Page 70 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

CHAPTER 3
THE AKKADIAN PERIOD

<[CIRCA 2340-2180 B.C.y

Throughout its history, Mesopotamian art exhibits a curious polarity. It reveals on
the one hand a love of design for its own sake, and on the other a delight 111 physical
lity. hi the Protoliterate Period the seal designs illustrate both tendencies, separately
rea
or combined. Later, in the First and Second Early Dynastic Periods, decorative traits
prevail. During the Third, in such seals as those of plate 40, the tendency towards the
concrete finds renewed expression, and it gains predominance in the reign of Sargon of
Akkad. The change of style might therefore be regarded as a mere shift of emphasis
within the native tradition, but such an interpretation of the Akkadian achievement
wo uld be quite inadequate. The innovations are too striking; and the few splendid works
which survive (Plates 4i—4) cannot be understood without reference to matters which
are altogether extraneous to the field of art.
The accession of Sargon of Akkad, his conquest of the various city-states, his organiza­
tion of a realm which retained its coherence for over a century under his descendants,
permanently affected, not only the art, but also the language and political thought of
Mesopotamia. Under the appearance of familiar procedure - the piecemeal subjection of
the city-states to a single ruler - a new enterprise was set afoot widely different from the
ephemeral achievements of earlier conquerors. For in Sargon’s person an element of the
population which had liitherto remained inarticulate now asserted itself and took com­
mand. The Akkadians had affinities with the Syrians, but they were not foreigners. We
do not know when they infiltrated into Mesopotamia nor what were their numbers in
the south; but by the end of the Early Dynastic Period they were predominant in the
central districts, round modern Baghdad, and farther north along the rivers.
The heart of Mesopotamian civilization lay to the south, in Sumer. There the great
transformation of prehistoric culture had taken place in the Protoliterate Period, and
from there Sumerian influence had radiated far into Persia and Anatolia, Syria, and
Egypt.1 The main route of this transmission ran along the Tigris and Euphrates. At Tell
Brak, on the Khabur river, a tributary of the Euphrates, there stood in Protoliterate
times a shrine which was to all intents and purposes a Mesopotamian temple.2 At Mari
on the middle Euphrates3 and at Assur on the Tigris4 the local script and statuary,
amulets and beads, were indistinguishable from those used in Sumer proper during Early

The inhabitants of those more northerly regions were, however, not Sumerians. We
know very little about their culture before they adopted Sumerian civilization, but we
do know that they spoke a Semitic language and therefore followed traditions which
mcred from those of Southern Mesopotamia. We may surmise that the differences went
4i
t