Ancient West Asian

The many ancient cultures and styles that developed in the vast geographical area extending from Turkey in the west to Iran in the east.

Dates

c. 5000 B.C.E.–651 C.E.

Places

Asia > West Asia > Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman ...
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Basics Works of Art Periods, Cultures, Styles Curated Guides

Ancient West Asian

The many ancient cultures and styles that developed in the vast geographical area extending from Turkey in the west to Iran in the east.

Dates

c. 5000 B.C.E.–651 C.E.

Places

Asia > West Asia > Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman ...
Show More

Basics Works of Art Periods, Cultures, Styles Curated Guides

Basics to get you started

Ancient West Asia: cradle of civilization

Tiny timeline: ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in a global context, 5th–3rd millennia B.C.E.

Tiny timeline: ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in a global context, 2nd–1st millennia B.C.E.

Pre-Islamic Arabia

Akkad, an introduction

Amorites, an introduction

Hittites, an introduction

Canaanites, an introduction

Ancient Persia, an introduction

Assyria, an introduction

Babylonia, an introduction

Sasanian art, an introduction

Sumer, an introduction

The Babylonian mind

Cuneiform, an introduction

Writing cuneiform

Visiting Babylon

Assyrian sculpture

Zoroastrianism, an introduction

Jewish history to the middle ages

Works of Art

Sasanian plate

4th century C.E.

The Black Obelisk

825 B.C.E.

Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II

c. 721–705 B.C.E.

Standard of Ur and other objects from the Royal Graves

c. 2600–2400 B.C.E.

Standing Male Worshipper (Tell Asmar)

c. 2900–2600 B.C.E.

Ancient city of Bosra

c. 200 B.C.E.–13th century

Al-Hijr (Madâin Sâlih)

c. 1st century C.E.

Lapis lazuli stamp seal

c. 2400–2000 B.C.E.

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Periods, Cultures, Styles

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The Standard of Ur, 2600-2400 B.C.E., shell, limestone, lapis lazuli, and bitumen, 21.59 x 49.53 x 12 cm (British Museum, London)

Sumerian

c. 5500–2004 B.C.E.

Necklaces of faience beads and pendants, Canaanite, about 1500–1200 B.C.E., from Lachish (modern Tell ed-Duweir), Israel, 13 cm long (© The Trustees of the British Museum)

Canaanite

c. 4500–1150 B.C.E.

Hematite cylinder seal of Habde-Adad, Old Babylonian Dynasty, about 19th century B.C.E., from Mesopotamia, 2.4 cm high (© The Trustees of The British Museum)

Amorite

c. 2400–1500 B.C.E.

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, 2254-2218 B.C.E., pink limestone, Akkadian (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Akkadian

c. 2334–2193 B.C.E.

Ziggurat of Ur (largely reconstructed), c. 2100 B.C.E. mud brick and baked brick, Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq (photo: Joshua McFall, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Neo-Sumerian (Ur III)

c. 2112–2004 B.C.E.

Ishtar Gate and Processional Way (Reconstruction), Babylon, c. 575 B.C.E., glazed mud brick (Pergamon Museum, Berlin)

Babylonian

c. 1894–539 B.C.E.

Palmyra

c. 1800 B.C.E.–273 C.E.

"Unfinished" Kudurru, Kassite period, attributed to the reign of Melishipak (1186-1172 B.C.E.), Susa (where it had been taken as war booty in the 12th century B.C.E.), limestone, 83 x 42 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Kassite

c. 1600–1000 B.C.E.

Basalt relief showing a storm-god, Neo-Hittite, 10th century B.C.E., from Carchemish, south-east Anatolia (modern Turkey) (© The Trustees of the British Museum)

Hittite

c. 1400–1200 B.C.E.

Lion Hunts of Ashurbanipal (ruled 669-630 B.C.E.), c. 645 B.C.E., gypsum,Neo-Assyrian, hall reliefs from Palace at Ninevah across the Tigris from present day Mosul, Iraq; excavated by H. Rassam beginning in 1853 (British Museum)

Assyrian

c. 1365–609 B.C.E.

The Cyrus Cylinder, after 539 B.C.E., fired clay, 21.9 cm long

Persian (Achaemenid Empire)

c. 550–330 B.C.E.

So-called Monastery, or ed-Deir, Petra (Jordan) (photo: April Rinne, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Nabataean

323 B.C.E–105 C.E.

Parthian

247 B.C.E.–224 C.E.

Plate with a king hunting rams, Sasanian Iran, 5th–6th century C.E., silver with mercury gilding and niello inlay; 21.9 cm diameter (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Sasanian

224–651 C.E.

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Curated Guides to Ancient West Asian

All Textbook Chapters Syllabi

Textbook Chapter

Rethinking approaches to the art of the Ancient Near East until c. 600 B.C.E.

Syllabus

Prehistory to the Middle Ages: the Mediterranean Syllabus