MetPublications

Art of the Ancient Near East: A Resource for Educators

Benzel, Kim, Sarah B. Graff, Yelena Rakic, and Edith W. Watts (2010)

Many features of civilization originated in the lands we call the ancient Near East, a vast and varied area from Turkey to the Indus Valley of present-day Pakistan and from the Caucasus to the Arabian Peninsula. This essential guide for K–12 educators introduces the variety and diversity of art produced by the rich and complex cultures that flourished in this region during an equally vast time period, from the eighth millennium B.C. to the middle of the seventh century A.D. Learn about the cultural, archaeological, and historical contexts for a selection of thirty works of art in the ...

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Vessel terminating in the forepart of a fantastic leonine creature

Date: ca. 5th century B.C.
Accession Number: 54.3.3

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Necklace pendants and beads

Date: ca. 18th–17th century B.C.
Accession Number: 47.1a-h

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Head of a ruler

Date: ca. 2300–2000 B.C.
Accession Number: 47.100.80

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Kneeling bull holding a spouted vessel

Date: ca. 3100–2900 B.C.
Accession Number: 66.173

MetPublications

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, Egypt and the Ancient Near East

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, introduction by Peter Dorman, Prudence Oliver Harper, and Holly Pittman (2002)

The long-vanished civilizations of Egypt and the Near East have been a source of fascination since earliest times. While these cultures were still thriving, travelers brought back to Europe tales of rich and exotic lands in Africa and Asia. In the centuries that followed, fact and fancy created elaborate myths about the cities and monuments that lay buried in the deserts. Only in the nineteenth century, at the height of European colonialism, did science begin to replace romance, allowing the study and preservation of ancient artifacts to be undertaken seriously. Almost from the beginning, t...

MetPublications

Cultures in Contact: From Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C.

Aruz, Joan, Sarah B. Graff, and Yelena Rakic, eds. (2013)

The exhibition "Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C.," held in 2008–2009 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, demonstrated the cultural enrichment that emerged from the intensive interaction of civilizations from western Asia to Egypt and the Aegean in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. During this critical period in human history, powerful kingdoms and large territorial states were formed. Rising social elites created a demand for copper and tin, as well as for precious gold and silver and exotic materials such as lapis lazuli and ivory to create elite ...

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Vessel terminating in the forepart of a stag

Date: ca. 14th–13th century B.C.
Accession Number: 1989.281.10

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Plaque: winged creatures approaching stylized trees

Date: ca. 8th–7th century B.C.
Accession Number: 54.3.5 and 62.78.1a, b

MetPublications

Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre

Harper, Prudence O., Joan Aruz, and Françoise Tallon, eds. (1992)

The ancient city of Susa (biblical Shushan) lay at the edge of the Iranian plateau, not far from the great cities of Mesopotamia. A strategically located and vital center, Susa absorbed diverse influences and underwent great political fluctuations during the several thousand years of its history. When French archaeologists began to excavate its site in the nineteenth century, the astonishing abundance of finds greatly expanded our understanding of the ancient Near East. The artifacts were taken to Paris through diplomatic agreement and became a centerpiece of the Louvre's great collection o...