(Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) 1st Edition
by Ann C. Gunter (Editor)
Provides a broad view of the history and current state of scholarship on the art of the ancient Near East
This
book covers the aesthetic traditions of Mesopotamia, Iran, Anatolia,
and the Levant, from Neolithic times to the end of the Achaemenid
Persian Empire around 330 BCE. It describes and examines the field from
a variety of critical perspectives: across approaches and interpretive
frameworks, key explanatory concepts, materials and selected media and
formats, and zones of interaction. This important work also addresses
both traditional and emerging categories of material, intellectual
perspectives, and research priorities. The book covers geography and
chronology, context and setting, medium and scale, while acknowledging
the diversity of regional and cultural traditions and the uneven
survival of evidence.
Part One of the book considers the
methodologies and approaches that the field has drawn on and refined.
Part Two addresses terms and concepts critical to understanding the
subjects and formal characteristics of the Near Eastern material record,
including the intellectual frameworks within which monuments have been
approached and interpreted. Part Three surveys the field’s most
distinctive and characteristic genres, with special reference to
Mesopotamian art and architecture. Part Four considers involvement with
artistic traditions across a broader reach, examining connections with
Egypt, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean. And finally, Part Five
addresses intersections with the closely allied discipline of
archaeology and the institutional stewardship of cultural heritage in
the modern Middle East.
Told from multiple perspectives, A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Art
is an enlightening, must-have book for advanced undergraduate and
graduate students of ancient Near East art and Near East history as well
as those interested in history and art history.
