Panel with striding lion, ca. 604–562 B.C.. Glazed brick. Mesopotamia, Babylon. Neo-Babylonian period, reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Fletcher Fund, 1931 (31.13.1)
Welcome to the Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age exhibition blog. In weekly posts throughout the run of the exhibition, scholars from within and outside the Museum will explore in greater depth some of the many thought-provoking themes and issues presented in the show, often in unexpected ways not addressed in the galleries or in the catalogue. Some posts will focus on specific art historical or conservation aspects of individual works of art, or categories of objects, while others will be more conceptual in scope, investigating, for instance, the complex cultural interactions that took place during the period in question or the powerful legacies that these cultures left to later traditions, up to the present day. In one post we will highlight the connections between the exhibition and our permanent galleries for visitors who have time to see both while at the Met or those interested in reading and learning more, especially about the Assyrians, Phoenicians, and Babylonians. In all, we hope to offer a series of lively and engaging glimpses into this fascinating period of art history. The blog will be moderated by Associate Curator Kim Benzel, who, along with colleagues in the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, will also respond to comments and questions.
The Near East in antiquity was, as it is today, a diverse and complicated milieu of distinct polities, states, and empires that cannot be fully understood without focusing on the crosscurrents of their interaction. It is this intriguing dynamic that has compelled us to take just such a broad perspective in this exhibition and those that preceded it: Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus (2003) and Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C. (2008). In order to realize this vision, we had to navigate the intricacies of our own contemporary international landscape. An exhibition of this scale takes many years and many colleagues to see to fruition—in our case nearly six years of preparation working with colleagues from over forty different museums around the world. We are extremely grateful to the many major institutions throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa that demonstrated their commitment to this project by generously lending treasures from their national collections.
About the Exhibition
Left: Statue of Ashurnasirpal II, Mesopotamia, Nimrud, Ishtar Sharrat-niphi temple. Neo-Assyrian, ca. 875–860 B.C. The Trustees of the British Museum, London (ME 118871); Right: Cauldron and stand, Cyprus, Salamis, Cypro-Archaic, ca. 8th–7th century B.C. Cyprus Museum, Nicosia (T.79/202, 202[b])
Cross-cultural interaction and global communication are hallmarks of society that have profoundly shaped our world. The roots of such internationalism lie deep in our ancient past, alluded to in epics such as Homer's Odyssey, a poem composed when the kings of Assyria were building vast empires and the legendary Phoenician sailors took to the seas, expanding their commercial reach throughout the Mediterranean. It is this interconnected world, with networks of trade and exchange that reached across the Mediterranean to the eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean, that is the subject of this exhibition.
The exhibition opens in the final years of the second millennium B.C.—the end of the Bronze Age—a period when the palatial societies of the eastern Mediterranean and the major territorial states of western Asia succumbed to conquest and collapse. What emerged in the first millennium was a new, decentralized world in which iron, widely available but difficult to work, replaced bronze as the material of choice for tools and weapons. This world was one of great empires in which powerful Assyrian kings drew resources and craftsmen from across the Near East to furnish their magnificent palaces. We glimpse some of the complex, international flavor of this era in biblical stories such as that of the joint ventures of Solomon and Hiram of Tyre, who supplied cedar wood for the temple in Jerusalem; the queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon, surely via the Arabian spice route; and the diplomatic marriage of the Phoenician princess Jezebel to the Israelite king Ahab, whose capital city was Samaria.
Left: Handle. Ivory. Italy, Praeneste, Colombella necropolis, Barberini Tomb. Orientalizing, early 7th century B.C. Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, Rome (13231); Right: Necklace. Gold. Spain, El Carambolo (Camas, Seville), 7th century B.C. Museo Arqueológico de Sevilla; On permanent loan from the Municipal Collection of Seville (ROD5489)
Although the Assyrian onslaught changed the political landscape of western Asia, land and sea trade proliferated, as did colonization, and major advances were made in navigation and shipping. Trade and travel brought Near Eastern art and artisans into new environments, stimulating an "Orientalizing" era in which ideas and imagery were adapted and transformed across the Mediterranean. In addition to the exchange of raw materials such as silver and gold, ivory tusks, and the famous Phoenician purple dye, new technologies and innovative ideas were introduced—none more outstanding than the use of the alphabet—as well as new forms of visual expression. Together, they laid the foundations for many cultural and artistic traditions in the Western world, which, as the works in this exhibition make clear, have deep roots in the interaction between the ancient Near East and the lands along the shores of the Mediterranean.
I hope that this short introduction entices you to visit the exhibition, which will be on view through January 4, to follow the conversation on this blog, to delve into the accompanying catalogue, and, above all, to think about the ancient world in a fresh and expansive way.