Virtual Soleiman Lecture: From Palace to Cosmos—Assyrian Reliefs and the Construction of Empire скачать в хорошем качестве

Virtual Soleiman Lecture: From Palace to Cosmos—Assyrian Reliefs and the Construction of Empire

Michael Seymour, associate curator in the department of Ancient Near Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, discusses Assyrian reliefs and the construction of empire. From the ninth through seventh centuries BCE, Assyria, centered in today’s northern Iraq, was the dominant imperial power in the Middle East. The empire’s rulers lined the walls of their palaces with carved stone reliefs depicting the king, supernatural figures, royal hunting scenes, and Assyrian military campaigns across an area stretching from Egypt to Iran. The last form a particularly striking category, showing the violence of empire but also employing landscape and narrative in new ways to represent and participate in the construction of a particular image of Assyria and its wider world. This lecture will focus on the dynamic between palace, empire, and imperial vision, and explore some of the ways in which the sculptures can contribute to more complex readings of all three. Generously supported by the Mary Soleiman Lecture Fund.