Critical Approaches to Ancient Near Eastern Art

Brian A. Brown, University of California, Berkeley, USA;Marian H. Feldman, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.

• Table of ContentsList of ContributorsList of IllustrationsEditors' NoteMap 1. Map 2.IntroductionI. Defining the Field2. Archaeology and Politics in Iraq - Lamia al-Gailani Werr3. Forgeries of Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts and Cultures - Oscar Muscarella4. Beyond the East-West Dichotomy in Syrian and Levantine Wall Paintings - Constance von Rüden5. Orientalism and Orientalization in the Iron Age Mediterranean - Ann C. GunterII. Technologies and Practices of Artistic Production6. The Historiography of the Concept of "Workshop" in Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology: Descriptive Models and Theoretical Approaches (Anthropology vs. Art History) - Silvana Di Paolo7. The Impact of the "Portable": Integrating "Minor Arts" into the Ancient Near Eastern Canon - Allison Karmel Thomason8. The Influence of the Physical Medium on the Decoration of a Work of Art: A Case Study of the "Phoenician" Bowls - Francesca Onnis9. Impressions of the Contest Scene: Glyptic Imagery and Sealing Practice in the Akkadian Period - Yelena Rakic10. Histories of Cypriot Art through Seal Carving - Joanna S. SmithIII. Text and Image11. Relating Image and Word in Ancient Mesopotamia - Cory D. Crawford12. Pictorial Mythology and Narrative in the Ancient Near East - Karen Sonik13. Art's Role in the Origins of Writing: The Seal-Carver, the Scribe, and the Earliest Lexical Texts - Jennifer C. Ross14. Posthumous Images and the Memory of the Akkadian Kings - Melissa Eppihimer15. Styles of Pictorial Narratives in Assurbanipal's Reliefs - Chikako E. WatanabeIV. Social Identities16. Sexuality, Reproduction and Gender in Terracotta Plaques from the Late Third-Early Second Millennia BCE - Sarah B. Graff17. Images and Conceptions of Ideal Feminine Beauty in Neo-Assyrian Royal Contexts, c. 883-627 BCE - Amy Rebecca Gansell18. Uniforms and Non-Conformists: Tensions and Trends in Early Dynastic Fashion - Aubrey Baadsgaard19. Terracotta Figurines and Social Identities in Hellenistic Babylonia - Stephanie Langin-Hooper20. The Impressed Image: Glyptic Studies as Art and Social History - Mark B. Garrison21. Culture on Display: Representations of Ethnicity in the Art of the Late Assyrian State - Brian A. BrownV. Religion, Ritual and Politics22. Human, Divine or Both? The Uruk Vase and the Problem of Ambiguity in Early Mesopotamian Visual Arts - Claudia E. Suter23. A Silent Message: Godlike Kings in Mesopotamian Art - Tallay Ornan24. When the Subject is the Object: Relational Ontologies, the Partible Person and Images of Naram-Sin - Anne Porter25. Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Violence: Warfare in Neo-Assyrian Art - Paul Collins26. The Tell Asmar Hoard and Rituals of Early Dynastic Sculpture - Jean M. EvansVI. Making and Defining Space27. A Feast for the Eyes: Depiction and Performance of Ritual within the Sacred Space of Middle Bronze Age Ebla - Alice A. Petty28. The Art of Building a Late Assyrian Royal Palace - David Kertai29. The Assyrian Landscape as Ritual - Ann Shafer30. Aesthetics of the Natural Environment in the Arts of the Ancient Near East: The Elamite Rock-Cut Sanctuary of Kurangun - Javier Álvarez-Mon31. Art of the Achaemenid Empire, and Art in the Achaemenid Empire - Henry P. Colburn