Assyrian Art and Architecture

The ancient region of Mesopotamia is often called 'the Cradle of Civilization.' It is here that we
see the earliest form of writing developed along with beautiful art and architecture. Mesopotamia
was an area that once covered modern-day Iraq and parts of Syria, Turkey, and Iran. Within the
region there were several cultures that competed for land and resources.

The Assyrians
During the first half of the millennium, the Assyrian empire held control over most of the region.
The Assyrians were a culture of warriors who were very aggressive. The empire was mostly held
under military control. The Assyrians approached their enemies with fierceness and showed no
mercy in defeating them. The empire existed between roughly 1365 BC and 600 BC.

Assyrian Palaces
Due to the expansive size of their empire, the Assyrians gained access to many resources
including stone and iron. The popularity of iron tools led to the creation of massive palaces.
Although the availability of stone was ample, Assyrians chose to use mud brick to build many of
their palaces in order to emulate the Sumerians. The Sumerians were a largely successful empire
that preceded the Assyrians in controlling large parts of Mesopotamia. Many other groups
mimicked Sumerian architecture and art to imply their success by comparison.

Assyrian palaces were decorated with vivid

colors and painted decorations

Each new Assyrian king in the early first millennium BC would either enlarge an old palace or
build a completely new one. The new palaces would be bigger and more impressive than older
ones to exhibit the king's power and wealth. Palaces were decorated with vivid colors and
painted decorations.
In some palaces, like that of a king named Sargon II, mud brick was mainly used in construction,
but stone slabs called orthostats were used at the base of the walls. Orthostats are a unique
characteristic of Assyrian architecture.

Carvings
One of the unique characteristics of Assyrian art is their relief carvings. They created elaborate
relief carvings in stone which exhibited very extensive detail. The carvings often held images of
battles and major events of war. These carvings also held depictions of the violent results of
battle. This may even be the earliest form of narrative art, or art that tells a story. Many
orthostats contained these dramatic images.

Lamassu were carved into entrances to serve as

guardians and featured minute detail

One example of detailed Assyrian carvings is the lamassu. The lamassu was a winged lion or
bull with the head of a human. Lamassu were carved into the entrance of the palace. They were
intended to ward off evil, looming over foreign ambassadors and allies. Minute detail, true to
Assyrian form, can be seen in the curls of the beard of the human head, muscles and veins in the
legs, and feathers in the wings.

Cylinder Seals
Intricate detail can also be seen in cylinder seals. Cylinder seals were cylindrical shaped stones
that contained symbols. The images on the seals were used to represent words or concepts. These
seals would be rolled across wet clay tablets to leave an impression of their design. They could
be used to produce unique signatures for commercial purposes. Images on Assyrian seals
included men, gods, and animals.

Ziggurats
 Ziggurats were pyramid-like structures with
a temple constructed at the highest level

Sumerian influence can again be seen in the construction of ziggurats. A ziggurat was a large
building, similar to a pyramid, with several levels. The highest level of the ziggurat was reserved
as a temple and was designed to be a resting place for its specified deity. Although the Assyrians
borrowed the idea of the ziggurat from the Sumerians, they constructed their ziggurats to be even
bigger.

Lesson Summary
Assyrians were a violent group of people who conquered much of Mesopotamia in their time.
They took much of their ideas for art and architecture from their successful predecessors: the
Sumerians. They took what the Sumerians created and made it bigger, creating massive palaces,
detailed carvings, and huge ziggurats.

Lesson Outcome
After finishing this video students should be able to:

 Recognize that Assyrian art and architecture was heavily borrowed from the Sumerians
 List specific examples of Assyrian art and architecture
 Discuss the scale and style of Assyrian artists

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Lesson 8 in chapter 2 of the course:
Western Civilization I: Help and Review
17 chapters | 308 lessons
Ch 1. Prehistory: Help and...
Ch 2. History of the Ancient Near East
 The Invention of Writing4:42
 The History of Money and Rise of Complex Economies10:42
 How Religion Developed in the Stone Age and Bronze Age9:09
 The Fertile Crescent: Cradle of Civilization6:17
 Sumerian Art and Architecture5:44
 The Epic of Gilgamesh11:13
 Heirs of the Sumerians: Babylonians, Hittites, Hurrians and Assyrians9:11
 Assyrian Art and Architecture4:22
 8:15

Next Lesson

Hammurabi's Code: The Advent of Law, Prerequisites and Implications

 What's the Difference Between Polytheism and Monotheism?5:54

 The Hebrews and Their Beliefs13:35
 Ancient Egypt in the Bronze Age11:42
 Ancient Egyptian Art: History and Style5:51
Heirs of the Sumerians
By the mid-20th century BCE, Sumerian Civilization had already been through a lot:

 It had been co opted by the Akkadians

 It had been conquered by the Guti.
 It had thrown off its invaders, and started a new Sumerian Empire with Ur as its capitol

Then, in 1950 BCE, a new group of people entered the scene, the Elamites, a fierce people living
to the southeast of Mesopotamia. The Elamites, like the Guti before them, seem to have been
more interested in pillaging than empire building. It would take another thousand years before
the Elamites would mount their own bid for control of the empire. Nevertheless, the Elamites
destroyed the power structure that held the Sumerian empire together. After a thousand years, the
Sumero-Akkadian empire was dead at last.

Babylon was the religious center of southern

Mesopotamia

The Babylonians
Then around 1830, the city of Babylon took advantage of the distraction of these two power
players and established itself as an independent kingdom. Yet Babylon was small compared to
the older kingdoms around it. Surrounded by enemies, Babylon extended its power slowly. It
would take the better part of a century before a Babylonian leader was brazen enough to attempt
to recreate the grand Mesopotamian empire. That leader's name was Hammurabi.
Hammurabi inherited a central, but rather unimportant kingdom of Mesopotamia. He led a well
disciplined fighting force to the conquest of his Amorite rivals, Isin and Larsa, as well as the
already ancient cities of Ur and Uruk. By the time he was done, Babylon would be the seat of an
empire stretching for thousands of miles. But Hammurabi was not sated with mere conquest.
He wanted to build an empire to last. Like Ur Nammu, he established a centralized bureaucracy
with taxes. He rebuilt old imperial roads and cleared out the canals, allowing trade to form once
again. Like all Babylonian kings, Hammurabi was a member of the priestly caste and was likely
considered an avatar of the city's patron deity, Marduk. During his reign, Hammurabi established
Babylon as the holiest of Mesopotamian cities, where all future emperors would need to be
crowned. Yet perhaps Hammurabi's greatest accomplishment was his Code of Laws. It was
likely inspired by the code of Ur Nammu, the law of the last great Mesopotamian empire.

The code of Ur Nammu was the law of the

last great Mesopotamian empire

While the Babylonians seem to have perfected Sumerian designs for civilization, they show little
signs of invention in this period. This copying of Sumerian accomplishments would typify all the
empires that attempted to gain control of Mesopotamia. Indeed, the relics of Babylonian culture
could not be easily discerned from those of the Sumerians for hundreds of years. They built their
palaces, temples and Ziggurats all along Sumerian lines, adorning them with frescoes, glazed
tiles and stone steles.
Like the Sumerians, the Babylonians built with mud brick. Some believe this is because they
suffered from a lack of stone. Yet it is interesting to note that the later Assyrians, who had plenty
of stone at their disposal, continued to build with mud brick after their rise to power. This
suggests that the choice of mud brick might have been a cultural appeal to an old source of
legitimacy as much as it was a material necessity. To appear legitimate, every culture to come
would try to replicate the achievements of the Sumerians.

The Hittites
Babylon would continue to be the seat of the Mesopotamian empire until its sack around 1600
BCE by the Hittites. The Hittites were a warlike people, from the city of Hattusa in Anatolia.
They were big fans of chariots, which they used to great effect. They were also excellent
metalworkers. They were also perhaps the first empire to see the value of iron. The Hittites
sacked Babylon, tearing apart the Babylonian Empire, but made no attempt to establish
themselves there, preferring to remain in Anatolia.
They borrowed writing along with many forms of art and architecture from the Sumerians. Yet,
as an empire separate from the Sumerians, and ancient in its own right, the Hittites also
developed their own architecture. Their most noteworthy contributions are the bit-hilani, a sort
of pillared front porch, and the double gateway with corbeled arch - the best surviving example
of which is the Lion Gate at Hattusa, the ancient Hittite capital. Hittites raids of the Babylonian
Empire plunged the region into chaos, allowing new groups to emerge.
 The bit-hilani is a type of pillared front porch
found in Hittite architecture

The Mittani
The foremost of these were the Hurrians, also known as the Mittani. They filled the vacuum left
by the Hittites, building an empire in northern Mesopotamia. Pressing east into the lands of the
Assyrians and west into Anatolia.
The Mittani left very little behind in terms of material culture; almost everything we know of
them comes from references from other cultures. Still their empire survived until around 1350
BCE, when a battle of succession left them vulnerable to a new Hittite assault. This weakened
the Mittani enough for the Assyrians to overthrow their masters and create their own empire.

The Assyrians
The city of Assur had been a powerful player in Mesopotamian politics since at least the 25th
century BCE. Likely founded as a Sumerian administrative center, Assur had been dominated by
Akkadians, Amorites, Babylonians and Hurrians. Now was their time to seize control. They did
so with great alacrity, devouring northern Mesopotamia.
Where the Babylonians had been farmers and merchants ruled by priests, the Assyrians were first
and foremost warriors. While their kings might have traced their descent from the city's patron
diety, Ashur, it was in essence a military aristocracy. Yet, like the Babylonians before them, the
Assyrians assiduously copied the accomplishments of their predecessors and had not yet begun
to generate a unique culture of their own.

Kassite Babylon
Meanwhile, southern Mesopotamia was being forcibly unified under the rule of the Kassite
Babylonians. Although the Kassite capitol was actually Mari, the Babylonians had so established
their city as an imperial seat that the Kassite kings needed to be considered Babylonians to be
considered Emperors of their region. They abandoned Mari, early on, and established the longest
lasting Babylonian dynasty, which would survive almost 600 years.

Three Empires
 The Assyrians, Hittites and Kassite
Babylonians vied with one another for power

The Bronze Age Collapse

This struggle for power would continue until roughly 1200 BCE, when a series of invasions from
all directions tore bronze age civilization to shreds.
From the north, Phrygians began raiding Assyria, and Thracians swept into the lands of the
Hittites. From the east, the Elamites invaded once more, pillaging and burning Babylon for at
least the fourth time. From the deserts to the south, a new people, the Arameans, poured into
Mesopotamia, making travel and trade between cities very dangerous indeed. And in the west, a
mysterious group of invaders known only as the sea peoples, crushed kingdoms along the
Mediterranean from Egypt to Greece.
Trade ground to a halt, populations plummeted, literacy all but disappeared, entire empires
disappeared overnight and civilization itself seemed to teeter on the brink of annihilation. This
period is known as the Bronze age collapse. Many civilizations would not survive this
catastrophe. The Hittites vanished without a trace, and the civilizations that survived would take
over 300 years to recover.

Sumerian Art and Architecture

Mesopotamia
Sumerians inhabited mostly southern Mesopotamia from about 4000 BCE to about 2000 BCE.
This area was prone to violent weather conditions, such as unexpected flooding. These chaotic
conditions resulted in the Sumerians becoming a highly religious society. Religion provided a
sense of order and reason behind the disorder. Much of the art created by the Sumerians is
religious themed. Materials used included shell, lapis lazuli, limestone and gold.

Cuneiform

Cylinder seals were used to print cuneiform

and images onto clay.

One of the earliest known cities was called Uruk. In Uruk, we have found some of the earliest
written records. Sumerians created the earliest form of writing, called cuneiform. Cuneiform
began as picture symbols but developed into wedge-like shapes used to represent sounds. There
was a temple in Uruk honoring a goddess named Innanna. Much of the produce from the city
would be left at the temple for the goddess, then processed for use (barley used for beer, for
example) and given back to the people. Records were created to record this process. These
records were made by using cuneiform on clay tablets.

Cylinder Seals
To create the signature on a tablet, the Sumerians created beautiful, elaborate cylinder seals. The
seals would contain carvings that, when rolled across wet clay, would leave an impression in the
clay. Seals may have contained images or cuneiform to represent a signature. They may have
also been an indication of social status. Many of the seals were very small, usually less than two
inches in height. Seals were usually carved in agate, chalcedony, lapis lazuli, steatite, limestone,
marble, quartz or hematite. Some seals were carved in gold or silver. The images on the seals
were carved with great attention to detail. Seals are important because of their unique nature.
Each seal contained its own images, reflective of its owner. Seals may have also reflected what
was popular stylistically at the time of their creation, opening another window into Sumerian
culture.

The Standard of Ur
 The Standard of Ur features illustrations of
Sumerian society.

Another ancient city in Sumer is known as Ur. The city may have been founded by the Ubaids,
who preceded the Sumerians in inhabiting the area. Ur became so powerful that it held control
over all of Sumer at varying times. The Standard of Ur is an artifact that was found in an
excavation at Ur. The standard may have originally been a hollow box. Its original purpose is
still unknown. It consists of a number of wooden fragments containing vivid mosaics. The
standard contains images of many participants in Ur's society. Figures include kings, soldiers,
commoners and even livestock being brought as a gift to the king. The images depicted are
reflective of Sumer's largely farming culture.

Ziggurats
Another artistic and architectural achievement found in Ur is a mostly preserved ziggurat. A
ziggurat was a structure similar to a step pyramid that contained various levels. The top level
held a temple, usually dedicated to a city's patron deity. The ziggurat found at Ur was dedicated
to a moon goddess named Nanna. It was likely built around 2100 BCE. Although the lower
portions of the structure were mostly found intact, the temple did not survive. Ziggurats were
located in the center of the city. They were likely the center of daily commercial and social
interaction. The ziggurats were designed to be a comfortable dwelling place for the local deity.

Assyrian civilization, centred in the fertile Tigris valley of northern Iraq, can
be traced back to at least the third millennium B.C.E., some of its most
spectacular remains date to the first millennium B.C.E. when Assyria
dominated the Middle East.
Ashurnasirpal II
The Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C.E.) established Nimrud as
his capital. Many of the principal rooms and courtyards of his palace were
decorated with gypsum slabs carved in relief with images of the king as high
priest and as victorious hunter and warrior. Many of these are displayed in
the British Museum.

Statue of Ashurnasirpal II, Neo-Assyrian, 883-859 B.C.E., from Nimrud

(ancient Kalhu), northern Iraq, magnesite, 113 x 32 x 15 cm © Trustees of the
British Museum
Statue of Ashurnasirpal II, Neo-Assyrian, 883-859 B.C.E., from Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Iraq,
magnesite, 113 x 32 x 15 cm
(The British Museum)

This rare example of an Assyrian statue in the round was placed in the Temple of Ishtar Sharrat-niphi to
remind the goddess Ishtar of the king's piety. Ashurnasirpal holds a sickle in his right hand, of a kind which
gods are sometimes depicted using to fight monsters. The mace in his left hand shows his authority as vice-
regent of the supreme god Ashur. The carved cuneiform inscription across his chest proclaims the king's titles
and genealogy, and mentions his expedition westward to the Mediterranean Sea.

Ashurnasirpal II, whose name (Ashur-nasir-apli) means, "the god Ashur is

the protector of the heir," came to the Assyrian throne in 883 B.C.E. He was
one of a line of energetic kings whose campaigns brought Assyria great
wealth and established it as one of the Near East's major powers.

Ashurnasirpal mounted at least fourteen military campaigns, many of them

were to the north and east of Assyria. Local rulers sent the king rich presents
and resources flowed into the country. This wealth was ploughed into
impressive building works undertaken in a new capital city created at Kalhu
(modern Nimrud). Here a citadel mound was constructed and crowned with
temples and the so-called North-West Palace. Military successes led to
further campaigns, this time to the west, and close links were established with
states in the northern Levant. Fortresses were established on the rivers Tigris
and Euphrates and staffed with garrisons.

By the time that Ashurnasirpal died, in 859 B.C.E., Assyria had recovered
much of the territory that it had lost around 1100 B.C.E. as a result of the
economic and political problems at the end of the Middle Assyrian period.

Relief panels
Later kings continued to embellish Nimrud, including Ashurnasirpal II’s son,
Shalmaneser III who erected the Black Obelisk depicting the presentation of
tribute from Israel.
The siege and capture of the city of Lachish in 701, panel 8-9, South-West
Palace of Sennacherib, Nineveh, northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, c. 700-681
B.C.E., alabaster, 182.880 x 193.040 cm © Trustees of the British Museum

Part of a series which decorated the walls of a room in the palace of King
Sennacherib (reigned 704-681 B.C.E.). The Assyrian soldiers continue the
attack on Lachish. They carry away a throne, a chariot and other goods from
the palace of the governor of the city. In front and below them some of the
people of Lachish, carrying what goods they can salvage, move through a
rocky landscape studded with vines, fig and perhaps olive trees. Sennacherib
records that as a result of the whole campaign he deported 200,150 people.
This was standard Assyrian policy, and was adopted by the Babylonians, the
next ruling empire.
The Siege and Capture of the City of Lachish in 701 B.C.E., panel 8-9, South-West Palace of Sennacherib,
Nineveh, northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, c. 700-681 B.C.E., alabaster, 182.880 x 193.040 cm (The British
Museum)

Part of a series which decorated the walls of a room in the palace of King Sennacherib (reigned 704-681
B.C.E.). The Assyrian soldiers continue the attack on Lachish. They carry away a throne, a chariot and other
goods from the palace of the governor of the city. In front and below them some of the people of Lachish,
carrying what goods they can salvage, move through a rocky landscape studded with vines, fig and perhaps
olive trees. Sennacherib records that as a result of the whole campaign he deported 200,150 people. This was
standard Assyrian policy, and was adopted by the Babylonians, the next ruling empire.

During the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E. Assyrian kings conquered the
region from the Persian Gulf to the borders of Egypt. The most ambitious
building of this period was the palace of king Sennacherib (704-681 B.C.E.)
at Nineveh. The reliefs from Nineveh in the British Museum include a
depiction of the siege and capture of Lachish in Judah.
 The Dying Lion, panel from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh,
northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, c. 645 B.C.E., alabaster, 16.5 x 30 cm ©
Trustees of the British Museum

Part of a series of wall panels that showed a royal hunt. Struck by one of the
king's arrows, blood gushes from the lion's mouth. There was a very long
tradition of royal lion hunts in Mesopotamia, with similar scenes known from
the late fourth millennium B.C.E.
The Dying Lion, panel from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, c. 645 B.C.E., Neo-Assyrian, alabaster, 16.5 x
30 cm, Nineveh, northern Iraq
© Trustees of the British Museum. Part of a series of wall panels that showed a royal hunt. Struck by one of
the king's arrows, blood gushes from the lion's mouth. There was a very long tradition of royal lion hunts in
Mesopotamia, with similar scenes known from the late fourth millennium B.C.E.

The finest carvings, however, are the famous lion hunt reliefs from the North
Palace at Nineveh belonging to Ashurbanipal (668-631 B.C.E.). The scenes
were originally picked out with paint, which occasionally survives, and work
like modern comic books, starting the story at one end and following it along
the walls to the conclusion.

The Assyrians used a form of gypsum for the reliefs and carved it using iron
and copper tools. The stone is easily eroded when exposed to wind and rain
and when it was used outside, the reliefs are presumed to have been protected
by varnish or paint. It is possible that this form of decoration was adopted by
Assyrian kings following their campaigns to the west, where stone reliefs
were used in Neo-Hittite cities like Carchemish. The Assyrian reliefs were
part of a wider decorative scheme which also included wall paintings and
glazed bricks.

The reliefs were first used extensively by king Ashurnasirpal II (about 883-
859 B.CE..) at Kalhu (Nimrud). This tradition was maintained in the royal
buildings in the later capital cities of Khorsabad and Nineveh.
The Need for Laws
This is Jim. This is Jim's neighbor, Tom. Jim has a cow. Tom steals Jim's cow. Jim retrieves his cow,
and steals Tom's pig to boot. That'll teach Tom to steal from Jim! Unfortunately, all Tom learns from
this exchange is that Jim must die. Tom kills Jim and takes back his pig and the cow. Enraged, Jim's
family descends on Tom's farm, steals all the livestock, and burns Tom's barn to the ground, with
Tom inside. Tom's family retaliates in kind, and we've got ourselves a good old-fashioned feud, one
to last for generations. Over the years, dozens of people will die, all over a stupid cow. Left to their
own devices, these two families will tear each other apart, to no one's benefit.

The Importance of Judges

Enter the judge. A judge can be anyone: a priest, an elected official, a jury of peers, a king or royal
appointee, a little old man on a hill. The only real requirement for a judge is that his decisions must
be respected. That is, a judge must be obeyed; otherwise he's just a spectator with an opinion. How
judges enforce their will varies.
The priest uses fear of the gods to sway people. The jury of peers depends on its impartiality to
bind people to its verdicts. The king can use soldiers to enforce his will. Yet whatever the system, it
allows Tom and Jim to resolve their conflict over the cow without bloodshed. Tom steals Jim's cow;
Jim goes to the judge. The judge threatens Tom with eternal damnation until he relents, or olds a
trial to decide whom the cow belongs to, or simply sends soldiers to return Jim's cow to him.
However it goes, at the end of the day, Jim has his cow back without creating a longstanding
vendetta with his neighbor. Thus you can see the important role of judges in society.

The code of Ur-Nammu is the earliest surviving

law code

There is reason to believe that the role of judge may very well be the first position of authority, and
that this authority evolved into chiefdoms, priesthoods, monarchies, and all the other forms of
government. At the heart of all authority is the power to make decisions for the people beneath you.
Should we invade? Where shall we build? And yes, even, 'whose cow is this? '

The Use of Hierarchies in Law

Yet judging things is time consuming. Kings have better things to do than decide which farmer gets
a cow, and emperors really can't be bothered with that sort of thing. To ease this burden, leaders
can and do take advantage of hierarchies. They delegate their authority to subordinates, and leave
it to them to determine guilt.
Yet it is telling that in so many cultures throughout time, sentencing has been reserved for people at
the top of the hierarchy, especially in matters of capital punishment. Command over life and death
has always been the prerogative of kings, and they are loath to give such an incredible power to
anyone else.

The Creation of Laws

But how is a king with thousands of subjects, let alone an emperor with millions, supposed to make
his will known in every case? Must he pass sentence on every trial?
Enter laws. Laws allow a king to pass sentence without being there. Instead of, 'you stole a cow,
you lose a hand... or your life, depending on how I'm feeling today.' Now it's, 'anyone who steals a
cow loses a hand.' In this way, laws also make the justice system more just, since everyone faces
the same consequences for the same actions.

The Code of Ur-Nammu

The earliest surviving code of law is the code of Ur-Nammu, written by the king of Ur near the end
of the Sumerian empire, around 2100 BCE. It contained 57 laws, of which 26 remain. These range
from the reasonable: 'if a man commits a kidnapping, he is to be imprisoned and pay 15 shekels of
silver.' To the draconic: 'if a man commits a robbery, he will be killed.' To the downright silly: 'if a
man's slave-woman, comparing herself to her mistress, speaks insolently to her, her mouth shall be
scoured with 1 quart of salt.'

Hammurabi was a Babylonian king

The Code of Hammurabi

300 years later, around 1790 BCE, a Babylonian king named Hammurabi would compose a much
more famous, and much more nuanced, code of laws. Inscribed on a stone stele, the code of
Hammurabi contains 282 laws. And we see here much more than mere consequences for actions.
We find laws for commerce: 'if any one give another silver, gold, or anything else to keep, he shall
show everything to some witness, draw up a contract, and then hand it over for safe keeping.'
Pricing Laws: 'if he hire an ass for threshing, the hire is twenty ka of corn.' Laws for liability: 'if an
animal be killed in the stable by God (an accident), or if a lion kill it, the herdsman shall declare his
innocence before God, and the owner bears the accident in the stable.' Laws of inheritance: 'if a
father give a present to his daughter... and then die, then she is to receive a portion as a child from
the paternal estate, and enjoy its so long as she lives. (Once she dies) Her estate belongs to her
brothers.' Even laws of emancipation: 'if a State slave or the slave of a freed man marry the
daughter of a free man, and children are born, the master of the slave shall have no right to enslave
the children of the free.'

The Evolution of Laws (6:02)

Laws also allow a king to establish just practices. This is very important, as unjust practices don't
resolve problems. They just transfer anger from the participants to the authority figure. Unjust
authority can be maintained, but it's a rather expensive process, protecting your judges with hordes
of soldiers, and therefore best avoided. Even Ur-Nammu realized this 4000 years ago when he
wrote, 'if a man appeared as a witness, and was shown to be a perjurer, he must pay fifteen shekels
of silver.' Hammurabi goes a step further: 'if the owner (of the stolen goods) does not bring
witnesses to identify the lost article, he is an evil-doer, he has transgressed, and shall be put to
death.' Much later, the Law of Moses (Deutoronomy 19:15) would state, 'one witness is not enough
to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be
established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'

The End Result and Purpose of a Justice System

So we've seen the good a justice system can do for a society. It settles disputes, and thereby
prevents unnecessary bloodshed. Laws streamline this process, and give judgments a modicum of
fairness by assigning set penalties for crimes and by establishing standards for proof. Still, the
question remains: why would a king go through all this trouble?

The code of Hammurabi is inscribed on a stone stele

Well, at its most fundamental level people killing each other leads to instability. Instability hampers
trade, and trade is the lifeblood of any empire. When a king looks at Jim and Tom's situation, he
doesn't see two men on the verge of a tragic murderous feud that will claim innocent lives for
generations. No. What a king sees is two otherwise productive farms too busy sabotaging one
another to produce anything, and messing up trade in the neighborhood to boot.
Yet perhaps the most compelling reason that kings make laws is more political than economic. Kings
establish justice systems because as long as the people look to their king for justice, they will do
what their king tells them to do.

Ziggurats were one of the architectural

achievements of the Ur society.

Sculptures

Sumerian sculptors used colored stones in place of

eyes.
In addition to the carvings created in cylinder seals, Sumerians also created freestanding
sculptures and statuettes. Carvings indicated artists took great care in creating delicate details.
Statuettes found at a temple are carved in a similar nature but are mostly cylindrical in shape.
They are of varying heights, indicating a hierarchy. For example, the tallest figure is a deity,
while a slightly shorter figure represents a priest. The statuettes are made of marble, and each has
large, staring eyes. The insets in the eyes would have once held a colored stone. The figures face
forward with their hands clasped in front of them.

History of Assyria
In northern Mesopotamia, a people called the Assyrians took advantage of their location on trade
routes to build an extensive empire, including magnificent cities such as Nineveh and Asshur (which
gave the empire its name). The Assyrians made use of recently invented iron weapons to build a
powerful and intimidating military. At its high point, the Assyrian Empire controlled not only
Mesopotamia, but also Syria, Palestine, much of Anatolia, and most of Egypt.

Map of the Assyrian Empire

The Rise of a Warrior People

The Assyrians are probably best known for their skill in warfare, which they regarded as their most
important activity; in fact, they considered it a divinely-inspired goal to impose their gods upon
conquered territories. The Assyrians were the first major power not only to equip soldiers with iron
weapons, but also to master the tactics of the light horse-drawn chariot, which turned them into the
most successful fighting power the ancient world had yet seen.

The Neo-Assyrian Period

The era from 934 to 609 B.C.E. is known as the Neo-Assyrian Period. It was during this epoch that
Assyria became one of the first truly international empires. At its peak, around 650 B.C.E., the
Assyrian Empire included almost all of the old centers of civilization and power in Southwest Asia.
However, although advanced planning and technical skill allowed the Assyrians to conquer, Assyria's
brutality also earned them many enemies.
By 614 B.C.E., the Chaldeans (also known as the New Babylonians) from southern Mesopotamia,
allied with the Medes from east of Assyria, staged a massive assault. The empire that had tyrannized
Southwest Asia was shattered, and, in 612 B.C.E., the former Assyrian territories were absorbed into
the Persian Empire.

Neo-Assyrian Culture
Some of Assyria's most feared rulers also made important cultural contributions. For example, King
Sennacherib established Assyria's capital at Nineveh along the Tigris River. Not only was imperial
Nineveh one of the largest cities in the ancient world, it also included extensive gardens, zoos, and a
'palace without rival,' decorated with sculptured relief scenes of brutal military campaigns and
successful lion hunts.

King Sennacherib

Nineveh was home to one of the ancient world's largest libraries, with more than
20,000 cuneiform tablets (writing formed by the arrangement of small wedge-shaped elements)
from throughout the Fertile Crescent. The collection included the ancient Sumerian poem the Epic
of Gilgamesh and provided historians with much information about the earliest civilizations in
Southwest Asia. The library was the first to have many of the features of a modern library. For
instance, the collection was organized into many rooms according to subject matter, and the
collection was also cataloged.
One component of a 'civilization' is the evidence of a written system. We know that the ancient
Assyrians spoke a Semitic language, Akkadian, but by the Neo-Assyrian period, they had also
introduced a second language, Aramaic, which became the international language of Southwest
Asia for centuries, until it was replaced by Arabic during the Islamic conquests.

Assyrian Religion
As many other peoples in the Fertile Crescent, the Assyrians were polytheistic (believing in many
gods and goddesses who controlled the natural world). The chief god of the Assyrians was Asshur.
Their temples were large ziggurats, huge pyramidal temple towers having the form of terraced-
step pyramids with successively receding stories or levels, and built as monuments to local religions.

Ziggurat

Neo-Assyrian Art
Art during the Neo-Assyrian period was mainly colossal human-headed winged bulls,
called lamassu, which lined the city and palace gates. Many scholars argue that the purpose of
Neo-Assyrian art was to proudly portray the pillaging and destruction of cities, and the killing and
submission of its enemies - partly to intimidate those who might consider fighting back, and partly
because Assyrians believed that if their conquests were successful, their achievements would have
the blessings of their gods.

Lamassu
Conclusion
After dominating their neighbors for centuries, the Assyrians were finally overcome by a coalition of
the Babylonians and Medes, who laid waste to the Assyrian cities in 609 B.C.E. Assyrian rule in
Southwest Asia came to an end. Although the name Assyria was recognized by the Persians, Greeks,
Romans, and Byzantines, after the Arab conquest of the late 7th century C.E., the 'province' of
Assyria was finally dissolved. The political power of Assyria was gone, but its people, culture and
religion lived on.

Assyrian painting
Not many of the Assyrian painting examples had survive, although by the clay
tablets is known about magnificent decorations in the walls with vibrant colors, showing
them battles scenes paintings and those regarding the Assyrian people daily life events
and the court. Among the examples that still survive are the paintings of the Til-Barsib
palace, in an old Assyria region. They give us an idea about how those paintings serve as
propaganda of the king power, the aristocracy and the gods. Mix in then are geometrical
and figurative elements an must of the walls space was painted.
Palaces surfaces previously treated with stucco show scenes painted with several
characters, as well as isolated ones, sometime accompany those, with another figure,
looking exactly the same but oppose, like in a mirror. Those were mostly protection
figures which appearance was not entirely human. Some show giants winged soldiers
with peculiar face and animal head in a vigilant posture. Many of the bigger size
protectors figures were located in the walls near the entrance of halls and doors and are
related to the representation of minor gods.

Some of the smaller size sculptures had paint on them but in certain places, like
hightlighting elements, an were decorated with good taste and certain care for the
details and finish. Vibrant colors were used in sculptures, relief and paintings, mostly
blue, black and red, although combined some time with earth like color tones as the
artist considered necessary in order to stand out then again the background.

Related to the chromatic scheme of the Assyrian painting there is still a lot that need to
be study, what is know so far is through the remained lefstovers pigments over the
surfaces of some sculptures, in not the best preserved state as we would like, some of
which had been detected thanks to new modern techniques because they hardly can be
seen with the naked eyes.
Is important to recap, as was mentioned in other post about the Assyrian culture, that
they make good use of the technique they learn from Babylonia to decorate the exterior
walls with the glassy tile bricks, giving them an spectacular resplendent and durable
looks. They manages to create a unique method, which they could produce those
ceramic glass brick in great scale, but unfortunate this technique have been lost.

They get the pigments from natural elements like seeds, plants juices, some metal dust,
like gold and silver occasionally to highlight details. They use as well adhesives obtained
from animals lark. Their weapons were decorated with refinement, using vegetal,
geometric and animals motives although human figures are found as well. Shield,
spears, military cars on two wheels, presented relief and paint, and this decoration over
weapons suggest they were important for protection an moral boost.

Assyrian glass brick painting showing mirror figures.

Assyrian inherited from the Hittites civilization elements related to their style and
thematics, and they were well applied, not only in painting, but with sculptures and
relief as well. Their scenes representation show dynamic in the soldiers figures
movement in battle, the pain reflected in the victims, (humans and animals alike), fierce
expressions of the soldiers in battle. All in contrast with the serious expression and
solemness representation of the king, priest and gods figures that were also portrayed in
bigger size.

Assyrian painting provide great importance to the representation of the “Tree of

Life” thematic in painting and in relieves as well, for them it was directly linked and very
attached to the origin of life by who they called gods. This thematic appear wide spread
represented as well in all Mesopotamia, and also in other regions as for example: the
Egyptian, Greek and Phoenician culture.
Artistic reproduction of Assyrian palace.

Figures in Assyrian painting are always represented with the body to the side as well as
the head, although in some cases can be found the head slightly to the back like when
the soldiers or animal are falling or been knocked down. Lines in Assyrian painting
define carefully the contour of the figures, having a black line framing them and a black
shadow as well that re enforce the illusion of three dimensional (3-D).

Their representation of vegetation in painting and relieves, showing a variety of plants

of the region at that time, help us to understand about the indigenous vegetation and the
use they have for them. They provide quite close details from the originals plants that
they can be easy identify for us today.
 Assyrians represent in their paintings and relieves the daily life, the here and now, not
as for example the Egyptians does, who concentrate in the beyond the grave themes and
the resurrection of souls. The Assyrian themes were current, they are chronicles of real
life events. For us today those paintings and relief have enormous value, because they
are this culture statement, their historical legacy, their testimony of a peril existence in a
hostile environment.

Main Characteristics of Assyrian painting

 – Thematics serve to the propaganda of kings and gods power.
 – Representation of current topics, daily life events of people and kings. They are chronicles of
simple life events as well as important religious celebrations.
 – Placement in walls of figures with mirror like effect. Some are face to each other, some are
oppose.
 – Painting cover all the surface of the walls that have been previous treated with stucco.
 – Vibrant color were used in sculptures, relief and paintings, mostly blue, black and red,
although combined some time with earth like color tones.
 -Assyrian painting define carefully the contour of the figures, having a black line framing them
and a black shadow as well that re enforce the illusion of three dimensional (3-D).
 – Uses of pigments from natural elements like seeds, plants juices, some metal dust, (like gold
and silver occasionally to highlight details mostly in small sculptures)
 -Detail representation of vegetation of the region.
 -Use of geometric designs as well as plants, animals and human figure in weapons, mostly for
protection and moral boost.
 -Frequent use of “The Tree of Life” thematic.
 -The king, priest and gods figures were portrayed in bigger size, either stand or seated.
 – Dynamic representation and fierce expression of the soldiers movement in battle, the pain in
the victims, (humans and animals alike), inherited fron the Hittites style.
 – Use of the glass brick techniques assimilated from Babylonia to decorate the walls as a form of
painting.

Assyrian Glass brick painting. Museum of Babdad.

Assyrian Culture
Posted on August 28, 2012 3:00 pm by Elena2 Comments
 Ancient Assyrian Art

At the Extreme northern of Mesopotamia settled the Assyrian people who with a
long history in the area were subjected to the Kingdoms of most powerful
peoples of the South for a while. Of course many elements that contributed to
shape the Assyrian Culture were inherited from the Sumerians and that was
manifested in their creations; in which techniques and artistic procedures were
set over the rich Knowledge inherited.

The first Kings of the nation had his residence in Ashur, until adverse desert
climate conditions as well as the attack of the Babylonians neighbors led rulers
to the decision to build a second capital at Nineveh. They brought with them their
common language and their artistic traditions from Sumer, but modified them
subsequently resulting in a bypass that emerged from the fusion of Sumerian
roots and language and the arts of Babylon.Assyrian State grew up around four
cities fed by the Tigris waters.

The Assyrians nevertheless the constant cultural exchange were very different
from the Babylonians since the ancient Assyrian were cruel warriors who used
terror and brute force to conquer and impose, beyond what any other race had
done until then. Their blood thirsty conquest campains for more teritories was
also determined for the legacy wich each king whanted to be remember as the
grandiose conquer of all.

They acquired this extreme hardening of character for their previous clashes with
other tribes that had dropped ruthlessly its population in the invasions suffered,
this aspect added to their concept that the world would end if they lost the
battles; accentuated the brutality which they undertaked their conquests. Its
history is littered with wars and conquests, but also of bloody defeats, it was a
fact documented by the kings; how in the process of conquer they kill every man
woman and child of entire populations and reduce to ashes their houses and
buildings. Is a great dicotomy how this skilled civilization was also capable of
ruthless violency.
The Assyrians imposed on conquered peoples a very well-organized State with
harsh laws, but it is a reality that without them it would have been impossible to
maintain control over the extended territories they grabbed. With strong control,
starting with their warriors up to the conquered population an iron discipline was
imposed.

They see the life events based mainly in the here and now, in the
everyday experiences, in its heroic legends and the fight for survival.
These are very different conceptions about life than other cultures has
as for example the Egyptians who look at life as a period of the
existence that should continue in the afterlife.

Assyrian architecture

Babylonians neighbors brought the knowledge and techniques applied to artistic

creation. The Assyrian people maintained contact points through trade and
exchange with many other people around them. This contacts allow them to
learn new techniques and even copy some styles besides the one from Babylonia
although, they further personalized and make them their own. Among those
techniques, the drafting of beautifully decorated polychromatic glazed bricks is
the most distinctive and the one the Assyrians used plenty to decorate palaces
and temples.

One of the various themes used include, the representation of injured Lions
majestically and dramatically represented on low relief decorating their bulidings.
These Lions capture the expressions of pain, anguish, pride or ferocity according
to which scene the artist represents in the image, doing so with amazing realism.

They also produced stone carving sculptures and paintings in which the theme of
the Lions was present with human figures fighting them. Other animals such as
the noble horse and ox were also represented.
Assirian relief representing the drama of lion confrontation

Have come to ours days stunning examples of decoration applied to architecture

as it is the case of winged protective figures by combining the human image and
animal placed in the entries of important buildings Those figures shows a level
of detail and care in the termination that always astonishing viewers; more if is
taking into account they were made at so remote time in the history of humanity
is like some how they inherited some previous wisdom.

At Nimrud or Jursabad doors have few huge sculptures acting like guardian,
(winged sculptures with human head and five bull leg)
The narrative frieze, which comes from the sequences scenes representation in
prints and stamps, will be the most important artistic element of Assyrian art.

The construction of Ziggurat, from Sumer constructive pattern element stays in

Assyrian culture as well and reach higher altitude (up to seven platforms), also
with the techniques of constructive reinforcement applied.

This monumental proportions produce a grandiloquent imposing effect very well

serving the religious adoration and propaganda purposes, as well as the militar
and political power who commission them to anonimous artisans.

On its walls are placed reliefs with the story telling of gods and Kings heroic
encounters and battles. The incorporation of decorated elements with marble and
alabaster highlighted further the splendor of these buildings.The Assyrians
Ziggurat had no external stairs, it is amounted to the top by a staircase from the
lobby inside the bulilding; they also built smaller temples to worship secondary
deities.

The exact purpouse of this altitude in Ziggurats could have been as well to
achieve some other funtion as well not yet clear, by high magnetisms in those
locations make schorlars think that important funtional activities related to
worshiping the gods took place in them.
The four most important ancient Assyrian cities were:
– Ashur (by the God Ashur) also named the entire Assyrian region.

– Arbela.

– Nimrud (or Calah)

– Nineveh. (For Nina, Goddess of the Assyrians)

The Assyrian palaces
Assyrian palaces were not behind in regard to the diversity of new construction techniques
employed.

– They hastens the construction of walls, widening them.

– The semicircular arch system and the elliptical for doors is used with preference.

– Numerous steps give access to the upper levels using some of Sumerian and Babylonian
technique’s bud adding their own contribution; emphasizing the majestic of palaces and temples.

– Huge doors made in wood and metal has often also carved relieves completing the decoration.

– Large hallways or corridors, communicated the rooms of these palaces with the more important
rooms.

– Their Windows shows an innovative technique allowing the entrance of light and more visibility to
the outside, but would be effective for the purposes of security.

– These palaces have large court yards that were accessed from galleries with columns made in
wood on stone plinth.
The construction of their City-palaces sets new representative elements that
directly respond to their idiosyncrasies and particular ways to see life since
Assyrians more of the time were inmerse in militar confrontations.

As an example of these city-palaces was the one built by order of Tukulti-Ninurta I

(1244 BC and 1207 BC) in the city of Ashur, which shows a tendency to the
stylization of images that represent the gods, related mainly to their decorative
appearance. In them can be appreciate better the representation of normal size
human beings figures, which the one who symbolize the gods in huge size in
comparison to the humans.

The Assyrians also tried mundane secular subjects in their decorations

recounting stories of the daily events of Kings and subjects, trades, farming and
elaboration of utensils.

First Assyrian Empire

Towards 1810 BC Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad I managed to extend the territory
of Assyria, from the Zagros Mountains to the Mediterranean Sea. He may have
been the first ruler to establish a centralized Empire organized in the ancient
Middle East. His Kingdom was divided into districts.

This first Assyrian Empire with Shamshi-Adad did not last long, as neither last his
son mandate Ishme-Dagan I (from 1780 who was defeated near 1760 BC by the
Babylonian King Hammurabi. Assyria became that way part of the Babylonian
Empire until the Babylonian defeat at the hands of the Kassites in the 16 century
BC.

About 1500 BC Assyria became a dependency of Mitanni, a Kingdom that

controlled all the North of Mesopotamia. The Assyrian king Ashur-uballit I around
1364 BC freed Assyria from Mitanni and even annexed some of its territories. This
King was followed by others who spread the borders and kept away to neighbors
coming to dominate a large area of Mesopotamia.

The ancient Assyrian culture is very well documented in numerous reliefs and
tablets that were found by archaeologists, as well as are their works of art
discovered in diverse places such as storages, building ruins and tumbs, that
were cover trough time by sand and debris. From one of this royal tumbs had
been recovered invaluable treasures that show they amazing workmanship skills
of the Assyrian civilization. This magnificient artifacts dating from 800 B.C
conform the famous “Treasure of Nimrud”.
Their way of looking at life; the struggle for survival, achievements and the
everyday mundane things, also had an important role in its formation as a
culture. They represented those traditions by all means trough artistic creation
using whatever they had at its disposal in terms of materials and techniques.
There some wonderful relief depicting scenes of royal huntings in the British
Museum.
Of the topics addressed by the Assyrian Art the most abundant are the
representation of animals; including lions and horses as well as images were the
bodies parts of animals are fusion with the human figure. Their sculptures and
reliefs both tells us about whow they looks like, their clothes, weapons, rituals,
farming customs, and their everyday life events.The technique of the relief
executed in stone, diorite, metal and clay was an effective means of expression of
their beliefs, their culture and their conception of life. These reliefs were made on
walls, utility vessels and also those made for the purpose of worship and burial.
They combine the decorative purpose with the utilitarian.
Assyrian relief depicting archers shooting at war.

Artistic works were usually performed using the natural elements they have
available like stone, alabaster, shells, lapis lazuli, diorite, marble and ivory. They
were as well masters in the elaboration of gold and silver objects with practical
and decorative use but, exxels as well making bronze objects that mainly used for
weapons, shields, spears, sword and knifes.
Religious Beliefs
Hundreds of gods in Mesopotamia were adored who charged importance based
on the strength of each ethnic group, region or city. In general there was a great
religious tolerance. Marduk and Ashur were two deities that were imposed to the
rest, due to the growing influence of Babylonia and Assyria. The strength of the
conquerors nevertheless; influence on the conquered “tolerance apart”.

They beliefs gods often took human form and visited them depending on their
desire to behave like humans. The King considered the Ashur representative on
Earth was also the high priest. All these faiths required the maintenance of large
temples, priesthoods and offerings to the gods and the files found inscribed on
clay tablets showed the need of large quantities in the actual budget for the
performance of such activities.

Those writing information as well as the relief found give us an idea of the
importance the Assyrian state conceded to the religious matters, although it was
not as in the case of Egypt the number one priority, was nevertheless also
important.
The Assyrian religion had the following gods which were widely
represented in art.

– Ashur (God of the gods) that dwelt in the city of Ashur.

– Ishtar (the battle and love).

– Ninurta (God of hunting and war).

– Samash and Adad (Baal), God of storms, presided over the divination.

– Harran (God of the moon took great importance towards the end of the Assyrian
Empire).

– Nin (was also the Moon Goddess), gave its name to Nineveh among the
Assyrian cities.

The “epic of Gilgamesh”, was still very popular all over Mesopotamia and Assyria
was not the exception. He was a popular heroe who battle evil but as other mystic
characters display ambiguous behavior, sometimes was confuse by the
imagination of people as a King and cruel demigod who performed great feats,
located in the year 2600 BC, whose legend comes from Sumer, therefore also
represented in Assyrian art.

Their lust for conquest brought them to seize Babylon and Armenia. About 884
BC it began a long string of victories that put Assyria at the head of the power in
a vast region. When Ashur-Nassir-Pal assumes the power; his military campaigns
and invasions conquered neighboring towns and caused numerous villages’
great devastation. Death and destruction was left behind their stormy pace.

The same great Egypt succumbed to the rise of a fierce but organized army
which used clever military strategies that caused heavy casualties to his
enemies.
Assyrians civilization main achivements.

As it is typical of such extensive invasions ocurrence a retroinfluence between

different cultures; both the invaders and the subject peoples receive mutual
cultural influences that span to different manifestations. From constructive
techniques, architectural design, building materials and artistic creation. Also
count musical, language and writing influences. Are not exempt from this list
aspects in which the Assyrians were also skilled such as those related to the
Organization of States, policy, the creation and specialization of trades, the
techniques used in agriculture, the development of branches of knowledge as
mathematics, astronomy and medicine.
Cuneiform writing is still used in the clay tablets, seals and even the
correspondence. Thanks to it are known so many aspects of the economic
system and how they functioned for the Assyrian State. Among the techniques
developed by the Assyrian culture in the production of many military
armament are: carriages, swords, spears, bows and arrows. The horse-driven
two-wheel carts was a very important element who allow their military campaign
gain so many battles.

The Assyrians were the first to recognize the advantages of the iron and the
bronze as early as 1000 BC their army had been equipped with arms and armor
made of iron. These weapons were systematically improved and they were not
only strong and effective in combat but they also were often beautifully
decorated.

In the year 609 BC the Assyrians troops capitulate after a series of events that
weaken the power of the Empire both internally and under the pressure of
Babylon and Medes. The great empire Assyrian disappears from history after
hundreds of years in control of the region of Mesopotamia and adjacent land and
after have been imposed through violence and terror carried out by an army very
disciplined and trained to conquer and overwhelm its passage without mercy.

The great empire that succeeded with Tiglath-Pileser III at the head of the power
acquire however important knowledge, legacy from the Assyrians in the art and
organization of financial administration affairs of the States. This knowledge was
put into practice with an effectiveness that the world had not seen up to that
point.

The most important contributions of the Etruscan architecture :

– The use of the arch and the dome which comes from Eastern influences.

– As in the Greek art; also in the Etruscan architecture predominate adinteladas structures. The
buildings do not have almost sculptural decoration except some sculptures of terra cotta in the
pediments of temples.

– They created a new order, the Toscana, derived from the Greek Doric order; simple base, smooth
shaft and similar to the Doric capital.

– The structure of the Etruscan temples which lacked columns at the rear as in the Greek plants was
taken by the Romans later as a construction model for their religious buildings.

– The doors of the fortifications with semi-circular arches between two towers.

– Construction of tombs placing in the likeness of the houses in the cities with a quadrangular
structure and forming blocks with their corresponding signal. This was the structure that Rome
inherited and extended for the rest of the world up to our days.

Etruscan Architecture
Studies based on different aspects of science, history and archaeology have provided invaluable
information about how the etruscan lived based on the remainings graves; the constructions that
were made to perpetuate the memory of their dead. Those graves were made resambling the world
of the living with all the accomodations; so they love ones could enjoy also confort in their way
beyond the realm of the living.
 The Hypogeum (around the 6th century) Was a camera excavated in the rock. Destined for people
of greater power purchasing, noble and aristocrats. The interior mimics the inside of a house, are
located side by side forming streets and creating real cities being called graves. They also have
decorated the walls and placed the rooms structured imitating the houses inside.

 Burial Mound. They existed in the 7th and 6th B.C. were mounds of Earth to the outside that could
have up to 40 meters in diameter. They were not perfectly aligned; but they also have
the distribution of cities. An interior hallway leads to different Chambers decorated with reliefs that
mimicked the interior of a House. They had pilasters, Windows, stone benches, chairs, vessels,
ornaments, small sculptures creating a pleasant atmosphere as if the dead were still alive. Those
Mounds have a circular shape, is a low wall built of ashlars, is vaulted and on the outside imitates a
natural Hill. The burial chamber is decorated with various murals paintings or reliefs with fight
scenes, games, banquets and festive themes where the characters are alive, happy and at the
height of their health and well-being.

Etrucan Types of burials

 The Tomb in the form of trench or pit: dug into the ground and covered by a horizontal
headstone or two tombstones form a single roof. It is the simplest type of burial for lowest
class people. Many polls Etruscan containing ashes of human remains have been found.

 The molder or CANOPEN, on which were drawings with scenes of Banquet, the handles and lid
had form figures. Over time these vessels take on human form, being the top head and handles
arms.

 The Cipo is another important menhir-shaped funerary vessel, will be decorated with mundane
scenes, procreation and life in the future.