Pre-Achaemenid art: Neo-Assyrian or Median?

The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BCE, they occupied the mountainous region of northwestern Iran and the eastern region of Mesopotamia located around Hamadan (Ecbatana). Herodotus reports the Medes played a determining role in the fall of the Assyrian Empire and "could" have  formed an empire at the beginning of the 7th century BCE that lasted until the 550s BCE. It was originally thought they competed with the kingsoms of Lydia and Babylonia for hegemony.  However, the Medes left no written account of their history.  Archaeologists have had to rely upon foreign sources such as the Assyrians, Babylonians and Greeks for Median history, instead, as well as a few Iranian archaeological sites, which are believed to have been occupied by Medes. Some scholars have gone so far as to suggest a Median kingdom as a political entity never existed at all, even though it was reported to have been conquered by Cyrus the Great in 549 BCE.

Materials  found at Tepe Nush-i Jan, Godin Tepe, and other archaeological sites located in the area known as Media, together with Assyrian reliefs, show the existence of urban settlements in Media in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE which had functioned as centers for the production of handicrafts and also of an agricultural and cattle-breeding economy.

From the 10th to the late 7th centuries BCE, the western parts of Media fell under the domination of the vast Neo-Assyrian Empire that imposed Vassal Treaties upon the Median rulers, and also protected them from predatory raids by marauding Scythians and Cimmerians.  During the reign of Sinsharishkun (622–612 BCE), the Assyrian empire, which had been in a state of constant civil war since 626 BCE, began to unravel and subject peoples, such as the Medes ceased to pay tribute.

Neo-Assyrian dominance over the Medians came to an end during the reign of Median King Cyaxares, who, in alliance with King Nabopolassar of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, attacked and destroyed the strife-riven Neo-Assyrian empire between 616 and 609 BCE. The newfound alliance helped the Medes to capture Nineveh in 612 BC, which resulted in the eventual collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire by 609 BCE. The Medes were subsequently able to establish their Median Kingdom (with Ecbatana as their royal capital) beyond their original homeland and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Kızılırmak River in Anatolia.

Artwork from this period was heavily influenced by the Neo-Assyrians but scholars hesitate to associate it specifically to the Medians due to the swiftly changing alliances of various tribes, clans, and regional groupings of western Iran at the time.  Winged creatures or deities with human heads reflected Assyrian influence as well as sculptures depicting bulls or lions. Scholars believe Assyrian graphically detailed works of violence were meant to advertise the power of the empire and its rulers and to intimidate their enemies.  Often precisely rendered animal carvings and statues were viewed as protective forces containing religious significance. 

Lions regularly appear in Assyrian art. In ancient days, the Asiatic lion (slightly smaller than the African) roamed the Near East. To hunt the lions was a kingly activity of great importance. Famous carved reliefs of lion hunts show King Ashurbanipal hunting lions in an arena, sometimes from a chariot. The lion was also important as a symbol of the goddess Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven, one of the two most important deities in the Assyrian pantheon. - Metropolitan Museum of Art

A lion was thought to be a symbol of the Neo-Assyrian King Sargon II during the Neo-Assyrian period as well.

Bulls are another common motif in Assyrian art. The bull was more than just an important food source. Sumerian and Akkadian traditions describe the Bull of Heaven, which features in a conflict between Ishtar and Gilgamesh in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The bull remained an important symbol in Assyrian and other Mesopotamian cultures. It also was combined with human, lion, and avian traits to form mythical creatures. - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Triangular compositions featuring two rampant wild animals over a third creature, often a domesticated one, occur on Mesopotamian cylinder seals of the thirteenth century B.C.E., one of which shows two rampant lions sparring over a bull. But the motif is uncommon in later Mesopotamian art until it reappears again in the art of western Iran between the ninth and the seventh centuries B.C.E.  The motif of a single lion attacking a bull is visible on the remains of Persepolis but its use appears to end there. 

Pre-Achaemenid Silver and Gold Vessel in the Form of a Lion Attacking a Bull, Silver and gold, 8th-6th century B.C.E. at the Miho Museum in Kyoto, Japan

Pre-Achaemenid Silver Compound Zoomorphic Vessel of two rampant lions over a prostrate bull, Silver, 8th-6th century B.C.E., at the Miho Museum in Kyoto, Japan. This unusual vessel features a pair of rampant lions, interlocked forelegs on each other's shoulders, standing on a prone bull. The lions are identical, not mirror images, each with its head turned to the right and its right hind leg up on the bull. The lion that treads on the bull's head has a round opening in the back of its snarling mouth that serves as a spout. The gaping mouth of the second lion is solid, but a small, carefully finished circular hole in its head provides the opening through which the vessel can be filled. A narrow depressed rim around this hole suggests that a stopper once sealed it. Each lion's body is formed in two pieces, upper and lower cylinders whose joining is marked by a narrow rib. The two pieces of each cylinder fit together; no solder is visible. The hollow forelegs of the lions are formed of open tubes that fit one into the other, allowing fluid to run from the filling hole to the spout. The bull, whose cylindrical body is also hollow, serves as a base. There is no internal connection between the lions and the bull. Reputed to be part of a silver treasure found in a cave in western Iran some years ago, this remarkable piece presents a puzzle not easily solved. The orthography of Akkadian inscriptions found on some pieces of the supposed hoard show Elamite influence suggestive of a date in the second quarter of the first millennium B.C.E. If this vessel was part of that so-called Cave Treasure, it should have a similar date and place of origin. While this association cannot be documented, the imagery of the piece supports a date in the second quarter of the millennium. But the motif reappears in the art of western Iran between the 9th and 7th centuries BCE.

Pre-Achaemenid Silver and Gold Vessel in the Form of a Hero and a Winged Bull Ibex, Silver and gold, 8th-6th century B.C.E. at the Miho Museum in Kyoto, Japan

Pre-Achaemenid Silver Rhyton with Ibex Protome and Appliques, Silver and electrum, 8th-6th century B.C.E., at the Miho Museum in Kyoto, Japan

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Women in ancient Assyria

 During the Middle Assyrian Period, the social position of women in Assyria became lower than that of neighboring societies. Men were permitted to divorce their wives with no compensation paid to the latter. If a woman committed adultery, she could be beaten, have her ears or nose cut off, her nipples torn off, her eyes gouged out, or put to death. It's not certain if these laws were seriously enforced, but they appear to be a backlash against some older documents that granted things like equal compensation to both partners in divorce.

A law code dating from the reign of King Tiglathpileser I (1115 - 1076 BCE), a particularly misogynistic ruler,  in which punishments were especially severe, especially for women, reveals a woman could be punished not only for their individual transgressions, but also for crimes committed by their relatives under the principle of ius talionis (an eye for an eye).

‘If a man forcibly seizes and rapes a maiden who is residing in her father’s house... the father of the maiden shall take the wife of the rapist of the maiden and give her over to be raped. He shall not return her to her husband, he shall take her (for himself).'

'If a woman has procured a miscarriage by her own act, when they have prosecuted her and convicted her, they shall impale her on stakes without burying her. If she died in having the miscarriage, they shall impale her on stakes without burying her.’ 

`If a woman has crushed a gentleman’s testicle in a brawl, they shall cut off one finger of hers. If the other testicle has become affected along with it by catching the infection, even though a physician has bound it up, or she has crushed the other testicle in a brawl, they shall tear out both her eyes.’ 

The women of the king's harem and their servants were also subject to harsh punishments, such as beatings, mutilation, and death. Scholars have pointed out that this suppression of women's rights appears to have corresponded to the rise of monotheism in Assyrian theology. As the Assyrians conquered more and more peoples and elevated their god, Ashur, from a local god to supreme god over all and far removed from the natural world, women, with their critical role in the natural world as life bearer, became diminished. A man who saw a woman behaving in any way deemed unacceptable had to report that woman to the authorities instantly or risk 50 lashes, mutilation, and enslavement for a month.

However, during the Neo-Assyrian Period (883-608 BCE) royal women, at least, became independently wealthy and could buy land based on letters that have been recovered.  There are records of female officials who had important roles running the households of royal ladies and possibly others as well. Women outside the royal household also worked as priestesses and prophetesses.  But, no evidence of temple prostitution has been discovered and is thought to have been merely invented by later Greek authors to illustrate the moral decline of Babylon.

The Assyrian word harimtu, which was once translated as prostitute is now thought to refer to just a single woman without a husband or father and not tied to an institution. Although the term was used derogatorily in several texts as an insult, it was not defined as such universally.

The status of women in Assyria probably differed little from women throughout the patriarchal societies of the ancient Near East.  The brutality used to enforce the social order was the exception.

Assyria, in general, had much harsher laws than most of the region. Executions were not uncommon, nor were whippings followed by forced labor. Some offenses allowed the accused a trial under torture or duress. One tablet that covers property rights has brutal penalties for violators. A creditor could force debtors to work for him, but not sell them. Sex crimes were punished identically whether they were homosexual or heterosexual. An individual faced no punishment for penetrating a cult prostitute, someone of an equal or lower social class, such as slaves, or someone whose gender roles were not considered solidly masculine. Such sexual relations were even seen as good fortune. However, homosexual relationships with royal attendants, between soldiers, or with those where a social better was submissive or penetrated were either treated as rape or seen as bad omens, and punishments applied.

Read more about women in ancient Assyria at:

https://lb.boell.org/en/2017/02/09/women-fundamentalism-and-terror-echoes-ancient-assyria

and more about Tiglath Pileser I at:

https://www.ancient.eu/Tiglath_Pileser_I/

Image: Head of a female figure ca. 8th–7th century B.C.E. Assyrian at the Metropolitan Museum of Art courtesy of the museum.

This female head, carved in the round, was found in the Burnt Palace at Nimrud and may have originally been part of a composite statuette made of various materials and overlaid with gold foil. A square mortise cut into the bottom of this piece suggests that a tenon would have secured it to a now lost body. Part of the head has been damaged, but several features that remain, including the large, originally inlaid eyes, prominent ears, hooked nose, small mouth, and receding chin, are characteristic of North Syrian ivories. The hair falls in long individual locks, crowned by a diadem of rosettes and inlaid discs (the original colored glass or semiprecious stone inlays are now lost) tied at the back of the head. - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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Egypt and Cyprus in the Late Archaic Period

Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean, located north of Egypt and west of the Levant, was considered a strategic site  in the ancient world and subsequently occupied by the Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans.  During the Cypriot Archaic Era (c. 750 BCE to 475 BCE), the island was ruled by Sargon II of Assyria, starting in 709 BCE when the Assyrians extorted taxes from Cyprus in exchange for their independence.  But, by 699 BCE the Assyrians withdrew because of conflicts elsewhere and the Egyptian Pharaoh Amasis II (also known as Ahmose II) claimed the island around 560 BCE.

According to Herodotus, Amasis was of common origins and originally an officer in the Egyptian army. He campaigned in Nubia under the Pharaoh Psamtik II in 592 BCE and rose to the rank of general. 

Psamtik II was succeeded by his son, Apries (also known as Waphres of Manetho). Apries led an expedition in an attempt to protect Libya from incursions by Dorian Greek invaders but his forces were badly mauled.  When the defeated army returned home, a civil war broke out in the Egyptian army between the indigenous troops and Greek mercenaries Apries had secured. The Egyptians threw their support to General Amasis who quickly declared himself pharaoh in 570 BCE. Apries fled Egypt and sought refuge in Babylon. When Apries marched back to Egypt in 567 BC with the aid of a Babylonian army to reclaim the throne of Egypt, he was likely killed in battle with Amasis' forces. Herodotus, however, claims Apries survived the battle and was captured and treated well by the victorious Amasis, until the Egyptian people demanded justice against Apries, whereby he was placed into their hands and strangled to death. Amasis, however, reportedly treated Apries' mortal remains with respect and observed the proper funerary rituals by having Apries' body carried to Sais and buried there with "full military honors." Amasis then  married Apries' daughter, Chedebnitjerbone II, to legitimise his accession to power.

Herodotus reports Amasis cultivated a close relationship with Greece and under his prudent administration, Egypt reached a new level of wealth. Amasis even married a Greek princess named Ladice daughter of King Battus III and made alliances with Polycrates of Samos and Croesus of Lydia.  In the fourth year of his reign, Amasis defeated an invasion of Egypt by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II but when Cyrus the Great ascended the Persian throne in 559 BCE, Amasis had no major Near Eastern allies to counter the Persian threat.  The final assault by the Persians did not come until shortly after Amasis had died in 526 BCE. His son, Psamtik III, though, ended up reigning for only six months before his defeat in 525 BCE.

Amasis II was buried in the royal necropolis of Sais, like other pharaohs of the 26th dynasty, but he was not left undisturbed to rest in peace. According to Herodotus, Cambyses gave orders that Amasis' body was to be taken and beaten with whips, stuck with goads, and have its hair plucked.  When the embalmed body would not fall to pieces, Cambyses finally ordered it burned.

Image: Limestone male figure in Egyptian dress, mid-6th century BCE, Cypriot, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The figure wears the double crown of Egypt, a three-row pectoral, a baldric perhaps for a quiver, bracelets, and a kilt that is embellished with winged uraei, a head of the Egyptian god Bes or of the Gorgon Medusa, and an eye. Whether this individual represents Amasis II or Psamtik III, though, is unknown.

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