The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C.

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Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C.

Aruz, Joan, Kim Benzel, and Jean Evans, eds., with Catharine Roehrig, Isabel Stuenkel, Sarah Graff, Dorothea Arnold, Susan Allen, Mogens Trolle Larsen. Béatrice André-Salvini, Jean-Claude Margueron, Paolo Matthiae, Michel Al-Maqdissi, Bassam Jamous, Suzy Hakimian, Robert B. Koehl, Thomas Schneider, Geneviève Pierrat-Bonnefois, Michèle Casanova, Jean-François De Lapérouse, Jack M. Sasson, Kim Benzel, David O'Connor, Peter Lacovara, Christos G. Doumas, Manfred Bietak, Irving Finkel, Mario Liverani, Ira Spar, Andreas Müller-Karpe, Aygül Süel, Mustafa Suel, Andreas Schachner, Gary Beckman, K. Aslihan Yener, Jean M. Evans, Peter Pfalzner, Daniele Morandi Bonacossi, Lena Papazoglou-Manioudak, Vasilis Aravantinos, Cemal Pulak, Sophie Cluzan, Annie Caubet, Sarah P. Morris, Marian Feldman, Glenn M. Schwartz, and Eric H. Cline (2008)

This title is out of print.

Book of the Year Award (ForeWord) in Art, Finalist (2008)

Description

Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C. brings into focus the cultural enrichment shared by civilizations from western Asia to Egypt and the Aegean more than three thousand years ago during the Middle Bronze and Late Bronze Ages. With the formation of powerful kingdoms and large territorial states, rising social elites created a demand for precious metals and objects fashioned in styles that reflected contacts with foreign lands. This quest for metals—copper, tin, silver, and gold—was the driving force that led to the establishment of merchant colonies and a vast trade network throughout central Anatolia, as well as to the emergence of a broad internationalism.

Exchange took the form of booty and tribute, trade and diplomatic gift-giving, creating the impetus for the circulation of precious goods, stimulating the sharing of ideas, and inspiring artistic creativity. Craftsmen traveled long distances, bearing local imagery to new lands, and the interaction of great states was expressed in new international styles. Commerce and diplomacy linked kings in Mesopotamia and Syria to Anatolia, the Mediterranean, and Egypt. This interaction is reflected in the magnificent jewelry from Ebla and in the extraordinary sculptures and wall paintings of rulers and divinities at the great palace of Mari. International exchange flowed through the port of Byblos on the Levantine coast, where temples housed votive objects and tombs contained treasures of Egyptian kings. Material wealth was carried into Egypt as well, as demonstrated by the fabulous hoard of silver vessels and seals in the Temple of Montu at Tôd. New discoveries include finds at Qatna, which yielded a royal palace and Aegean-style wall paintings, as well as royal archives and an intact tomb with rich grave goods that document interaction with the Near Eastern and Mediterranean worlds.

Perhaps the most dramatic evidence for these far-flung connections emerges not from exchanges realized but from tragedy—the wreckage of the oldest known seagoing ship, discovered off the cape of Uluburun, a treacherous stretch off the southern coast of Turkey. On view in the exhibition and described in detail in this catalogue are items onboard the ship, recovered from the seabed over years of extensive underwater excavation.

The languages, customs, and social practices that had to be mastered in the long-distance quest for resources and exotica are also explored. Modes of interaction—including immigration and mixed marriages, and involving merchants and diplomats, warriors and kings—are vividly captured in surviving texts, allowing a glimpse into the lives of profit-driven businessmen living abroad, distraught wives left at home, and princess-brides offered in exchange for gold.

Continuing the story begun in the landmark exhibition and its accompanying catalogue, Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus (2003), this important publication documents the innovative art that developed in the context of a sophisticated network of trade and diplomacy. The art and cultural history of the period are discussed by more than eighty-five scholars who, in their international scope, mirror the times they bring to life in wide-ranging essays and in catalogue entries on each of the objects included in the exhibition.

Table of contents

Director's Foreword
Philippe de Montebello

Acknowledgments
Lenders to the Exhibition
Contributors to the Catalogue
Chronology
Maps of the Ancient Near East

Introduction
Joan Aruz

The Middle Bronze Age
Mogens Trolle Larsen

Babylon
Béatrice André-Salvini

Mari
Jean-Claude Margueron

Ebla
Paolo Matthiae

The Development of Trade Routes in the Early Second Millennium B.C.
Michel Al-Maqdissi

Ugarit
Bassam Jamous

Byblos
Suzy Hakimian

The Cedar Forest
Ira Spar

Minoan Kamares Ware in the Levant
Robert B. Koehl

Egypt and the Levant
Thomas Schneider

The Tôd Treasure
Geneviève Pierrat-Bonnefois

Lapis Lazuli
Michèle Casanova

The Old Assyrian Merchant Colonies
Mogens Trolle Larsen

Central Anatolian Ivories
Joan Aruz

Technical Notes on the Metropolitan Museum Ivories
Jean-François de Lapérouse

Texts, Trade and Travelers
Jack M. Sasson

Ornaments of Interaction: The Art of the Jeweller
Kim Benzel

Egypt, the Levant, and the Aegean from the Hykos Period to the Rise of the New Kingdom
David O'Connor

Tell eb-Dab'a in the Nile Delta
Manfred Bietak

The Burial of Queen Ahhotep
Peter Lacovara

Painted Palaces
Joan Aruz

The Wall Paintings of Thera and the Eastern Mediterranean
Christos G. Doumas

Minoan Artists at the Court of Avaris (Tell el-Dab'a)
Manfred Bietak

Bull Leaping
Joan Aruz

Ritual and Royal Imagery
Joan Aruz

Board Games
Irving Finkel

The Horse in the Ancient Near East
Kim Benzel

The Late Bronze Age: Materials and Mechanisms of Trade and Culture Exchange
Mario Liverani

The Amarna Letters
Ira Spar

The Hittite Empire
Andreas Müller-Karpe

Shapinuwa: A Capital of the Hittite State
Aygül Süel and Mustafa Süel

Hattusa: Capital of the Hittite Empire
Andreas Schachner

Literary and Cultural Connections
Gary Beckman

The Mitanni State
Jean M. Evans

Alalakh (Tell Atchana)
K. Aslihan Yener

Kassite Babylonia
Jean M. Evans

The Middle Assyrian Period
Jean M. Evans

Syrian Archaeological Excavations at Qatna
Michel Al-Maqdissi

The Royal Palace at Qatna: Power and Prestige in the Late Bronze Age
Peter Pfàlzner

Italian Archaeological Research at Qatna
Danièle Morandi Bonacossi

Ugarit in the Late Bronze Age
Bassam Jamous

Ugarit: Gateway to the Mediterranean
Jean-Claude Margueron

New Kingdom Egypt
Thomas Schneider

Depictions of Foreign Emissaries in the Theban Tombs
Sarah Graff

Aegean Interactions with the Near East and Egypt during the Late Bronze Age
Robert B. Koehll

Mycenae
Lena Papazoglou-Manioudaki

Mycenaean Thebes
Vasilis Aravantinos

The Uluburun Shipwreck and Late Bronze Age Trade
Cemal Pulak

Cyprus: An International Nexus of Art and Trade
Sophie Cluzan

The Art of Exchange
Joan Aruz

Ivory, Shell, and Bone
Annie Caubet

Vitreous Materials
Annie Caubet

Legacy: Bridges to Babylon: Homer, Anatolia, and the Levant
Sarah P. Morris

The Legacy of Ivory-Working Traditions in the Early First Millennium B.C.
Marian Feldman

Appendices

Problems of Chronology: Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the Syro-Levantine Region
Glenn M. Schwartz

Problems of Chronology: Egypt and the Aegean
Eric H. Cline

Index to Figures
Bibliography
Index
Photograph Credits

Press reviews

Antiquity Journal

"It is difficult in a brief review to do justice to a book of this size and scope. The articles are generally authoritative and engaging, and the volume is a useful and attractive resource for anyone interested in the history and archaeology of the ancient Near East and the eastern Mediterranean in the second millennium BC."

Choice Reviews Online

"Recommended."

Tags

Authors

Jean Evans | Joan Aruz | Kim Benzel

Keywords

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Print Titles

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Online Titles

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Art of the First Cities in the Third Millennium B.C." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Assyria, 1365–609 B.C." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Early Dynastic Sculpture, 2900–2350 B.C." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Ebla in the Third Millennium B.C." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "List of Rulers of Mesopotamia." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Lydia and Phrygia." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Phrygia, Gordion, and King Midas in the Late Eighth Century B.C." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Akkadian Period (ca. 2350–2150 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Halaf Period (6500–5500 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Hittites." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Nahal Mishmar Treasure." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Phoenicians (1500–300 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Rediscovery of Assyria." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Sasanian Empire (224–651 A.D.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Seleucid Empire (323–64 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "The Ubaid Period (5500–4000 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Ugarit." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Ur: The Royal Graves." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Ur: The Ziggurat." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Urartu." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. "Uruk: The First City." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Greek and Roman Art. "Nabataean Kingdom and Petra." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Greek and Roman Art. "Palmyra." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Department of Greek and Roman Art. "The Parthian Empire (247 B.C.–224 A.D.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

"Eynan/Ain Mallaha (10,000–8200 B.C.)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Rakic, Yelena. "Sealed." 82nd & Fifth. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013.

Spar, Ira. "Epic of Creation (Mesopotamia)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Spar, Ira. "Flood Stories." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Spar, Ira. "Gilgamesh." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Spar, Ira. "Mesopotamian Deities." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Spar, Ira. "The Gods and Goddesses of Canaan." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Spar, Ira. "The Origins of Writing." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Tedesco, Laura Anne. "Hasanlu in the Iron Age." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.

Titles by author (13)

Joan Aruz

Print Titles

Harper, Prudence O., Joan Aruz, and Françoise Tallon, eds. Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992.

Houghton, James R., Katherine Baetjer, Dorothea Arnold, Joan Aruz, Carlos A. Picon, Peter Barnet, Everett Fahy, Keith Christiansen, Walter Liedtke, Colta Ives, George R. Goldner, Ian Wardropper, Thomas P. Campbell, Dita Amory, Laurence B. Kanter, Morrison H. Heckscher, J. Kenneth Moore, Hilde Limondjian, Stuart W. Pyhrr, Donald J. La Rocca, Maxwell K. Hearn, James C. Y. Watt, Stefano Carboni, Julie Jones, Alisa LaGamma, Eric Kjellgren, Virginia-Lee Webb, Gary Tinterow, Malcolm Daniel, Harold Koda, and John P. O'Neill. Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977–2008. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.

Kim Benzel

Print Titles

Jean Evans

Print Titles

Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C.

This exhibition focuses on the extraordinary art created as a result of a sophisticated network of interaction that developed among kings, diplomats, merchants, and others in the Near East during the second millennium B.C. Approximately 350 objects of the highest artistry from royal palaces, temples, and tombs—as well as from a unique shipwreck—provide the visitor with an overview of artistic exchange and international connections throughout the period. From Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt in the south to Thrace, Anatolia, and the Caucasus in the north, and from regions as far west as mainland Greece all the way east to Iran, the great royal houses forged intense international relationships through the exchange of traded raw materials and goods as well as letters and diplomatic gifts. This unprecedented movement of precious materials, luxury goods, and people resulted in a total transformation of the visual arts throughout a vast territory that spanned the ancient Near East and the eastern Mediterranean. Because many of these works have either only recently been excavated or have never been shown abroad, this exhibition is a singular opportunity for the public to experience the rich artistic and cultural traditions of this period.