The cradle of civilization -Mesopotamia,

‘Civilizations’ is an awe-inspiring, gorgeously conceived examination of how humans are intimately connected through time, space and culture by a deep, instinctual drive to create,” said Bill Gardner, Vice President, Programming and Development, PBS. 

The first depiction of individual human beauty? Carved from mammoth ivory, the Venus de Brassempouy is around 25,000 years old.

Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (in modern day Iraq), is often referred to as the cradle of civilization because it is the first place where complex urban centers grew.

The history of Mesopotamia, however, is inseparably tied to the greater region, which is comprised of the modern nations of Egypt, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, the Gulf states and Turkey. We often refer to this region as the Near or Middle East.

1.       Mesopotamia remains a region of plain geographical contrasts: vast deserts rimmed by rugged mountain ranges, punctuated by lush oases. Flowing through this topography are rivers and it was the irrigation systems that drew off the water from these rivers, specifically in southern Mesopotamia, that provided the support for the very early urban centers here.

Sumer (also known as Sumeria) was responsible for the earliest art of Antiquity. The Sumerians were the first civilizing people to settle in the lands of southern Mesopotamia, draining the marshes for agriculture, starting trade, and establishing new forms of ancient pottery along with crafts like weaving, leatherwork and metalwork.

 Sumerian civilization outshone all others within the region at the time - including Egyptian culture - due to their advanced laws, inventions and art. Sumerian culture flourished during the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE, before being overrun by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire around 2270 BCE.

The earliest known civilization of Mesopotamia grew up around Sumer, in the south of modern-day Iraq, from about 5,000 BCE. A series of cultures grew up, distinguished by their painted pottery. T-shaped houses at Tel as-Sawwan, while at Eridu, archeologists excavated a sequence of shrines - from an early mud-brick hut to an elaborate raised building with buttressed walls. These buttresses were both decorative and structural and became a feature of Sumerian architecture. Towards the end of the 4th millennium there was a series of cultural innovations; wheel-made pottery appears, as does monumental architecture characterised, at Uruk, by huge shrines with complex plans and elaborately niched walls, or with engaged or free-standing columns, studded with a mosaic of coloured clay cones in geometric patterns. At Uqair the whole temple was adorned with mural painting. Cylinder seals were carved with designs and these are our main source for the iconography of the different periods. In addition, we know that the first use of copper occurred in Sumer, as far back as 5,000, as did the first evidence of hieroglyphic writing systems (in 3,400), the first ever wheeled transport (in 3,200) and the first cuneiform script. All these cultural developments are clear indications of a literate, organized society. (c.4500-2270 BCE).

Mesopotamia eventually formed itself into two separate nations: in the north, Assyria; and in the south, Babylonia under Hammurabi (1792-1750). About 934 the Assyrians conquered Babylon, and by the time of Tiglath-Pileser III, they were the most powerful nation on earth, controlling Babylonia, Egypt, Asia Minor, Caucasus, North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean basin. After the fall of Babylon in 539, Mesopotamia became a province of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.

Collections of Mesopotamian Art

Artworks from the ancient cultures of Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, Babylon, and the Neo-Assyrian Empire, can be found in the permanent collections of several of the world's best art museums of Antiquity.

- Samarra Plate (5000 BCE) Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin.
- Halaf Dishes (4900, Halaf Period) British Museum.
- Sialk Storage Jar (3500, Sialk III Period) Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
- Priest King, limestone statuette (3300, Uruk Period) Louvre, Paris.
- Warka Vase in alabaster (3200, Uruk Period) Iraq Museum, Bagdad.
- Kneeling Bull, silver figurine (3000, Proto-Elamite Period) Met Museum, NY.
- Lioness, limestone figurine (2900, Proto-Elamite Period) Brooklyn Museum.
- Sumerian Votive Statues, gypsum/limestone (2600) Iraq Museum, Bagdad.
- Imdugud Between Two Stags, copper relief (2500) British Museum.
- Standard of Ur, limestone, lapis lazuli mosaic (2500) British Museum.
- King of Akkad, copper head (2250, Akkadian Empire) Iraq Museum, Bagdad.
- Stele of Naram-Sin, limestone relief (2230, Akkadian Empire) Louvre, Paris.
- Gudea of Lagash, diorite bust (2075, Neo-Sumerian Period) Louvre, Paris.
- Ibex Bowl, bronze, gold, lapis lazuli (1970, Simashki Dynasty) Louvre, Paris.
- Queen of the Night, terracotta sculpture (1775, Babylonian Period) BM.
- Assyrian King & Attendants, polychrome tile (870, Assyrian Empire) BM.
- Lioness Devouring a Boy, ivory relief (800, Phoenician style) British Museum.
- Nimrud Bronze & Silver Bowl (800, Ashurnasirpal II Period) British Museum.
- Dying Lion, alabaster relief (635, Neo-Assyrian Empire) British Museum.
- Lion Relief from The Processional Way, Babylon (585) Louvre, Paris.

Sherdca. 5600–5000 B.C

Halaf pottery was made by hand and decorated with very finely executed designs in one or two colors. The surface of the finest pottery was then highly burnished and a glossy effect was achieved by the use of fluxes, which serve to lower the melting point of the pigments, in some cases accidentally achieving true glazes. This fragment of a thin walled vessel has the exterior painted with light and dark brown decoration consisting of a stylized bird in profile with back arched, a long neck, and a large circular head. A vertical zigzag pattern on the left and a dark brown band partly frame the bird. The rim edge has a horizontal band with vertical stripes.

Seal amulet in the form of a seated female and modern impression ca. 3300–2900 B.C.

This tiny but finely carved seal amulet is in the shape of a squatting female wearing a diadem. The single row of small cavities on the diadem, as well as those on her breasts and in her eye, were probably filled with inlay. Her head is shown in profile with a prominent nose. One visible arm rests on her torso, with her hand on a folded knee, while the other knee is held up. Similar squatting figures are known both on cylinder seals from Iran, Mesopotamia, and Syria and as small sculpture in the round from the Iranian site of Susa. Dating from the end of the late fourth into the early third millennium B.C., such depictions are today known as "pig-tailed women" and, although many appear to be engaged in pottery or textile manufacture, they may also have had some religious meaning, perhaps depicting a gesture of worship. The other side of the amulet may have been used as a seal to make an impression in damp clay. It is flat with eight groups of drill holes that possibly represent schematic dogs.

Proto-Cuneiform tablet with seal impressions: administrative account of barley distribution with cylinder seal impression of a male figure, hunting dogs, and boars

Of the many legacies left by the ancient civilizations of southern Mesopotamia, the invention of writing is paramount. At the end of the fourth millennium B.C., written language developed in the region, first as pictographs and then evolving into abstract forms called cuneiform. The pictographs, like the ones on this tablet, are called proto-cuneiform and were drawn in the clay with a pointed implement. Circular impressions alongside the pictographs represented numerical symbols. Cuneiform (meaning wedge-shaped) script was written by pressing a reed pen or stylus with a wedge-shaped tip into a clay tablet. Clay, when dried to a somewhat hardened state, made a fine surface for writing, and when fired the records written on it became permanent.

Early writing was used primarily as a means of recording and storing economic information. This tablet most likely documents grain distributed by a large temple, although the absence of verbs in early texts makes them difficult to interpret with certainty. In addition to the writing that appears on this tablet, the imagery of the cylinder seal, which was incompletely impressed on both faces and the edges of the tablet before it was inscribed, also records information. This seal apparently has not survived. The seal impression depicts a male figure guiding two dogs on a leash and hunting or herding boars in a reed marsh. He is the so-called priest-king, a male figure who can be identified by his dress and pose. Here he appears in his role as the good shepherd who protects flocks from wild predators.

Adapted from, Art of the Ancient Near East: A Resource for Educators (2010)

Standing male worshiper

ca. 2900–2600 B.C.

Sumerian

In Mesopotamia gods were thought to be physically present in the materials and experiences of daily life. Enlil, considered the most powerful Mesopotamian god during most of the third millennium B.C., was a "raging storm" or "wild bull," while the goddess Inanna reappeared in different guises as the morning and evening star. Deities literally inhabited their cult statues after they had been animated by the proper rituals, and fragments of worn statues were preserved within the walls of the temple.

This standing figure, with clasped hands and a wide-eyed gaze, is a worshiper. It was placed in the "Square Temple" at Tell Asmar, perhaps dedicated to the god Abu, in order to pray perpetually on behalf of the person it represented. For humans equally were considered to be physically present in their statues. Similar statues were sometimes inscribed with the names of rulers and their families.

Statue of Gudeaca. 2090 B.C.

Neo-Sumerian

The Akkadian Empire collapsed after two centuries of rule, and during the succeeding fifty years, local kings ruled independent city-states in southern Mesopotamia. The city-state of Lagash produced a remarkable number of statues of its kings as well as Sumerian literary hymns and prayers under the rule of Gudea (ca. 2150–2125 B.C.) and his son Ur-Ningirsu (ca. 2125–2100 B.C.). Unlike the art of the Akkadian period, which was characterized by dynamic naturalism, the works produced by this Neo-Sumerian culture are pervaded by a sense of pious reserve and serenity.

This sculpture belongs to a series of diorite statues commissioned by Gudea, who devoted his energies to rebuilding the great temples of Lagash and installing statues of himself in them. Many inscribed with his name and divine dedications survive. Here, Gudea is depicted in the seated pose of a ruler before his subjects, his hands folded in a traditional gesture of greeting and prayer.