Horses became the premier animal of transportation and warfare, as well as symbols of royalty ( 1976.5). as the “donkeys of the mountains.” After 2000 B.C., horses entered the Near East in large numbers, most likely from areas to the east and north. Memory of the mountainous origins of horses is reflected by references to these animals in Mesopotamian texts of the third millennium B.C. The horse was an animal of paramount importance. Portrayals of domesticated animals were also used to communicate ideas about fertility and to enhance ritual activities. (In contrast to modern perceptions about the Middle East, camels were not common in the ancient Near East until the first centuries A.D., when camel caravans traveled the long-distance trade routes that were the forerunners of the Silk Road.) Amulets and foundation deposits show that images of domestic animals could be thought to have protective functions. Many animals, including dogs, sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs, and cats, were first domesticated in the Near East. Fierce animals shown locked in combat were perhaps meant to embody strong opposing forces in nature.
Conflict between two or more powerful creatures is a recurring theme in ancient Near Eastern art ( 17.190.1672). Images of lions were also used in protective contexts, and were set up in pairs to guard passageways into royal and ritual spaces ( 31.13.1 31.13.2 48.180). During the Uruk period, the lion and bull became especially prominent in the art of the ancient Near East and first began to be used in images expressing the power of rulers. Contrary to what we might expect of the peoples who first domesticated many animals and plants, it is not the inner controlled and domesticated world that they chose to represent but the outer, wild world. At the site of Göbekli Tepe, stone pillars were carved in relief with images of animals such as vultures and foxes, while at Çatal Höyük, plaster installations of animal teeth and horns and wall paintings of animals, including one of an enormous bull, were found in domestic spaces. Interest in wild animals, and particularly in features like horns, wings, and claws that were considered especially dangerous or powerful ( 47.100.88 17.190.2055), is characteristic of ancient Near Eastern art of all periods, dating back at least to the Neolithic period. Both naturalistic and abstracted animal portrayals are found throughout the history of the ancient Near East ( 1978.58), and the selection of a stylized or exaggerated form is best understood as the craftperson’s wish to emphasize a particular desirable or representative quality of the animal ( 59.52). in Elam (southwestern Iran), craftspeople created remarkable depictions of animals behaving like humans-a theme that may have related to early myths or fables, now lost ( 66.173). During the late fourth to early third millennium B.C. Sculptures from the Uruk period show that artists were carefully attuned to the anatomy of domesticated and wild animals ( 1981.53). These images frequently appeared within compositions that evoked divinity, kingship, and the fertility of the natural world.įrom earliest times, animals were represented in the art of the ancient Near East ( 1984.175.13 1984.175.15). Images of animals took many forms, including painted pottery and clay sculptures, carved stone, and sculpture in precious metal. Interactions with animals shaped the world of the ancient people of the Near East: they shepherded flocks, guarded against dangerous wild animals, traveled long distances with the help of pack animals, hunted for subsistence and for sport, rode horses into battle, and marveled at powerful beasts and exotic creatures from distant lands. The art of the ancient Near East includes some of the most vivid images of animals to be found anywhere.
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