FIRST PART

THE ART OF IRAN PREISLAMIC

The Sumerian-Elamite period

Together with the flowering of the Elamite civilization, in Mesopotamia a new civilization took root, coinciding with the emergence of the royal dynasties, which lasted until 2.375 a. C. Among the characteristics of this new civilization are kingdoms that consider themselves vicariates of the gods of the city, and protected by them. At this time, the religious center of Sumerian civilization was the city of Nippur and no government could be established without religious approval from it. Nippur was the center of the god Enlil, that is, the great divinity of the earth and the world. In this context, some great independent cities emerged ruled by monarchies, whose populations, steeped in Sumerian culture, formed Sumerian governments, from lower Mesopotamia to the cities of Mari and Faraqa, along the Euphrates. Thus it was that the Urvarid civilization spread throughout Mesopotamia.

The Elam was forced to surrender to the influence of this civilization, assuming some Sumerian mythological uses and beliefs. These aspects were introduced into Elam with the conquests of Mehbaragesi, king of Kish, which marked the beginning of a new phase of Elamite art. As a consequence, the national writing was abandoned in favor of the Sumerian one and the Elam entered the sphere of Sumerian political and religious influence. It is from this period the temple added to the pedestal placed in the main square of Susa, in which were found votive statuettes of the faithful and some bas-reliefs, for example groups of blessing people and animal drawings, stylized in very simple geometric patterns, and lacking of the grace of the previous periods,. Stone squares were found with a hole in the middle, which perhaps housed the bar of a clasp; some have some relief sculptures, similar to the relief drawings of Mesopotamia, and images of faithful or unnamed priests portrayed in the invocation, or of guests participating in a sacred festival. These drawings are due to Sumerian influence on Elam, yet some elamite elements can be seen in them: a sincere faith, humbleness, obedience and submission to the gods.

At the beginning of the Sumerian civilization domination over Elam, in the statuary and in the bas-relief there are many characteristic Elamite features that disappeared completely in the monarchical period of Ur, as can clearly be deduced from the analysis of the cylindrical seals produced both in Mesopotamia and in Susa. Whatever the strengths or weaknesses of the various civilizations that have exerted an influence on the Elam, what emerges in an incontrovertible way is the loss, in this period, of all the artistic originality of Elamite. Nevertheless, from the analysis of the stamps impressed on the tablets, it is possible to reconstruct the religious thought then in vogue. In this period among the elamite beliefs emerges that in female deities; in one of the drawings found on a large cylindrical stamp there are images of five female deities and two written sequences. Three of these deities have two knees on one or two seated lions, and they resemble each other so much that they are said to be related. It is perhaps a representation of three new Elamite deities. The theme is the participation of deities in a mythological episode in which a voracious demon, a true ancestor of the evil Anzu, destroys the vegetation. This type of demons has become part of the Babylonian mythology right through the Elam. We have other inscriptions in cuneiform, similar to the inscriptions found on these tablets, which show that at this stage the writing and the Sumerian language were transmitted to the intellectual class of Islam. It is possible that the name "Shushinak", tutelary deity of the city of Susa, comes from the Sumerian nin-shushinak, which means "Lords of Shush", which is the manifestation of the god of lightning, the son of Enlil, god of the earth and great patron deity of the Sumerian government.

However, on a cultural level the influence of the Sumerian civilization was much smaller than on the political level and did not last long. The Elamites fought to free themselves quickly from the yoke of the Sumerians, whom they considered to be enemies. On the other hand, Susa had lost in this period the importance he had previously had; new cities, very active and more distant from the range of the Sumerian attacks, emerged in the Elam; cities like Avan and Hamazi, governed by monarchies, which between 2.600 and 2.500 conquered Ur and Kish. From this moment on, the Elam was seen by the Mesopotamian powers as a harsh enemy, and the dynasties that followed it, kept with the Mesopotamian cities a permanent state of war and confrontation, despite the fervent trade with the Sumerians, .

Around the 2.375 a. C., while the states of the region appeared weakened by the continuous wars with the Sumerian cities, emerged as a result of the attacks of Semitic peoples from the north of Mesopotamia a new civilization. These populations, which were mostly desert nomads, had just adapted to urban life and had to adapt for a long time to Sumerian civilization and culture before establishing their own institutions.

These populations provided themselves with simpler and more moderate institutions and consequently went beyond the model of city government. By their simple language they adopted Sumerian script and eventually, with the conquests of Sargon of Akkad, a new government was established that had all the characteristics of an empire. Sargon dominated the whole of Mesopotamia and soon conquered the Elam; however, the Avan dynasty agreed to submit to Sargon and was installed by them in the region as a representative dynasty.

The art of Akkadian civilization is the expression of a vision of the nationalistic world. The Akkadian religious thought is a universe of young solar gods, which eventually manifests itself in the form of a single sun accompanied by a god of waters. This representation is the epiphany of the Akkadian god. In the art of engraving, moreover, a royal school was born that spread everywhere, even in Susa; however, the Akkadian statuary remained only in Mesopotamia, but disappeared into Elam. When the governor of Susa wanted to donate to the temple of Narundi a statue of the third Akkadian ruler Manishtusu, he decided to donate instead a statue that dated back to three previous centuries and ordered the inscription in Akkadian "gift" to be engraved there. The Elamites quickly adopted the Akkadian language and benefited from it.

Sargon, his two sons and his grandson Naram-sin ruled, according to various testimonies, for a period ranging between 195 and 125 years. After Sargon, it was Naran-sin who expanded the area of ​​conquest to distant regions; a naval expedition was even sent to the coasts of India. In any case, the dynasty died out with the aggression of the Guti, an Iranian population that lived between the Zagros and present-day Kurdistan, and that for a short time dominated Mesopotamia. Before the complete extinction of the Akkadians, due to the weaknesses that emerged in their way of governing, a Susian prince named Puzur-in-shushinak (in Elamite documents called Kutik-in-shushinak) led a revolt. He proclaimed himself vicar of the king and subsequently came to the throne of the Avanian principality, a very high position for the time. His adventure, however, was ephemeral and lasted very little. From this period there are many sculptures found in the political center of Susa, the fortress, on which there are bilingual inscriptions, in Akkadian and Elamitic. The art of this era, although lacking in great originality, is linked to Mesopotamian art. One of the masterpieces is the statue of a seated Narundi goddess, not without similarities with Sumerian Inanna. The goddess is seated on lions, has her arms folded over her chest and holds a cup and a palm branch in her hands. Not far from the statue, two stone lions were found, which were probably placed at the entrance of the temple where the statue of the goddess was kept.

Also at this period belongs a polished, long and thin stone tablet, reconstructed from its fragments. The tablet, with bilingual inscriptions, has on the upper part the image of a large snake. It is also decorated with a mythological scene with three profiles: a leonine snout, a blessing goddess and a kneeling angel holding a wood with an arrowhead in the act of descending to the earth. The influence of the Sumerian representations of Lagash are evident. This tablet - which has two holes on one end, probably used to run a string that held it upright - could be a document belonging to the temple. After the descent of the Guti from the Zagros and the attack that led to the fall of the Akkadian Empire, the Simash dynasty, coming from Northern Elam, gained strength and ended up dominating the other states of the region, establishing a monarchical government. It is very likely that there is a very close link between the Guti attack and the emergence of Simash power. It is also probable that, before the attack that destroyed Akkadian power, the Guti made alliances with the Lullubi (which bordered to the north) and with the Mannei (who had settled on the shores of Lake Rezaieh, north of the territory del Lullubi), establishing an autonomous government with them. The diffusion, extension and penetration of the art of Susa in Assyria, beyond the central Mesopotamia, evident from the analysis of the cylindrical seals found in the Assyrian cities, is proof of this. The designs of these enamelled cylindrical seals are more or less the same rough designs of the previous era, and reproduce the already known themes of zoomorphic deities. The Guti government allied with the Lullubi, lasted for a relatively long time on the Zagros, and the remaining drawings testify to an independent and strong power.

In the excavations carried out in Susa relating to this period, metal artefacts were found that testify to a process of evolution and refinement. These are votive weapons such as axes, bronze and silver hammers modeled on bizarre animal forms. Moreover, in a tomb many enamelled ceramics have been found, always from the same period. It seems that the Susians were very evolved and had made significant progress in the arts in some way related to fire and cooking.

Although the union of Elam, Guti and Lullubi of Iran led to the flowering of minor arts, the statues remained always under Mesopotamian influence, as mesopotamians remained the writing, the themes and even the style and techniques . It is as if the Simash dynasty founded its own culture under the influence of others.

The strength of the Simash in Elam was such that the dynasty managed to save the region from the attacks of the new rulers of Ur, seizing power after the fall of the Accads. The Simash founded a new empire in 2.100 in Mesopotamia and for the last time in the ancient Sumerian culture pulsed a new soul. The Simash also ruled over Susa, managing to preserve the area in peace and prosperity for a whole century. Once again, majestic temples were erected in Sumerian and Akkadian cities, and the central areas of Susa were renovated and rebuilt. The citadel of Susa became a great keep that we can approach the ziggurats.

The Inshushinak temple was located west of the fortress and its ruins show how it was built in the Sumerian style. In the center of the citadel stood the large statue of a goddess known as the Sumerian name of Ninhursag, or "Lady of the Mountain". This temple stood on the ancient site of a cemetery; for this, under the foundations of the temple there are cells in which were kept the offerings made at the temple and various other provisions.

From this period on also the funeral rites knew of the changes. The dead were buried along with furnishings, which indicated the rank and the social position, inserted in some terracotta urns marked with seals that indicated the contents. The designs of these molds in most cases represented the deceased facing his god in a state of submission, one of the endangered characteristics of the neo-rumeric nobility.