Ancient Near Eastern Art Books
By STAN PARCHIN
August 28, 2009
Ancient Near Eastern art spans more than 7,000 years, from the Neolithic or New Stone Age (8000 B.C.) to the rise of Islam (651 A.D.). In the broadest sense of geography, works produced in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), Syria, Anatolia (Turkey), Persia (Iran), Afghanistan, the Eurasian steppes, the southwestern Arabian peninsula and the Indian subcontinent's Indus River Valley are considered Near Eastern in origin. This selected bibliography of scholarly publications and exhibition catalogues provides readers with one gateway to the world of ancient art and the civilizations that created it.
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| Statue of Ashurnasirpal II. Neo-Assyrian, 883-859 B.C. Magnesite. 113 x 32 x 15 cm (44.5 x 12.6 x 5.9 in.). © The Trustees of the British Museum. |
General
Frankfort, Henri. The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (5th ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.
Von Bothmer, Dietrich (ed.), et al. Glories from the Past: Ancient Art from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990, 27-84.
Mesopotamia and Its Environs
Aruz, Joan with Ronald Wallenfels (eds.), et al. Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus (exh. cat.). New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press, 2003.
Zettler, Richard L. and Lee Horne (eds.), et al. Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur (exh. cat.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 1998.
Babylon and Beyond
Aruz, Joan, Kim Benzel and Jean M. Evans (eds.), et al. Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C. (exh. cat.). New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press, 2008.
Finkel, I.L. and M.J. Seymour (eds.), et al. Babylon: Myth and Reality (exh. cat.). London: The British Museum Press, 2008.
Assyria
Crawford, Vaughn E., Prudence O. Harper and Holly Pittman. Assyrian Reliefs and Ivories in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Palace Reliefs of Assurnasirpal II and Ivory Carvings from Nimrud. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980.
Curtis, J.E. and J.E. Reade (eds.), et al. Art and Empire: Treasures from Assyria in the British Museum (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995.
Harper, Prudence O., Evelyn Klengel Brandt, Joan Aruz and Kim Benzel (eds.), et al. Assyrian Origins: Discoveries at Ashur on the Tigris; Antiquities in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995.
Syria
Fortin, Michel. Syria: Land of Civilizations (exh. cat.). Québec: Les Editions de l'Homme, 1998.
Persia
Curtis, John E. and Nigel Tallis (eds.), et al. Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia (exh. cat.). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005.
Demange, Françoise. Glass, Gilding & Grand Design: Art of Sassanian Iran (224-642) (exh. cat.). New York: Asia Society, 2007.
Harper, Prudence O., Joan Aruz and Francoise Tallon (eds.), et al. The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992.
Afghanistan and the Eurasian Steppes
Aruz, Joan, Ann Farkas, Andrei Alekseev and Elena Korolkova (eds.), et al. The Golden Deer of Eurasia: Scythian and Sarmatian Treasures from the Russian Steppes. The State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, and the Archaeological Museum, Ufa (exh. cat.). New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press, 2000.
Chang, Claudia and Katharine S. Guroff (eds. ), et al. Of Gold and Grass: Nomads of Kazakhstan (exh. cat.). Bethesda: The Foundation for International Arts and Education, 2006.
Farkas, Ann, et al. From the Lands of the Scythians: Ancient Treasures from the Museums of the U.S.S.R., 3000 B.C. to 100 B.C. (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1975.
Hiebert, Fredrik and Pierre Cambon (eds.), et al. Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul (exh. cat.). New York and Washington, D.C.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Geographic Society, 2008.
Reeder, Ellen D. (ed.), et al. Scythian Gold: Treasures from Ancient Ukraine (ext. cat.). New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 2000.
Treasures of the Eurasian Steppes: Animal Art from 800 B.C. to 200 A.D. (exh. cat.). New York: Ariadne Galleries, 1998.
Indus River Valley
Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. New York and Karachi: Oxford University Press and American Institute of Pakistan Studies, 1998.