The Sam'al lions are a number of lion-shaped statues from Sam'al, the modern Zincirli, which are currently located in the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin (Pergamon Museum), the Museum of the Ancient Orient (Istanbul) and the Louvre.
The Sam'al lions are a number of lion-shaped statues from Sam'al, the modern Zincirli, which are currently located in the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin (Pergamon Museum), the Museum of the Ancient Orient (Istanbul) and the Louvre.
The lions are made from dolerite. They are 1.9 metres high, 2.9-3.05 metres long and 0.85-.0.9 metres wide. The figures have the inventory numbers VAG 1042, VA 2719, VA 2718 und VA 3001. Three of the lions are originals, one of them is a plaster cast. [1]
The lions come, and have been dated between the 10th and 8th centuries BC. They probably belong to the inner part of the east gate of the city, but were discovered in a secondary deposition. All four lions differ from one another in details. The differences are so great that current scholarship argues that the outer lions must date to the 10th century BC and the inner lions to the 8th century. Both statues stand nearly square with one another. The sides are only carved in shallow relief. The later lions have been created by reworking older statues. They are more detached from the walls than the older ones and details like the manes and extremities have been more starkly worked. In addition, the mouths are opened more widely and give a more threatening impression. The lions served as orthostates and thus had both a decorative and a structural role. [1]
The lions are displayed in room 2 (Syria and Asia Minor) of the Pergamonmuseum. They form an ensemble with other parts of the City gate of Sam'al and are located at the opposite end of the processional way of Babylon from the Ishtar gate. The statues were found by the Orient-Comité excavations in 1890/91 and brought to Berlin as partage (which was common at the time). [1]
Two associated lion statues are now on display in the Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient.
A sphinx is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle.
Gudea (Sumerian: 𒅗𒌤𒀀, Gu3-de2-a) was a ruler (ensi) of the state of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia, who ruled c. 2080–2060 BC (short chronology) or 2144–2124 BC (middle chronology). He probably did not come from the city, but had married Ninalla, daughter of the ruler Ur-Baba (2164–2144 BC) of Lagash, thus gaining entrance to the royal house of Lagash. He was succeeded by his son Ur-Ningirsu. Gudea ruled at a time when the center of Sumer was ruled by the Gutian dynasty, and when Ishtup-Ilum ruled to the north in Mari. Under Gudea, Lagash had a golden age, and seemed to enjoy a high level of independence from the Gutians.
The Pergamon Museum is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of Emperor Wilhelm II and according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped Classicism style. As part of the Museum Island complex, the Pergamon Museum was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999 because of its architecture and testimony to the evolution of museums as architectural and social phenomena.
Ancient art refers to the many types of art produced by the advanced cultures of ancient societies with different forms of writing, such as those of ancient China, India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The art of pre-literate societies is normally referred to as prehistoric art and is not covered here. Although some pre-Columbian cultures developed writing during the centuries before the arrival of Europeans, on grounds of dating these are covered at pre-Columbian art and articles such as Maya art, Aztec art, and Olmec art.
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The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed c. 569 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city. It was part of a grand walled processional way leading into the city.
Naram-Sin, also transcribed Narām-Sîn or Naram-Suen, was a ruler of the Akkadian Empire, who reigned c. 2254–2218 BC, and was the third successor and grandson of King Sargon of Akkad. Under Naram-Sin the empire reached its maximum extent. He was the first Mesopotamian king known to have claimed divinity for himself, taking the title "God of Akkad", and the first to claim the title "King of the Four Quarters". He became the patron city god of Akkade as Enlil was in Nippur. His enduring fame resulted in later rulers, Naram-Sin of Eshnunna and Naram-Sin of Assyria as well as Naram-Sin of Uruk, assuming the name.
Sam'al, is an archaeological site located in the Anti-Taurus Mountains of modern Turkey's Gaziantep Province. During its time under the control of the Neo-Assyrian Empire it was called, by them, Sam'al. It was founded at least as far back as the Early Bronze Age and thrived between 3000 and 2000 BC, and on the highest part of the upper mound was found a walled citadel of the Middle Bronze Age. New excavations revealed a monumental complex in the Middle Bronze Age II, and another structure that was destroyed in the mid to late 17th century BC, maybe by Hititte king Hattusili I. This event was recently radiocarbon-dated to sometime between 1632 and 1610 BC, during the late Middle Bronze Age II. The site was thought to have been abandoned during the Hittite and Mitanni periods, but excavations in 2021 season showed evidence of occupation during the Late Bronze Age in Hittite times. It flourished again in the Iron Age, initially under Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittites, and by 920 B.C. had become a kingdom. In the 9th and 8th century BC it came under control of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and by the 7th century BC had become a directly ruled Assyrian province.
Assos was an ancient Greek city near today's Behramkale or Behram for short, which most people still call by its ancient name of Assos. It is located on the Aegean coast in the Ayvacık district of Çanakkale province, Turkey. It is on the southern side of Biga Peninsula. Assos sits on the coast of the Adramyttian Gulf and used to offer the only good harbour along the 80 kilometres (50 mi) of coast which made it very important for shipping in the Troad.
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The Vorderasiatisches Museum is an archaeological museum in Berlin. It is in the basement of the south wing of the Pergamon Museum and has one of the world's largest collections of Southwest Asian art. 14 halls distributed across 2,000 square meters of exhibition surface display southwest Asian culture spanning six millennia. The exhibits cover a period from the 6th millennium BCE into the time of the Muslim conquests. They originate particularly from today's states of Iraq, Syria and Turkey, with singular finds also from other areas. Starting with the Neolithic finds, the emphasis of the collection is of finds from Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria, as well as northern Syria and eastern Anatolia.
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The art of Mesopotamia has survived in the record from early hunter-gatherer societies on to the Bronze Age cultures of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. These empires were later replaced in the Iron Age by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia brought significant cultural developments, including the oldest examples of writing.
The Balawat Gates are three sets of decorated bronze bands that had adorned the main doors of several buildings at Balawat, dating to the reigns of Ashurnasirpal II and Shalmaneser III. Their extensive use of narrative art depicting the exploits of Assyrian kings has cemented their position as some of the most important surviving works of art of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, comparable to the extensive Assyrian palace reliefs. When the Neo-Assyrian Empire fell in 614-612 BC, Balawat was destroyed. The wooden elements of the gates decomposed, leaving only the bronze bands. The remains of two sets of gates can be found in the British Museum's collection, those from the Temple of Mamu are housed in the Mosul Museum. Small sections of the Shalmaneser bronze door bands are also in the Louvre Museum at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.
Karatepe-Aslantaş Open-Air Museum is an open-air museum in Osmaniye Province, Turkey. Karatepe is the location while Aslantaş refers to the lion figure on stone sculptures. The site is situated inside a national park with the same name.
Tura-Dagan was a ruler of the city of Mari, northern Mesopotamia, after the fall of the Akkadian Empire. He was son of Apil-Kin, and brother of Ili-Ishar. He held the title of Shakkanakku, which was borne by all the princes of a dynasty who reigned at Mari in the late third millennium and early second millennium BC. These kings were the descendants of the military governors appointed by the kings of Akkad. He was contemporary of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and probably their vassal.
