
This book is the first in ten years to present a comprehensive survey of art & architecture in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq northeast Syria & southeast Turkey) from 8000 BCE to the arrival of Islam in 636 BCE The book is richly illustrated with c 400 full-colour photographs & maps & time charts that guide readers through the chronology & geography of this part of the ancient Near East The book addresses such essential art historical themes as the origins of narrative representation the first emergence of historical public monuments & the earliest aesthetic commentaries It explains how images & monuments were made & how they were viewed It also traces the ancient practices of collecting & conservation & rituals of animating statues & of architectural construction Accessible to students & non-specialists the book expands the scope of standard surveys to cover art & architecture from the prehistoric to the Roman era including the legendary cities of Ur Babylon Nineveh Hatra & Seleucia on the Tigris