DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67683#0107
CHALDEAN OR SECOND BABYLONIAN PERIOD 65
legs, but moving from the side view, showing four legs; and
because the representation of these two poses was impossible in
one figure, he naively attempted to reconcile them by the addi-
tion of the fifth leg to complete the side view. While these
figures are conventional and dry, yet, in their original position on
either side of the doorway, they are decorative and impressive.
MINOR ARTS
As we turn to the minor arts of the Assyrians we see that the
metal worker, as in Babylonia, was a skilled craftsman. A
bronze bowl from one of the great palaces illustrates his work
(Pl. 11c). In the center is a rosette, that ever present ornament
in Assyrian art, about which move concentric rows of animals
in borders that have a pleasing gradation in width. In the inner
bands are gazelles, with heads bent as if to graze; in the middle
band are various animals, some peaceful, some attacking, but the
action is subordinate to the general trend of the procession. The
outer band is decorated with bulls, all alike, as are the animals
of the inner band, but they are moving in an opposite direction
from those in the other two rows, thus giving a balance to
the direction of movement. We notice how naturalistically the
animals are represented, yet how decorative they are. This is
characteristically Assyrian, combining the natural tendency for
realism with the same feeling for design that we found the early
Babylonian engraver using on his silver vase (Fig. 40). Concen-
tric bands of animals as a decorative motif passed from the
Assyrians to the Greeks, who used it on their early vases
(Fig. 6x). The technical process by which this vase was made is
known as repousse, which means that the design was hammered
up into relief, showing concave on the reverse side. Details were
added by engraving.
C. CHALDEAN OR SECOND BABYLONIAN
606-539 B.C.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND ARCHITECTURE
At the fall of Nineveh, two kingdoms were established, the
Chaldean in the south, the Medo-Persian in the north. Nebuchad-
nezzar the Chaldean built Babylon anew so that it surpassed
Nineveh in the splendor of its palaces, temples, and hanging
gardens. This is the Babylon of which the Greek traveler Herod-
otus wrote, and the city of the Hebrew captivity, for it was
legs, but moving from the side view, showing four legs; and
because the representation of these two poses was impossible in
one figure, he naively attempted to reconcile them by the addi-
tion of the fifth leg to complete the side view. While these
figures are conventional and dry, yet, in their original position on
either side of the doorway, they are decorative and impressive.
MINOR ARTS
As we turn to the minor arts of the Assyrians we see that the
metal worker, as in Babylonia, was a skilled craftsman. A
bronze bowl from one of the great palaces illustrates his work
(Pl. 11c). In the center is a rosette, that ever present ornament
in Assyrian art, about which move concentric rows of animals
in borders that have a pleasing gradation in width. In the inner
bands are gazelles, with heads bent as if to graze; in the middle
band are various animals, some peaceful, some attacking, but the
action is subordinate to the general trend of the procession. The
outer band is decorated with bulls, all alike, as are the animals
of the inner band, but they are moving in an opposite direction
from those in the other two rows, thus giving a balance to
the direction of movement. We notice how naturalistically the
animals are represented, yet how decorative they are. This is
characteristically Assyrian, combining the natural tendency for
realism with the same feeling for design that we found the early
Babylonian engraver using on his silver vase (Fig. 40). Concen-
tric bands of animals as a decorative motif passed from the
Assyrians to the Greeks, who used it on their early vases
(Fig. 6x). The technical process by which this vase was made is
known as repousse, which means that the design was hammered
up into relief, showing concave on the reverse side. Details were
added by engraving.
C. CHALDEAN OR SECOND BABYLONIAN
606-539 B.C.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND ARCHITECTURE
At the fall of Nineveh, two kingdoms were established, the
Chaldean in the south, the Medo-Persian in the north. Nebuchad-
nezzar the Chaldean built Babylon anew so that it surpassed
Nineveh in the splendor of its palaces, temples, and hanging
gardens. This is the Babylon of which the Greek traveler Herod-
otus wrote, and the city of the Hebrew captivity, for it was