Art and Immortality in the Ancient Near East

Far from being a Judeo-Christian invention, apocalyptic thought had its roots in the ancient Near East and was expressed in its art.

Mehmet-Ali Ataç (Author)

9781107154957, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 March 2018

298 pages, 59 b/w illus. 1 map
26 x 18.5 x 1.8 cm, 0.81 kg

Discussions of apocalyptic thought and its sources in the ancient Near East, particularly Mesopotamia, have a long scholarly history, with a renewed interest and focus in the recent decades. Outside Assyriological scholarship as well, studies of the apocalyptic give significant credit to the ancient Near East, especially Babylonia and Iran, as potential sources for the manifestations of this phenomenon in the Hellenistic period. The emphasis on kingship and empire in apocalyptic modes of thinking warrants special attention paid to the regal art of ancient Mesopotamia and adjacent areas in its potential to express the relevant notions. In this book, Mehmet-Ali Ataç demonstrates the importance of visual evidence as a source for apocalyptic thought. Focusing on the so-called investiture painting from Mari, he relates it to parallel evidence from the visual traditions of the Assyrian Empire, ancient Egypt, and Hittite Anatolia.

Introduction
1. The 'investiture' painting from Mari
2. The iconographic analysis of the Mari painting
3. The flood myth as paradigm
4. The semantics of the frame of running spirals
5. Implications of sacral time and eschatology
6. The royal destiny: the 'garden scene' of Ashurbanipal revisited.

Subject Areas: Religion & beliefs [HR], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], African history [HBJH], Asian history [HBJF], History [HB], History of art: Byzantine & Medieval art c 500 CE to c 1400 [ACK], History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE [ACG], History of art / art & design styles [AC], The arts [A]