Beyond Babylon : art, trade, and diplomacy in the second millennium B.C. [exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Nov. 18, 2008-Mar. 15, 2009

New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008. — 548 p. — ISBN 978-0300141436. Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C. brings into focus the cultural enrichment shared by civilizations from western Asia to Egypt and the Aegean more than three thousand years ago during the Middle Bronze and Late Bronze Ages. With the formation of powerful kingdoms and large territorial states, rising social elites created a demand for precious metals and objects fashioned in styles that reflected contacts with foreign lands. This quest for metals—copper, tin, silver, and gold—was the driving force that led to the establishment of merchant colonies and a vast trade network throughout central Anatolia, as well as to the emergence of a broad internationalism. Exchange took the form of booty and tribute, trade and diplomatic gift-giving, creating the impetus for the circulation of precious goods, stimulating the sharing of ideas, and inspiring artistic creativity. Craftsmen traveled long distances, bearing local imagery to new lands, and the interaction of great states was expressed in new international styles. Commerce and diplomacy linked kings in Mesopotamia and Syria to Anatolia, the Mediterranean, and Egypt. This interaction is reflected in the magnificent jewelry from Ebla and in the extraordinary sculptures and wall paintings of rulers and divinities at the great palace of Mari. International exchange flowed through the port of Byblos on the Levantine coast, where temples housed votive objects and tombs contained treasures of Egyptian kings. Material wealth was carried into Egypt as well, as demonstrated by the fabulous hoard of silver vessels and seals in the Temple of Montu at Tôd. New discoveries include finds at Qatna, which yielded a royal palace and Aegean-style wall paintings, as well as royal archives and an intact tomb with rich grave goods that document interaction with the Near Eastern and Mediterranean worlds. Perhaps the most dramatic evidence for these far-flung connections emerges not from exchanges realized but from tragedy—the wreckage of the oldest known seagoing ship, discovered off the cape of Uluburun, a treacherous stretch off the southern coast of Turkey. On view in the exhibition and described in detail in this catalogue are items onboard the ship, recovered from the seabed over years of extensive underwater excavation. The languages, customs, and social practices that had to be mastered in the long-distance quest for resources and exotica are also explored. Modes of interaction—including immigration and mixed marriages, and involving merchants and diplomats, warriors and kings—are vividly captured in surviving texts, allowing a glimpse into the lives of profit-driven businessmen living abroad, distraught wives left at home, and princess-brides offered in exchange for gold. Continuing the story begun in the landmark exhibition and its accompanying catalogue, Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus (2003), this important publication documents the innovative art that developed in the context of a sophisticated network of trade and diplomacy. The art and cultural history of the period are discussed by more than eighty-five scholars who, in their international scope, mirror the times they bring to life in wide-ranging essays and in catalogue entries on each of the objects included in the exhibition. Introduction / Joan Aruz -- The Middle Bronze Age / Mogens Trolle Larsen -- Babylon / Béatrice André-salvini -- Mari / Jean-claude Margueron -- Ebla / Paolo Matthiae -- The Development Of Trade Routes In The Early Second Millennium B.c. / Michel Al-maqdissi -- Ugarit / Bassam Jamous -- Byblos / Suzy Hakimian -- The Cedar Forest / Ira Spar -- Minoan Kamares Ware In The Levant / Robert B. Koehl -- Egypt And The Levant / Thomas Schneider -- The Tôd Treasure / Geneviève Pierrat-bonnefois -- Lapis Lazuli / Michèle Casanova -- The Old Assyrian Merchant Colonies / Mogens Trolle Larsen -- Central Anatolian Ivories / Joan Aruz -- Technical Notes On The Metropolitan Museum Ivories / Jean-françois De Lapérouse. Texts, Trade, And Travelers / Jack M. Sasson -- Ornaments Of Interaction: The Art Of The Jeweler / Kim Benzel -- Egypt, The Levant, And The Aegean From The Hyksos Period To The Rise Of The New Kingdom / David O'connor -- Tell El-dab'a In The Nile Delta / Manfred Bietak -- The Burial Of Queen Ahhotep / Peter Lacovara -- Painted Palaces / Joan Aruz -- The Wall Paintings Of Thera And The Eastern Mediterranean / Christos G. Doumas -- Minoan Artists At The Court Of Avaris (tell El-dab'a) / Manfred Bietak -- Bull Leaping / Joan Aruz -- Ritual And Royal Imagery / Joan Aruz -- Board Games / Irving Finkel -- The Horse In The Ancient Near East / Kim Benzel. The Late Bronze Age: Materials And Mechanisms Of Trade And Cultural Exchange / Mario Liverani -- The Amarna Letters / Ira Spar -- The Hittite Empire / Andreas Müller-karpe -- Shapinuwa: A Capital Of The Hittite State / Aygül Süel And Mustafa Süel -- Hattusa: Capital Of The Hattite Empire / Andreas Schachner -- Literary And Cultural Connections / Gary Beckman -- The Mitanni State / Jean M. Evans -- Alalakh (tell Atchana) / K. Aslihan Yener -- Kassite Babylonia / Jean M. Evans -- The Middle Assyrian Period / Jean M. Evans -- Syrian Archaeological Excavations At Qatna / Michel Al-maqdissi -- The Royal Palace At Qatna: Power And Prestige In The Late Bronze Age / Peter Pfälzner. Italian Archaeological Research At Qatna / Danièle Morandi Bonacossi -- Ugarit In The Late Bronze Age / Bassam Jamous -- Ugarit: Gateway To The Mediterranean / Jean-claude Margueron -- New Kingdom Egypt / Thomas Schneider -- Depictions Of Foreign Emissaries In The Theban Tombs / Sarah Graff -- Aegean Interactions With The Near East And Egypt During The Late Bronze Age / Robert B. Koehl -- Mycenae / Lena Papazoglou-manioudaki -- Mycenaean Thebes / Vasilis Aravantinos -- The Uluburun Shipwreck And Late Bronze Age Trade / Cemal Pulak -- Cyprus: An International Nexus Of Art And Trade / Sophie Cluzan -- The Art Of Exchange / Joan Aruz -- Ivory, Shell, And Bone / Annie Caubet -- Vitreous Materials / Annie Caubet -- Bridges To Babylon: Homer, Anatolia, And The Levant / Sarah P. Morris -- The Legacy Of Ivory-working Traditions In The Early First Millennium B.c. / Marian Feldman -- Problems Of Chronology: Mesopotamia, Anatolia, And The Syro-levantine Region / Glenn M. Schwartz -- Problems Of Chronology: Egypt And The Aegean / Eric H. Cline. Edited By Joan Aruz, Kim Benzel, And Jean M. Evans. Catalog Of An Exhibition At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, New York, Nov. 18, 2008-mar. 15, 2009. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 456-504) And Indexes. This important volume describes the extraordinary art created in the second millennium B.C. for royal palaces, temples, and tombs from Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia to Cyprus, Egypt, and the Aegean. Objects of the highest artistry reflect the development of a sophisticated trade network throughout the eastern Mediterranean region and the resulting fusion of Near Eastern, Aegean, and Egyptian cultural styles. The impact of these far-flung connections is documented in the precious materials sent to royal and temple treasuries and, most dramatically, in objects discovered on merchant shipwrecks off the shores of southern Anatolia. The history of the period and the artistic creativity fostered by interaction among the powers of the ancient Near East, both great and small, are discussed by an international group of scholars in essays and entries on the more than 350 objects included in the exhibition, continuing the fascinating story begun in the landmark catalogue Art of the First Cities (2003). Describes the extraordinary art created in the second millennium BC for royal palaces, temples, and tombs from Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia to Cyprus, Egypt, and the Aegean. This book discusses the history of the period and the artistic creativity fostered by interaction among the powers of the ancient Near East, both great and small.