Page 98 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYRIAN ART

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Figure 25. Plan of the Ishtar temple of Tukulti-Ninurta I

flight of steps. This arrangement is characteristic of Assyrian temples (e.g. Figure 27).
In the south, as we have seen, the statue of the god stood, at first, upon a block of
masonry which served as an altar, before a niche; sometimes a few steps led up to it. In
the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur, when larger statues seem to have come into use,
these were placed in a niche, again reached by a few shallow steps. The Assyrian arrange­
ment with its alcove high above the level of the temple proper differs greatly in its
general effect from that of the south. It represents, perhaps, in the language of architec­
ture that same awareness of the distance between gods and men which distinguishes the
Assyrian rendering of religious subjects in art.
It is likely that, from this point of view, the Ziggurat had a special appeal for the
Assyrians, since it rose so high above the world of man. It was, in fact, attached to a num­
ber of Assyrian temples, with a revealing modification of the southern plan: the three
open stairways giving easy access to the tower from the court are superseded by a more
difficult mode of approach.14 Often we are left in doubt as to its precise nature, and the

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Figure 26. Reconstruction of the Ishtar temple of Tukulti-Ninurta I
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