Assyrian Sculpture: Second Edition - Softcover

Reade, Julian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674050177 ISBN 13: 9780674050174

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1999

Synopsis

For almost three centuries, until 612 B.C., the small kingdom of Assyria dominated the Middle East, its empire at one point extending from Iran to Egypt. The story of those years--the triumphs of the Assyrian kings in war and peace, their exploits in the hunting field, and the gods who watched over them--were recorded in stone on the walls of a succession of royal palaces. These sculptures, offering eyewitness views of a long-lost civilization, were not rediscovered until the nineteenth century.

The finest collection, transported with great difficulty to Europe, is now preserved at the British Museum. This book describes how the sculptures were found and what they meant to those who created them. It is both a richly illustrated history of Assyrian sculpture in general and a guide to the outstanding collections of the British Museum. For this Second Edition of Assyrian Sculpture, in a new format, the author has updated the text and bibliography.

About this title

About the Author:

Julian Reade is an assistant keeper in the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities in the British Museum.

Review:

When Ira Gershwin wrote the lyrics to "A Foggy Day," he expressed the ne plus ultra of London unhappiness with the words, 'The British Museum has lost its charm.' As a new series of paperbacks from Harvard University Press...demonstrates, such an unthinkable state must needs constitute the very slough of despond. The institution's vast range of artistic treasures is suggested by the titles in the series: The Elgin Marbles, Assyrian Sculpture, Clocks and Watches, Egyptian Sculpture, Roman Britain, and Egyptian Mummies. Each has numerous illustrations, [and] literate texts by Museum staff members. (Boston Sunday Globe)

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0674050177
• ISBN 13: 9780674050174
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 96