stream in it - the mountain god. Alternates with a female god with a horned crown, jar, no scaly mountain pattern. Divinities are personifications of nature. First time they appear as architectural sculpture. Techniques put together in a new way - measured, molded, put together like a jigsaw. Apotropaic.

Question 9

Painted Terracotta Head (Kassite)

Answer 9

1400-1300, Kassite. Paint survives very well. Naturalistically modeled Kassite art; we can see a greater interest in naturalism.

Question 10

Terracotta Lion or Dog

Answer 10

1400-1200, Kassite. A very naturalistic rendering - observing animals from life.

Question 11

Tell Harmal Guardian Lions

Answer 11

1800, Terracotta, Tell Harmal, Old Babylonian. Use of clay for large scale public statuary and major structures. Dfended the entranceway to the temples.

Question 12

Kassite seal

Answer 12

14th century. Son of Karaindash (the temple guy) made this. Often have 2 registers/scenes. Traditional iconography like lama goddesses with arms upraised. Strangely, inscriptions are placed between figures. Elongation of figures is unusual. Different from Old Babylonian seals which have dual grouped compositions of fighting with tidy inscriptions.

Question 13

Limestone Babylonian kudurru.

Answer 13

14-12th century, Susa, Kassite/Middle Babylonian.

Question 14

Kudurru

Answer 14

“Boundary stone” – most are inscribed and refer to land and boundaries. Often found unprovenanced or taken to Susa as war booty, or sometimes in temples in S. Mesopotamia. Usually placed in field for border reasons; possibly that the ones inside temples were copies of the originals in fields.

Question 15

Kudurru from Sippar

Answer 15

1125-1104, limestone, Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar. Commemorates giving land to the head of the chariots. Multi-registered series of representations of Gods. At top, emblems of of Gods with crescent, star, and sun. Below is a niched temple façade with a multiple horned crown on it. Represents Anu, Enlil. Lower level with smaller altars with a dragon emerging. Dragon is attribute of Marduk. Next to this is a goat and a stylus – Nabba the God of writing. The middle register has a horse surrounded by a rainbow. There is sagittariu. Gula, the healing/medicine Goddess on throne.

Question 16

End of Kassite Dynasty/Nebuchadnezzar.

Answer 16

Kassite dynasty ends around 1155 because of Elamites. Local monarch of the 12th century who fought back against the Elamites was Nebuchadnezzar. The Elamites abducted statue of Marduk, the supreme god. Nebuchadnezzar rescued the statue and a renaissance occurred in Babylonia. The city became stronger and stronger. �

Question 17

Melshipak II Kudurru

Answer 17

1186-1172, Kassite, Susa, Diorite. Inscription effaced, though partial inscription survives naming Melshipak as he gives land to his son. Presentation where the king introduces his daughter to the God who sits on a large throne. Emblems of Gods are found on top.

Question 18

Black basalt kudurru

Answer 18

13th-12th cent, Middle Babylonian, Susa. Mesopotamian figure was recut into an Elamite one. Elamite dress with hair placed to the side, an Elamite head covering.

Question 19

King Marduk-nadin-ahhe

Answer 19

1099-1082, black limestone, Babylon, Middle Babylonian 2nd Dynasty of Isin. Shorter more squat figure. Very detailed carving of the man.

Question 20

Altar of Tukulti-ninurta

Answer 20

1243-1207, Ashur, alabaster, Middle Assyrian. New interest in forms of narrative, open ended/circular representations, realism, details. Altar with two stepped plinth - lower part inscribed. Rosette on top suggests Ishtar. King shown in two moments, with scepter in left and right in gesture of worship. Altar shown frontally so we can see that it is a self-referential hyper-icon. The actual kneeling person with be the third depiction of self . Tablet and stylus on altar - could represent a dream written on altar for message, for altar dedicated to Nusku the god of light and perhaps of night and dreams.

Question 21

Marble Female, Assur-bel-kala

Answer 21

1073-1056, Nineveh, Middle Assyrian. Almost lifesize. Inscription on the back – tells who Assur-bel-kala is, his parentage, that he is the king, a curse. In the middle it says that he set up these statues in towns and barracks for the pleasure of the viewer. How can this be perceived publically? Pubic area is pretty realistic with hairs and stuff.

Question 22

Assur tomb necklace and glass vessels

Answer 22

Middle assyrian. Objects indicate international trade at the time – glass, lapis lazuli, ivory.

Question 23

Middle Assyrian seal with Pegasus-like Creature

Answer 23

A pegasus-like creature with talons of bird of prey. The proximity of the figures when rolls out means that the roller is compelled to keep rolling it out to complete the next horsy image. Almost postmodern in conception?

Question 24

Middle Assyrian seal with stags; another with winged genie hunting an ostrich

Answer 24

Milky chalcedony. Stag seal – running in a flying gallop in a landscape with a mountainous landscape. Scaly mountain motif, olive trees, a bird on the thorny bush. Design of the cylinder seal takes into account the person who rolls it one – depends on the intervention of the viewer, who can pull it into an infinite composition. No definitive beginning and end – not limited. Infinite possibilities of repetition.

Question 25

Ivory pyxis from a tomb

Answer 25

Assur, 14th century BC, Incised with gazelles striding among pine trees with birds on them – sensitive treatment of animals and realism are characteristic of Middle Assyrian art.

Question 26

Foundation inscription of Tiglath Pileser I

Answer 26

1114-1076, Anu-Adad temple, clay, Assur. 8 sided prism. Long text describing real history in a specific way (commissioning of temples, military, etc.). Buried in foundations for posterity. Hugely important – the development of “annals” – autobiographical accounts with chronological order

Question 27

12th century Bronze Age disaster

Answer 27

By 1150 there is a huge disaster across the mideast from Iran to Greece. Marauding sea pirates. Mycenaean and Levantine Bronze Age come to an end. In addition there was a climate change. “Greek Dark Age.” Maybe 100-200 years without much evidence from Mesopotamia. Out of that, the Neo-Assyrian period Emerges.