Chapter 6, The Ancient Near East, 09 — Transcript

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1. 0:00As I mentioned, the Assyrians celebrated prowess in war, and they equated success in war with
2. 0:07success at the hunt.
3. 0:09The palace of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh is covered in images celebrating the lion hunt, and in
4. 0:17turn the king's fearlessness and fierceness.
5. 0:21In fact, these lion hunts were controlled to make sure the king was safe and successful.
6. 0:26Here, though, we see Ashurbanipal demonstrating preternatural calm as he seizes the lion with
7. 0:34one hand and plunges a sword through his heart with the other.
8. 0:38The lion is a fearsome foe, rippling with muscle and baring his teeth in a terrifying
9. 0:45snarl, but Ashurbanipal remains upright and unperturbed, his superior human intellect
10. 0:52on display even as the sinews in his own arm echo the muscular power of the beast's.
11. 0:59Today, our modern sympathies cause us to look at these scenes of carnage with sympathy for
12. 1:05the lions, but it's important to remember that for the Assyrians, they were symbols
13. 1:11of royal might and power.
14. 1:15Despite the Assyrian Empire's fortified palaces, fearsome guardian lamassu, and reliefs celebrating
15. 1:22their military prowess, it was ultimately never that secure.
16. 1:28During the final years of Ashurbanipal's reign, the empire began to fall apart, defeated by
17. 1:35Neo-Babylonian kings.
18. 1:37The most famous of these-a name you may recognize from the Bible or popular culture-was King
19. 1:44Nebuchadnezzar II.
20. 1:47Nebuchadnezzar restored Babylon, making it one of the largest ancient settlements in
21. 1:53Mesopotamia.
22. 1:54Nebuchadnezzar is also credited with one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the
23. 2:01famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon-but those gardens were actually in Nineveh, part of
24. 2:08the palace of an Assyrian king.
25. 2:12Babylon was certainly impressive, though, as you can see by the Ishtar gate, shown here.
26. 2:20Babylon was a city made of mud brick-not hard to imagine when you look at the current state
27. 2:25of the site-but important monuments like the Ishtar gate were covered in glazed bricks.
28. 2:35Ishtar is a goddess based on Innana, and her symbol is the lion, one of the motifs that
29. 2:41stands out against the vibrant blue background here, along with Marduk and Nabu's snake dragon
30. 2:49and Adad's bull.
31. 2:51The Ishtar gate-which has been restored and now lives in this museum in Germany-also shows
32. 2:58use of the true arch, which was invented in the near east, but which we'll see reach its
33. 3:04full potential in a few chapters with the Romans.
34. 3:08The final culture we'll look at this chapter is the Achaemenid, or the first Persian, Empire.
35. 3:16By 480 BCE, if was the largest empire the world had yet seen.
36. 3:22As the textbook points out, it ruled an estimated 44% of the entire human population on earth!
37. 3:31The founder of the Achaemenid Empire was Cyrus, who defeated Nebuchadnezzar, and whose successors,
38. 3:37Darius and Xerxes, built this massive citadel at Persepolis.
39. 3:43It was destroyed by the armies of Alexander the Great, but we can still get a feel for
40. 3:49its massive scale.
41. 3:51Only a few columns still remain of what was a vast hypostyle hall.
42. 3:58Hypostyle means that the roof is supported by a forest of columns.
43. 4:02These towering columns were topped by elaborate sculpted capitals, such as the double bull
44. 4:09capital you see here.
45. 4:11To wrap up this chapter, read or revisit the sections of the textbook that address the
46. 4:17Persian Empire, and particularly the Apadana, or Audience Hall, at Persepolis.
47. 4:24How does Persepolis show the ruler's power?
48. 4:28Compare or contrast that display of power with at least one other artwork we've studied
49. 4:34this chapter.