The Assyrian Lion Hunt Reliefs

Horrific violence, terrifying threats and public terrors strike fear into the hearts of thousands who oppose the Assyrian Empire. “An Assyrian Emperor’s Resume: Ferocious Conquests a Specialty” remains a paragon of these unspeakable tragedies transpiring around 875 B.C. Written by Ashur-Nasir-Pal II (or one of his subjects), this anecdote highlights his conquests as he claims ancient cities’ wealth, while brutally murdering foreign people and destroying their lands. Geographically, the story takes place in the Middle East, specifically North Mesopotamia. According to the author, he conquers places like Hudun, Zamua, Zamru, Iritu and Ammaru. The historical value behind this piece portrays prominent aspects of their society and depicts how Assyrians reigned, while hinting at the empire’s values; therefore, this historical account provides evidence, which exhibits the attributes of the Near East during Ashur-Nasir-Pal II’s reign.

Various pieces of art found thousands of years ago depict characters based on certain events and legends. I will be analyzing two works of art: The Sound Box of the Great Lyre, a wooden music box (33 x 11 cm) found in present-day Iraq c. 2600-2500 BCE, and Lapith Fighting a Centaur, a high metope relief (1.42 m) on the side of the Parthenon in Ancient Greece c. 447-432 BCE. The former represents a bull with a low relief under its head, depicting animals mimicking the lifestyle of humans. The latter exemplifies a nude man struggling against a mythical creature that is half-man half-horse2. Although these works are from across the world with completely different cultures, they both have similar

In this essay, I will compare and contrast two different sculptures from two different contexts of art. The first being an Olmec Colossal head (monument 1), from the context of “Art of the Americas,” and the second sculpture being ahead from Rafin Kura. The head from Rafin Kura comes from the context of “Art of Africa.” Both sculptures come from two different time periods and parts of the world. They also are both made with natural materials and have their own symbolic meaning.

The Assyrians were very successful as empire-builders. Although the Sea People destroyed their domain a couple of times, the Assyrians still managed to revive creating the “Neo-Assyrian Empire,” in which their realm expanded especially in the Middle East and took control over Egypt. During the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Assyrians were able to master the skill at using chariots and the proficiency of iron smelting. They developed iron weapons and the first true cavalry force that gave them a huge advantage over their neighbors who still used copper and tin weapons. Consequently, the Assyrians became an unrivaled power over the ancient Near East and began exploring artworks and ways they could adorn their cities. The Assyrians were also famous for building great roads that allowed them to move quickly from place to place. Likewise, they built amazing cities with fortified walls, canals,

In the British Museum the Benin plaques were originally displayed in an area known as the Assyrian Basement that was not even known that well to the general public and have since shown to have no relevance to the rest of the contents of that room. The storage of the pieces in that way suggests that they were uncertain as to how to categorise these works of art.

One of the greatest and most ancient of the worlds mysteries, still undeciphered by archaeologists today, resides at the Giza plateau. It is ‘The Great Sphinx’. This colossal statue holds centuries of untold secrets. Standing “sixty feet high and two hundred and forty feet long, the Sphinx is the biggest single stone statue in existence” (“Secret: The Sphinx”). This Egyptian masterpiece represents a fictitious creature that has the head of a man, but the body of a lion. Unfortunately, the Sphinx’s appearance has suffered greatly over the years. “The head of the Sphinx has been badly affected by…years of erosion” and pieces of the monument are missing, like the nose (Haughton, 45). However, historians

My second piece I want to tell you about is the Sphinx of Amenhotep III. This piece was made sometime between 2000-1000 B.C. The artist from this piece is unknown but it is believed that the Sphinx of Amenhotep III is a model of a temple. It is only about 9 7/8 inches in length, 5 1/4 inches in width and 5 1/4 inches tall. Amenhotep III had many statues completed of him and during that age Amenhotep built many temples and other chapels. By the looks of it, it just looks like a giant doorstopper. But this artifact has great symbolism. The sphinx puts two things together and offers them to the gods, and that would be protective power of the lion with the royal function. It’s a lion’s body but transforms to human arms and hands. It has about

Since its establishment, the British Museum has been an iconic symbol of human culture, art, and history. It was built around 263 years ago and has served as the storehouse for many iconic discoveries over the centuries (Caleca, 1979). With a collection of almost 8 million artifacts and historical objects, it 's hard to choose one. Each object has its own value in the museum and reflects the ancient times (Caleca, 1979). In this paper, we will be discussing the artifact called "The Sphinx of Tharaqo” that is preserved in the British Museum.

There have been countless duels between two opposing sides in the history Roman artistry. This sculpture relief signifies the classic battle of good versus evil. Time and time again, benevolent heroes find themselves in a struggle to combat worthy yet malicious adversaries. The Roman sarcophagus, a two by five feet marble coffin, is certainly no exception. It represents another division to this timeless good-evil epic, its visual characteristics, emphasis on contrasts, and its extensive array of details give it an identity that is uniquely its own. It portrays a sense of legendary fantasy to the viewer, one pertaining to hostility, violence, and pure anger. The sculpture seems overly shallow due to

The ancient Egyptians are known for their fondness for animals, and the cat was a favorite household companion. Cats were common in ancient Egyptian art that depicted domestic scenes since they were greatly appreciated as killers of rodents, snakes, scorpions, ect. Typically homes with cats had less sickness, and fewer deaths. But beyond these roles, cats were cherished as pets and even worshipped. The ancient Egyptians revered and worshipped many animals, just as other ancient civilizations did, but none were worshipped as reverently as the cat. This essay will carefully analyze the Egyptian relief

This approach to the opening of the chamber demonstrates Carter’s caution that he took into the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the transportation of the contents that was inside it. Carter opened the burial chamber and when he did he was confronted by the golden walls and two large statues “So enormous was this structure (17 feet by 11 feet, and 9 feet high, we found out afterwards) that it filled within a little the entire area of the chamber” gives an accurate description of these statues and an accurate account of the amount of artefacts that were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb.

The two sculptures presented for this assignment are the Statue of Gudea, which dates back to 2090 B.C. (“Statue of Gudea,” 2000) and The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu, which dates back to 2575–2465 B.C. (“The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu,” 2000). Both statues represent people; however, they depict different types of people from completely different time periods and cultural backgrounds. The Statue of Gudea shows the ruler of southern Mesopotamian, Gudea, whose reign was from 2144-2124 B.C. (“The votive statue of Gudea: A formal analysis,” 2011) sitting in a praying position with his hands locked and his eyes forward. He is dressed in what appears to be a lavish robe with an inscription that clearly depicts what Gudea thought of himself and his successes during his time as ruler. The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu represent what is thought to be a married ancient Egyptian couple who are lovingly embracing each other. Aside from looking at

Richard I, as known as Lionheart, was one of the affective crusading king in twelfth-century. The bronze version of ‘Richard I, Coeur de Lion’ is a secondary source. Because of the plaster cast which is the original model of the statue in Great Exhibition was giving a remarkable impression and admired by the citizen. In 1853, Baron Carlo Marochetti had been commissioned to cast a bronze version which is subscribed by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, for permanent exhibition and commemoration purpose (Banerjess, 2010). Also, it is a birthday gift to Prince Albert from Queen Victoria (Jonathan, 2010). And now, this statue where placed in Old Palace Yard has become well-known among those Victorian statues.

The reliefs from the palace of King Assurnasirpal II at Nimrud play an important role in portraying the power and importance

In this paper I will be analyzing the gilded bronze statues of Hercules (from greek Herakles) created in the 2nd century BCE in dedication to demigod’s accomplishments. While the two sculptures are extremely similar, they yield minor differences that can easily distinct one from the other. Hercules was regarded as the strongest greek hero there is, but despite his unparalleled strength appeared to be a regular human. While both statues remained in Rome, one statue was found at the Forum Boarium, the other was buried under tiles at the Theatre of Pompey with the inscriptions “FCS” short for fulgor conditum summanium, meaning it had been struck by lightning. Despite being a product of Roman sculpture, they were based around Greek models from the 4th century BCE. After its creation it was displayed at the Forum Boarium in Rome for most of its existence, Romans claim that it is also where the cattle market took place. In his right hand he yields a club, his distinctive symbol alongside the Lion skin. Its also important to highlight the fact that the statue found at the forum he does not have a lion skin hanging from his forearm, whereas the one found at the Theatre of Pompey he does. The Nemean Lion skin was the fruit of his first labour composed of three tasks. First he had to shoot an arrow at the beast and determine the speed at which it strikes the beast given the angle of elevation and the distance. Second, using a set of polygons to stack tiles block off the cave mouths