Syro-Hittite Monumental Art and the Archaeology of Performance: The Stone Reliefs at Carchemish and Zincirli in the Earlier First Millennium BCE (Topoi: Berlin Studies of the Ancient World)

The ceremonial centers of the Syro-Hittite city-states (1200-700 BC) were lavishly decorated with large-scale, open-air figurative reliefs - an original and greatly influential artistic tradition. But why exactly did the production of such an array of monumental images ever start? This volume explores how Syro-Hittite monumental art was used as a powerful backdrop to important ritual events, and opens up a new perspective by situating monumental art in the context of public performances and civic spectacles of great emotional impact, such as processions, royal triumphs, and dynastic funerals. CONTENTS 6 List of Figures 8 List of Tables 10 Bibliographical abbreviations 12 Acknowledgements 14 1 Introduction 16 2 The Syro-Anatolian region in the Iron Age 20 2.1 The urban landscape 22 2.2 Questions of ethnicity 24 2.3 Carchemish 25 2.4 Zincirli 29 3 Carchemish 34 3.1 Archaeological fieldwork 34 3.2 The monumental contexts 35 3.2.1 The South Gate 37 3.2.2 The Water Gate 40 3.2.3 The Lower Palace Area 46 3.2.4 The Herald’s Wall 53 3.2.5 The King’s Gate complex 56 3.2.6 The temple of Tarhunzas 65 3.2.7 The Hilani 68 4 Zincirli 70 4.1 Archaeological fieldwork 70 4.2 The monumental contexts 71 4.2.1 The Southern City Gate. 73 4.2.2 The Outer Citadel Gate 76 4.2.3 The Lions’ Pit 83 4.2.4 Gate Q 90 4.2.5 The colossal statue at the outer wall of Building J 91 4.2.6 The Kulamuwa orthostat at the entrance to Building J 94 4.2.7 Inside the Southwestern complex 99 4.2.8 Hilani IV 100 4.2.9 Hilani III 103 4.2.10 Monuments at and around Hilani II 106 4.2.11 The funerary context beside Hilani I 108 4.2.12 The funerary stele in the north lower town 110 5 The embedment of monumental art in ritual performance 112 5.1 Urban setting 114 5.2 Iconographic evidence 121 5.3 Written evidence 124 5.4 Monumental art and ceremonial events 127 6 Art and ritual performance in diachronic perspective 130 6.1 The archaic transitional period (twelfth to mid-tenth century BCE) 130 6.2 The age of civic ritual (late tenth to early ninth century BCE) 134 6.3 The mature transitional period (870–790 BCE) 140 6.4 The age of court ceremony (790–690 BCE) 143 7 Conclusions 148 Bibliography 154 Catalogue 174 Index of concepts 238 The ceremonial centers of the Syro-Hittite city-states (1200-700 BC) were lavishly decorated with large-scale, open-air figurative reliefs – an original and greatly influential artistic tradition that has captivated the imagination of its contemporaries as well as that of modern scholars. This volume explores how Syro-Hittite monumental art was used as a powerful backdrop to important ritual events, and it opens up a new perspective by situating the monumental heritage in the context of large public performances and civic spectacles of great emotional impact. The first part of the volume focuses on the sites of Carchemish and Zincirli, offering a close reading of the relevant archaeological contexts. The second part of the volume discusses the embedment of monumental art in ritual performance and examines how change in art relates to change in ceremonial behavior, and how the latter relates in turn to change in power structures and models of rulership. Biographical note: Alessandra Gilibert, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany