Proceedings of the 7th International Congress on the ...

Proceedings of the 7th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East 12 April – 16 April 2010, the British Museum and UCL, London Volume 2 Ancient & Modern Issues in Cultural Heritage Colour & Light in Architecture, Art & Material Culture Islamic Archaeology Edited by Roger Matthews and John Curtis with the collaboration of Michael Seymour, Alexandra Fletcher, Alison Gascoigne, Claudia Glatz, St John Simpson, Helen Taylor, Jonathan Tubb and Rupert Chapman

2012

Harrassowitz Verlag · Wiesbaden

Matthews ICAANE 7, Vol 2.indd Abs13

19.01.2012 09:03:47

Contents Foreword of the Editors..............................................................................xi Programme of the Congress.......................................................................xiii

VOLUME TWO Ancient & Modern Issues in Cultural Heritage Peter Stone ‘When Everyone’s Culpable, Is Anyone Guilty?’ Responsibility for the Cultural Heritage Before, During, and After Armed Conflict ..........................3 Silvana Di Paolo Historical, Topographical, Mental Paths: Cypriot Antiquities Inside Private and Public Museums .........................................................................15 Yitzhak Paz School Children and Agency for Public Engagement in Cultural Heritage Projects: Some Observations from the Communal Excavation at Tel Bareqet, Israel ......................................................................................33 Zeyad al-Salameen Pressing Issues Concerning Tourism Development, Site Management and Archaeological Conservation at Petra, Southern Jordan .........................45 Naoíse Mac Sweeney A Land Without Autochthons: Anatolian Archaeology in the Early Twentieth Century ................................63 Çiğdem Atakuman Heritage as a Matter of Prestige: A Synopsis of the State Heritage Discourse and Practice in Turkey ............73 Fabrice de Backer Early Dynastic and Neo-Assyrian Cultural Heritage and Conflict: ‘Us as Them’ or ‘Us and Them’? ...................................................................81 Brigitte Pedde Ancient Near Eastern Motifs in the European Art of the Twentieth Century AD ....................................................................................................89 Alice Bianchi Perspectives of Near Eastern Archaeology between Academic Research and Cultural Heritage Management .............................................................101

Contents

VI

Shereen Ratnagar Frameworks for the Study of the Morphology of Indus Towns: Indian Heritage or Cross-Cultural Analogy? ...............................................111 Maria Gabriella Micale Near-Eastern Archaeology Under Siege: from Real Destruction to Virtual Reconstruction ........................................127 Ashley Sands, Kristin Butler The Next Generation Project: Mobilizing Social Networks for HeritageFocused International Cooperation ..............................................................139

Colour & Light in Architecture, Art & Material Culture Introduction ...........................................................................................................152 Irene J. Winter GOLD! Divine Light and Lustre in Ancient Mesopotamia .........................153 Sergey A. Yatsenko Colour Combinations in the Costume of Three Pre-Islamic Dynasties of Iran against the Background of the Synchronous Iranian World .................173 Giorgio Affanni New Light (and Colour) on the Arslan Tash Ivories: Studying 1st Millennium BC Ivories ............................................................193 St John Simpson, Janet Ambers, Giovanni Verri, Thibaut Deviese, Jo Kirby Painted Parthian Stuccoes from Southern Iraq ............................................209 Martina Zanon The Symbolism of Colours in Mesopotamia and the Importance of Light .............................................................................................................221 Duygu Çamurcuoğlu Colourful Technologies: A Technical Study of the Colours on Çatalhöyük Wall Paintings ...............245 Frances Pinnock Colours and Light in the Royal Palace G of Early Syrian Ebla ...................271 Alessandro Di Ludovico, Marco Ramazzotti White, Red and Black: Technical Relationships and Stylistic Perceptions between Colours, Lights and Places ............................................................287 Sara Pizzimenti Colours in Late Bronze Mesopotamia: Some Hints on Wall Paintings from Nuzi, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta and Dur Kurigalzu ...................................303 Paola Poli New Interpretations of the Neo-Assyrian Wall Paintings from the Palace of Tell Masaikh-Kar-Assurnasirpal .............................................................319

Contents

VII

Kourosh Afhami, Wolfgang Gambke Colour and Light in the Architecture of Persepolis .....................................335 Cecily Hennessy The Chapel of Saint Jacob at the Church of the Theotokos Chalkoprateia in Istanbul ....................................................................................................351 Ignacio Arce Aestheticising Politics, Politicising Aesthetics: Colour and Light in Architecture at Qasr al-Hallabat (Jordan) from Late Antiquity to the Umayyad Period ................................................................367 Andrea Becker Colour and Light in Abbasid Palaces: Interior Decoration for Harun ar-Rashid .....................................................391 Michael Jung, Pietro Moioli, Fabrizio Pierdominici, Claudio Seccaroni Techniques and Pigments Used for the Wall Paintings of the Masğid–i Jom‘e at Isfahan. A First Preliminary Review .............................................405 Martina Rugiadi ‘As for the Colours, Look at a Garden in Spring’ Polychrome Marble in the Ghaznavid Architectural Decoration .................425 Tallay Ornan The Role of Gold in Royal Representation: The Case of a Bronze Statue from Hazor ....................................................445 Sebastiano Soldi Notes on Green Glazed Funnels from the Iron Age Temple AI at Tell Afis ...............................................................................................................459 David Ben-Shlomo, Avshalom Karasik, Uzy Smilansky Computerized Rendering of Painted Decoration on Pottery ........................479 Rebecca Bridgman, Graeme Earl Experiencing Lustre: Polynomial Texture Mapping of Medieval Pottery at the Fitzwilliam Museum .........................................................................497

Islamic Archaeology Introduction ...........................................................................................................515 Lidewijde De Jong Resettling the Steppe: The Archaeology of the Balikh Valley in the Early Islamic Period .............517 Mandy Mottram Settlers, Hermits, Nomads and Monks: Evolving Landscapes at the Dawn of the Islamic Era .................................533

VIII

Contents

Marie-Odile Rousset Chalcis/Qinnasrin: From Hellenistic City to the Jund Capital of North Syria ...........................551 Martin Gussone, Martina Müller-Wiener Resafa-Rusafat Hisham, Syria. ‘Long-Term Survival’ of an Umayyad Residence – First Results of the Extended Surface Survey .........................569 Julian Whitewright Early Islamic Maritime Technology ............................................................585 Katia Cytryn-Silverman Excavations at Tiberias (Spring And Autumn 2009): Remains of a District Capital ......................................................................599 Donald Whitcomb Formation of the Islamic City: A Second Archaeological Period of Urban Transition .................................619 Alastair Northedge The Contents of the First Muslim Houses: Thoughts About the Assemblages from the Amman Citadel .......................633 Füsun Tülek Footsteps of the Arab-Byzantine Armies in Osmani̇ ye Province, Cilicia ...........................................................................................................661 Rosalind A. Wade Haddon The Middle Islamic Finewares from the Syrian-German Excavations on the Aleppo Citadel .......................................................................................675 Stephen McPhillips Islamic Settlement in the Upper Orontes Valley, Syria: Recent Fieldwork (2009) .............................................................................691 Cinzia Tavernari From the Caravanserai to the Road: Proposal for a Preliminary Reconstruction of the Syrian Road Networks During the Middle Ages ...............................................................................711

Colours in Late Bronze Mesopotamia Some Hints on Wall Paintings from Nuzi, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta and Dur Kurigalzu Sara Pizzimenti1 Abstract Archaeological excavations of the Mesopotamian palaces usually give us a monochrome image faded by time. Rare discoveries of painted wall-plaster allow us to restore the original colours to this image. The 2nd millennium BC provides more examples of palatial wall paintings belonging to the three prominent cultures of the Late Bronze Period: Mitannian at Nuzi, Kassite at Dur Kurigalzu, and Middle Assyrian at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta. By analysing these fragmentary painted plasters and the careful reconstructions made by different scholars, it is possible to note some differences in the use of colours and drawn patterns. The aim of this paper is to analyse and compare wall paintings belonging to these three main cultures and attempt to find analogies and differences especially in connection to the use of colours. ‘...because the colour is the first visible’ Plotinus, Enneads II 8,1[10]

Introduction Reality is colourful and our eyes can perceive the world thanks to the chromatic differentiation, so that man has always given importance to ‘colour’ in his approach to the world. Wall paintings are the most evident use of colour but also the most vulnerable of types in the ancient Near East.2 The 2nd millennium BC provides more examples of palatial wall paintings belonging to the three main cultures of the Late Bronze Period (c. 1600–1200 BC): Mitannian at Nuzi, Middle Assyrian at KarTukulti-Ninurta, and Kassite at Dur Kurigalzu.

1 2

“Sapienza” – University of Rome, via Palestro 63 00185 Rome, Italy; email : sara.pizzimenti@gmail. com For a general overview of ancient Near Eastern wall paintings see Spycket (1987-90), while for a complete analysis see Moortgat (1959) and Nunn (1988).

Sara Pizzimenti

304

Iconographic Analysis Fragments of 15th century BC wall paintings were found in Mitannian Nuzi, decorating room L15B (Starr 1937: pls 128–129; 1939: 143–144; Nunn 1988: 94– 96), a passageway of the probable residential quarter of the governor’s palace.3 The paintings are exclusively ornamental and present a marked geometrical and abstract structure, with a paratactic sense of the schemes (Fig. 1). They are subdivided into three horizontal tiers with a geometric pattern of panels containing triangles, circles and squares, while within each panel is a bull’s head, a frontal female head or a volute tree, following a repeating pattern that seems to continue without interruption. Finally the braid pattern, perhaps a stylised representation of the fertility water (Matthiae 1997: 31), is vertically placed in the scene. The earliest evidence for Assyrian wall paintings was uncovered at Kar-TukultiNinurta, with the discovery of 13th century BC wall paintings (Frankfort 1954: 135–137, figs 152–153). Isolated fragments and three reconstructions of section of wall paintings, decorating the northern and southern side of the palace terrace built by Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1250–1210 BC) (Eickhoff 1985: 38–39), were published by Andrae in 1925 (Andrae 1925: pls 1–4). The reconstructed paintings from the northern side of the palace terrace show rows of large square panels inside which is a ‘star flower’ composed of eight leaves, eight ‘pointed circles’ and branches, while four rosettes are placed at the corners (Fig. 2a–b). Bands of rosettes, lotus flowers and rayed rosettes are placed above these large square panels, where there is only a chromatic alternation. The other reconstructed drawings represent two sections of wall paintings on the southern side of the palace terrace (Figs 3–4). One painting shows large rectangular panels of unequal widths arranged alongside one another (Fig. 3a–b). The panels are framed by narrow bands of continuous small plain squares chromatically alternating, while above them is a large horizontal band of squares, inside which a rosette and a lotus flower alternate. Surmounting this band is a garland composed of alternating stylised plants. Inside the reconstructed panels two palmtrees and a palm-tree flanked by two cervidae looking backward are recognisable. The second reconstructed painting is composed of two tiers of rectangular panels of unequal lengths and widths (Fig. 4a–b). In the lower tier the panels are surrounded by narrow bands of continuous small plain squares chromatically alternating, while in the upper tier the panels are treated as separated and independent entities, moreover equidistant between them. The palm-tree and the rosette are the main subject represented inside the panels of the lower tier. Fragments of wall paintings were found in all four building levels of different parts

3

The displacement of the wall paintings in this particular room could be explained accepting the hypothesis that the main room in the extreme southern corner of the complex is a palatial chapel (Matthiae 1997: 29).

Colours in Late Bronze Mesopotamia

305

of the Kassite palace at Dur Kurigalzu.4 Geometric or stylised naturalistic designs belong to all four buildings levels, but full accounts of most of the fragments have not been published yet.5 The most preserved and the most important part of the Dur Kurigalzu wall paintings are the human procession design (Fig. 5),6 decorating the doorways between the court and the long rooms, maybe with representative function (galleries 37, 59, 99), of the II phase of the H sector of the palace, named also ‘Painted Palace’.7 The human processional scenes belong to the reign of Marduk-apla-iddina I (c. 1171–1159 BC), just before the destruction of the Kassite capital by the Elamites. The processional scenes are framed by the top by three different tiers, while it is possible to distinguish two types of dignitaries: the first type has long beard and hair, stopped by a bandage, a knee tunic, a skirt until the ankle and a shawl (Fig. 5), while the second type, recognizable only in one doorway, wears the same cloth but red bordered, and a particular headdress (Fig. 6). The wall paintings of Nuzi and Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta seems to have a similar compositional pattern, and therefore it is possible that the Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta wall paintings are directly influenced by those of Nuzi, or, generally, by the Mitannian culture and tradition (Albenda 2005: 129). They both use the same compositional pattern, consisting of a series of panels alternating different subjects, or chromatically alternated, and topped by a quite continuous frieze. If in Nuzi paintings a strong rigid pattern is characteristic, recognisable such as the constant size of the panels, this feature becomes to be less rigid in Middle Assyrian paintings of Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, where the panels have different width, foretelling the grater freedom of the Neo-Assyrian ornamental paintings.8 On the other part the Dur Kurigalzu wall paintings are totally different, being characterised by the appearance of the human figure.

Chromatic Analysis Differences or analogies between the various wall paintings can be seen even in colour and colour usage. According to the excavation reports the colours used in the Nuzi 4

5 6 7 8

The palace at Dur Kurigalzu is the only, unfortunately incompletely excavated, Kassite palace documented by archaeological excavation. Excavated by Taha Baqir and others from the 1940s, it is composed by eight juxtaposed units, each one U-shaped around an open courtyard, whose fourth side is closed by another contiguous unit (for a complete description and analysis of the palace see Baqir 1945, 1946; for the most up-to-date plan see Clayden 1996: fig. 4). For an analysis of the Dur Kurigalzu wall paintings see Tomabechi (1983). Ancient Mesopotamian tradition of painting a procession of figures goes back at least to the Late Uruk IV at Tell Uquair, where walls of rooms and a staircase leading to the flat roof of the Painted Temple were painted with processional figures (Lloyd and Safar 1943: 135 ff.). At Doorway III of Unit H, however, traces of wall paintings similar to Level II processional scene were also detected on Level I walls (Baqir 1946: 81). While the earlier paintings from Nuzi consist of motifs in an organized but dense arrangement, the Middle-Assyrian paintings from Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta have more spacious but compartmented composition (Albenda 2005: 129).

306

Sara Pizzimenti

wall paintings are red ochre, black, white and grey/blue (Nunn 1988: 94), while at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta are red, black, white and blue (Albenda 2005: 3). In both cases the basic colours used are four, while a greater variety of colours is noticed at Dur Kurigalzu, where is attested the use of red (scarlet), two different kind of blue (cobalt and prussian), yellow, white and black (Baqir 1945: 14; 1946: 80; Tomabechi 1983: 123). However it is possible that also in Dur Kurigalzu the main colours are four: red, blue (although in two different shades), black and white, while yellow could be the result of the oxidation of the white due to the pass of the time. The colours used in the Nuzi, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta and Dur Kurigalzu had thus a precise and important lexical correspondence: both in Sumerian and in Akkadian, and even in ancient Egyptian, the main colour terms are black, white, red and blue.9 So, it is possible to deduce that these four colours have always had a particular importance. Going on in the chromatic analysis a division into pairs of opposites of these four colours could be noticed: black is opposite to white, while red is opposite to blue. The black-white opposition is the oldest, corresponding to the most archaic and primordial distinction between light and darkness and day and night, which allows the visual distinction of the forms (Widmann 2006: 45).10 Black, also in the paintings here analysed, has always the function to define, identify and make visible the forms that are represented. More precisely black is primary use as ‘border-line’ to distinguish the various entities and to separate different spaces and different colours. Although its effective presence is not prevailing, its function makes it essential to the realization of the object.11 On the other hand white is often used as background colour for the black ‘border-line’, representing its perfect functional opposite. The red-blue opposition is extremely different: it is not functional but it is linked to the emotional reaction these colours provoke.12 Red completes the archaic chromatic triad black-white-red,13 which stand out since prehistoric period, as it is shown by the paintings from Çatal Höyük where the focus characteristic of the red is evident (Spycket 1987-90: 289; Mellaart 1963: fig. 11). Red is in fact a dynamic and energetic colour, able to catch and to focus the

9 10 11 12 13

According to the analysis of Landsberg (1967), Sumerian and Akkadian languages possess four basic colour terms: black (Sum.: gi6 / Akk.: s’almu), white (babbar / pesû), red (su4 / sa5 / samu), grue (sig7 / warqu), while Schenkel concluded the same for the Egyptian (Schenkel 1963). Black and white notion is one of the oldest and fundamental archetypes of the chromatic human experience. In fact, as demonstrated by anthropological researches (Berlin and Kay 1969), also in the most primitive languages the notions of black and white are present. The strength of black has been already noticed by important painters, as Matisse. He totally comprehended the black colour, saying that it is not only a colour but a ‘force’ (Matisse 1979: 51). As pointed out by Lüscher (1993: 12) and Widmann (2006: 17) colours give an emotional value to the experience. If black and white are the first main and distinct colours (see n. 10), the third colour used and probably perceived by human eye is red. Red is in fact the third colour used by men since the ice age, as attested by rock paintings. It is also the first term appearing in archaic languages indicating a colour different from light and dark, white and black (Widmann 2006: 75).


307

attention of the human eye.14 This particular characteristic is visible, even nowadays, in highlighting mistakes. The ‘stimulant’ and ‘focusing’ action of red is limited by blue, the fourth colour that chronologically appears in paintings. Located inside Goethe’s colour circle15 (Fig. 7) at the perfect opposite of red, it has shooting and calming properties connected to his link with nature, being blue the colour of the sky and of the sea (Widmann 2006: 105). When combined in equivalent quantity and forms, these two colours cancel each other out and the eyes relax, not being therefore more focused on a point over another, creating a chromatic equilibrium. Analysing the precise use of these four colours it is possible to put in evidence a quite precise balance of the two pairs of opposites that contributes to the sense of equilibrium and symmetry of the entire composition, previously remarked in the iconographical analysis. These colour pairs are thus quite balanced: no colour is prevailing, attracting the human eye, but this chromatic balance contributes to the symmetry and visual coherence of the composition. The equilibrium is therefore iconographic and chromatic in both the ornamental wall paintings. Analysing the link between colour and reality, it is possible to point out that this connection does not exist in Nuzi and Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta wall paintings, but that an ‘evocative’ and symbolic use of colours with no tie with the reality is present. Totally different are the Dur Kurigalzu wall paintings representing human figures. Here the chromatic balance does not exist and the colours seem to have the purpose to imitate the reality, excluding the red bands on white background placed above the figures. Blue is used as background colour, imitating the sky, while white loses its background characteristic becoming the true colour of the clothes.16 Black is the only colour that keeps its ‘border line’ function, even if it is used for beard and hair, as well as for the details of the clothes.

Iconological Analysis The balance in the Nuzi and Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta wall paintings is not only chromatic and iconographic, but probably also iconological. Analysing the Nuzi paintings, is evident the alternating of bull heads and female frontal heads, elements well known 14 Red is a stimulant colour, as testified since the beginning of the 20th century by the work of StefanescuGoanga (1911). Successive researches of Nakshian (1964) have given statistic evidence that the red causes motor excitement, making this colour the colour of the evidence. 15 The colour circle is an abstract illustrative organization of colour hues around a circle that relationships between primary colours, secondary colours and complementary colours. Goethe, in his Theory of Colours (Goethe 1810), provided the first systematic study of the physiological effects of colour. His observation on the effect of opposed colours led him to a symmetric arrangement on his colour circle. 16 As Tomabechi pointed out in 1983, blue was a favourite background colour on wall paintings in Mesopotamia as a representation of the sky (Tomabechi 1983: 128). For example the ceiling of the upper walls of Room 9 if the Ur Mausoleum of the Ur III Dynasty was covered with gold ornamentations of a sun and six pointed stars which were pinned against a blue background (Woolley 1974: 3).

308

Sara Pizzimenti

in Mitannian culture. It is possible that in this case, those two elements are a short version of other two well known more complex figurative elements associated to two precise divinities. The bull head becomes the short version of the bull, animal associated to the Storm god Adad,17 while the female frontal head could be associated to the Ishtar iconography. Ishtar in fact is always represented, in her warrior aspect, with the frontal face and the hair loose on shoulders.18 Being Ishtar and Adad, in the West Semitic tradition, a divine couple, the balance is therefore here constituted by the contraposition of the opposites male (Adad) and female (Ishtar). Instead the volute tree could be in Mitannian culture, as suggested by Lambert (1985: 453), the representation of a male deity, perhaps just the Storm god. In the Dur Kurigalzu wall paintings the main subject of the decoration is the palm-tree and the rosette. The rosette is one of Ishtar’s symbols, and of her Sumerian correspondent Inanna, from the Uruk to Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods (van Buren 1939; Black and Green 1992: 156; Herles 2006: 227–228; Ornan 2005: 151–152). Instead the association of the palm-tree with Ishtar in the Assyrian culture is testified by an Assyrian text of Assurbanipal19 and by its constant proximity with the rosette. The Assurbanipal’s text also testifies an association between Ishtar and cervidae.20 Cervidae are represented flanking a palm-tree21 inside one of the square compartments at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, suggesting that all the elements inside the wall paintings are referring to Ishtar, and that there is not the opposition male-female existent in the Nuzi paintings. However it is possible to single out this opposition in Ishtar herself. Ishtar has in fact a double nature, male and female,22 found not only in her double aspect of morning star and

17 From the Old Babylonian onwards the bull is usually associated to the Storm god (Black and Green 1992: 47). For an analysis of the relationship between the storm god and the bull see Watanabe (2002: 93–98). 18 See for example the Old-Babylonian reliefs AO12456 (Barrelet 1968: no. 790). 19 ‘O palm-tree, daughter of Niniveh, stag of the land! She is glorious, most glorious, the finest goddesses ... the crown on her head gleams like the stars; the luminescent disks on her breasts shine like the sun’ (Livingstone 1989: no. 7). 20 The association between Shauska-Ishtar and the cervidae is also testified on Mitannian cylinder seals (Stein 1988: 177–178, fig. 11). 21 The theme of horned animals, generally standing on their hind legs flanking a tree, is an age-old motif represented in Mesopotamia imagery since the mid-3rd millennium BC. It is in fact quite common on object from the Royal Cemetery at Ur (Woolley 1934: 91, 121–122, 264, 276–277, pls 87–89, 96–97, 100, 115), but also, although articulated in somewhat differently, on an Early Dynastic II–III container from Nippur, on a tablet from Fara, on Old-Babylonian terracottas and on a mural from Mari (Hansen 1998: 49, 60–62, nos 6–8; Orthmann 1975: pls 79a, 80; Barrelet 1968: no. 849; van Buren 1939: nos 863–864; Opificius 1961: nos 675–676; Parrot 1958: 27–28, fig. 23). Not common in Neo-Assyrian and in Late Babylonian periods, it is on the contrary a very popular theme in Northern Mesopotamia and Syria during Middle Assyrian and Mitannian periods. 22 Ishtar is an extremely complex deity, characterised by a double nature, War goddess and goddess of Love/Sexuality, correspondent to a double iconographic representation. The Ishtar War goddess is represented with a martial attitude, a long flounced dress, a horned tiara and double lion-headed mace in her hand, while as goddess of Love/Sexuality she is represented as the ‘naked goddess’ (see in particular Pizzimenti in press a).


309

evening star,23 but also in inscriptions and myths. For example in the Agušaya poem is said that ‘she dance around the gods and kings in her manliness’ (Agušaya poem, II:1–2). Furthermore at Mari, the Ishtar Temple at the level a, seems to have two flanked cellae;24 and the inscription of the male figurines founded inside brings the dedication dIshtar.uš (Ishtar ‘manly’) (Parrot 1956: 68–74).

Conclusions A visual coherence given by an iconographic, chromatic and iconological equilibrium and symmetry is present both in the ornamental wall paintings at Nuzi and Kar-TukultiNinurta. Iconographically the scene is composed following a principle of balance and symmetry. This balance has also a chromatic correspondence in a black/white and red/ blue opposition, and an iconological correspondence in the male and female elements opposition, opposite de facto, with Adad and Ishtar in the Nuzi paintings and with the Ishtar’s double nature in those of Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta. Extremely different are the Dur Kurigalzu paintings, where there is not this principle of balance and opposition, but where the use of colour is no more ‘evocative’ but aims to imitate reality. Finally, it is possible to point out a conscious use of colour in all the Late Bronze Age wall paintings, according to the subject represented. A symbolic and ‘evocative’ use of colour seems to be preferred in ornamental wall paintings, while an imitation of reality is present in figurative ones.

Bibliography Albenda, P. 2005 Ornamental Wall Painting in the Art of the Assyrian Empire (CM 28), Leiden and Boston.

23 Some literary texts testify the identification of Ishtar with the planet Venus since at least the 2nd millennium BC (Picchioni 2000: 38), but it is possible that she was seen as the planet Venus also in the 3rd millennium BC (Rochberg 2009: 54–55). For an analysis of the astral correspondence and representation of Ishtar see Pizzimenti (in press b). 24 André Parrot identified an enlargement of the Ishtar temple in the ‘niveau a’, thanks to the addiction of a second cella (no.18) and of a second court (no.20) in the western part of the templar complex (Parrot 1956: 29–41; Tunca 1984: 47–57). Even if Parrot does not make hypothesis on the function of the second cella and of the second court, he supports the permanence of the sacred function of the entire complex, always linked to the goddess Ishtar in his ‘manly’ form (Margueron 2004: 247).

310

Sara Pizzimenti

Andrae, W. 1925 Coloured Ceramics from Ashur and Earlier Ancient Assyrian WallPaintings. From Photographs and Water-Colours by Members of the Ashur Expedition organized by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, London. Baqir, T. 1945 Iraq Government Excavations at ‘Aqar Qūf: Second Interim Report 1943– 44: in Iraq Supplement II. 1946 Iraq Government Excavations at ‘Aqar Qūf: Third Interim Report 1944–45: in Iraq 8, pp. 7–93. Barrelet, M-Th. 1968 Figurines et reliefs en terre cuite de la Mésopotamie antique, I. Potiers, termes de métier, et procédés de fabrication et production (Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 85), Paris. Berlin, B., Kay, P. 1969 Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution, Berkeley. Black, J., Green, A. 1992 Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. An Illustrated Dictionary, London. Clayden, T. 1996 Kurigalzu I and the Restoration of Babylonia: in Iraq 58, pp. 109–122. Eichkoff, T. 1985 Kār Tukulti Ninurta. Eine mittelassyrische Kult- und Redisenzstadt (ADOG 21), Berlin. Frankfort, H. 1954 The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, London. Goethe, J. W. 1810 Farbenlehre, Tübingen. 1997 La teoria dei colori, Milano. Hansen, D.P. 1998 Art of the Royal Tombs of Ur: A Brief Interpretation: in R. L. Zettler, L. Horne (eds), Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur, Philadelphia, 43-72. Herles, M. 2006 Götterdarstellungen Mesopotamiens in der 2. Hälfte des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr. Das anthropomorphe Bild im Verhältnis zum Symbol (AOAT 329), Münster. Lambert, W. G. 1985 Trees, Snakes and Gods in Ancient Syria and Anatolia: in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 48, pp. 435–451. Landsberg, B. 1967 Über Farben im Sumerisch-akkadischen: in Journal of Cuneiform Studies 21, pp. 139–173.


311

Livingstone, A. 1989 Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea (SAA III), Helsinki. Lloyd, S., Safar, F. 1943 Tell Uqair: Excavations by the Iraq Goverment Directorate of Antiquities in 1940 and 1941: in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 2, pp. 135–155. Lüscher, M. 1993 Il test clinico dei colori, Abano Terme. Margueron, J. C. 2004 Mari: Métropole de l’Euphrate, au IIIe et au début du IIe millénaire av J.C., Paris. Matisse, H. 1979 Scritti e pensieri sull’arte, Torino. Matthiae, P. 1997 La storia dell’arte dell’Oriente Antico. I primi imperi e i principati del ferro (1600-700 a.C.), Milano. Mellaart, J. 1963 Excavations at Çatal Hüyük 1962. Second Preliminary Report: in Anatolian Studies 13, pp. 43–104. Moortgat, A. 1959 Alt-Vorderasiatische Malerei, Berlin. Nakshian, J. S. 1964 The Effect of Red and Green Surroundings on Behavior: in Journal of General Psychology, 70, pp. 143-161. Nunn, A. 1988 Die Wandmalerei und der Glasierte Wandschmuck im Alten Orient, Leiden, New York, Københaven and Köln. Opificius 1961 Das altbabylonische Terrakottarelief, Berlin. Ornan, T. 2005 The triumph of the Symbol: Pictorial Representation of Deities in Mesopotamia and the Biblical Image Ban (OBO 213), Fribourg and Göttingen. Orthmann, W. (ed.) 1975 Der Alte Orient (PKG XIV), Berlin. Parrot, A. 1956 Le temple d’Ishtar (MAM 1), Paris. 1958 Le palais: peintures murales (MAM 2.2), Paris. Picchioni, S. A. 2000 L’astronomia mesopotamica fra speculazione e calcolo: la dea Ishtar e il pianeta Venere: in Giornale di Astronomia 26, pp. 34–45.

312

Sara Pizzimenti

Pizzimenti, S. in press a La ‘naked goddess’ cassita: analisi e interpretazione: in Contributi e Materiali di Archeologia Orientale. in press b The Astral Family in Kassite Kudurrus Reliefs. Iconographical and Iconological Study of Sîn, Šamaš and Ištar astral representation: in Proceedings of 55 RAI, Paris 6th–9th July 2009. Rochberg, F. 2009 The Stars Their Likenesses. Perspectives on the Relation Between Celestial Bodies and Gods in Ancient Mesopotamia: in B. Nevling Porter (ed.), What Is a God? Anthropomorphic Aspects of Deity in Ancient Mesopotamia, Winona Lake, 41–92. Schenkel, W. 1963 Sie Farben in ägyptischer Kunst und Sprache: in Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 88, pp. 131–147. Spycket, A. 1987-90 Malerei: in Reallexikon der Assyriologie 7, pp. 287–300. Starr, R. 1937 Nuzi II, Cambridge, Mass. 1939 Nuzi I, Cambridge, Mass. Stefanescu-Goanga, F. 1911 Experimentelle Untersuchungen zur Gefühlsbetonung der Farben : in Psychologische Studien 7, pp. 284-335. Stein, D. L. 1988 Mythologische Inhalte der Nuzi-Glyptik: in Haas, V. (ed.), Hurriter und Hurritisch (Xenia: Konstanzer althistorische Vorträge und Forschungen 21), Konstanz, 173–207. Tomabechi, Y. 1983 Wall Paintings from Dur Kurigalzu: in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 42/2, pp. 123–131. Tunca, Ö. 1984 L’architecture religieuse protodynastique en Mesopotamie, Leuven. van Buren, D. 1939 The Rosette in Mesopotamian Art: in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 45, pp. 99–107. Watanabe, C. E. 2002 Animal Symbolism in Mesopotamia. A Contextual Approach, Wien. Widmann, C. 2006 Il simbolismo dei colori, Roma. Woolley, L. 1934 Ur Excavations. Volume II. The Royal Cemetery, London and Philadelphia. 1974 The Buildings of the Third Dynasty, London and Philadelphia.


313

Fig.1: Drawing reproduction of the wall painting from the governor palace at Nuzi. Moortgat 1949: fig. 15.

Fig. 2: Reconstructed wall painting from the northern side of palace terrace at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta (a) (Andrae 1925: pl. 1) and its hypothetical chromatic reconstruction (b).

314

Sara Pizzimenti

Fig. 3: Reconstructed wall painting from the southern side of palace terrace at KarTukulti-Ninurta (a) (Andrae 1925: pl. 3) and its hypothetical chromatic reconstruction (b).


Fig. 4: Reconstructed wall painting from the southern side of palace terrace at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta (a) (Andrae 1925: pl. 2)

and its hypothetical chromatic reconstruction (b).

315

Sara Pizzimenti

316

Fig. 5: Dur Kurigalzu, Unit H, Doorway IV. Baqir 1946: pl. 14, 7.

Fig. 6: Drawing reproduction of a dignitary from the Doorway III, Unit H of the palace at Dur Kurigalzu. Baqir 1946: pl. 12, 5.


Fig. 7: The Goethe’s colour circle. Source: Goethe 1997: fig. 25.

317