【Art History】2. Ancient Mesopotamia and Persia 古美索不达米亚和波斯

《汉莫拉比法典》：Law Code of Hammurabi

Sumerian Art   ca. 3500 -- 2332 BCE (zt):
* The Sumerians founded the world's first city-states in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers 
    and invented writing in the 4th millennium BCE.
* They were also the 1st to build communal religious shrines on towering platforms, such as Uruk's mud-brick White Temple,
   and to place figures in registers to tell coherent stories.

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短视频：

5-Minute Art History: Sumerian Art from Mesopotamia




苏美尔神话 :

苏美尔神话是古代苏美尔的人民所信奉的宗教神话故事。苏美尔是古代美索不达米亚地区第一个有文字的文明。苏美尔人视其神祇为与自然和社会秩序有关的一切事物的掌管者。

在文字被创造之前，苏美尔神话通过口耳相传的形式传播。目前发现的最早传说是吉尔伽美什史诗，该作品就是用苏美尔语书记录于泥石板上的，苏美尔楔形文字最早只是用于保存文件，直到早王朝末期宗教文本才大规模出现，主要是神殿颂歌[2]和符咒。承载文字的原材料除了粘土，还有石头。书写工具往往是楔形的小芦苇杆。

Neo-Sumerian and Babylonian Art ca, 2150 - 1600 BCE (zt):
* During the 3rd Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerians rose again to power and constructed one of Mesopotamia's largest tiered temple platforms, or ziggurats, at Ur.
* Babylon's greatest king, Hammurabi, formulated wide-ranging laws for the empire he ruled.Babylonian artists were among the first to experiment with foreshortening.



Ancient Near Eastern Art - Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian

Achaemenid and Sasanian Art ca. 559--330 BCE and 224--636 CE(zt):
* The capital of the Achaemenid Persians was at Persepolis, where Darius and Xerxes built a huge palace complex.
* The Sasanians, enemies of Rome, ruled the New Persian Empire from their palace at Ctesiphon until the Arabs
    defeated them four years after the death of Muhammad. 

Persia & Persian Art at the Louvre


PERSEPOLIS - The Great Ancient Persian City


History Summarized: Ancient Persia


History Documentary BBC ❖ Civilization Persia And Arabian Peninsula

Bull-headed lyre (restored),
Royal Cemetery, Ur, Iraq, ca. 2600 BCE.
University of Pennsylvania Museum



百度：

金牛头竖琴属于第一王朝时期的牛头竖琴，在乌尔国王阿巴尔吉和王后苏巴德的陵墓内找到的。它反映着古代乌尔金器镶嵌匠师们的精湛技艺。 这是一架大竖琴的琴箱前半部，上方是用黄金铸成的牛头，下垂着天青石胡须，眼珠嵌着蓝宝石。

大竖琴的琴箱前半部，上方是用黄金铸成的牛头，下垂着天青石胡须，眼珠嵌着蓝宝石。琴箱正立面用贝壳镶嵌着四幅小画面，均用圣畜动物象征性描绘国王的舞乐生活，它们是：自上而下第一幅表现古巴比伦传奇英雄吉尔伽美什与人面天牛相抱共舞，第二幅描绘雄狮用天狼送来的美酒佳肴开怀畅饮，第三幅是狗熊与驴子合奏竖琴，第四幅是山羊与人面蛇翩翩起舞。它反映着古代乌尔金器镶嵌匠师们的精湛技艺。

英国考古学家伦纳德伍莱（Leonard Woolley 1880-1960）在苏美尔时期的城市乌尔（Ur现今伊拉克波斯湾附近）的皇家陵园里曾发现了好几件竖琴。这件展品是他在普阿比王后（Queen Pu-abi）陵墓中发掘的物品之一。竖琴靠着墓壁，琴旁有十位身佩华丽珠宝的女性尸体，推测她们应该是献祭的牺牲品。陵墓中还有无数珠宝和各种金属器皿，一位女性尸体躺在竖琴的右边，根据伍莱的记录，她手骨所放位置正是琴弦的部分。

牛头竖琴是用天青石、金箔制成的，琴胎则用黄扬木雕刻而成。琴身上还用贝壳、红宝石和天青石镶嵌出苏美尔神话中的英雄吉尔伽美什降服野牛和一些动物奏乐的故事形象。在竖琴的琴把上，就是带假胡须的金饰牛头，它的眼睛、胡须、牛角尖都是用蓝宝石镶嵌的。牛眼目光炯炯，很有生气，如此细巧的手工艺品，在同时代的工艺美术中恐怕是罕见的。有趣的还有牛胡须的编织样式，这种样式体现了苏美尔人的一种艺术风格，这在其他人物雕像上也可以看到。

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Woolley
Sir Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880 – 20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia. He is considered to have been one of the first "modern" archaeologists, and was knighted in 1935 for his contributions to the discipline of archaeology.

His work at Ur (in charge of the joint venture between the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania) began in 1922, and he made important discoveries in the course of excavating the royal cemeteries there, including the Copper Bull[3] and the pair of Ram in a Thicket figurines, one of which is in the British Museum and the other in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Agatha Christie's novel, Murder in Mesopotamia, was inspired by the discovery of the royal tombs. Christie later married Woolley's young assistant, Max Mallowan.

Ur, found in present-day Iraq, was the burial site of what may have been many Sumerian royals. Woolley discovered tombs of great material wealth. Inside these tombs were large paintings of ancient Sumerian culture at its zenith, along with gold and silver jewellery, cups and other furnishings. The most extravagant tomb was that of "Queen" Pu-Abi. Amazingly enough, Queen Pu-Abi's tomb was untouched by looters. Inside the tomb, many well-preserved items were found, including a cylindrical seal bearing her name in Sumerian. Her body was found buried along with those of two attendants, who had presumably been poisoned to continue to serve her after death. Woolley was able to reconstruct Pu-Abi's funeral ceremony from objects found in her tomb. Her headdress, cylinder seal and body were formerly on display at the University of Pennsylvania; however, they are currently being displayed in the British Museum in London.

Leonard Woolley holding one of several lyres discovered in the Royal Tombs of Ur.

讲座里提到波斯帝国全盛时期疆土范围远超出伊朗，其东部包括巴基斯坦、阿富汗，东北延伸到前苏联几个同中国新疆接壤的小国，西部达今天的土耳其，跨越从东经30度一直到90度4个时区。历史上朝代、疆域随时间变化而变化，这从文字上比较难以消化，而图片以缺乏连贯性，视频就解决了这个问题。这么一看，丝绸之路自长安“经关中平原、河西走廊、塔里木盆地，到锡尔河与乌浒河之间的中亚河中地区、大伊朗，并联结地中海各国的陆上通道”也就有了一个直观的画面。不过，两千年前张骞走上那条路，我实在想象不出每一天会是怎样的情况，光是从logistics方面考虑，在那荒凉贫瘠的地区这么保证？我突然想到那个“道路以目”的成语。一查，那是西周历王时代的事情，发生在前800年。现在如果把中国历史作为参照，比较，才石器到青铜，中国的“文化艺术”底蕴好像差了很多，尤其是雕塑好像从来没有普及过。巴比伦国的历史比波斯还要早，他们的疆域是重叠的。唉，很有意思，不过很多细节来不及消化，慢慢来吧。

一个有意思的现象是，古今中外几千年前的“丧葬文化”几乎一模一样。而且可以肯定是，那时在地球几个不同文明地带之间没有任何交流。