Monumental art of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Achaemenid

Persia: A Critical Comparison

The earliest of the great powers in I millennium BCE was the Neo-Assyrian kingdom. The Neo-
Assyrian Kingdom - the Assyrian state in Mesopotamia, which existed in the period from 934 BCE
to 609 BCE. At the head of the Neo-Assyrian kingdom stood the sovereign monarch. Assyria
became one of the leading states of Western Asia in the first half of the first millennium BCЕ. But
the history of the development of art of Assyria dates back to earlier periods. In the III millennium
BCЕ Assyria was strongly influenced by the Sumerian culture. In one of the shrines of this time, the
shrine of the goddess Ishtar in the city of Assur (the ancient capital of Assyria), statuettes
resembling the Sumerians were found. In the XV century BCE Assyria became dependent on the
Mitanni state in the northern Mesopotamia. The art of Assyria absorbed a great deal from Mitanni
and Hittite art. But the highest development of the art of Assyria received only in the I millennium
BCE, when Assyria turned into a strong slave-owning state, subjugating almost the whole of
Western Asia as a result of the wars of conquest. The centralization of power in the hands of the
Assyrian kings contributed to the fact that the art made very specific requirements: to glorify the
acts of the king and the military power of Assyria. All the monuments of Mesopotamia had only a
religious purpose and always revolved only around the gods, but in Assyrian sculpture, the central
subject is usually the king - not as a supernatural being, but as a completely earthly, though
dominant, valiant monarch. Assyrian art from the beginning of I millennium BCЕ and until the
collapse of the Assyrian state at the end of VII. BCЕ was completely filled with the pathos of power,
glorified the power, victories and conquests of the Assyrian rulers. Architecture was a leading kind
of art, but it was mainly palace complexes and fortresses that were built. From Assyria come some
of the most impressive monuments of the ancient world. The excavated palaces with rich decoration
give a bright idea of the level of development and stylistic features of Assyrian architecture and fine
art. The relief dominates in the monumental art of Assyria. Round sculpture in the art of Assyria did
not play a big role. From the time of Ashurnasirpal II, a remarkable alabaster statue of Ashurnasirpal
II itself, depicting the king as a high priest. It was installed in the temple, and was the object of
worship. Its composition is strictly frontal; the image of the king is idealized. Very low, flat reliefs
depicting battles and royal hunting were preserved in the palace of Ashurnasirpal II. They are rough,
harsh in style and represent a whole panorama of battle and hunting scenes. With a general
anatomical correctness, a detailed study of the muscles of the legs and arms, the images of people
and animals are notable for their stiffness. The general scheme of reliefs at the time of Ashurnasirpal
II was already fully established. Assyrian artists loved the lion hunt scenes very much. The king
rides the chariot, holding a huge bow in his hand. The muscles in his arms demonstrate superhuman
strength. The servants of the special corral let out the kings of animals - mighty lions, and the king
of Assyria amazes them one by one. The sculptural slabs that adorned the royal palaces were a form
of political propaganda; narrative and decorative, they were not meant to satisfy the gods, but to
incite respect, admiration and fear of the king. From a general point of view, the work of Assyrian
sculptors seems to be the first attempt to “humanize” works of art and free them from magical or
religious meaning inherited from prehistoric times. Along the relief images are cuneiform lines - a
chronicle of royal exploits. Both the text and the reliefs themselves are extremely expressive.
Assyrian king - a real man and a warrior, a lion among people. For Assyrian art is characterized by a
special approach to the image of man: the desire to create an ideal of beauty and courage.
The Assyrians created a new, military genre. On the reliefs of the royal palaces, artists with striking
art depicted military life. Assyrian reliefs attract with their solemnity, expressiveness, simplicity and
grandeur. The masters who created them lovingly and attentively peered into the surrounding nature.
Assyrian artists perceived a lot from their southern and western neighbors. If in the paintings they
often followed the patterns of southern Mesopotamia, then, with the widespread use of sculptural
elements in architecture, there was a Hittite-Hurrian influence. Such use of architectural techniques
and artistic subjects borrowed from other peoples, in no way cannot be considered an imitation.
Assyrians rethought others' samples, introducing a lot of original into them.
Achaemenid Empire, it is the First Persian Empire, - an ancient state that existed in the VI — IV
centuries BCE. on the territory of Western Asia and northeast Africa, created by the Persian
Achaemenid dynasty. The architectural heritage of the Achaemenids, beginning with the expansion
of the empire around 550 BC, was a period of creative bloom, which left an incredible abundance of
architectural heritage, starting with the mausoleum of Cyrus the Great in Pasargadae and the most
beautiful buildings in the prosperous city of Persepolis. The Achaemenids developed a monumental
style in which relief sculpture is used as an addition to massive architectural complexes. The
peculiarity of the Persian-Achaemenid architecture was in its character with elements of the Median,
Assyrian, and Greek-Asian architecture. With the advent of the second Persian empire, that is, the
Sassanid dynasty in 224-624, the traditions of Achaemenid architecture were revived in the
construction of temples dedicated to fire and monumental palaces. Ancient Persian art is rather only
an artificial, official creation of a proud and victorious royal family, which was so ambitious that it
tried to raise the level of culture even among the defeated nations. Therefore, it is not surprising that
the growth of this art stopped as soon as the victories of Alexander the Great destroyed the power of
the Persian sovereigns. Of the works of the Achaemenid era, only the tombs and ruins of palaces are
preserved everywhere. The tombs are either freestanding structures or carved into the rocks and
decorated with facades, as in Egypt and Asia Minor. The palaces, the restoration of which is
possible thanks to these, carved into the rocks, facades and preserved columns and remnants of the
walls, served either for housing or for receptions: in fact, these were, as now, we see in East Asia,
walled places with gardens, among which separate rooms were not united into one whole, as in
Assyria, but stood one next to the other in the form of separate buildings. Тhe construction of the
tombs' facades is remotely reminiscent of Egyptian prototypes: the use of alien elements is clearly
noticeable. Even the Persian capitals with bull heads point to analogies in the Egyptian and Assyrian
arts; but these analogies are not at all so astounding as to take away from the Persian column with
bull heads its artistic independence. Everywhere on the walls and parapet of the stairs, we meet
warriors who protect the king's person and representatives of the people who honor him and offer
him gifts, and inside the palaces we see the king marching or defeating the monsters. The palaces
were covered by winged bulls with a human head, a prototype of the Assyrian “Lamassu”. All this is
proportionate, symbolic, solemn. There are no lively scenes of hunting and battles like the Assyrian
kings decorated the walls of their palaces. In all the Persian reliefs of the times of Darius, Assyrian
style and composition techniques are noticeable; Persian immaturity is found in the constant
repetition of the same, accepted motives. The evaluation of Persian architecture is not so
unfavorable. Recognizing where it borrowed most of its individual motives is not difficult, but
however, the architecture of the Persian palaces seems to be largely truly local, a peculiarly beautiful
product.
So, Achaemenids gain from Assyrians the culture of making the central link of their monumental art
and architecture the royal family and the king himself. Аt least in part, continuing the Assyrian art,
from the use of columns and apadanаs, the Achaemenid architecture gained the possibilities of new
magnificence, which itself contained a worthy goal. Characteristic signs of wildness and war left the
reliefs. Also the dark series of prisoners and refugees that prevailed in Assyrian art, which gave
them inhuman self-satisfaction. Achaemenid themes are more contemplative than active, and even
where there are signs of conflict, for example in scenes with a king that kills a lion or a monster, or
in a battle of a lion with a bull, spiritual transformation now occurs. These scenes do not represent
rough clashes, but the fighting of dual forces, good against evil, light against darkness, order against
chaos, empire against barbarism. Achaemenid preferred static and processions rather than live
scenes of battles and hunting that were presented in Assyrian art.

References
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Woermann, K. (2000). История искусств всех времен и народов [History of art of all time and
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