Testing the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology

485 Pages·72.614 MB·English

by  Amy Rebecca Gansell and Ann Shafer

Testing the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art
and Archaeology

Testing the Canon of Ancient
Near Eastern Art and
Archaeology
Edited by amy rebecca gansell and
ann shafer
1
1
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2018054338
ISBN 978– 0– 19– 067316– 1
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Integrated Books International, United States of America
CONTENTS
List of Figures ix
List of Plates xv
List of Tables xix
List of Maps xxi
Foreword
Irene J. Winter xxiii
Acknowledgments xxix
List of Contributors xxxi
List of Shortened forms xxxix
CHAPTER 1 P erspectives on the Ancient Near Eastern Canon: More
than Mesopotamia’s Greatest Hits 1
Amy Rebecca Gansell and Ann Shafer
PART I | BOUNDARIES
CHAPTER 2 The Southern Levant and the Ancient Near Eastern
Canon 45
Rachel Hallote
CHAPTER 3 A rchaeological Research in Pre- Classical Syria
and the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art and
Archaeology 66
Marina Pucci
CHAPTER 4 The Past, Present, and Future of the Canon of Ancient
Anatolian Art 90
Susan Helft
CHAPTER 5 T he Canon of Ancient Iranian Art: From Grand
Narratives to Local Perspectives 111
Henry P. Colburn
CHAPTER 6 “ Classical” versus “Ancient” in the Near Eastern
Canon: The Position of Graeco- Roman Art from the
Levant, c. 330 bce– 636 ce 131
Elise A. Friedland
PART II | TYPOLOGIES
CHAPTER 7 Defining the Canon of Funerary Archaeology in the
Ancient Near East 153
Nicola Laneri
CHAPTER 8 T he Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Glyptic on a
Roll: Leaps, Hurdles, and Goals 172
Diana L. Stein
CHAPTER 9 T he Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Palaces 195
David Kertai
PART III | TECHNOLOGIES
CHAPTER 10 H ow Ancient and Modern Memory Shapes the Past: A
Canon of Assyrian Memory 217
Davide Nadali
CHAPTER 11 M useums as Vehicles for Defining Artistic Canons: The
Case of the Ancient Near East in the British
Museum 232
Paul Collins
CHAPTER 12 C onceptualizing the Past in Museum Exhibitions of
Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Art 253
Rachel P. Kreiter
CHAPTER 13 T he Ancient Near Eastern Canon in the University
Classroom, and Beyond: My Colleagues Speak 274
Ann Shafer
PART IV | HERITAGE PERSPECTIVES
CHAPTER 14 T he Lucrative Business of the Cyrus
Cylinder: Commodification of an Iranian Icon 299
Kamyar Abdi
CHAPTER 15 B etween Hazor and Masada: Canonical Archaeological
Sites as Symbols of Collective Memories in Modern
Israeli Identities 302
Gideon Avni
vi | Contents
CHAPTER 16 P ast Resurrections: The Ancient in
Contemporary Art 305
Tamara Chalabi
CHAPTER 17 E arth, Rocks, and Blood: A Wandering Home 308
Sargon George Donabed
CHAPTER 18 6,000 Years 312
Maymanah Farhat
CHAPTER 19 C ultural Heritage Attrition in Egypt 315
Monica Hanna
CHAPTER 20 C rafting the Ancient Near Eastern Canon: A Personal
Reflection 319
Zena Kamash
CHAPTER 21 T he Consequences of the Destruction of Syrian
Heritage on the Syrian Identity and Future
Generations 322
Youssef Kanjou
CHAPTER 22 Contemporary Art and Archaeology in the Arab
World 325
Salwa Mikdadi
CHAPTER 23 The Assyrians: Then and Now 329
Ramsen Shamon
CHAPTER 24 Bringing the Past to a Living Room Near You: The
Archaeological Heritage of Anatolia on Glass 332
Oya Topçuoğlu
Bibliography 335
Index 393
Contents | vii

FIGURES
1.1. Assyrian doorway figure (lamassu) from the palace of Sargon II, Khorsabad,
c. 720– 705 bce. Limestone. H. 4.22 m. The Louvre, Paris, no. AO 19859.
© Erich Lessing/ Art Resource, NY. 3
1.2. Assyrian relief depicting a banquet, from the North Palace at Nineveh,
c. 645– 635 bce. Gypsum. L. 139.7 cm. The British Museum, London,
no. 124920. © Trustees of the British Museum. 3
1.3. Gudea sculpture, from Telloh, c. 2120 bce. Diorite. H. 105 cm. The Louvre,
Paris, no. AO 20164. © Erich Lessing/ Art Resource, NY. 4
1.4. Hammurabi’s Law Stele, c. 1792–1 750 bce. Diorite. H. 2.25 m. The
Louvre, Paris, no. Sb8. Photograph: Ch. Larrieu. © Dima Moroz/
Shutterstock. 5
1.5. Detail of Hammurabi’s Law Stele, c. 1792– 1750 bce. Diorite. The Louvre,
Paris, no. Sb 8. © www.BibleLandPictures.com/A lamy Stock Photos. 6
1.6. Ishtar Gate from Babylon from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 605– 562
bce. Glazed brick. Total w. 14.73 m, h. of towers 6.2 m. Vorderasiatisches
Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Photograph: bpk-B ildagentur/
Vorderasiatisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. © Olaf
M. Teßmer/ Art Resource, NY. 6
1.7. Uruk Head, c. 3300– 3000 bce. Marble. H. 20.3 cm. Iraq National
Museum, Baghdad, no. 45434. © akg- images/ Bildarchiv Steffens. 7
1.8. Cylinder seal (and modern impression) with mythological imagery
and inscription naming scribe Ibni- Sharrum in the service of King
Sharkalisharri, c. 2217– 2193 bce. Diorite. H. 3.9 cm. The Louvre, Paris,
no. AO 22303. © RMN- Grand Palais/ Art Resource, NY. 7