the politics of power reflected through the art and architecture of mesopotamian and egyptian art

7/24/2019 The politics of power reflected through the Art and Architecture of Mesopotamian and Egyptian art

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The politics of power reectedthrough the Art and Architecture

of Mesopotamian and Egyptianart

Introduction

The idea of making marks on the surface and the desire of representation has

through a fantastic and impressive journey for mankind which we call art. This

phenomenon of art has brought up the sense of culture and aesthetics for

mankind from the Palaeolithic age till now and thus reects the modes of socialorder cultural signi!ers and moral codes throughout the history of making

through its di"erent modes and politics of representation.

The idealist forms of Palaeolithic cave paintings shows this politics which was

used as an e#pression of ritualistic and magical belief to answer the survival

crisis of the early cavemen. $owever the %uestions of aesthetics were not were

not attended as much as the problems with idealism and naturalism. Art used to

be the carrier of magic until human beings learnt to grow crops in the

Mesopotamian region.

The agrarian civilisation in the &eolithic period constructed on settlements and

the whole idea of society change from a nomadic community to a domesticated

group of people. The leisure time led to the ignition of sense of aesthetic and the

abstract ultimatum forms of arts like pottery and architecture.

The concept of magical rituals also developed with the development formations

of society. The concept of geocentricism and animism reected through the

totems arms and amulates crafts and sculptures. 'n line with the development

religion came a concept of a priest class a sort of middle men who could

communicate with (od. E#istential crisis of the insecure $omo sapiens played a

great part in this development of religion and a theocratic society came intoplace e#panding the branch for art and architecture as an instrument of religious

subjectivity. )ith the e#pansion of society and urbanisation the religious factor

subdued to the administrative and protective %uality. The need for muscle power

brought the concept of king and the state that used to control the civilisations

along with the priest* further developments in art happened with the kings

talking over and claiming them as son of god and sometimes se the superpower

personi!ed reecting the imperialist %uality of art.

The theocratic power

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This change in the representation politics can be seen through the architecture of

the Mesopotamian and Egyptian

period. The Mesopotamian

civilisation at +umer started with a

theocratic society with special

power to the priest. The

dominance of theocracy can be

proved by the e#amples of

monumental structure of ,iggurat.

The ,iggurats was as the highest

point of the city positions in the

centre it used to be at least to feet

high above the street level. The

-iggurat is measured to be high as

/0feet in 1abylon. 2eveloped from the mounds worshipped before the -iggurat

contained a at top with a central hall or cellar placed above it which wasaccessible to the priest and the virgin only who was worshipped. The height and

monumental status of the +tella curved as the vantage point as well as a

demarcation of e#clusively for the religious head. The ,iggurat is also said to be

a place where the administrative works were carried on and grains were stored.

The storage facilities can be proved by bitumen and alabaster coathing of the

mud bricks of a lower position to save them from ood. These functionalities

prove that the religion assumed the duties of regulator and protector of the

civilisation.

$owever it was in the Akkadian dynasty only that the scene changed. Thetransfer of power and middlemen shop from the priest class to the king shop

started with the reign of (udea of 3agash. (udea made carved statues of himself

in diorite with inscription of his -ealous o"ering to the gods and his piety wealth

and pride. These religious inscriptions with undercurrents of show of power

placed in the small temples he built and that had the dual !ction of a votive

o"ering and protectors. The 'shtar gate built by &ebuchadne--ar was another

step towards this change where the monumental arch is guarded by images of

various animals both real and composite parading with nonchalant that

e#presses the potential of the brute force that 'shtar and nebuehadhe--ar bth

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signi!ed co*operating with each other in ourishing of the civilisations.

The story of a king being the receiver of the power from the good as a caretaker

of the $ammurabi is the primary and the earliest code of law discovered yet.

This code acts as an inspiration for the laws of imperialistic roman civilisation

which was later adopted by the 1ritish and subse%uently

'ndia and also other states and nations. This stele shows god

transferring the power and the secrets of rule to $ammurabi

thus signifying $amurabi4s rule as divine and an application

of gods wish and rule for the mankind.

Another subtle change can be observed in the politics of

representation through the ga-e of the sculptural tradition.

(od as the supreme ruler and the divine protector has been

always referred with an uninching ga-e. This uninching

and bright ga-e has been represented by using precious

elements as an inlay in the large eye sockets in mesopotemenia as seen in the

head of 'nanna of +umer or the votive statuettes of the temple of Essnunna. 'n

the Akkad dynasty these character of depiction also who are given statusthrough the eyes and the stylised stepped beard.

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The use of animism that characterised the divinities from

the &eolithic period has been also used for the king4s

palace like the bull headed lyre. This character of divinity

was used to in the guardian !gures of 3amassu which

protected the Assyrian citadel thus the 3amassu !gure

also had the stylised beard thus ascertaining the divine

providence showered upon the Assyrian dynasty.

The Assyrian dynasty period was a barbarian reign. This war loving rulers

e#hibited cruelty to ascertain their propaganda of brutality over its enemies.

$owever the tradition of e#hibiting one4s power over their enemies started muchearlier as e#hibited by the victory stele of &aram*sin. This

relief claimed the sovereignty of the kings of Akkad where

the hierarchies perspective puts the image of the king which

seems like him scaling the ladder to the weaves destroying

his enemy with the twin images of 'shtar and samsesh

represented as their presence and hand in the victory of

&aram* +in.

+uch a show of vigour and pride inuenced the low dynamic

reliefs in the palace of Ashurbanipal and Ashurbanipal ''

where the violence and tension are chosen as a main theme

to display the imperial con%uests and also the prowess in hunting. The straining

muscles swelling veins the naturalistic despair and catastrophe of the powerful

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de!ant enemies of the king whose heroism is glori!ed.

This glori!cation of heroism is also seen in the processional frie-e in on the

terrace of Padena in Persepolis which takes the format of present actions of

o"ering to the (oddess 'nanna in the works vase and transferred it to show the

power of the king where delegates from every country o"ered their tribute to the

Persian king.

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Through these changes the arts e#pressed the king with a near god divinity thus

completed erasing the theocratic supremacy and showing the seed for the

concept of king to god.

The concept of king worship and king as a god appointed guardian of his found

another form of delineation the art and architecture of the Egyptian civilisation.

The development of Pyramids for the pharohs should serve e#cellent point if

reference in this case.

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Monumentality, idealism and commemoration

The predynastic

period in Egypt sawthe development of

Mastabas as a !nery

and commemorative

structure combined

together. The

mastabas were

created from the

burying tradition of

earthen mounds that

was present before.$owever the

monumental

structure of 2joser built by 'moteph saw the Mastaba tradition rose to a

monumental structure emphasising the king4s power. The step pyramid was built

by pilling Mastabas one over another in decreasing

si-es. The structure of the Mastabas lead to the

building of the pyramids

The Pyramids refuted the inuence of $eliopolis

the seat of the powerful cult of 5e whose emblem

was a pyramid stone the ben*benwhich every

pharaoh carried. The monumentality of the

pyramids of cri-ch and its religious inuence

showed the amalgamation of religion in the power

of the pharaoh. The pyramids are also a

combination of commemorative and funerary

structure and thus it was every pharaoh e#hibition of prowess and urges to attain

divinity and immortality during the old kingdom. This e#hibition can be more

conte#tualised if the sculpture of the great sphin# is taken into consideration.

This colossal statue combines the brute strength of the lion and a Pharaoh4s

head to e#press his power.

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The colossal monumentality of the pyramid of early replaced by mortuary

temples in the new kingdom but the concept of overwhelming monumentalitywas never erased from royal Egyptian architecture 6this temples also asserts the

relationship between god and the pharaoh. The temple of $atshepsut should be

taken into consideration in this use which provides a strategically use of

monumentality. The temples through created with a considerable height to make

any person inside them feel minuscule is portioned in front of a cli" and apes

the form of the cli" through its structure to create the overwhelming e"ect of

enormity. +uch a eternity is also cured for in the temple of 5amesses '' which is

made from a live rocks in Abu +imbel. The temple reaches to the sheer si-e of

/00 feet with the seated !gures of 5amesses of 78 feet high overwhelming the

visitors. 'nside the temple the visitors are faced with the towering pillars of 9feet depicting 5amesses as :siris. +uch a profusion of the pharaoh !gures his

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posing as a god and

the overwhelming

sense of guardian

of mankind.

The pharaoh attaining godlike statues in Egypt also reects the sculptural and

relief tradition. The idealistic and sti" forms of Pharaohs and the unchanging

style all through the civilisation proves the fact of e#istence of cannons about

forms and style for the depiction of pharaoh. The idealism aimed for reducing the

blemishes and creating purity in the depiction of the pharaohs. Although

naturalism could be found other sculptures like the seated scribe the pharaoh

sculpture maintained their idealism and formality. This di"erence can be seen in

the painted reliefs like the watching $ippopotamus hunt and formulating scenefrom the tomb of &ebamun.

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Another

delineation of

the

emphasising

the status of

king can be

found in the

sculpture of

Akhenation in

Amurna

period.

Akhenaton

brought the

concept of

monotheism in

Egypt byremoving

every other

(od e#cept Aton. The sculpture of Akhenaton from the temple of Aton at karnak

poses an androgynous %uality which is assumed to be an attempt to portray the

se#less %uality of +un (od through Aton thus highlighting the pharaohs divinity.

"onclusion

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These %ualities of monumentality and overwhelming idealisation pervaded

through the imperial periods of later ages. Even the classicist 5oman imperial

sculptures or the neo classical sculptures and paintings like the works of Ton

nova or 'ngres aimed to idealise to remove the images and imbibe classical

youthfulness to de!ne the immortality of the imperialist.

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#i$lio%raphy

Kleiner, Fred. Gardner’s art through the ages: The western perspective. Vol. 1. Cengage Learning,

2013.

Hauser, Arnold. The Social History of Art: Naturalism, impressionism, the film age . Vol. 4. PsychologyPress, 1999.

anson, Hors! "olde#ar, and An!hony F. anson. History of art: the Western tradition. Pren!ice Hall

Pro$essional, 2003.

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